Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah has told thousands of supporters he plans to declare victory as he claimed massive fraud was responsible for preliminary results putting his rival ahead.

Afghan officials are estimating that the turnout in a presidential run-off was about 60%, and nearly 50 people have been killed in attacks nationwide.

New partial results in Afghanistan’s presidential election released yesterday show candidate Abdullah Abdullah is still the front- runner, though a runoff election looks likely.

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.

Afghans flocked to polling stations nationwide today, defying a threat of violence by the Taliban, to cast their votes in what promises to be the nation’s first democratic transfer of power.

A Swedish journalist has been shot to death while he was talking to a translator on a street in Kabul, the second killing in two months to strike foreigners in an affluent and well-guarded area of the Afghan capital.

Campaigning officially opened yesterday in Afghanistan’s presidential election, with 11 candidates vying to succeed president Hamid Karzai in polls seen as a crucial test of whether Afghanistan can ensure a stable political transition.

Afghanistan’s president has said he will not immediately sign a security deal with the United States, ignoring a recommendation by an assembly of Afghan elders and leaders that he do so by the end of the year.

America and Afghanistan have agreed on a security pact that could clear the way for thousands of US troops to train and assist Afghan forces after the Nato combat mission ends in 2014.

A suicide bomber tore through the Afghan capital, killing at least six people near the site where thousands of elders are to gather next week to discuss a controversial security agreement with the United States, officials said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has extended talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the contentious security deal to allow American troops to remain in the country after the Nato-led military mission ends next year.

The US has confirmed that American troops are holding a senior Pakistani Taliban commander.

Afghan officials have accused Nato of killing civilians in an airstrike that left at least 10 people dead in the country’s remote east.

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

Afghanistan’s president has urged neighbouring Pakistan to help peace talks with the Taliban, but hopes were low in both countries that much progress would be made.

WHEN Barack Obama made history in Nov 2008, Nitzan Horowitz, then covering the campaign for Israel’s Channel 10, had a front-row seat.

The Taliban’s reclusive leader has said his group is willing to start peace negotiations – even as he urged more attacks on foreign troops.

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.

The Taliban claimed responsibility today for an attack in Afghanistan that killed four American troops just hours after it announced it would hold talks with the US.

US officials say they will begin formal talks with the Taliban over Afghanistan at the group’s new Qatar office within days

A fierce battle between US-backed Afghan forces and Taliban militants in a remote corner of eastern Afghanistan left nearly 20 people dead, including 11 Afghan children killed in an airstrike and an American civilian adviser.

The cost of corruption in Afghanistan rose sharply last year to 3.9bn US dollars (€2.8bn), and half of all Afghans bribed public officials for services, the UN said today.

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 US has signalled it might not leave any troops in Afghanistan after its pull out, in spite of the Pentagon claiming thousands may be needed to contain al-Qaida.

US President Barack Obama will nominate Republican Chuck Hagel as his next defence secretary, a senior administration official said tonight.

A US Marine staff sergeant who urinated on dead Taliban insurgents and posed for photographs with the bodies has pleaded guilty to two charges in a military court, the Marine Corps said.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has welcomed news that nearly half of Britain's troops will be withdrawn from the country next year.

The Taliban will attend a meeting in France to talk about Afghanistan's future but will not discuss peace and reconciliation, the militant group's spokesman has said.

World leaders hailed President Barack Obama’s sweeping re-election, with allies pledging to deepen cooperation with the United States on fighting the world economic slump and maintaining security across the globe.

Italy’s prime minister today pledged not to abandon Afghanistan as his country pulls out its troops, saying Rome will “transform” its support but not leave altogether.

Afghanistan’s next presidential election will be held on April 5, 2014, the election commission said, in a vote seen as crucial for the future of the war-ravaged country.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has written letters to top political and religious leaders in Pakistan, denouncing the Taliban attack on a Pakistani teenager who is promoting girls’ education and asking them to help battle extremism in both countries.

Nato officials have expressed their regret after civilians were killed in an airstrike in Afghanistan which was targeting known insurgents.

Protests have started breaking out in parts of the Muslim world against an anti-Islam film which prompted violent protests at US embassies in the Middle East earlier this week.

Chanting “death to America,” hundreds of protesters angered by an anti-Islam film stormed the US Embassy compound in Yemen’s capital and burned the American flag today, the latest in a series of attacks on American diplomatic missions in the Middle East.

US officials have handed over formal control of Afghanistan’s only large-scale US-run prison to Kabul, even as a row between the two countries over thousands of Taliban and terror suspects held there marred the transfer.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai is moving to replace the country's intelligence chief and the ministers of defence and interior.

A US military investigation has determined that US troops burned up to 100 Qurans and other religious materials in Afghanistan during a February incident that led to deadly riots and strained relations between the two countries.

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.

Another Nato soldier was killed yesterday by an Afghan police officer, raising the coalition death toll from so-called “green on blue” shootings to nine in 11 days as the US urged Kabul to step up screening of recruits.

The carnage in Afghanistan continued unabated on a major Muslim holiday today, as attackers killed two pairs of brothers with links to the government and three Nato service members.

Representatives from the Afghan government have met with a top-ranking Taliban member in his prison cell in Pakistan, an official said, suggesting a small step toward re-opening stalled peace talks with the insurgent group.

Afghan government representatives have met with a top-ranking Taliban member in his prison cell in Pakistan, an official said, suggesting a small step toward reopening stalled peace talks with the insurgent group.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has issued an ambitious list of government reforms that orders his ministries, prosecutors and judiciary to fight bribery, nepotism and cronyism.