KABUL, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - NATO-led ground troops backed by air power killed more than 20 Taliban-linked militants in a battle in central Afghanistan that erupted after a bomb wounded some soldiers, an official said Thursday.

KHARTOUM, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - A new report has identified 140 aircraft as suitable to aid struggling UN peacekeeping efforts in Darfur, urging India, Ukraine and NATO countries in particular to donate helicopters without delay.

KARKHANO CHECKPOST, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - 'If there is a more dangerous job in Pakistan I'd like to know what it is,' says truck driver Momin Khan Darwish as he displays burns on his body from a Taliban rocket attack.

BRUSSELS, July 29, 2008 (AFP) - Russia wants to join with the European Union and the United States to combat illegal immigration and organised crime and is not looking to undermine NATO, Moscow's envoy to the alliance said Tuesday.

BRUSSELS, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - Russia's ambassador to NATO said Monday that he would outline in detail in September Moscow's plans for a sweeping new post-Cold War-era security pact, according to Russian and alliance diplomats.

BERLIN, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - NATO's commander in Europe, US General Bantz John Craddock, accused alliance member countries of failing to keep their military and aid pledges to Afghanistan, in an interview published Monday.

'As soon as we start deploying troops together we fall on our faces,' Craddock told the German edition of the Financial Times. 'I am frustrated.'

BRUSSELS, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - The NATO military alliance condemned Monday the twin bomb attack in Istanbul, which killed at least 16 people, and expressed solidarity with ally Turkey.

KHOST, July 27, 2008 (AFP) - Up to 70 insurgents were killed in Afghanistan early Sunday when helicopter gunships and ground fighting repulsed an attack by about 100 rebels near the Pakistan border, officials said.

KHOST, July 27, 2008 (AFP) - Between 50 and 70 Taliban-linked militants were killed Sunday in air strikes by international forces in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border, a provincial governor said.

KHOST, July 27, 2008 (AFP) - Between 50 and 70 Taliban-linked militants were killed in air strikes by international forces in eastern Afghanistan early Sunday, a provincial governor said.

The militants had initially stormed a police post in Khost province near the border with Pakistan, killing two policemen, one of whom was beheaded, provincial governor Arsala Jamal told AFP.