A secret diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks says Afghan President Hamid Karzai freed dangerous detainees and pardoned suspected drug dealers because they had connections to powerful figures.

President Hamid Karzai confirmed today that his government has been in informal talks with the Taliban on securing peace in Afghanistan “for quite some time” - the latest in a series of high-level acknowledgements of contacts with the insurgent group.

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.

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.

President Hamid Karzai has taken key steps to reform Afghanistan's electoral system, naming a respected former judge to head an organising body and ending his bid to exclude international representatives from a fraud-monitoring group.

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.

Taliban militants struck the heart of the Afghan government in Kabul today, prompting fierce gun battles after a suicide bomber blew himself up near the presidential palace.

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai suffered a new blow to his authority with the rejection by parliament of most of his cabinet nominees, further prolonging political crisis in the war-ravaged country.

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai was effectively handed a second five-year term when his only challenger dropped out of the race and the US said it was prepared to work with the man it had previously criticised to combat corruption and confront the Taliban.

PRESIDENT Hamid Karzai’s challenger withdrew yesterday from next weekend’s run-off election, effectively handing the incumbent a victory, but raising doubts about the credibility of the government at a time when the US is anxious for an effective partner in the war against the Taliban.

UNITED Nations-backed fraud investigators have thrown out hundreds of thousands of votes for President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan’s disputed August election, according to a report released yesterday.

A run-off in the disputed Afghanistan presidential race appeared more likely today after President Hamid Karzai was stripped of hundreds of thousands of votes by UN-backed electoral fraud investigators.

PRESIDENT Hamid Karzai and top election challenger Abdullah Abdullah positioned themselves yesterday as the winner of Afghanistan’s presidential poll, one day after millions of Afghans braved dozens of militant attacks to cast ballots.