US President Barack Obama held a video call with Afghan head of state Hamid Karzai to discuss the war on the Taliban and progress in eradicating corruption, the Kabul government said Tuesday. In the Monday "teleconference" which lasted more than an hour, Obama reaffirmed "US long-term commitment for a prosperous and stable Afghanistan," Karzai's office said in a statement ...

KABUL (Reuters) - The new United Nations special envoy to Afghanistan praised President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday for revoking a decree that barred foreign observers from a U.N.-backed electoral watchdog. Karzai's decision last month to remove three foreign members from the five-member Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) drew stern criticism from his Western allies and the main opposition bloc ...

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai discussed prospects of peace with the Taliban in a video phone conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama, Karzai's office said Tuesday. Obama speaks to Karzai less frequently than his predecessor, George W. Bush, and has not visited Afghanistan since being elected U.S. president in 2008. "During the video call, Karzai put ...

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan confirmed for the first time publicly on Tuesday that it had enacted into law a blanket pardon for war crimes and human rights abuse carried out before 2001. Human rights groups have expressed dismay that the law appeared to have been enacted quietly, granting blanket immunity to members of all armed factions for acts committed during decades ...