NATO wins Afghanistan support at Russian summit

Welcoming the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to the Lisbon meeting, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen saluted what he said was an historic turning point in the often tense ties between the Moscow and the West.

The allies will invite the Moscow to take part in the development of the Europe's anti-missile shield and hope to agree on a common statement on security threats, Mr Rasmussen told the assembled leaders in his opening address.

"We've come to a turning point in the relations between the 29 nations represented here in the NATO-Russia Council. The nations represented here understand that our security is indivisible," Mr Rasmussen said.

"Starting today we will begin working to see how we pursue NATO-Russia missile defence cooperation," he said, speaking one day after the Western allies agreed to deploy radars and missile-defence batteries in Europe.

"There are many issues to deal with, but the most important point is this, for the first time NATO nations and Russia will discuss cooperating to protect European territory and populations," he said.

"I'm pleased to be able to already announce today the completion of arrangements that will allow for the expanded transit of equipment to the ISAF mission via the Russian Federation," Mr Rasmussen added.

Gillard heads to Lisbon for the NATO talks

The NATO talks are expected to focus on the future of the war in the Afghanistan and the timing for a handover to the local security forces.

Ms Gillard says she will be emphasising that the transition to the Afghan control cannot be rushed.

The Prime Minister will be back in Australia in time for the Parliament on Monday.

Earlier today, Ms Gillard wrapped up the three-week debate on Afghanistan in the House of Representatives.

During the debate many politicians on both sides spoke in defence of Australia's involvement in the war.

But Greens MPs and senators and independent MP Andrew Wilkie demanded troops be brought home immediately.

Ms Gillard reiterated her intention not to have Australia abandon Afghanistan and said she would be arguing the point at the NATO summit.

"Our eyes shouldn't be on the calendar, they should be on the ground and working out whether the time to transition should be right," she told Radio National.

"We shouldn't transition out only to have to transition back in some time later."

British soldier was killed in Afghanistan

A British soldier has been killed in Afghanistan, Britain's Ministry of the Defense said Wednesday.

The soldier, from 1st Battalion Irish Guards serving with Combined Force Nahr-e Saraj (North), died from a gunshot wound sustained in an ambush during a patrol in the Nahr-e Saraj (North) district of the Helmand Province.

"The soldier was carrying out vital work mentoring an Afghan national army patrol, in order to develop their ability to protect the people of the Nahr-e Saraj (North), when he was struck by small-arms fire, said Lt. Col. David Eastman, a spokesman for Task Force Helmand.

In all, 344 British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October 7, 2001.

8 Fort Campbell soldiers killed in the Afghanistan

Eight Fort Campbell soldiers were killed over the weekend in the two separate attacks in Afghanistan.

Three soldiers were killed in the Kandahar province on Saturday when a suicide bomber detonated a vest bomb in the southern Afghanistan, the military said Tuesday. They were 27-year-old Staff Sgt. Juan L. Rivadeneira of Davie, Fla.; 20-year-old Cpl. Jacob R. Carver of Freeman, Mo.; and 20-year-old Spc. Jacob C. Carroll of Clemmons, N.C.

They were assigned to the Company B, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.

Five soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team were killed in a separate attack Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, Fort Campbell spokeswoman Kelly DeWitt said Tuesday. The military did not release details on the attack or their names.

Rivadeneira joined the Army in May 2003 and arrived at Fort Campbell in May 2009. He is survived by his wife, Melissa Rivadeneira and son, Juan A. Rivadeneira of Germany; and mother, Yenni S. Rivadeneira of Venezuela.

Carver joined the Army in September 2008 and arrived at Fort Campbell in February 2009. He is survived by his mother, Rosa M. Carver, and father, Arthur F. Carver, of Freeman, Mo.

Carroll joined the Army in January 2009 and arrived at Fort Campbell in June 2009. He is survived by his mother, Cole M. Masear of Archdale, N.C.; and father, Jackie C. Carroll of Clemmons, N.C.

7 NATO troops died after attacks in Afghanistan

Seven NATO troops died after attacks in the Afghanistan on Sunday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said.

Five troops died following an insurgent attack in the eastern Afghanistan, ISAF said, though it did not provide details about the attack.

