General David Petraeus, the new commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, called for unity today in the civilian and military effort to turn back the Taliban and stabilise the troubled country.

Nato’s newly appointed commander of Afghanistan, Gen David Petraeus, sought to reassure allies today that the war against the Taliban was going well despite rising military casualties and problems regaining control over key parts of the country.

Afghan and international troops captured a Taliban district chief in a four-hour gun battle in the southern province of Helmand, Nato said today.

The US Senate unanimously confirmed General David Petraeus as the new commander of the Afghanistan war today.

THE general tapped to take over command of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan braced lawmakers yesterday for an escalation in violence, playing down hopes for a swift turnaround after nine years of war.

General Stanley McChrystal, who was fired last week as the top US general in the Afghanistan war, has told the Army he will retire.

The Nato-led command stressed that military operations to secure vast areas of Afghanistan would not be delayed by the ouster of its top commander and mounting casualties.

US AFGHAN commander Stanley McChrystal was sacked by Barack Obama last night for publicly criticising the President.

US Afghan commander Stanley McChrystal was sacked by Barack Obama tonight for publicly criticising the president.

President Obama today dismissed Afghanistan war commander General Stanley McChrystal over critical remarks he made about the administration in a magazine, according to Associated Press sources.

Firing General Stanley McChrystal would disrupt progress in the Afghan war and could jeopardise a pivotal security operation under way in Taliban strongholds, leaders in the country said today.

The US’s Afghanistan war commander General Stanley McChrystal has been called to the White House after President Barack Obama rebuked him for “poor judgement” and considered whether to fire him.

THE top US commander in Afghanistan was summoned to Washington yesterday after criticising politicians and civilian officials over their attitude to the war.

The top US commander in Afghanistan was summoned to Washington today after criticising politicians and civilian officials over their attitude to the war.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai sought support today for the Nato campaign to ramp up security in the key southern city of Kandahar and bolster his government’s influence in a Taliban stronghold rife with violence, crime and corruption.

David Cameron warned today that the international coalition in Afghanistan was facing a "vital year" as he made his first visit to the country since becoming British Prime Minister.

David Cameron today announced £67m (€81m) in additional funding to counter the threat of Taliban roadside bombs to British troops in Afghanistan, as he made his first trip to the country as Prime Minister.

David Cameron flew into Afghanistan today for his first visit to the country since taking office.

“Clear evidence” existed that some Taliban fighters had trained in Iran, the commander of Nato and US forces in Afghanistan said.

NATO today launched airstrikes against Taliban insurgents who had forced government forces to abandon a district in eastern Afghanistan.

Militants ambushed an Afghan police convoy with a roadside bomb and gunfire in eastern Afghanistan, killing five officers before fleeing Nato aerial bombardment, an official said today.

The American military death toll in Afghanistan reached 1,000 today with more casualties expected in a summer offensive against the Taliban.

Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai is seeking US backing for faster negotiations with Taliban leaders who were in power during the September 11 attacks.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said the country will extend its troop commitment to Afghanistan for another year and then begin posting civilian development specialists to the war-torn nation.

The top US and Nato commander in Afghanistan said today the coalition depends too much on private-sector contractors.

US President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan today for a first-hand look at the eight-year-old war he inherited and has dramatically escalated.

A suicide squad detonated bombs at a newly fortified prison, police headquarters and two other locations in Afghanistan today, killing at least 30 people in the largest city of the southern Taliban heartland.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai heard a litany of complaints today from residents of Marjah, the southern town that thousands of US, NATO Hand Afghan troops recently seized from the Taliban.

British commanders said the ongoing offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan was going well, despite the deaths of three servicemen in as many days.

The commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan took his apology for an airstrike that killed civilians directly to the Afghan people, with a video in which he pledged to work to regain their trust.

Nato admitted accidentally killing at least 27 Afghan civilians today, the third attack this month to have hit the wrong target.

A Nato air strike in southern Afghanistan has killed at least 21 civilians, the Afghan government said today.

Sniper teams attacked US Marines and Afghan troops across the Taliban haven of Marjah in Afghanistan as several gun battles erupted on the third day of a major offensive to seize the extremists’ southern heartland.

NATO has suspended the use of the rocket system which led to the deaths of 12 civilians in Afghanistan.

Twelve Afghans died today when two rockets fired at insurgents missed their target and struck a house during the second day of Operation Moshtarak – Nato’s most ambitious effort yet to break the militants’ grip on the country’s dangerous south.

Squads of US Marines and Afghan soldiers slowly pressed deeper into the Taliban stronghold of Marjah today, painstakingly clearing out booby-trapped houses one by one.

IN his letter headlined ‘Shannon stopover critics hide behind US security shelter’ (January 25), Jim Forde responds to the letter (January 18) from John Lannon of Shannonwatch who criticises what he believes is Ireland’s effective involvement in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the compromise of its neutrality.

Nato’s top commander in Afghanistan raised the prospect of a negotiated peace with the Taliban today.

A suicide bomber killed 20 people, including three children, today in a market in central Afghanistan in the deadliest attack against Afghan civilians in more than three months.

Six Western troops were killed in Afghanistan today in the worst day for the coalition in more than two months.

The international military effort in Afghanistan was under-resourced for years, the head of the British Army said today as US troops prepared to take over operations in an area which has seen some of the bloodiest fighting for British forces.

The Afghan government has agreed on a transition plan to take over responsibility for the US-run prison at Bagram air base, where there have been allegations of human rights abuses.

US intelligence is failing to provide vital information needed for success in Afghanistan, a Nato expert has warned.

TIME magazine has named Federal Reserve Bank chairman Ben Bernanke its 2009 Person of the Year.