A Taliban suicide bomb and gun assault on a government security building during morning rush hour in central Kabul killed at least 28 people and wounded more than 320, in the most deadly single attack in the Afghan capital since 2011.

Two service personnel from the RAF have been killed following a helicopter crash in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

A Taliban attack on a Kabul guesthouse has left 14 people dead, including nine foreigners, in the most audacious assault by the insurgents in the Afghan capital since the start of their spring offensive.

At least 35 people were killed when a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle blew himself up at a bank in eastern Afghanistan.

Ghani seeks to improve relations with Obama after Karzai exit

Afghanistan assumed full responsibility for security from departing foreign combat troops yesterday, a day after Afghan army mortar shells killed at least 20 civilians in Helmand province.

Taliban suicide attackers in Afghanistan killed the South African leader of a foreign aid group, his son and daughter and an worker in an assault on the agency’s Kabul offices.

At least nine members of the Afghan security forces have been killed in a suicide vehicle bomb attack in eastern Logar province.

Trucks and donkeys loaded with ballot boxes made their way to counting centres as Afghans and the international community sighed with relief that national elections were held without major violence despite a Taliban threat.

The number of children killed and wounded in Afghanistan’s war jumped by 34% last year as the Taliban stepped up attacks across the country and continued to lay thousands of roadside bombs, the United Nations said today.

An American soldier was stabbed to death by an Afghan teenager as he played with a group of local children.

President Barack Obama and Afghan president Hamid Karzai have agreed to speed up the schedule for moving Afghanistan’s security forces into the lead across the country, with US troops shifting fully to a support role.

The Taliban has dismissed as Western propaganda UN reports that its roadside bombs are causing the bulk of civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan.

A suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle near the gate of a US-Afghan combat outpost in eastern Afghanistan this morning, wounding 10 Afghan soldiers, officials said.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has accused the Taliban of beheading 17 villagers, including two women, in volatile Helmand province, in a gruesome attack recalling the dark days of the hardline group’s rule before their 2001 ouster.

The Taliban’s reclusive leader says his fighters have infiltrated the Afghan police and army and are successfully killing a rising number of US-led coalition forces.

An Afghan policeman has opened fire on Nato soldiers in the fifth such attack in a week, but this time no-one was killed.

Two gunmen in Afghan National Army uniforms have turned their weapons on Nato troops, killing an American service member and wounding two others.

Major donors pledged yesterday to give Afghanistan $16bn (€13.02bn) in development aid through 2015 as they try to prevent it from sliding back into chaos when foreign troops leave, but demanded reforms to fight widespread corruption.

Afghan police say Taliban suicide bombers have attacked a lakeside hotel north of Kabul, and that militants armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades have taken hostages and are continuing to fight Afghan security forces there.

Rockets have crashed into a US base and a house in northern Afghanistan along the Pakistan border, killing two Nato soldiers and three civilians, officials say.

An assassin yesterday shot dead a former high-ranking Taliban official working on reconciling Afghanistan’s insurgency with the government — a fresh blow to peace efforts on the day Kabul announced it was gradually taking the lead from the US-led coalition for providing security in much of the country.

A British commander has warned against international forces “rushing for the exit” in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's president has raised another condition for a long-awaited strategic partnership with the United States.

A brazen, 18-hour Taliban attack on the Afghan capital ended today when insurgents in two buildings were overcome by heavy gunfire from Afghan-led forces and pre-dawn air assaults from US-led coalition helicopters.

Afghan security forces shot and killed two British troops and one American in two separate incidents, the latest in a rising number of attacks in which Afghan forces have turned their weapons on their foreign partners.

A third Nato service member was killed by a member of the Afghan security forces today, it has emerged.

Nato’s top military commander said today that an investigation into this week’s Koran burnings at a US base in Afghanistan is pushing ahead and urged Afghans to be patient and exercise restraint.

Anti-American demonstrations are under way on the outskirts of the Afghan capital and in another city over an incident that the US says was inadvertent burning of Muslim holy books at a military base.

Nato’s top official has joined the US and France in calling for Afghan forces to take the lead in all combat operations by mid-2013, while continuing to help in fighting the Taliban.

An Afghan soldier shot and killed a Nato service member in southern Afghanistan, officials said today.

At least six civilians have been killed today in a suicide bomb attack at the entrance to a Nato base in southern Afghanistan.

A man wearing an Afghan army uniform opened fire on coalition troops in western Afghanistan, Nato officials said today.

An estimated 200 insurgents were killed or captured in two Nato military operations that have just ended in eastern Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama says he still intends to withdraw 33,000 US troops from Afghanistan next year and the administration’s strategy for winding down the war remains unchanged.

The two-day Taliban attack on the US embassy, Nato headquarters and other buildings in the heart of Kabul has ended and all the militants have been killed, the Afghan government said today.

Taliban gunmen have stormed one of Afghanistan’s premier hotels, sparking a five-hour battle that left 19 people dead, including all eight attackers.

A senior Afghan officer shot dead eight American troops and a civilian before being killed himself at Kabul airport today.

A veteran Afghan officer shot dead eight Nato troops and a civilian before being killed himself after an argument at Kabul airport today.

A rogue Afghan army officer shot dead six Nato soldiers before being killed himself today.

Insurgent suicide bombers and gunmen stormed an Afghan police compound today, setting off explosions and firing assault rifles in a co-ordinated attack that killed six members of the Afghan security forces.

A raid by Nato soldiers and a back-up airstrike killed 15 Taliban in southern Afghanistan today.

An air strike and a raid by ground troops in Afghanistan has killed eight insurgents, including a senior Taliban leader who spearheaded attacks against Afghan security forces in northern Afghanistan, Nato said today.

An Afghan soldier “executed” a prisoner on a British base in Helmand province, Ministry of Defence documents disclose.