A suicide bomb on the outskirts of the Afghan capital Kabul has killed six schoolchildren and wounded three Italians working on an aid project building a bridge, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.

Afghanistan's president says more and more Taliban leaders are reaching out to the government in an effort to make peace.

Afghan officials say more than 50 Taliban insurgents have been killed in clashes with Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces in southern Uruzgan province.

Afghan police say a suicide bomber targeting a provincial governor killed one of the official's sons and six of his bodyguards.

Forces from the 26-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization - or NATO - are encountering stiff resistance from Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan. In this background report from Washington, VOA Senior Correspondent André de Nesnera looks at some of the restrictions NATO countries have placed on their troops fighting the Taliban.

The U.S. military in Afghanistan says U.S.-led coalition forces have killed 23 Taliban fighters and detained 11 suspects during an operation in southern Helmand province.

Police say fresh clashes between security forces and fighters with the Taliban have left 25 militants and six policemen dead in southern Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s blooming heroin production led to appearance of two new "Golden Triangles" of lawlessness on the country's borders with Pakistan, Iran and Turkmenistan , the U.S. anti-narcotics chief said on Friday.

The U.S. military says Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces have killed dozens of Taliban fighters in southern Uruzgan province.

Some $1.6 trillion (EUR1.1 trillion) – this is the cost of Iraq and Afghanistan wars - roughly double the amount the White House has requested thus far, the U.S. Congress' Joint Economic Committee said.

The U.S. military in Afghanistan says 15 militants along with an Afghan woman and two children were killed during a battle with insurgents in the south.

Six NATO soldiers and three Afghan troops have been killed in an ambush by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan. In a statement Saturday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said another eight NATO soldiers and 11 Afghan troops were wounded in the fighting.