NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in Munich that the alliance expects to defeat most of the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan within two years.

Taliban fighters who captured the southern Afghan town of Musa Qala last week are reportedly fortifying their positions after rejecting talks on a withdrawal.

The United States raised pressure on NATO allies today to rush more troops to Afghanistan to crush an expected Taliban offensive to begin in the spring.

Two separate bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan Wednesday killed five people and injured several others.

Italy will host an international conference on judicial reform and security in Afghanistan in May, one month later than originally scheduled.

Residents of Musa Qala -- a remote town in southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province -- are fleeing their homes today in anticipation of fighting between Taliban and NATO-led forces.

Authorities have lost control of a southern Afghanistan district after Taleban fighters attacked and disarmed police late Thursday.

Afghan police say they have killed at least 12 suspected militants in clashes in western Farah Province.

Britain will increase its troops in southern Afghanistan by about 800 by the late summer, bringing its force in the country to 5,800.

Human Rights Watch says more than 1,000 civilians were killed in Afghanistan in 2006, and says the statistics show the Afghan government has not met its obligations to provide security.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai today suggested that his government could hold peace talks with the Taliban, after a year of bloody fighting with the Islamist movement.

NATO foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels today to discuss the security situation in Afghanistan.