Another ISAF service member died following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan, ISAF said Sunday, after earlier announcing the death of another servicemember in an IED attack in the southern part of the country.

It was not clear whether those two troops died as a result of the same attack.

Sunday marked the deadliest day for NATO forces in Afghanistan since October 14, when 7 NATO troops were killed.

There have been 34 coalition casualties in Afghanistan so far this month, according to a CNN count.

ISAF did not disclose the identifies of the service members killed, citing its policy of deferring casualty identification procedures to relevant national authorities.

But the British defense ministry said in a statement Sunday that one of its soldiers died Sunday in southern Afghanistan.

The soldier was assigned to 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment and was serving as part of Combined Force Nad'e Ali (South), according to the statement. The soldier died in an improvised explosive device attack in the southern Nad'e Ali area of Helmand Province.

The soldier was part of a security patrol, Task Force Helmand spokesman Lt. Col. David Eastman said in a statement.

Next of kin have been informed, Britain's Ministry of Defence said.

Taliban chief vows to continue the resistance in Afghanistan

The elusive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar on Monday repeated his resolve to persist with the resistance against the NATO-led forces in the Afghanistan.

"The resistance will continue as long as the invaders are stationed there," Omar said in his message emailed to media on the eve of Eidul Adha, the biggest annual religious festival celebrated in the Muslim countries.

In the message written in the Pashtu and English languages, the Taliban chief, who has escaped the U.S. military manhunt since the U.S.-led allied forces toppled the Taliban regime in the late 2001, reiterated that the solution to the 9-year Afghan conflict was the withdrawal of the foreign forces from Afghanistan.

"Islamic Emirate (the name of ousted Taliban regime) believes that the solution of the issue is withdrawal of the foreign invading troops and establishment of a true Islamic and independent country," Omar said in the message.

Afghan, NATO forces kill 15 insurgents in south Afghanistan

A joint Afghan and NATO patrol have repelled Taliban attack in the Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, killing 15 insurgents, the military alliance said Friday.

"A combined Afghan and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) patrol repelled an insurgent attack while conducting a dismounted patrol in the Sangin district of Helmand province Thursday," the NATO-led ISAF said in a statement.

The joint patrol came under attack from small-arms fire shortly after a member of the patrol was struck by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) but the force identified multiple firing positions and then returned fire, the statement added.

It said the patrol continued to take fire while trying to evacuate its casualties by helicopters adding an air weapons team was called by forces to pound the militants' position.

"Initial reports indicate 15 insurgents were killed in the engagement, with no civilian casualties," the statement said.

Vehicle-bomb blast reported near NATO convoy in Afghanistan

A vehicle bomb exploded near a military base on the edge of the Kabul Friday, injuring at least one person, authorities said.

Initial reports say that the blast happened as a convoy passed by with troops the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, the force said in a statement. The blast occurred near the Camp Julien, where ISAF troops train the Afghan forces as well as some newly arriving coalition soldiers.

Earlier reports said the attack killed one person, but the Afghan police sources later the bomb caused an injury.

The attack also happened near Darul Aman palace, a vacant structure built in the 1920s that through the years has been destroyed by fire, turned into a museum, used as a defense ministry and shelled by the Mujahedeen after the Soviets left.

Attacks across Afghanistan kill 10, including 3 NATO service members and 5 Afghan policemen

A string of attacks across the Afghanistan has killed 10, including three NATO service members and five of the Afghan policemen, officials said on Wednesday.

A suicide car bomber blew himself up Wednesday afternoon at a bazaar in the Khost province in the country's east, killing a policeman and an Afghan soldier, provincial police chief Abdul Hakim Eshaqzai said. Four others were injured in the attack in the Dwa Mandala district.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the insurgent group was responsible for the attack, which targeted the foreigners. He said 14 people were killed and nine others were wounded, but the Taliban regularly exaggerate casualties caused by their attacks.

In the north, four policemen were killed in an ambush Tuesday night as they were driving through Imam Sahib district along the border with the Tajikistan, said Muhbobullah Sayedi, a spokesman for the governor Kunduz province. Violence is on the rise in northern Afghanistan, where pockets of the Taliban insurgents are increasingly targeting government workers.

