Paktia, Afghanistan News

Saturday is Armed Forces Day, a day when the nation honors the contributions that military service members make toward ensuring its security.

The main road through the Panjshir Valley, shown here April 9, remains under construction.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has irked Washington with his frequent criticism of American military operations in his country, said Thursday that his government is now ready to let the U.S. have nine bases across Afghanistan after most foreign troops withdraw in 2014.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in a speech Thursday that the United States wants to retain nine bases in Afghanistan after NATO's formal withdrawal in 2014, his first concrete statement on American plans to stay in the country beyond 2014.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday that he could allow the United States to keep nine military bases in the country as part of negotiations over a long-term security pact with Washington.

A combined Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban leader and two other insurgents in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Afghanistan's Helmand province today, military officials reported.

The future of Afghanistan begins at the end of next year, after U.S. combat troops depart and Afghan forces take over for keeps.

Afghan forces claimed they overran a Pakistani-held border crossing in a remote area Thursday - an event that provoked a spontaneous outpouring of nationalist sentiment in the capital, sending thousands of students into the streets, and sparking lively debate on social network sites.

A combined Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Taliban leader and two other insurgents in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Afghanistan's Helmand province today, military officials reported.

Two hospitals being built in Afghanistan through U.S. reconstruction aid are financially unsustainable and cost five times as much as the ones they are replacing, U.S. inspectors have found.

A combined Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Haqqani network leader in the Nadir Shah Kot district of Afghanistan's Khost province today, military officials reported.

PULI ALAM / GARDEZ, Afghanistan Send to friend " Taliban insurgents have seized eight Turks and an Afghan from a civilian helicopter which made an emergency landing in a Taliban-controlled area of eastern Afghanistan, officials said Monday, AFP has reported.

Medieval Afghan fort under threat By Sahil Mangal Hundreds of Afghans gathered at the Bala Hissar fortress near the southern town of Gardez last month to mark Nowruz, the start of the traditional new year.