Pakistan`s army chief vowed Wednesday to keep NATO`s supply line to Afghanistan open and reaffirmed support for the military alliance`s mission there, a senior NATO officer said.

KABUL, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Two soldiers with the NATO-led military and an interpreter were killed Saturday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, the force said.

Another three soldiers with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force were wounded in the blast, ISAF said in a statement.

The alliance's 37-nation deployment does not release the nationalities of its casualties. Most of the ISAF soldiers in southern Afghanistan are British, Dutch and Canadian.

KABUL, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - A suicide bomber blew himself up near a convoy of NATO soldiers in Afghanistan on Saturday, causing only minor damage, the alliance's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

The blast, in the eastern province of Nangarhar near the border with Pakistan, was similar to dozens of others this year claimed by the extremist Taliban movement but it was not immediately clear who was responsible.

'There were no serious injuries,' said ISAF spokesman Major Charles Anthony, adding that a soldier may have been slightly hurt.

MOSCOW, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Monday reaffirmed the ex-Soviet republic's bid for membership in NATO ahead of a meeting with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

'Ukraine confirms its course toward membership of the European Union and NATO,' he said at a meeting of regional defence ministers in Kiev.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - A suicide attack on a NATO-led military convoy in southern Afghanistan wounded three civilians Monday but caused no casualties among troops, police said.

The attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body as the convoy approached in the volatile southern province of Helmand, provincial police chief Mohammad Hussain Andiwal said.

'Three civilians were wounded in the suicide blast but there were no casualties to the NATO soldiers,' Andiwal told AFP.

KIEV, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - Ukraine will not send a peacekeeping force to Afghanistan, the defence minister said Sunday after a meeting with his US counterpart Robert Gates.

'I wish to underline that we will not send a Ukrainian military unit to Afghanistan. The Americans have not made such a request,' Anatoly Gritsenko was quoted saying by the Interfax agency.

He added that two army doctors and an officer from the general staff would soon be leaving for Afghanistan, and a doctor currently stationed there would return home.

KIEV, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates held talks here Sunday with his Turkish counterpart as tension mounted between the two nations over Ankara's plans for possible attacks on Kurdish rebels in Iraq.

Gates urged Turkey to obtain precise information on the location of the separatist rebels before launching any military incursion into northern Iraq.

'The key is to develop intelligence to enable us to find these people... that has to precede any action by anybody,' he told reporters after meeting here with Turkish Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul.

KIEV, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates arrived in Ukraine Sunday on the first stop of a European tour that will see him discuss Turkey's threat to attack Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq and US plans for an anti-missile shield.

Gates arrived at 1:30 pm (1030 GMT) and was due to meet Turkish Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul later Sunday before holding talks with the defence ministers of Ukraine, Albania, Croatia and Macedonia.

WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates left for Europe late Saturday for a series of high-stakes meetings on sensitive issues such as Washington's planned anti-missile installations and US ties to Turkey.

Gates is due to spend Sunday and Monday in Ukraine, where he will meet Western-leaning President Viktor Yushchenko as well as Turkey's Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, a senior Pentagon official said.

THE HAGUE, Oct 20, 2007 (AFP) - The head of the Dutch armed forces has advised the government to extend their military mission in Afghanistan for two years, in a confidential memo reported by a newspaper here Saturday.

At the same time, General Dick Berlijn called for the deployment to be cut to 1,200 to free up troops for other international military operations, De Telegraaf reported.

Some 1,500 Dutch troops have been deployed in the southern Afghan province of Oruzgan since August 2006 as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).