Brigadier Richard Felton points to the maps on the wall of his office in Lashkar Gah, dotted with markers for impending military operations over the long, hot, Afghan fighting season.

The three Gurkhas who died stood no chance. Two - believed to be British nationals - died in the operations room when it came under attack by a rocket-propelled grenade.

General David Petraeus has formally assumed command of the 130,000-strong international force in Afghanistan.

Republican chief Michael Steele has drawn fire from his own party for calling the commitment of US troops to Afghanistan a 'war of Obama's choosing'.

Some Pakistanis are saying that the solution to the country's terror threat is a US exit from Afghanistan.

New Zealand defence personnel and a Television New Zealand film crew in Afghanistan were involved in a bomb scare while on bomb disposal patrol.

The Nato commander in Afghanistan has been summoned to Washington over a series of disrespectful remarks he and his staff made to Rolling Stone magazine.

Three Australian commandos have been killed and seven injured in a helicopter crash during an early-morning operation against Taleban insurgents.

Four soldiers, three of them Australian, have been killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.