NATO on Wednesday confirmed the deaths of three coalition service members. Two died in the south — one in a bomb blast Tuesday and another during an insurgent attack on Wednesday. The third coalition service member died Wednesday in fighting in the east.

So far this year, 625 U.S. and international troops have died in the Afghanistan, according to a count by The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, at least one de-miner was killed and another was wounded Wednesday morning in Chaparhar district of Nangarhar province when the de-mining team's vehicle hit a roadside bomb, officials from the province said.

Marine officer from Camp Pendleton killed in Afghanistan

A Marine infantry officer from the Camp Pendleton has been killed during the combat operations in the Helmand province, Afghanistan, the Department of the Defense announced on Wednesday.

Second Lt. Robert Kelly, 29, of Tallahassee, Fla., was killed on Tuesday by a roadside bomb while on foot patrol. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton.

Kelly, commissioned in the December 2008, was on his third combat deployment.

Twenty-three Marines from Camp Pendleton have been killed in Afghanistan since late July.

Two NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Two NATO soldiers and an Afghan government official were killed in the separate attacks across the troubled country, authorities said Tuesday.

The latest deaths brought to 629 the number of foreign soldiers killed so far this year in the Afghan war, according to an AFP count.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said one soldier was killed in an insurgent attack on Monday in the country's east, and another in the south by a bomb on Tuesday.

Their nationalities were not released and there were no further details.

AFP's tally is based on a count kept by the independent website icasualties.org, which also logs deaths of soldiers evacuated out of Afghanistan for treatment of injuries.

NATO and the United States have more than 150,000 troops deployed in the Afghanistan to fight the insurgency, led by Taliban militants who have stretched their presence to most parts of the country.

On Tuesday, a district governor was killed in another Taliban-style bomb explosion in eastern Paktia province, local authorities said.

Shwak district chief, Ali Abad, was on his way to work when his vehicle struck the device and was killed on the spot, provincial spokesman, Rohullah Samoon told AFP.

"The district chief was martyred in the blast," Samoon said.

Home-made bombs or improvised explosive devices are weapons of choice for the Taliban and other militants.

International and Afghan forces are currently engaged in a major offensive around Kandahar, the largest city in southern Afghanistan, aimed at pushing out the insurgents to bring an end to the long war.

ISAF: Insurgents killed more than 100 civilians last month

The NATO-led command in Afghanistan said insurgent fighters were responsible for the scores of civilian casualties in the October -- more than 100 deaths and 200 injuries.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force, which has been staunchly criticized by the Afghans over the years for civilian casualties during the war, said the latest violence belies senior Taliban claims that the insurgents have protected civilians.

"The insurgency continues to exhibit the striking hypocrisy between their stated objective to protect civilian lives and their actions throughout Afghanistan," Rear Adm. Vic Beck, ISAF spokesman, said Tuesday.

"Their message simply does not match the reality that every day, insurgents are deliberately killing, injuring and intimidating Afghan civilians."

ISAF breaks down the incidents in four categories.

There were 150 examples of "indiscriminate violence," such as roadside bombs and small arms and indirect fire, and 75 examples of "anti-development" incidents, such as attacks on convoys, workers, and bombs set off near a truck and under a bridge.

There were 45 examples of the "imposition of extremist ideology." They include using a mosque as a firing point and deploying children as human shields. Other examples are assassinations in mosques, police kidnappings, bombings in and around schools, and school closings.

US troops to begin pullout from Afghanistan next year: Obama

US President Barack Obama today said that American troops would begin pulling out from the Afghanistan next year but made it clear that his country would not leave the people or the region to violent extremists "who threaten us all".

Obama claimed that the US-led coalition forces were making progress in their mission to break the Taliban's momentum and to train the Afghan forces so that they could take the lead for their security.

In his address to members of both houses of the Parliament, the US president acknowledged India's contribution in reconstructing Afghanistan.

"America's fight against al-Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates is why we persevere in Afghanistan, where major development assistance from India has improved the lives of the Afghan people," he said. "We're making progress in our mission to break the Taliban's momentum and to train Afghan forces so they can take the lead for their security."

Obama said he had made it clear that American forces would begin the transition to Afghan responsibility next summer and that America's commitment to the Afghan people would endure.

