A suicide bomber blew himself up among guests at a wedding hall Saturday in northern Afghanistan, killing 23 people including a prominent ex-Uzbek warlord turned lawmaker who was the father of the bride.
The assassination of a former high-ranking Taliban official working to end the decade-long war in Afghanistan has dealt a powerful blow to the fragile, U.S.-backed effort to bring peace to the country.
The outgoing commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan has said that the focus of the war will shift in coming months from Taliban strongholds in the south to the eastern border with Pakistan where insurgents closest to Al-Qaeda and other militants hold sway.
KABUL, Afghanistan—Now that Osama bin Laden is dead, some analysts are speculating that al-Qaeda and its Afghan Taliban allies could go their separate ways, increasing the chances for a negotiated settlement in Afghanistan. Bin Laden’s death is likely to revive a debate within the Afghan Taliban about their ties to Al-Qaeda — a union the [...]
