Obama names Virginia gov as Democratic Party head

Gates says Afghan surge may cost $5.5 bln in FY09

U.S. military deaths in Iraq plunged by two-thirds in 2008 from the previous year, but the war in Afghanistan saw American military deaths rise by 35 percent.

US costs of Iraq, Afghan wars top $900 bln -report

PRESS DIGEST - Washington Post - Dec. 12

A French aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan earlier this month has appeared in a video with two rifles pressed to either side of his head and chains around his legs

A 23-year-old teacher burned in an acid attack on 15 schoolgirls and instructors wants the Afghan government to throw acid on her attackers and then hang them.

A Pakistani woman accused of trying to kill a U.S. soldier and FBI agents while in custody in Afghanistan is mentally unfit for trial, according to a court-ordered psychological evaluation.

U.S. special forces have begun teaching a Pakistani paramilitary unit how to fight the Taliban and al-Qaida, hoping to strengthen a key front-line force as violence surges on both sides of the border with Afghanistan.

Three Canadian soldiers were killed and five wounded when they were attacked during a patrol in southern Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday.

A Green Beret testified Thursday that his team sergeant, who faces possible court-martial in the killing and mutilation of an Afghan civilian, is a man he'd want by his side during battle.

As the two women hunkered down in the dark, enveloped in blue burqas, they thought the gun-toting Taliban might free them despite accusations they had run a prostitution ring for a U.S. base.

Al-Qaida has posted a statement on the Internet saying one of its commanders in Afghanistan, who escaped from a U.S.-run prison, has been killed by a U.S. airstrike.

Missiles hit a building in a Pakistani village on the border with Afghanistan on Monday, and intelligence officials said they were investigating reports that a senior al-Qaida figure was among six people killed.

U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama urged Europe on Thursday to stand by the United States in bringing stability to Afghanistan and confronting other threats from climate change to nuclear proliferation.