Afghan President Hamid Karzai said yesterday that his government will recruit local tribesmen to fight the biggest increase in Taliban violence in years.

An outspoken female politicians was verbally and physically attacked by her colleagues after saying on the parliament floor that some of Afghanistan’s mujahedeen leaders were criminals who shouldn’t now be lawmakers, officials said today.

A rift between Afghanistan and Pakistan deepened today when the Afghan government insisted its intelligence about Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives allegedly hiding in Pakistan was accurate, after Pakistan’s leader said it was outdated.

THE US military and the Afghan government said yesterday they will investigate a TV report claiming US soldiers in Afghanistan burned the bodies of two Taliban fighters and taunted other Islamic militants.

The US military said today it found “repugnant” and would investigate a television report that claimed US soldiers in Afghanistan burned the bodies of two Taliban fighters and then used the action to taunt other Islamic militants.