Creator
The start of the Afghan Taliban’s annual offensive on Friday is expected to precede the bloodiest fighting season in a decade as Nato forces pull out.
Exceeding turnout predictions, thousands of Afghans took to the polls to cast their votes for a new president despite Taliban threats.
Despite cold weather and the Taliban rejecting Afghanistan’s election as a foreign plot, voters turned out in large numbers to choose a new president.
A suicide bomber on a bicycle has killed nine people outside the defence ministry in Kabul during a visit by new US defence secretary Chuck Hagel.
Worrying questions hang over a plan to start switching from Nato to local control in Afghanistan, just weeks before the process is due to start.
An Afghan ex-pilot opened fire after a row at a Kabul training centre on Wednesday, leaving eight US troops and an American contractor dead.
