KABUL, Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) - President Hamid Karzai's latest offer to the Taliban -- even suggesting positions in government if they renounced violence -- took weeks of talk about talks to a new level at the weekend.

But some commentators said Karzai's recent approaches, one on Saturday made directly to the movement's fugitive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, amount to no more than hot air with neither side willing accept the others' preconditions.

KABUL, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday he would talk to two top insurgent leaders wanted by the United States in an effort to bring peace to his country.

Karzai also challenged Mullah Mohammad Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leaders of the Taliban movement and the radical Hezb-i-Islami faction respectively, to stand in forthcoming elections and said he would even offer them government posts if they renounced violence.

GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - Afghanistan's insurgent Taliban movement said four Red Cross workers, including two foreigners, would be freed Saturday after they were 'mistakenly' kidnapped four days ago.

Taliban spokesmen initially denied the movement was involved in the abductions but one of them, Zabihullah Mujahed, told AFP Saturday: 'I found out that they were mistakenly kidnapped by our men.'

KABUL, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday he would talk to top insurgent leaders Mullah Mohammad Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, both wanted by the United States, to bring peace to his country.

The president, however, again rejected demands from the Taliban, led by Mullah Omar, and Hekmatyar's Hezb-i-Islami faction that the 50,000 international troops helping Kabul must quit for any negotiations to occur.

KABUL, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The Afghan government announced Thursday it had arrested the Taliban movement's main spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, but a man believed to be the militants' mouthpiece denied he had been captured.

The interior ministry said Ahmadi was seized with his brother on Wednesday in the volatile southern province of Helmand where the Islamic extremist Taliban are in control of several districts.

KABUL, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The Afghan government announced Thursday it had arrested the Taliban movement's main spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, but a man with the same voice as the militants' mouthpiece denied he had been captured.

The ministry said Ahmadi was seized with his brother on Wednesday in the volatile southern province of Helmand where the Islamic extremist Taliban are in control of several districts.

KABUL, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The main spokesman for the extremist Taliban movement, Yousuf Ahmadi, has been arrested in southern Afghanistan, the interior ministry said Thursday.

Ahmadi was seized with his brother on Wednesday in volatile Helmand province, where the Taliban are in control of several districts, the ministry said in a statement.

Ahmadi regularly contacted the international and Afghan media from secret locations about Taliban engagements in southern Afghanistan, saying he was speaking on behalf of the extremist movement.

GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Sept 23, 2007 (AFP) - Police in Afghanistan said they found Sunday the bodies of two retired policemen beheaded by Islamic Taliban rebels who had accused them of spying for the US-led military.

The headless corpses were found in Ghazni province's Qarabagh district, where Taliban militants kidnapped 23 South Koreans mid-July, police official Mohammad Zaman said. The rebels killed two of the Koreans before freeing the rest.

KABUL, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - Soldiers led by the US military struck militant hideouts in southern Afghanistan Friday, killing about 40 rebels and destroying one of the largest caches of weapons it has ever found, the US-led force said.

The operation took place in the southern province of Helmand, Afghanistan's top opium-growing area which has seen some of the worst fighting in an insurgency led by the extremist Taliban since their ouster in late 2001.

KABUL, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - The Afghan government strongly rejected Tuesday any conditions for peace talks with the Taliban after the Islamic militants demanded the withdrawal of Western troops as a prerequisite for dialogue.

The government would guarantee safe passage for Taliban negotiators at any talks but this was all, President Hamid Karzai's senior spokesman told reporters.

'The Afghan government is not open to negotiations with any preconditions,' Homayun Hamidzada said.

'The only precondition would be a security guarantee for their negotiators.'

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - The Taliban said Monday it would only hold talks with the government if they resulted in the withdrawal of the tens of thousands of Western troops.

The hardline movement's spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, had said a week ago that the Taliban were ready to respond positively to President Hamid Karzai's renewed offer of negotiations.

But Ahmadi appeared to be stepping back from that stance on Monday by adding the apparently new condition involving the withdrawal of foreign soldiers from the insurgency-hit country.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - A Taliban spokesman said Monday that the Islamic militant group would only talk to the US-backed Kabul administration if tens of thousands of Western troops leave Afghanistan.

The hardline movement's spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi had said a week ago that the Taliban were ready to respond positively to President Hamid Karzai's renewed offer of negotiations.

KHOST, Afghanistan, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - Afghan and US-led forces backed by air power clashed with Taliban insurgents Sunday in Afghanistan, killing more than a dozen rebels, officials said.

About 10 insurgents were killed early Sunday when US-led warplanes pounded militant positions in the southern province of Helmand, the US military said.

'Precision munitions were employed on locations in Garmser district where the combined forces suspected Taliban militants were hiding,' a statement from the US-led coalition said.

KHOST, Afghanistan, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) - Afghan and US-led troops backed by air forces fought new battles with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, killing more than a dozen of the rebels, officials said Sunday.

