A total of 26 soldiers have been killed in a Taliban assault on an Afghan National Security base in southern Kandahar province.

A suicide attacker has targeted a highly secure diplomatic area of Kabul with a truck bomb, killing 90 people and wounding up to 400.

Avalanches have killed at least 29 people in Afghanistan’s mountainous north east as rescuers struggled to reach the worst-hit areas cut off by heavy snow.

The Taliban may recapture some of the territory in Afghanistan which has been taken during battles involving British troops, the Nato commander has warned.