Earth Times: Erstwhile enemies who once stood on the brink of war, Iran and the Taliban now appear linked by conflicts against the US, as officials and political analysts accuse Tehran of training and arming the Afghan insurgents.      Full news...

NPR.org: Congressional analysts say the boost in troop levels in Iraq has increased the cost of war there and in Afghanistan to $12 billion a month.      Full news...

AP: A suicide bomber targeted a NATO patrol in a marketplace filled with children Tuesday, killing 13 elementary school students and at least four other people. The U.N. and NATO quickly condemned the attack for harming so many civilians.      Full news...

Pajhwok Afghan News: More than a hundred civilians were killed and wounded in an operation in the western Farah province, residents alleged on Saturday. Interior Ministry spokesman Zalmay Bashary, however, insisted that 40 Taliban fighters and 11 policemen died during the crackdown conducted against militants in Balabluk district.      Full news...

RAWA News: Cumulative compilation of Afghan civilians killed by US/NATO actions. The compilation is derived from the three data bases at http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwherold.      Full news...

Middle East Times: Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai Sunday ordered a probe into civilian casualties from a foreign military airstrike three days ago, which elders said had killed at least 45 villagers. The elders said they had recovered the bodies of 45 civilians, mostly women and children, from the airstrike Friday, which was aimed at Taliban fighters in Girishk town in Helmand province, district chief Dur Alisha said.      Full news...

The Washington Post: An airstrike by NATO-led forces killed dozens of civilians as well as Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan late Thursday, according to Afghan officials. Provincial Police Chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal put the civilian death toll at 25. He said that among the dead were nine women, three babies and a local Muslim cleric.      Full news...

The Daily Telegraph.au: THE United States is making a mockery of democracy and the war on terrorism by supporting corrupt Afghan MPs who are criminals and warlords, said an outspoken Afghan politician, who has been removed from parliament.      Full news...

Reuters: A US-led coalition air strike killed at least seven children at a religious school in Afghanistan, hours after one of the deadliest suicide bombings since the Taliban were toppled from power in 2001.      Full news...

Daily Mail: Britain and America have been accused of failing to do enough to protect civilians in war-torn Afghanistan. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned that civilians were suffering unbearably as violence has escalated in the last year.      Full news...

The Washington Post: U.S.-led forces killed seven Afghan police officers and injured four others during a firefight that broke out after each side mistook the other for a group of insurgents, Afghan officials said Tuesday.      Full news...

Zee News: Air strikes called in by US special forces’ soldiers fighting with insurgents in southern Afghanistan killed at least 21 civilians, officials said today. One coalition soldier was also killed.      Full news...

The Associated Press: Britain's defense minister said Tuesday there was some indication that Iran may be helping Taliban forces fighting NATO troops in Afghanistan.      Full news...

Deccan Herald: According to an official report, 51 villagers died during a US-led operation against Taliban militants in western Afghanistan. Afghanistan can no longer accept or understand civilian deaths, President Hamid Karzai said, after officials reported that 51 villagers died during a US-led operation against Taliban militants in western Afghanistan.      Full news...

The Columbus Dispatch: "Respected people of Helmand," the radio message began, "The soldiers of the International Security Assistance Force and the Afghan National Army do not destroy poppy fields. They know that many people of Afghanistan have no choice but to grow poppy. ISAF and the ANA do not want to stop people from earning their livelihoods." It was such a sensible message that it almost had to be a mistake and, of course, it was.      Full news...

Reuters via ABC News: Thousands of people, some shouting "Death to America" and carrying shrouded bodies, protested in the east of Afghanistan on Sunday after up to six people were killed during a raid by US-led coalition forces.      Full news...

Global Research: The occupation forces in Afghanistan are supporting the drug trade, which brings between 120 and 194 billion dollars of revenues to organized crime, intelligence agencies and Western financial institutions.      Full news...

The Associated Press: Afghanistan's U.S.-backed government, tarnished by corruption and unable to control large swaths of its own territory, is rapidly losing the support of ordinary Afghans, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke said Saturday.      Full news...

IRIN News: Local residents in the Sangeen district of the restive southern Afghan province of Helmand said armed Afghan men in military uniforms looted their homes and businesses in early April. There are conflicting reports on whether the men were allied with international forces fighting the Taliban or whether they were an independent militia.      Full news...

Associated Press: U.S. forces in Afghanistan recently intercepted Iranian-made mortars and other weaponry in Afghanistan, although it is not clear they were shipped directly from Iran, the military's top general said Tuesday.      Full news...

IRIN News: The United Nations and two prominent human rights organisations have raised grave concerns about the increasing number of civilians affected in armed conflicts in Afghanistan. On Monday, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on the dramatic rise in civilian casualties during insurgent attacks in Afghanistan.      Full news...

BBC News: US marines violated international humanitarian law by using excessive violence in reaction to a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan, a report says.      Full news...

IWPR: President Karzai may have helped save the Prodi government by trading Taliban prisoners for an Italian hostage, but in the process, he has damaged his own credibility at home.      Full news...

The Scotsman: ITALY'S government paid a ransom of £1 million to the Taliban to free an Italian photographer taken hostage in Afghanistan, an aid group has claimed.      Full news...

The Associated Press: Roadside bombs in southern Afghanistan on Sunday left seven NATO soldiers dead, the alliance said, as its forces continued an anti-Taliban offensive in the world's most fertile opium-producing region. It appeared to be the biggest combat loss for foreign troops in Afghanistan since 2005.      Full news...

FinalCall.com: It is year six of the UN-backed NATO occupation of Afghanistan and Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon admitted in a report to the United Nations Security Council on Mar. 20 that the resistance in Afghanistan appears "emboldened." In 2006, the casualty rates increased on the ground and NATO lost 46 troops.      Full news...

Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN): More than five years after the ousting of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, residents of the southern province of Helmand say their lives have become more insecure.      Full news...

ABC Radio Australia: A majority of the Afghan people initially welcomed the foreign troops because they saw that as the best way to free themselves from the medievelist rule of the Taliban. But I think over a period of time neither security has been really delivered, nor reconstruction to the extent that was really desirable. And as a result of that, a great majority of the Afghan people have not really profited from the presence of the foreign troops to the extent that they had expected. And as a consequence I think quite a number of Afghans have now turned not only against the Karzai government, but also its international backers.      Full news...

BBC News: Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo has returned home to a hero's welcome after two weeks as a captive of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. But the terms of his release, which saw five insurgent leaders freed from Afghan prisons, have been universally criticised.      Full news...

The Associated Press: A suicide bomber targeting a Canadian military convoy killed a child and wounded a NATO soldier and three other people Saturday in southern Afghanistan, officials said.      Full news...