About 10 insurgents were killed early Sunday when US-led warplanes pounded militant positions in the southern province of Helmand, the US military said.

'Precision munitions were employed on locations in Garmser district where the combined forces suspected Taliban militants were hiding,' a statement from the US-led coalition said.

KABUL, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - At least 15 people including a dozen Taliban insurgents and a civilian road worker were killed in a new string of violent attacks across insurgency-hit Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday.

In the southern province of Zabul, nearly a dozen rebels were killed Tuesday after Afghan security forces called in US-led coalition warplanes to bomb their positions, the US military said.

The rebels had been spotted preparing an ambush on the Afghan troops, Major Timothy Dinneen told AFP.

KABUL, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - Afghanistan's US-backed government pledged Tuesday that Taliban rebels would not be arrested if they come for talks with officials, a day after the militia said they were ready for negotiations.

President Hamid Karzai on Sunday made an offer for peace talks to end the rebels' nearly six-year insurgency, and a spokesman for the hardline Islamic Taliban said the following day that it was ready to come to the table.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - The Taliban said Monday it was ready for talks with the Afghan government after President Hamid Karzai offered negotiations in a bid to end the rebels' nearly six-year bloody insurgency.

Karzai made the offer on Sunday, with the insurgency spiralling to its highest level this year, saying peace could not be achieved without dialogue.

'For the sake of national interests ... we are fully ready for talks with the government,' senior Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP.

KABUL, Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) - Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday he was ready to hold talks with Taliban militants in an effort to end their bloody insurgency against his US-backed administration.

Karzai however denied his government was already in 'formal negotiations' with the Islamic militants, who were driven from power six years ago in a US-led invasion.

'Peace can't be achieved without negotiations. Any Afghan wanting to come to his country and help Afghanistan in peace, stability and development is welcomed,' Karzai told reporters.

KABUL, Sept 8, 2007 (AFP) - A senior police officer Saturday denied official claims that top Taliban commander Mullah Brader had been killed in southern Afghanistan two weeks ago.

An Afghan army general said late last month that Brader, said to be a close relative of supreme Taliban leader Mullah Omar, was among several rebels killed in an operation in southern Helmand Province.

The defence ministry in Kabul, citing military intelligence reports, also said Brader was killed in the fighting.

KABUL, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - International and Afghan troops backed by air power killed scores of Taliban militants as heavy fighting intensified across southern Afghanistan, officials said Thursday.

The latest bloodshed in the insurgency-hit southern desert provinces of Kandahar and Helmand took the rebel toll in recent days to more than 350, while two British troops have also died.

KABUL, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - More than 40 Taliban fighters were killed in heavy fighting between guerrillas and US-led forces in the insurgency-hit southern Afghan province of Kandahar, the coalition said Thursday.

The bloodshed was the latest in more than a week of battles between Taliban fighters and international troops in the province's Shah Wali Kot district, where rebels appeared to have regrouped in recent weeks, it said.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept 4, 2007 (AFP) - Afghanistan's Taliban vowed Tuesday to continue abducting foreign nationals, saying the kidnapping of 23 South Koreans showed the tactic was an effective tool against the government.

Kabul meanwhile acknowledged the threat and said all foreign nationals should register with police and inform authorities of their movements.

'We found this a very effective tactic against the Kabul administration and the invading forces,' Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP, referring to the international military forces here.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - One of the Taliban's top commanders, said to be a brother-in-law of the militia's leader, and several of his men were believed killed in clashes Thursday, the Afghan defence ministry said.

The ministry said intelligence indicated that Mullah Brader, one of the Taliban's most senior commanders, was among several rebels killed in an intense battle near a Taliban stronghold in the southern province of Helmand.

KABUL, Aug 28, 2007 (AFP) - More than 100 insurgents were killed Tuesday in a battle in southern Afghanistan in which fighter aircraft destroyed several rebel positions, the US-led coalition said.

An Afghan security forces member was also killed and three international troops wounded in the fighting that erupted in the southern province of Kandahar when a large group of insurgents ambushed a military patrol, it said.

GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Aug 28, 2007 (AFP) - Taliban representatives said Tuesday that 19 South Korean hostages held by the hardline militia for nearly six weeks would be freed 'soon' after a successful round of negotiations.

'Both sides agreed that South Korean military forces and their missionary groups would leave Afghanistan and the Taliban would free the hostages very soon,' said a Taliban representative, who asked to remain anonymous.

ASADABAD, Afghanistan, Aug 27, 2007 (AFP) - International and Afghan troops battled Taliban militants for several hours in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, with fears of casualties among foreign soldiers, officials said.

The US-led coalition that operates in Afghanistan confirmed there was fighting with insurgents in the eastern province of Kunar, which borders Pakistan.

Spokesman Sergeant Dean Welch told AFP that soldiers on the ground had called for medical evacuation helicopters but had no details on whether there were any casualties.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug 23, 2007 (AFP) - Taliban militants attacked Thursday a convoy carrying supplies for international troops in Afghanistan, killing 10 Afghan guards, officials said.

