Enough Afghan opium to supply world demand for two years has effectively gone missing, with the Taliban suspected of stockpiling supplies in a bid to corner the market, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has revealed. Afghanistan is the world's leading narcotics supplier. Earlier this month, a U.N. study revealed Afghanistan's opium production had dropped dramatically this year partly because of new aggressive drug-fighting tactics in the country. According to the UNODC report, production dipped by ...

A notorious Pakistani Taliban commander with a reputation for beheading opponents has died in custody, a Pakistani military official said.

Sixteen-year-old Akbar Zaid dreams of becoming a teacher. But for now, his summer job involves holding an automatic rifle and hunting down Taliban fighters. "I'm doing it for peace," Zaid said, right before he fired several shots in the air with his rifle. Zaid is among hundreds of villagers in northwest Pakistan who've volunteered to join private militias, called lashkars. These groups have vowed to help Pakistan's military in fighting the Taliban. Pakistani military officials credit the lashkars with helping ...

Paid for with U.S. dollars, Afghanistan's Highway 1 was supposed to symbolize a path toward a bright future when it was repaved five years ago. The $300 million project smoothed over the highway's rough potholes and cut in half the 12-hour drive time from the capital, Kabul, to the country's political center, Kandahar. But today, roadside bombs have re-scarred the road, and Taliban militants routinely stage brazen attacks on its travelers. The journey between the two cities now takes ...

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Saturday he was convinced that civilians, in addition to militants, were among those killed in a NATO airstrike that killed at least 90 people in northern Afghanistan. Gen. Stanley McChrystal toured the site of the massive explosion that occurred early Friday as Afghans tried to siphon fuel from two tankers that were hijacked late Thursday by the Taliban in Kunduz province. The fuel was earmarked for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, known ...

Success in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan is achievable, even though the situation is serious, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said in a statement Monday. The statement came as Gen. Stanley McChrystal submitted a long-awaited report on the state of the war. "The situation ... demands a revised implementation strategy, commitment and resolve, and increased unity of effort," McChrystal said in the statement. The general's review was passed on to Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, ...

Monday marks the end of August, a month with both good and bad news out of Afghanistan — and the approach of a key turning point. Civilian casualties caused by Western attacks have fallen dramatically under a new edict from General Stanley McChrystal barring air strikes that risk innocent deaths . That's designed to show the Afghan people that the U.S. military is a force for good in their country. But at the same time, U.S. troop deaths ...

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Saturday, thanking his nation's fighting forces for a job "well done." "This has been the most difficult summer in Afghanistan because the Taliban have tried to prevent the elections taking place and I think our forces who I've been meeting today have shown extraordinary courage during this period," Brown said in a televised interview, taped in Afghanistan and aired in Britain. Brown dropped by Camp Bastion in Helmand ...

Thursday is "Chinese night" at the Hotel Silk Road in Afghanistan's Bamiyan province. (CNN) -- Thursday is "Chinese night" at the Hotel Silk Road in Afghanistan's Bamiyan province. Hungry guests sip cans of Coke and nonalcoholic beer and pick at a buffet that includes General Tsao's chicken, egg drop soup and slices of sweet green melon grown in nearby fields. When a vegetarian diner arrives, the hotel's Japanese owner, Hiromi Yasui, runs back to the kitchen to whip up a ...

Despite strenuous entreaties by top U.S. officials, Pakistan has abandoned plans to mount a military offensive against the terrorist group responsible for a two-year campaign of suicide bombings across the country. Although the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan , has been in disarray since an Aug. 5 missile strike from a CIA-operated drone killed its leader, Baitullah Mehsud, the Pakistani military has concluded that a ground attack on its strongholds in South Waziristan would be too difficult. The Pakistani military have ...