Zabiullah Mujahid

An Afghan official involved in setting up peace talks with the Taliban was gunned down in Kabul on Sunday as Afghanistan announced plans to take control of security over more of its territory. Gunmen killed Moulavi Arsala Rahmani while he was on his way to work Sunday morning, the Afghan interior ministry said. Rahmani was a senator and Cabinet minister in the former Taliban government when the Islamic militia ruled most of the country, but in recent years had been a senior member of the High Peace Council.

Allied forces suffered a day of heavy losses in Afghanistan Friday after a helicopter crash killed six U.S. Marines and an attack killed four French soldiers, prompting Paris to consider an early troop withdrawal. The Marines died after their CH-53 helicopter crashed in Helmand province, a U.S. military official said. The NATO-led force reported no enemy activity in the area, but the Taliban claimed credit for bringing down the chopper. Separately, an Afghan soldier killed four French soldiers and injured 15 others, one critically, in eastern Afghanistan, French officials said.

A man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform shot at coalition service members in eastern Afghanistan Friday, killing one, officials said. NATO's International Security Assistance Force did not say which country the deceased soldier was from. But a local police chief in Kunar province said the deceased soldier was an American. It is unclear whether the attacker is an Afghan soldier or an infiltrator wearing the uniform. Police said the attacker was an Afghan soldier.

Taliban militants captured a remote district in northeastern Afghanistan early Monday, officials said. The militants took over the Waygal district in Nuristan province after a clash with police, said Mohammad Farooq, the security director of the province. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the entire district was under Taliban control.

A servicemember with the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan was killed Sunday when a roadside bomb struck a military convoy, authorities said. The attack occurred in the eastern outskirts of Kabul. The blast also wounded another servicemember, U.S. military and Afghan officials said. Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman speaking by phone, took responsibility for the attack. U.S. authorities withheld the name and nationality of the servicemember until they notified family members.

The Taliban have met with U.S. officials to discuss possible peace talks, but do not want to negotiate with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government, a Taliban spokesman said Tuesday. The spokesman's comments, rejecting a key American condition, could potentially derail American efforts for Afghans to reach a negotiated end to the decade-long war. In an e-mail response to questions from CNN, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid denied previous reports that the Taliban had been invited to meet with the Karzai government in Saudi Arabia, saying that talks with what he called a "puppet" government would be pointless.

The Taliban claimed responsibility Friday for a blast that killed eight people at a market in the Afghan capital that is popular with international residents. At least six others were wounded, authorities said. Three of those killed were non-Afghans, said Hashmatiullah Stamikzai, a Kabul police spokesman. The market is close to embassies that represent governments around the world. A Taliban spokesman said the terror group had knowledge that a security agent for Xe -- the company formerly known as Blackwater -- was in the supermarket.

A U.S. aircraft crashed in southern Afghanistan, killing three U.S. service members and one civilian employee, a statement from NATO-led forces said Friday. The cause of the crash of the Air Force CV-22 Osprey was not known, said the International Security Assistance Force statement. Several other service members were injured in the crash late Thursday night. The CV-22, which conducts long-range infiltration and resupply operations for the U.S. military, went down seven miles west of the city of Qalat, the capital of Zabul province.

Five French troops and an Afghan civilian were killed on Wednesday in an insurgent attack in an eastern province of Afghanistan, the French president's office said. The incident occurred in Afghanistan's Kapisa province, where the French have a strong troop presence, and it comes a day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited the country to meet with French troops. The office said the soldiers were protecting a shura, a gathering of high-profile figures, in Joibar village when "a terrorist detonated his bomb within proximity of the French soldiers.

U.S. Defense Department officials have identified five U.S. soldiers, including a colonel and two lieutenant colonels, killed by a suicide bomb in Afghanistan's capital this week. The Tuesday blast killed at least a dozen civilians, five U.S. troops and a Canadian service member, officials said. It occurred on a busy road near a NATO-led military convoy and a registration center for the Afghan Army. The five U.S. soldiers are Col. John M. McHugh, 46, of New Jersey; Lt. Col. Paul R. Bartz, 43, of Wisconsin; Lt. Col. Thomas P. Belkofer, 44, of Ohio; Staff Sgt. Richard J. Tieman, 28, of Pennsylvania; and Spc. Joshua A. Tomlinson, 24, of Louisiana.