The convoy of trucks was attacked by dozens of militants on the main highway between Kabul and southern Kandahar city in Zabul province.

About 80 private security guards escorting the convoy fought the militants near provincial capital Qalat, an official from the security company said.

'I've lost 10 guards,' official Mohammad Saleem said.

KABUL, Aug 19, 2007 (AFP) - When two Taliban addressed journalists outside the venue of talks to free South Korean hostages last week, it was effectively the militia's first press conference in Afghanistan five years.

The images shot around the world, showing members of an extremist group hunted by the US military standing on an Afghan street talking to journalists.

Officials in Ghazni were so angry they later banned photographers and reporters from leaving their hotels, threatening them with detention.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug 18, 2007 (AFP) - The reclusive one-eyed Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar Saturday made a rare public call for Afghans to unite with the militant insurgency to drive Western forces from Afghanistan.

The message, made to mark the 88th anniversary Sunday of Afghanistan's independence from Britain, was signed by Omar and emailed to news agencies, including AFP.

Its authenticity could not be verified.

BERLIN, Aug 18, 2007 (AFP) - The German secret services held secret talks with the Taliban for several months in 2005, the weekly Der Spiegel reports in its latest issue which goes on sale Monday.

The external intelligence service BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst) wanted to know whether Afghanistan's Taliban were ready to distance themselves from Osama bin Laden's Al-Al Qaeda network. To this end, they held several meetings with Taliban representatives, notably in Switzerland, the magazine said without giving its sources.

KABUL, Aug 13, 2007 (AFP) - The Taliban said they will hand over two South Korean women held captive in Afghanistan for more than three weeks to the Red Cross on Monday at 1130 GMT.

'Two female hostages will be freed and handed to the Red Cross office at 1600 local time,' Yousuf Ahmadi said.

The statement is the latest from the Taliban promising to release two of 21 South Korean hostages following face-to-face discussions with a South Korean delegation.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug 13, 2007 (AFP) - Taliban insurgents killed five Afghan policemen in an attack which left nine of their own fighters dead in southern Afghanistan, a senior police officer said Monday.

The clash Sunday in Shorabak district, in volatile Kandahar province, was the latest in a series of recent Taliban attacks.

The fighting erupted when Taliban militants attempted to overrun the administration headquarters of Shorabak, near the Pakistan border, provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqeb told AFP.

KABUL, Aug 12, 2007 (AFP) - Talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan ended Sunday with calls to eliminate terrorist sanctuaries in their respective tribal regions and to fight the opium trade financing Islamic militants.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, addressing 700 tribal delegates at the end of a landmark 'peace jirga' aimed at defeating the common threat of Al-Al Qaeda and the Taliban, called for an urgent 'rescue' from Muslim extremism.

KABUL, Aug 12, 2007 (AFP) - Afghanistan and Pakistan pledged Sunday to eliminate terrorist sanctuaries in their respective tribal regions and fight the opium trade financing Islamic militants.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, addressing 700 tribal delegates at the end of a landmark 'peace jirga' aimed at defeating the common threat of Al-Al Qaeda and the Taliban, called for an urgent 'rescue' from Muslim extremism.

KABUL, Aug 12, 2007 (AFP) - Afghanistan and Pakistan must work together to rescue their societies from the backwardness and violence of Islamic extremism, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said here Sunday.

In an address that formally closed a four-day tribal council on the Al-Al Qaeda and Taliban threat facing the region, Musharraf said the neighbours must overcome mutual mistrust and concentrate on this 'critical' endeavour.

KABUL, Aug 12, 2007 (AFP) - Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf met his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in Kabul Sunday before both leaders were due to close a four-day tribal assembly on the growing Taliban and Al-Al Qaeda threat.

Musharraf travelled to the presidential palace immediately after flying into Kabul for a one-day visit, the Afghan president's office said.

The leaders were due later to address the 'peace jirga' in the west of the city, where tribal leaders were working on a 'joint strategy' to root out extremists, a jirga spokesman said earlier Sunday.

KABUL, Aug 12, 2007 (AFP) - President Pervez Musharraf arrived in Afghanistan Sunday, the Pakistan embassy said, ahead of an expected address to a landmark meeting on the Taliban and Al-Al Qaeda threat facing the region.

Musharraf was due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai before attending the 'peace jirga', Karzai's office said.

KABUL, Aug 12, 2007 (AFP) - Tribal leaders from the volatile Pakistan-Afghanistan border were putting the final touches Sunday to a 'joint strategy' to root out Taliban and Al-Al Qaeda extremists, a spokesman said.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf was expected to address the final session of the four-day 'peace jirga', attended by roughly 700 tribal leaders, parliamentarians and other key figures from both sides of the border.

They began deliberations on Thursday with the notable absence of Musharraf