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.

America claimed its most significant victory in its controversial targeted bombing campaign after a drone strike in Pakistan killed al Qaida’s second-in-command.

The US military has signed a last-minute agreement to transfer its main detention centre in Afghanistan to Afghan control in six months, a key step toward a long-term pact on the US military presence.

Thousands staged new demonstrations today over the burning of Korans at a US military base in Afghanistan, evidence that President Barack Obama’s apology has failed to quiet the outrage over the incident.

Nato’s top military commander said today that an investigation into this week’s Koran burnings at a US base in Afghanistan is pushing ahead and urged Afghans to be patient and exercise restraint.

US President Barack Obama has apologised over the burning of Korans at a US airbase in Afghanistan, where three days of protests have killed 14 people.

Seven people were killed today in clashes between Afghan security forces and protesters demonstrating against the burning of Muslim holy books at a Nato military base.

Afghan and international forces have killed about 40 Taliban fighters east of the Afghan capital Kabul as part of operations to provide security ahead of parliamentary elections next month, Nato said today.

The Taliban has today denounced this week's international conference on Afghanistan's future, saying the "vague and terrible agenda" showed that the US and its allies intended to abandon the country and blame their ultimate defeat on the Afghan government.

Insurgents launched a rare ground assault against Nato’s main military base in southern Afghanistan today, wounding several international service members in the second such attack on a major military installation this week.

THE EU ambassador to Afghanistan has admitted the upcoming parliamentary elections are likely to be undemocratic as a circle of bloody violence continues to cripple the country.

Insurgents launched a brazen pre-dawn assault today against the giant US-run Bagram Air Field, the second Taliban strike at Nato forces in and around the capital in as many days.

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.

IRELAND has agreed to take two of the prisoners from the American concentration camp at Guantanamo, Cuba because they cannot go back to their home country, Uzbekistan. The Americans would like us to think they have jailed only crazed Muslim terrorists in Guantanamo, but people should ask who were held there.

US and Afghan officials said a rare rocket attack today on the main US base in Afghanistan killed two US troops and wounded six Americans.

A New York Times reporter is free after more than seven months in captivity in Afghanistan and the newspaper said he and an Afghan journalist escaped from the militants holding them by climbing over a wall.

US military chiefs have warned troops pouring into Afghanistan of a huge increase in roadside bombings and suicide attacks by the Taliban.

A car bomb has exploded outside the main US base in Afghanistan today wounding three people.

US president Barack Obama’s Justice Department shocked human rights activists today as it backed the former Bush administration, saying detainees in Afghanistan had no constitutional rights.

A DIGITAL music player bought in a junk shop held dozens of confidential US military files, it emerged.

A digital music player bought in a junk shop held dozens of confidential US military files including names and phone numbers of soldiers.

A BRITISH man and his colleague were murdered outside their office in Kabul by a security guard who then committed suicide, Afghan police said.

THEY say some go beyond the call of duty, but a British councillor is managing his constituency from Afghanistan while serving with the Parachute Regiment, it emerged yesterday.

The judge in the first American war crimes trial since the Second World War barred evidence obtained by interrogators from Osama bin Laden’s driver, ruling he was subjected to “highly coercive” conditions in Afghanistan.

LAWYERS for a Canadian prisoner at Guantanamo Bay released excerpts of videotaped interrogations yesterday, providing a first-ever glimpse into the secretive world of questioning enemy combatants at the isolated US prison in Cuba.

Video of a weeping Canadian teenager being interviewed at Guantanamo Bay over the killing of a US soldier has been released.

The Pentagon urged interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to destroy handwritten notes in case they were called to testify about potentially harsh treatment of detainees, a military defence lawyer said.

FBI agents raised misgivings about US interrogators’ mistreatment of terror suspects detained in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay during the three years after September 11, but in some cases were slow to report it, a US Justice Department report says.

A missile from a US Predator drone struck a suspected terrorist safehouse in Pakistan and killed a top al-Qaida commander believed responsible for a bomb attack during a visit last year by Vice President Dick Cheney to Afghanistan, a US official said yesterday.

One of al-Qaida’s top commanders in Afghanistan, Abu Laith al-Libi, was killed in Pakistan according to a website used by militant groups.

THE US military has launched a new “Most Wanted” campaign offering rewards of up to $200,000 (€141,500) for information leading to the capture of 12 Taliban and al-Qaida leaders.

The US military has launched a new "Most Wanted" campaign, offering rewards of up to $200,000 (€140,636) dollars for information leading to the capture of 12 Taliban and al-Qaida leaders.

US soldiers training the Afghan army watched in silence today as an American flag was lowered to half-staff at an American base in Afghanistan, as troops around the country paused to remember the attacks of September 11 six years ago.

Taliban leaders and South Korean officials were continuing negotiations by telephone over the fate of the remaining 19 hostages today, but no new face-to-face talks had been planned, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

TWO women among the 23 South Koreans kidnapped by the Taliban in mid-July were freed yesterday on a rural Afghan roadside and then driven to a US base, the first significant breakthrough in a hostage drama that is more than three weeks old.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said the Afghan government is working to free 21 South Korean hostages but indicated it wouldn’t give in to Taliban demands.

The Taliban threatened to kill more of the remaining 21 South Korean captives today, while Afghanistan said it would not release insurgent prisoners – the militia’s key demand to ending the two-week long hostage crisis.

Taliban militants holding 22 South Korean hostages extended the deadline for the captives’ lives an additional two days after setting and letting pass two deadlines today for militant prisoners to be released from Afghan jails, a provincial governor said.

The Taliban in Afghanistan today offered to swap 23 South Korean hostages for imprisoned Taliban fighters.

The hard-line Taliban militia claimed today to have killed two German and five Afghan hostages but said it was willing to release 22 South Korean Christians in exchange for the freedom of imprisoned Taliban fighters.

A suicide car bomber attacked a convoy of US contract workers and military personnel in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul today, killing at least four civilians, officials said. A soldier opened fire on the crowd after the attack, killing one civilian.

A top Taliban commander said al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was behind the February attack outside a US base in Afghanistan during US Vice President Dick Cheney’s visit, according to an interview broadcast today on Al-Jazeera.

US Vice President Dick Cheney was not in danger when an explosion killed 19 people at the main US military base in Afghanistan, US and Afghan officials said.

An explosion outside the main US military base in Afghanistan killed at least two people and wounded 12 during a visit by US Vice President Dick Cheney.