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

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.

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

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.

The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan says troops have killed about 80 Taliban fighters in a six-hour battle in the south of the country.

NATO says two alliance soldiers have been killed and three others wounded in a firefight with Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan.

A new survey of public opinion in Afghanistan indicates a sharp rise in concern over security. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Islamabad that a majority of Afghans polled say they oppose the cultivation of opium poppies, but few believe the drug trade is linked to the Taliban insurgency.

The Taliban says it will only hold talks with the government if they resulted in the withdrawal of the tens of thousands of Western troops from Afghanistan.

A Taliban spokesman said that the militant group might be willing to hold negotiations with the government, and no the officials are investigating this statement, the president's spokesman said Tuesday.

The Taliban said today it is ready for talks with the Afghan government, one day after President Hamid Karzai offered negotiations in a bid to end the ongoing insurgency.

The Taliban warned it would attack South Korea's embassy in Kabul if Seoul is found to have broken its promise to remove all its citizens from Afghanistan, Yonhap news agency reported Monday.

U.S. President George W. Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai today vowed to win the war against the Taliban. Bush and Karzai spoke at a news conference in Camp David, the presidential retreat near Washington, as they ended two days of talks on the crises confronting Afghanistan.