The Afghan government accused US forces of killing up to 14 security guards for a construction company in the eastern province of Khost Nov. 10. The US says the victims were militants who were carrying rocket-propelled grenades and opened fire on coalition forces. US-led troops responded with ground fire and helicopter attack. President Hamid Karzai released a statement condemning the actions of the US forces involved in the fight.

Pakistan security officials say a suspected US missile strike into the North Waziristan region killed ten people Nov. 7. Reports indicate most of the militants killed were "foreigners." The strike is said to have targeted an al-Qaeda training center in the mountains south of the town of Mir Ali. (Radio Australia, Nov. 7)

The US military said Nov. 5 that it will investigate a report that an air-strike hit a wedding party in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, killing dozens of civilians and prompting new protests from President Hamid Karzai. "We cannot win the fight against terrorism with air-strikes," Karzai told reporters in Kabul, hours after Barack Obama won the US presidential race. "This is my first demand of the new president of the United States—to put an end to civilian casualties." (LAT, Nov. 6)

More than 20 people were killed in two apparent US missile strikes in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border Oct. 31. An al-Qaeda leader identified as Abu Kasha or Abu Akash, previously believed to be in Iraq, was reported killed in the attack near the village of Mirali, North Waziristan. Two hours later, a second set of missiles hit a village in South Waziristan, killing seven, including an unspecified number of foreign fighters, Pakistani officials said. US military authorities had no immediate comment.

Australia has ordered an investigation into claims that up to 20 Afghan asylum-seekers were killed by the Taliban after being forcibly returned to their country. A TV documentary reports that those who died were among 400 Afghan asylum-seekers denied entry to Australia by the outgoing John Howard administration. Their fate was examined by a research group, the Edmund Rice Centre, which says it has proof of nine deaths.

Suspected US drones fired missiles into an alleged Taliban compound near Wana village in Pakistan's South Waziristan, killing at least seven people, local security officials said Oct. 26. There was no immediate confirmation of the strike from Pakistan's military or the US-led coalition in Afghanistan. The attack is the 12th in the past 10 weeks—all of which have been blamed on CIA or US-led forces in Afghanistan.

The death sentence of Afghan journalism student Sayad Parwaz Kambaksh was reduced Oct. 21 to 20 years imprisonment by an Afghan appeals court. Kambaksh was sentenced to death in January for distributing papers questioning gender roles under Islam. In May, Kambaksh appealed his death sentence before the appeals court. He denied the accusations in front of a three-judge panel Oct. 19, saying they were made by Balkh University professors and students with "private hostilities" against him. He told the court that his confessions were the result of torture by the Balkh province intelligence service.

Pakistan's parliament held a heated debate Oct. 20 on how to fight the Islamist militants in the northwest, who are now extending their reach to suicide attacks in the capital. Calls for dialogue with the Taliban, punctuated by opposition to fighting what is perceived as America's war, dominated the closed-door sessions, participants said. (IHT, Oct. 20) Meanwhile, Maulana Sufi Muhammad, leader of the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-e-Muhammadi, has offered to broker peace with the militants if the government instates sharia law in his stronghold of Malakand. "In that case I will personally go to Swat and Bajaur to persuade the militants to lay down arms," he said. He added that he would declare jihad against the Swat Taliban commanded by his son-in-law Maulana Fazlullah if they refused to lay down arms after the enforcement of sharia. (The News, Pakistan, Oct. 18; The News, Oct. 13)