Pakistan’s military ruler is expected to sweep the vote in today’s presidential election, but could yet face disqualification by the country’s Supreme Court.

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will return to Pakistan on October 18 to press for the restoration of democracy, regardless of the outcome of talks with its US-allied military president, her party said today.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai ordered the body of a slain top Taliban commander to be exchanged for the release of five Afghan health workers kidnapped in the country’s south, an official said today.

MORE than 20,000 Afghans gathered in Kabul yesterday to remember Northern Alliance military commander Ahmad Shah Masood, slain by al-Qaida operatives two days before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced his candidacy today for landmark October elections after several days of heated political wrangling.

The arrest of an Iraqi Kurd accused of plotting to assassinate the Afghan president and the defence minister shows the war on terror is not over, a senior Afghan intelligence chief said today.

Afghanistan’s interim defence minister has survived an apparent assassination attempt after a bomb exploded near his convoy in the eastern city of Jalalabad today.

Suspected al Qaida and Taliban fighters planned to kill British and other peacekeepers by setting off car bombs in Afghanistan’s capital, authorities have said.

UN peacekeepers have begun patrolling the streets of the Afghan capital Kabul today, despite continued disagreement over the exact size and shape of the force planned for the war-torn country.

Osama bin Laden has left the mountains of eastern Afghanistan and entered Pakistan, Afghanistan's defence minister said today.

The future of the British-led multinational security force in Afghanistan was unclear today as Afghan leaders were divided about how long it should remain in the war-ravaged nation.

Afghan leaders were divided today over how long the British-led multinational security force should remain in the war-ravaged nation.

The first British peacekeepers have flown into Afghanistan as the United Nations approved their mission to help the nation heal after decades of war.

Afghanistan's defence minister says there are sharp differences with the UN and even within the new government over the role of the peace-keeping force.

The opposition alliance in northern Afghanistan reviewed its forces today and pledged to launch an attack against the Taliban without waiting for US military action.