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When ten French soldiers were killed last year in an ambush by Afghan insurgents in what had seemed a relatively peaceful area, the French public were horrified. Their revulsion increased with the news that many of the dead soldiers had been mutilated — and with the publication of photographs showing the militants triumphantly sporting their victims’ flak jackets and weapons. The French had been in charge of the Sarobi area, east of Kabul, for only a month, taking over from the Italians; it was one of the biggest single losses of life by Nato forces in Afghanistan. What the grieving...

A powerful car bomb exploded outside the Indian Embassy in the busy center of Afghanistan's capital early Thursday, killing at least 12 people, destroying vehicles and blowing off the walls of shops, officials said. Eleven of the dead were civilians and one was an Afghan police officer, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. At least 84 people, including members of Afghan security forces, were wounded in the attack, which struck a shop-lined road between the Indian Embassy and the Interior Ministry, said Health Ministry spokesman Ahmad Farid Raaid.

Note: The following text is a quote: Warden Message: Afghanistan Travel Concerns: Kabul to Logar Province CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS South / Central Asia - Afghanistan 29 Sep 2009 U.S. Embassy Kabul issued the following Warden Message September 29, 2009: The U.S. Embassy has received information that, as of late September 2009, Taliban members in Logar Province, Afghanistan, were planning on an unspecified date to ambush and capture unidentified Americans who routinely travel between Kabul City and Logar Province. The Taliban reportedly intend to follow the Americans’ vehicle from Kabul and stop the car en route. The U.S. Embassy urges Americans...

Special Dispatch - No. 2505 August 25, 2009 Pakistan Taliban Commander: We Have 'Thousands of Suicide Bombers' Who Can 'Target Washington, Paris, London, and Kabul' On August 25, 2009, a Pakistani Urdu-language newspaper reported that Waliur Rehman, the commander of the Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal district of South Waziristan Agency, had said that his group has "thousands of suicide bombers" who can "target Washington, Paris, London, and Kabul."

Afghan police have killed at least three gunmen who stormed a bank building in Kabul this morning in the latest of string of Taleban attacks designed to disrupt tomorrow’s presidential election. Police were searching for any remaining attackers after a short gun battle at the building, which is just a few hundred metres from the presidential palace compound where President Hamid Karzai lives. A Taleban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack which followed a suicide car bombing yesterday that killed eight people and wounded more than 50 in Kabul. He also claimed that 20 armed suicide attackers wearing explosive vests...

A large suicide car bomb which exploded in the Afghan capital of Kabul this morning has killed at least seven civilians and wounded 91.The attack, which took place outside the main gate of the Nato headquarters in the heavily fortified Wazir Akbar Khan area of the city, comes ahead of the country's upcoming presidential election on Thursday. The Afghan defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said: 'It was a suicide bombing carried out in a car right in front of ISAF (the Nato-led peacekeeping force).' A blaze can be seen in the immediate aftermath of the suicide car bomb which...

A large blast ripped through the centre of Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Saturday, Reuters witnesses said, and smoke could be seen rising above the city's diplomatic quarter. . .

KABUL (AP) - Afghan army officers and witnesses say one of the five rockets that has slammed into Kabul fell near the American Embassy. The rocket's impact could be seen about 200 meters (yards) down from the U.S. Embassy on a main road in central Kabul. Security officers say the rocket hit the house of a senior Interior Ministry official but caused no casualties. At the scene, Maj. Ghulam Rasul of the Afghan national army said he believed the five rockets that hit early Tuesday were fired from a long range.

A New York Times reporter known for making investigative trips deep inside dangerous conflict zones escaped from militant captors after more than seven months in captivity by climbing over a wall, the newspaper said Saturday. David S. Rohde was abducted Nov. 10 along with an Afghan reporter colleague and a driver south of the Afghan capital, Kabul. He had been traveling through Logar province to interview a Taliban commander, but was apparently intercepted and taken by other militants on the way. The Times reported that Rohde and Afghan reporter Tahi Ludin on Friday climbed over the wall of a compound...

Note: The following text is a quote: Minneapolis Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Al-Qaeda Mohammed Abdullah Warsame, a 35-year-old resident of Minneapolis, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to al-Qaeda Warsame, a naturalized Canadian citizen of Somali descent, entered his plea of guilty this afternoon before U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim in federal court in Minneapolis. At sentencing, which was set for 1:30 pm on July 9, 2009, Warsame faces a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. He has agreed to...