An Afghan official involved in setting up peace talks with the Taliban was gunned down in Kabul on Sunday as Afghanistan announced plans to take control of security over more of its territory. Gunmen killed Moulavi Arsala Rahmani while he was on his way to work Sunday morning, the Afghan interior ministry said. Rahmani was a senator and Cabinet minister in the former Taliban government when the Islamic militia ruled most of the country, but in recent years had been a senior member of the High Peace Council.

A man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform shot at coalition service members in eastern Afghanistan Friday, killing one, officials said. NATO's International Security Assistance Force did not say which country the deceased soldier was from. But a local police chief in Kunar province said the deceased soldier was an American. It is unclear whether the attacker is an Afghan soldier or an infiltrator wearing the uniform. Police said the attacker was an Afghan soldier.

The Taliban militia said Tuesday the series of insurgent attacks in Afghanistan this week was well-planned and intended to show its enemies, including NATO, that it can strike secure locations. Insurgents launched the wave of audacious attacks in Kabul and three other areas of the country Sunday. Government forces said they had repelled the coordinated offensives, but some of the violence in the streets of the capital spilled into Monday. The Taliban said they launched fighters into battle with suicide vests, rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades in Kabul and the provinces of Nangarhar, Paktia and Logar.

The Taliban have met with U.S. officials to discuss possible peace talks, but do not want to negotiate with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government, a Taliban spokesman said Tuesday. The spokesman's comments, rejecting a key American condition, could potentially derail American efforts for Afghans to reach a negotiated end to the decade-long war. In an e-mail response to questions from CNN, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid denied previous reports that the Taliban had been invited to meet with the Karzai government in Saudi Arabia, saying that talks with what he called a "puppet" government would be pointless.

A spokesman for the Taliban denied on Wednesday a weekend report that Taliban representatives may meet with officials representing the government of President Hamid Karzai in Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks. "There is no doubt that Saudi Arabia is a respectful country for us as it is the place for the house of God and many more Islamic sacred, but the rumor which has recently been spread by media that the Taliban delegation would meet with Karzai administration¹s representatives in the Saudi Arabia is completely incorrect," said spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid in a statement.

Allied forces suffered a day of heavy losses in Afghanistan Friday after a helicopter crash killed six U.S. Marines and an attack killed four French soldiers, prompting Paris to consider an early troop withdrawal. The Marines died after their CH-53 helicopter crashed in Helmand province, a U.S. military official said. The NATO-led force reported no enemy activity in the area, but the Taliban claimed credit for bringing down the chopper. Separately, an Afghan soldier killed four French soldiers and injured 15 others, one critically, in eastern Afghanistan, French officials said.

Tuesday's deadly suicide attack targeting Afghan Shia just didn't fit the pattern of what had come before in this troubled country. The police formed the usual cordon at the attack site -- this time a shrine in Kabul. Sirens pierced the odd moment of eerie silence, but the police chief's face was contorted with fury and confusion, like he'd seen something new and troubling -- even after decades of conflict here. Yes, the insurgency has specialized in hitting targets right in the city center, often meters away from key institutions.

Afghan security forces on Monday killed a suicide bomber near where an important meeting of tribal elders will be held in the capital, Kabul, this week, the nation's Interior Ministry said. The bomber attempted to reach the area where the meeting or loya jirga will be held, according to ministry spokesman Sediq Seddiqi. General Ayoub Salangi, chief of Kabul police, said the bomber was wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase when he was stopped. He was "killed right before the first checkpoint, at least 500 meters away," Sediq Seddiqi said.

A nearly day-long Taliban siege on the U.S. Embassy and NATO command center in Kabul ended early Wednesday, Afghan and NATO officials said. A policeman and two civilians were killed and 21 civilians were injured, the Interior Ministry said. Six militants have been killed and the building they were firing from has been cleared, the ministry said. The strike in central Kabul began Tuesday amid intelligence that insurgents might launch a high-profile attack in the capital around the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States, a coalition officer and a senior official of NATO's International Security Assistance Force confirmed to CNN. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told CNN that his group targeted "the U.S. Embassy, governmental organizations and other foreign organizations.

Fighting that raged for hours in Kabul Tuesday afternoon after a dramatic Taliban attack on the U.S. Embassy and NATO's command calmed down greatly during the evening hours, a military spokesman told CNN But the strike in central Kabul and two other brazen assaults across the city left residents unnerved, and security forces braced for more. Gunfire continued to ring out. Three police officers have died and others have been injured in the violence across Kabul, police said.