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.

The United Nations has reached agreement with Afghanistan’s interim government over the size and shape of the peacekeeping force to be installed in the war-torn country.

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.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has told US troops in Afghanistan they are ‘‘bringing the consequences to the terrorists’’, but it was impossible to know how long it would take to finish the job.

Four-thousand Taliban troops are giving themselves up to an opposition commander, claims the Afghan Embassy.

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.