Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned NATO against unilateral steps that would compromise Russia's national security. Speaking at the opening of a meeting in Moscow of the Russia-NATO Council, Lavrov said Russia and NATO faced difficult work ahead on issues such as a key arms control treaty and U.S. missile-defense plans.

NATO and Russia don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues, but one thing they can agree on is that communication is the key to overcoming their differences.

NATO's secretary-general and a top Russian lawmaker have held a heated debate over a proposed U.S. missile-defense system.

NATO-led forces in Afghanistan admitted that civilians were among those killed in weekend strikes in Pakistan's Waziristan region. An RFE/RL correspondent, reporting from Peshawar, cited Pakistani military spokesman General Wahid Arshad as saying as many as 28 civilians, including women and children, were killed in June 23 rocket strikes in North and South Waziristan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned "indiscriminate and unprecise" operations by NATO and U.S.-led forces that have killed some 90 civilians in just over a week.

A senior Afghan military officer in the southeastern part of the country says his forces are implementing the first Afghan-planned and executed operation to clear Taleban fighters from his area and establish government authority. The officer spoke from Afghanistan to reporters at the Pentagon.

NATO says a landmine blast in eastern Afghanistan has killed one NATO solider and wounded four others. A statement says the bomb went off Thursday near a vehicle carrying NATO troops. The nationality of the troops was not given.

Afghan officials say a suicide bomber has struck near a NATO convoy in the capital, Kabul, killing four civilians. Officials say five other people, including one foreigner, were wounded when the bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a line of vehicles in western Kabul Saturday.

NATO nations have accepted the controversial U.S. missile defense system, and decided to focus the alliances' own missile defense efforts on protecting its southern flank against short and medium-range missiles from the Middle East.

NATO defense ministers agreed in Brussels on June 14-15 to step up the training of Afghan security forces and on measures to reduce civilian casualties in Afghanistan. NATO is increasingly faced with a dilemma in Afghanistan.

Defense ministers of 26 NATO member states have spoken out for continuing consultations with Russia on plans to deploy U.S. missile defense elements in Central Europe.

NATO will use both instruction for paramilitary police units and the military while widening the alliance training mission for Iraq's security forces.