Middle East
U.S. Drone Strike Targets Taliban Leader
An American drone strike targeted the leader of the Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, in Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, United States officials said on Saturday, in the most significant American incursion inside Pakistan since Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden, the Qaeda leader, in 2011.
US denies any planned talks with Afghan Taliban in Doha
The White House has denied media reports that US officials planned to meet with the Afghan Taliban in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Thursday, a spokeswoman has said. "The United States currently has no meetings with the Taliban scheduled in Doha," Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the White House's National Security Council, said on Thursday.
Karzai says US should re-engage Taliban peace talks or leave country
Afghan President Hamid Karzai appeared to stiffen his resolve Saturday not to sign a security pact with Washington, saying the United States should leave Afghanistan unless it could restart peace talks with the Taliban. "In exchange for this agreement, we want peace for the people of Afghanistan. Otherwise, it's better for them to leave and our country will find its own way," Karzai told a news conference.
False Claims in Afghan Accusations on U.S. Raid Add to Doubts on Karzai
It was the kind of dossier that the Taliban often publish, purporting to show the carnage inflicted during a raid by American forces: photographs of shattered houses and bloodied, broken bodies, and video images of anguish at a village funeral, all with gut-churning impact and no proof of authenticity.
Explosion near US Consulate in Afghanistan
The Taliban claimed responsibility for a car bomb that exploded outside a U.S. Consulate in the western Afghanistan province of Herat on Friday, followed by a gunfight between security forces and fighters. At least seven people -- three security-force members and four attackers -- were reportedly killed.