SUSPECTED Taliban militants hanged an old woman and her son from a tree in southern Afghanistan, after accusing them of spying for the Government.

After 25 years of fighting that left more than a million dead, Afghanistan’s government is considering setting up a special war crimes court and a truth-seeking commission to document atrocities, an official said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai will offer a government post to an anti-Taliban warlord with a history of alleged human rights abuses, it was revealed today.

A MAN carrying explosives blew himself up near a powerful Afghan warlord in Kabul yesterday, injuring several people but not the apparent target, officials said.

Four foreign inmates overpowered their guard and took his AK-47 rifle, starting a shoot-out at Kabul’s main prison today that left at least six dead, the jail’s warden said.

Hamid Karzai’s chief rivals in Afghanistan’s presidential election conceded defeat today after the US-backed interim leader was declared its first popularly-elected leader.

Hamid Karzai’s chief rivals in Afghanistan’s presidential election conceded defeat today, a day after the US-backed interim leader was declared the winner.

With half the votes counted and interim leader Hamid Karzai still holding a 40-point lead, the race for the Afghan presidency could be virtually decided today, a top election official said.

Hamid Karzai’s victory in Afghanistan’s first presidential election could be sealed within days, a top election adviser said today – unless investigators uncover major fraud.

Interim leader Hamid Karzai was certain to win Afghanistan’s landmark presidential election, his campaign spokesman said today, after early returns gave him a commanding advantage.

Afghanistan’s interim leader, Hamid Karzai, held a 45% lead today in the preliminary results of the country’s first presidential election, though a chief rival said the validity of the vote was in doubt.

Early results today put interim leader Hamid Karzai far ahead of his chief rivals in Afghanistan’s landmark presidential election as the vote count was suspended for the beginning of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Foreign experts worked through a final handful of complaints from candidates in Afghanistan’s first-ever-presidential ballot, while an election official said counting of the historic vote was finally set to begin today – five days after the election.

Elections heralded as the dawn of democracy in war-ravaged Afghanistan will be hijacked by warlords who are able to intimidate voters and candidates to entrench their own power, a leading rights group warned today.

An Afghan prisoner pleaded for his freedom before a military review tribunal at Guantanamo Bay that journalists were allowed to witness for the first time today.

FORCES of a northern warlord overran the capital of a remote Afghan province yesterday, the interior minister said, in a burst of factional violence undermining the authority of US-backed President Hamid Karzai.

Forces of a northern strongman overran the capital of a remote Afghan province today in a burst of factional violence undermining the authority of US-backed President Hamid Karzai.

A powerful warlord launched an assault against a rival commander and a provincial governor in northern Afghanistan today.

AFGHANISTAN’S constitutional convention began voting yesterday, but up to a quarter of the 502 delegates refused to cast ballots for a draft charter backed by the United States after a long, acrimonious meeting.

By Amir ShahHUNDREDS of rival militiamen with tanks and artillery faced off along a narrow front line in northern Afghanistan yesterday, as the government scrambled to stop what it described as the worst fighting in months.

The UN is investigating reports that witnesses with possible information about alleged mass killings in northern Afghanistan have been executed.

The United Nations today promised to send a delegation to investigate the discovery of a mass grave – believed to contain the bodies of hundreds of Taliban soldiers.

Fighting raged today between rival Afghan warlords - both of them officials in the interim government.

Afghanistan’s de facto government, the Northern Alliance, claimed today that it has crushed the Taliban uprising in a prison outside Mazar-e-Sharif following three days of intense fighting.

The Taliban today claimed to have had positive talks with Northern Alliance leaders in negotiating the surrender of their troops in the besieged city of Kunduz.

The Taliban's reclusive leader has appealed to Afghans fleeing the country's capital to return home.

Afghanistan’s Taliban Government has recaptured some of the territory it lost to its enemies in the Northern Alliance over the past few days.