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.

Two clear frontrunners have emerged in Afghanistan’s presidential election as partial results showed a tight race that appears destined for a run-off vote.

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.

THIS year, Western troops will withdraw from Afghanistan after 13 years of war.

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.

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.

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

Suicide attackers blew up a car bomb and battled security forces outside Afghanistan’s presidential palace today after infiltrating one of the most secure areas of the capital, Kabul.

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.

Taliban suicide bombers blew up a car and stormed the traffic police headquarters in Kabul early today, setting off a gun battle which raged for six hours and left at least 10 people wounded, police said.

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.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai has welcomed news that nearly half of Britain's troops will be withdrawn from the country next year.

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.

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.

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.

Formal control of Afghanistan's only large-scale US-run prison has been handed over to Kabul, even as disagreements between the two countries over the 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.

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.

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.

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.

Afghanistan’s president has called on the Taliban to give up their weapons, saying that the group and its leader should join the political process.

Barack Obama’s government declared Afghanistan the United States’ newest “major non-Nato ally” today.

Militants crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan and killed 13 Pakistani troops, beheading seven of them, the Pakistani military have charged.

Eighteen people killed in a Nato air strike in eastern Afghanistan yesterday were all civilians, president Hamid Karzai said today.

An airstrike by the US-led Nato coalition has killed eight members of a family in eastern Afghanistan, local authorities have said.

All French combat forces will pull out of Afghanistan by the end of the year, France's new president said in Kabul today.

An assassin yesterday shot dead a former high-ranking Taliban official working on reconciling Afghanistan’s insurgency with the government — a fresh blow to peace efforts on the day Kabul announced it was gradually taking the lead from the US-led coalition for providing security in much of the country.

Afghanistan's president has raised another condition for a long-awaited strategic partnership with the United States.

A US soldier has been officially charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder over a shooting rampage in Afghanistan, military officials said today.

Al-Qaida’s leader has lashed out at Afghan clerics and politicians who support the Kabul government in an audio message posted today.

The American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers in a pre-dawn shooting rampage was named last night as Staff Sgt Robert Bales.

The American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan villagers in a pre-dawn shooting rampage was named tonight as Staff Sgt Robert Bales.

Nato-led troops should pull back from rural areas and villages to main bases and Afghan troops should take the lead for countrywide security in 2013, president Hamid Karzai said today.