U.S. and Afghan forces pushed Tuesday to the edge of the southern Afghan town of Marjah, poised to seize the major Taliban supply and drug-smuggling stronghold in hopes of building public support by providing aid and services once the insurgents are gone.

United States forces are to take over the main role in southern Afghanistan from the British in a shake-up of the region's command structure, a newspaper reported Thursday.

While NATO has been endeavoring to sweep Taliban insurgents out from their hotbed in southern Afghanistan, the militants by influencing the northern provinces have opened a new front against the western military alliance.

Security is deteriorating in the relatively peaceful northern Afghanistan provinces as the Presidential and Provincial Councils' election date gets nearer.

As the election fervor increases in the insurgency-hit Afghanistan, security threats during the electoral process also cause concerns among the public, the government and the international community.

Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar is reasserting direct control over the militant group, ordering attacks and shuffling field commanders in Afghanistan, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

The delegates participating in the Third Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan having met in Islamabad on 13 – 14 May 2009:

Zabiullah Mujahid tells :"We ask from the beginning and we say once again one to enforce the Sharia law and Islamic government in Afghanistan, and to remove foreign forces remove from our country."

Pakistan's armed forces say they have launched an offensive against Taliban militant hideouts in the country's North West Frontier Province, a few days after the United States expressed concern over the militants' advance.

American public opinion is broadly on the side of President Barack Obama's decision to end U.S. combat operations in Iraq in 18 months, leaving 50,000 troops behind for stability.

The international community should work with local leaders and tribal councils to give them legitimacy.

The US military has failed to keep track of thousands of weapons shipped to Afghanistan, leaving them vulnerable to being lost or stolen, a report says.

The Pentagon said that insurgent violence was on the rise across Afghanistan and that international forces lacked the troops and resources to control the country's south.

"Phase three is going very well and beyond our expectations," Barakzai said.

British forces are now being killed in Afghanistan at a faster rate than during the invasion of Iraq.

The world has been reacting to the massive Israeli bombardment of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, which is said by Palestinian sources to have claimed some 200 lives.

(Reuters)- Tens of thousands of supporters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto streamed into her home town on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of her assassination.

Afghanistan continues to struggle to find stability as the increasing Taleban insurgency and refugee problems cast a shadow on advances in education and the economy.

U.S. military operations, including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, have cost $904 billion since 2001 and could top $1.7 trillion by 2018.