Note: The following text is a quote: YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report Warden Message: Kabul Serena Hotel and Victory Day Threats CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS South / Central Asia - Afghanistan 22 Apr 2009 Printer Friendly Email Article RELATED REPORTS 11 Feb 2009 KABUL SUICIDE COMBINED-ARMS ATTACKS 11 Feb 2009 WARDEN MESSAGE: ATTACKS ON AFGHAN GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS 10 Feb 2009 AFGHANISTAN 2009 CRIME AND SAFETY REPORT 24 Nov 2008 TERRORIST TACTICS: ATTACK ON INDIAN EMBASSY IN AFGHANISTAN U.S. Embassy Kabul released the following Warden Message on April 22: Recent intelligence reporting indicates that insurgents...

Women protesting in Kabul against a controversial new law were pelted with stones, jostled and spat on today as they held what is believed to be the first public demonstration calling for equal rights for women in recent Afghan history. The protest by about 200 women called for amendment of the controversial Shia Family Law, passed last month by the Afghan Parliament, and enforcement of article 22 of the Afghan constitution, which gives equal rights to men and women. It provoked a furious reaction from local men and a mob quickly surrounded the protesters amid violent scenes close to the...

SNIPPET: "The NEFA Foundation has obtained a new audio recording from Al-Qaida Deputy Commander Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri released on February 22 and titled, "From Kabul to Mogadishu.""

The President-Elect's intention to shift the focus of the fight against terrorism to Afghanistan has been bolstered by Robert Gates agreement to stay on as Defence Secretary. Mr Gates is a strong believer in an Afghan surge, which would not only put thousands more boots on the ground but involve negotiations with malleable branches of the Taliban. It would also aim to boost co-operation with Iran and Pakistan where some elements have supported the anti-Western insurgency. The need for more US troops in addition to the 32,000 already serving, has been accelerated by the Afghan presidential election in September 2009,...

A suspected suicide bomber has struck close to the entrance to the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, witnesses and police say. It is unclear so far whether there are any casualties. Reports said the bomber detonated explosives about 200m from the heavily guarded entrance to the US compound. Security in Afghanistan has become a key concern for foreign troops and officials, as the country faces an increasingly strong Taleban insurgency.

KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. Special Forces soldiers freed a kidnapped American working for the Army Corps of Engineers during a nighttime mission last week — a rare hostage rescue in a country where ransom abductions have become increasingly common. The American, who had been working on U.S. government-funded infrastructure projects, was abducted in mid-August and had been held just 30 miles west of Kabul with no public notice of his abduction. The dangerous mission to free the U.S. contractor killed several insurgents, U.S. officials told The Associated Press. Taliban militants have kidnapped several international aid workers and journalists in recent...

Taliban gunmen killed a Christian aid worker in Kabul on Monday, and the militant group said it targeted the woman because she was spreading her religion. The dual South African-British national worked with handicapped Afghans and was killed in the western part of Kabul as she was walking to work around 8 a.m., officials said. The gunmen, who were on a motorbike, shot the woman in the body and leg with a pistol, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the slaying. "This woman came to Afghanistan to teach Christianity to the people of Afghanistan," militant...

The Taliban have shot dead a British aid worker in Afghanistan because she was "preaching Christianity." Gayle Williams, who had been in the troubled country for three years, was killed by two gunmen on a motorcycle as she walked to work in the capital of Kabul. She recently moved from Kandahar back to Kabul because it was seen as safer. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shooting, which took place at 8am local time. Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said Miss Williams had been shot in the body and leg with a pistol. "Two armed men sitting on a...

A British woman working for a Christian charity helping disabled Afghans was shot dead in Kabul as she walked to work early this morning, officials and the group said. Gayle Williams worked for SERVE Afghanistan, which describes itself as a Christian charity, confirmed the incident but would not give any details.'Our people carried out this attack in District 3 of Kabul this morning at 7am,' the Taliban's spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed told The Times. 'The reason that we killed her was because she was spreading Christianity." 'Two armed men sitting on a motorbike shot her dead. Some bullets hit her body...

Five Afghanistan scholars visiting the University of Washington have been reported missing. UW officials say the five scholars are in Seattle for a three-month research and training program.