"The United States will not abandon the people of Afghanistan — or the region — to the violent extremists who threaten us all," he said.

Buffalo-area soldier killed by IED in Afghanistan

The Pentagon says a 21-year-old soldier from the suburban Buffalo has been killed by insurgents in the Afghanistan.

The Department of the Defense announced Saturday that Spc. Blake D. Whipple of Williamsville died Friday in Ghazni province of wounds suffered when his unit was attacked with an improvised explosive device.

He was assigned to the Army's 7th Engineering Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, based at Fort Drum in the northern New York.

The soldier's parents, David and Kim Whipple, told Buffalo media outlets that their son was a combat engineer assigned to clear roads of IEDs.

Whipple was a a 2007 graduate of Williamsville East High School. David Whipple said his son joined the Army in early 2009 after attending three western New York colleges.

Nato troops killed in Afghanistan

Two coalition service members have been killed by a bomb in the volatile southern Afghanistan, Nato said.

No further details or the nationalities of those who died have been released.

An Afghan official in the Kandahar said a suicide attack on the Nato troops had also killed the civilians, but it was not immediately clear if the two incidents were the same.

The attacker was on a motorbike, said provincial spokesman Zelmai Ayubi.

He did not have casualty figures for either troops or civilians.

Nato and Afghan troops began a major operation to wrest back control of the south from the Taliban insurgency in July.

They have established some pockets of security but insurgents still carry out daily attacks and bombings.

In a separate incident, a remotely piloted aircraft has crashed in Behsud district in eastern Nangarhar Province.

Nato said it was not carrying any weapons and the crash was not believed to be the result of enemy activity.

Remote-controlled drones are widely used in both Afghanistan and over the border with Pakistan for surveillance and to target insurgent leaders.

Foreign soldier dies in suspected insurgent attack in the Afghanistan

A soldier serving under the banner of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed Tuesday in the southern Afghanistan, the alliance said.

The soldier died in a suspected insurgent attack, the ISAF said without revealing the deceased's nationality or details about the nature of the attack.

The casualty came a day after two other ISAF troops died in a roadside bomb blast in the same volatile region. Most of the troops based there are from the United States, Britain and Canada.

A total of 614 foreign soldiers have been killed in the Afghanistan so far in the 2010, the bloodiest year for the 150,000 US and other NATO troops that are currently based in the war-torn country.

Fort Campbell soldier died in Afghanistan

A Fort Campbell soldier from the California died this weekend after his unit was attacked in Afghanistan with an improvised explosive device.

The military said 24-year-old Spc. Brett W. Land, of Wasco, Calif., died on Saturday after the explosion occurred in the Zhari district in the Kandahar. He was assigned to the Company C, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.

Land joined the Army in the November 2008 and arrived at the Fort Campbell in August 2009.

He is survived by his wife, Sarah E. Meija, and daughter, Riley E. Land, of Hesperia, Calif.; and parents, Kenneth and Gretchen Land, both of Bakersfield, Calif.

78 Taliban Killed in the Failed Attack on US Base in the Afghanistan

The U.S. military says that 78 Taliban fighters died in a failed attack on a U.S. base in the Paktika province of the Afghanistan on Saturday. Afghan and coalition forces are searching four areas around the Margah Combat Outpost in the Bermel region of the province, where there was direct fire and helicopter attacks as insurgents tried unsuccessfully to surround and overrun the base.

The military has confirmed the deaths of 38 insurgents; another estimated 40 deaths have yet to be confirmed. Two insurgents were taken captive and are being questioned. Five coalition troops were been injured, but all continued to fight.

The fact the insurgents left both their dead and the wounded laying there on the battlefield is significant,” said U.S. Army Major General John F. Campbell, commanding general for NATO’s Regional Command-East. We had multiple indicators an attack like this was going to happen in that area in an attempt to gain the victory before the end of the fighting season, and our combined Afghan and coalition forces were ready for them.

U.S. Army Brigadier General Stephen Townsend, deputy commanding general for the operations said, Not only did the Soldiers and Afghan Border Policemen warn of the attack, they also disrupted it for approximately 20 minutes allowing the main defense to decisively respond. Once their mission was been complete, they repositioned to reinforce the main defense.