World - McClatchy Newspapers

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday that he'd work to curb corruption in his next five years in office, but he gave no specifics about how that would be accomplished or which Cabinet members might be fired to clean up his administration.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has been quietly working with U.S. allies and Afghan officials on a package of reforms and anti-corruption measures that it hopes will boost popular support for President Hamid Karzai and erase the doubts about his legitimacy raised by his fraud-marred re-election.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — At least 35 people were killed Monday in a bombing near Pakistan's military headquarters in Rawalpindi, with army personnel among the victims.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Hamid Karzai was vested with another five years in office Monday as an Afghan election commission canceled next Saturday's runoff and declared the incumbent the winner by virtue of the votes he gained in the first-round election in August.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- As he announced his withdrawal from the presidential runoff Sunday, Abdullah Abdullah refused to concede that his rival, President Hamid Karzai, could be the legitimate winner of Afghanistan's marathon election.

KABUL, Afghanistan-Challenger Abdullah Abdullah and Afghan President Hamid Karzai failed Saturday to agree on conditions for their Nov. 7 presidential runoff, setting the stage for Abdullah to drop out of the race, senior aides to Abdullah said.

KABUL, Afghanistan--Unless President Hamid Karzai agrees to urgent steps to combat fraud, challenger Abdullah Abdullah will not participate in the Nov. 7 presidential runoff, senior aides to Abdullah said Saturday.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- After three days of encounters with America-bashing Pakistanis -- who rejected her contention that the U.S. and Pakistan face a common enemy -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that "we're not getting through."

WASHINGTON -- Congress's law library is rebuffing calls from the chairmen of the House and Senate foreign relations committees to retract a report on the military-backed coup in Honduras that the lawmakers charge is flawed.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military on Thursday released the names of the seven soldiers from the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, based in Fort Lewis, Wash., who were killed Tuesday in a sophisticated Taliban attack in southern Afghanistan.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- In a rebuff to the United Nations, an Afghan commission named by President Hamid Karzai disclosed Thursday that centers rife with fraudulent votes during the summer's presidential election will remain open for the Nov. 7 runoff against challenger Abdullah Abdullah.

WASHINGTON — Without a new law requiring cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. could end up going empty-handed to the international climate talks in December.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday pressed her one-woman blitz on Pakistani public opinion, bluntly challenging the country to defend its territory from an onslaught by religious extremists and asking why Pakistan's powerful military was unable to find Saudi-born terrorist Osama bin Laden.

WASHINGTON -- The chairmen of the House and Senate foreign relations committees are asking the Law Library of Congress to retract a report on the military-backed coup in Honduras that they charge is flawed and "has contributed to the political crisis that still wracks'' the country.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Taliban insurgents Wednesday attacked a guesthouse used by the United Nations, killing five U.N. employees -- including an American -- and raising new concerns about terrorism and sabotage ahead of the Nov. 7 runoff election.

BAGHDAD -- Up against the clock, Iraqi politicians spent Wednesday hammering out the final sticking points of an election law they hope to present to parliament for a vote within days to avoid a risky and embarrassing delay of the January polls.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Amid devastating bombings directed at civilian targets in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began a drive Wednesday to advance Washington's policies in the troubled region by seeking to "turn the page" and convince skeptical Pakistanis that the U.S. aim is security and stability.

BAGHDAD -- Militants linked to al Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility Tuesday for a pair of powerful truck bombs that killed 155 people and wounded 600 in the latest insurgent assault on the fragile Iraqi government.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Eight American service members were killed Tuesday in insurgent attacks in southern Afghanistan, a focal point of the U.S. military campaign to combat the resurgent Taliban.

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi authorities said Monday that suicide bombers had used two large trucks -- a water tanker and a refrigerated food truck -- in attacks Sunday that killed at least 155 people and wounded nearly 600, the deadliest bombings since 2007.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Fourteen Americans died Monday in helicopter crashes in southern and western Afghanistan, one of the deadliest days for the United States in the Afghanistan war.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- United Nations diplomats and the chairman of an Afghan election commission are sparring over efforts to curb fraud in the country's Nov. 7 presidential runoff election.

BAGHDAD -- Suicide bombers in cars packed with explosives killed at least 132 people and wounded 600 more outside Iraqi government buildings Sunday morning in nearly simultaneous blasts that were powerful even by Baghdad's grim standards.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Flipping a switch on one of Afghanistan's long-awaited electrical power plants in August, U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry urged Afghans to think of U.S. taxpayers' support when they turn their lights on at night.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistani forces Saturday captured the hometown of the chief of the country's Taliban movement, officials announced, the first big gain in the weeklong ground offensive in South Waziristan.

WASHINGTON -- Iran hedged Friday on accepting a deal that would transfer most of its low-enriched uranium out of the country to be converted for peaceful uses, saying it wants more time to study the deal and suggesting that it prefers a different approach.

WASHINGTON -- Top NATO officials suggested Friday that they support Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal's call for a bigger counterinsurgency strategy in that war, but said they may send more troops only after they know how the administration intends to proceed there.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A suicide bomber attacked a suspected nuclear-weapons site Friday in Pakistan, raising fears about the security of the nuclear arsenal, while two other terrorist blasts made it another bloody day in the country's struggle against extremism.