Five Pakistani men have been arrested in Afghanistan in connection with the Taliban massacre of 134 schoolchildren in the Pakistani city of Peshawar last month, officials from both countries said yesterday.

The US consistently ignores the lessons of its past blunders in conflicts on the world stage — and so repeats them, writes Brahma Chellaney.

Nearly five years after his capture by insurgents, Sgt Bowe Bergdahl’s "safety and health were both in jeopardy" and officials had to act quickly to obtain his release, Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said yesterday.

The only American soldier held prisoner in Afghanistan has been freed by the Taliban in exchange for the release of five Afghan detainees from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay.

The only American soldier held prisoner in Afghanistan has been freed and is in US custody, according to US officials.

Pakistan is freeing seven more Taliban prisoners to facilitate a peace process aimed at reaching a political resolution to the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The Afghan Taliban has said it is ready to hand over a US soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of its senior operatives being held at Guantanamo Bay.

A bomb blast has killed at least 14 people at an election campaign rally held by a pro-Taliban party in north-west Pakistan.

Pakistani militants killed at least 41 people in two separate incidents, officials yesterday said, challenging assertions that military offensives have broken the back of hardline Islamist groups.

The Pakistani politician who put a bounty on the anti-Islam filmmaker’s head has impressed the country’s Taliban militants so much that they are taking him off their hit list.

Pakistan’s top court has dismissed the prime minister ushering in a new round of political turmoil.

A Pakistani parliamentary commission today demanded an end to American drone attacks inside the country and an apology for deadly US air strikes in November as part of proposed new terms in the country’s troubled relations with the United States.

Pakistan has appointed a new head of intelligence, injecting some uncertainty in America’s dealings with an agency crucial to its hopes of negotiating a peace deal with the Afghan Taliban and keeping pressure on al Qaida.

Afghanistan’s president has appealed for Pakistan’s help in negotiating a peace deal with Taliban militants before a summit today that will also include Iran’s leader.

The presidents of Afghanistan and Iran have convened in Pakistan for a three-way summit that is expected to focus on steps Islamabad can take to bring about peace talks with the Afghan Taliban.

The Afghan Taliban say they have reached a preliminary deal with the Gulf state of Qatar to open a liaison office there that could have a key role in peace talks to end more than a decade of war.

Pakistan state TV said the death toll from an alleged Nato helicopter attack on a Pakistani army checkpoint near the Afghan border has risen to 25 soldiers.

The killing of Osama bin Laden may weaken al-Qaida’s influence on the Afghan Taliban, the US military commander in Afghanistan has said.

US missiles killed 25 people in an al Qaida and Taliban sanctuary close to the Afghan border today, Pakistani officials said, signalling American intent to press ahead with such attacks despite renewed protests by Islamabad.

A roadside bomb has struck a convoy carrying a prominent hardline Islamist politician in north-western Pakistan, killing 10 people, police said.

A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle attacked a police checkpoint in north-western Pakistan today, killing 13 people, police said.

A suicide bomber linked to the Pakistani Taliban has killed 31 soldiers in an attack at an army training camp.

A young suicide bomber in a school uniform attacked soldiers during morning exercises at a Pakistani army training camp today, killing 27 troops and wounding 40 others, police and the military said.

The Afghan government has been holding secret talks for months with a Taliban group linked to al Qaida, a source said today.

Two British brothers were at the heart of an al Qaida terror plot against British and other European cities, intelligence sources said today.

Pakistan’s government should negotiate with the country’s Taliban militants to ease the relentless security crisis in the nuclear-armed, US-allied nation, the top opposition leader said.

Hundreds of Islamist militants have attacked a checkpoint on Pakistan’s Afghan border, and nearly three dozen Pakistani paramilitary troops are missing, security officials said today.

Up to 18 American missiles slammed into a Taliban sanctuary in Pakistan close to the Afghan border today, killing 14 alleged insurgents in the third such strike since a failed car bombing in New York drew fresh attention to the region, officials said.

Suspected US missiles killed 10 people in a militant-controlled region close to the Afghan border today, the first such strike since an alleged Pakistani-trained extremist was linked to a bombing attempt in Times Square.

A suicide bomber attacked a hospital in the south-west Pakistani city of Quetta today, killing at least seven people, as Shiite Muslims gathered to mourn a murdered bank manager.

Two suicide bombers targeting army vehicles detonated explosives within seconds of each other in the Pakistani city of Lahore today, killing at least 39 people.

Intelligence experts were trying to establish the identity of an American terror suspect arrested in Pakistan today as doubts emerged that he was al Qaida’s US-born spokesman.

A suicide car bomber struck a building where police interrogate high-value suspects in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore today, killing at least 11 people and wounding scores more including women and children heading to school.

A bomb at a mosque in Pakistan’s north-western tribal belt killed 29 people today.

A Pakistan military chief confirmed today that the Afghan Taliban’s number two leader has been arrested.

THE Taliban’s top military commander has been arrested in a joint CIA-Pakistani operation in Pakistan in a major victory against the insurgents as US troops push into their heartland in southern Afghanistan, officials said yesterday.

The Taliban released a video today purporting to show a US soldier who was captured more than five months ago in eastern Afghanistan.

Pakistan may launch a new military offensive near the Afghan border where militant leaders are believed to have fled to escape a government onslaught against the Taliban in South Waziristan, the prime minister said.

TWO bombs exploded in a market in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar yesterday, killing six people, and gunmen on rooftops ambushed police as they arrived at the scene.

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai said today he met Taliban militants in attempts to bring peace to the country and urged supporters of the fundamentalist militia to lay down their weapons.

The Afghanistan opposition group, the Northern Alliance, has said it will support America's assault against the ruling Afghan Taliban.

The Northern Alliance have claimed responsibility for the attacks on Kabul, Afghanistan.

Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden has warned that Muslims are under siege from a corrupt West and urged his followers to prepare for holy war.