Afghan and NATO-coalition force arrested an insurgent leader who was responsible for the assassination Hanifa Safi, a senior official of Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs. A press release issued by the Joint Command of the International Force in Afghanistan said the insurgent leader was arrested during a joint clearance operation in Kabul province yesterday.

Pakistan and the US today signed a Memorandum of Understanding on transporting supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan through Pakistani territory after weeks of intense negotiations. The MoU states arms and ammunition for foreign troops in Afghanistan cannot be transported through Pakistan and that all cargo will be scanned in the port city of Karachi and at the border crossing points of Chaman and Torkham.

Richard Hoagland, the American Charge d'Affaires, and Pakistan's Additional Defence Secretary, Rear Admiral Farrokh Ahmad, signed the MoU during a function at the Defence Ministry in Rawalpindi.

Pakistani officials told reporters that the MoU would safeguard the country's national interests. Hoagland said the US would soon release 1.1 billion dollars of aid for Pakistan. The cabinet had last week approved the draft of the MoU after several rounds of talks between senior officials of the two countries. Pakistan had closed all supply routes to Afghanistan after a cross-border NATO air strike killed 24 of its soldiers last Novembe

Visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul today. The two leaders signed an agreement to build a defence officers' academy in Afghanistan on the lines of Sandharst academy. Prime Minister Cameron has said that the agreement was a part of Britain's continuing commitment to development aid to Afghanistan beyond 2014, when all combat troops of the international forces leave the country.

British Prime Minister arrived on an unscheduled visit to Afghanistan yesterday. He flew to Camp Bastion, the UK’s largest Afghan base in southern Helmand province and met with the British soldiers posted there. Mr Cameron also visited frontline troops at the Shawqat base in Nad-e-Ali district and saw a provincial reconstruction team in Lashkar Gah. Provincial reconstruction team is a unit consisting of military officers, diplomats, and experts, working to support reconstruction efforts in the area. 

During a meeting with British and Afghan officials Mr. Cameron said Britain will reduce its troop numbers further next year as the Afghan troops take a bigger role. Britain has around 9,500 troops in Afghanistan, making it the second-largest contributor to the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force after the United States.

Meanwhile Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has also arrived in Kabul. He is likely to meet the British Prime Minister and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Pakistan on Wednesday began allowing NATO supplies to move out from a port in Karachi, a day after it lifted a seven-month blockade of vital routes to Afghanistan. The route was reopened after the much-sought US apology for the killing of 24 of its soldiers in a cross-border raid last year.

Authorities at Port Qasim, Pakistan's second busiest harbour, told the media that they had received instructions to allow the movement of NATO supplies after the payment of विलंब-शुल्कdemurrage() for the period when the goods were kept at the port. 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a telephonic conversation with her Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar, reiterated America's deepest regrets for the NATO attack on November 26 last year, which had triggered a major diplomatic rift between the two countries.

NATO has condemned the downing of Turkish fighter plane by Syria as an unacceptable act. The foreign ministers of NATO at an emergency session in Brussels have condemned the act in strongest terms.

The NATO Secretary General Anderson Rasmussen told that the act shows Syrian disregard for international norms, peace, security and human life. He said that NATO is seized of the matter and will continue to follow the situation.

Rasmussen told that the NATO stands together with Turkey in this hour of crisis. The meeting was called under Article 4 of NATO Charter at the request of Turkey which calls for consultation in case of threat to security, integrity and territorial rights of a member nation.

Earlier today, Turkish Prime Minster Tayyip Erdogan told parliament in Ankara that the Turkish fighter plane was shot down by Syria in the international airspace. He termed it as a hostile act. Syria however denied the charges and said the plane plane violated its airspace and was downed in an act of self defence.

French President Francois Hollande arrived on a surprise visit to Afghanistan early this morning. He met French soldiers posted in Nirab district of Kapisa province. Addressing them he said that time for withdrawl of French soldiers from Afghanistan has come. Thanking French soldiers for carrying out their mission in the country he said it is the time for Afghan sovereignty. Later French President reached Kabul to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

President Hollande during his election campaign recently and also at the NATO summit in Chicago earlier this week had announced the pull out of French troops from Afghanistan ahead of the NATO schedule of 2014. There are 3,400 French soldiers in Afghanistan.

he two day NATO Summit begining in Chicago today would lay the road map of international support to Afghanistan in the coming years. The objective is not only achieving its political stability and economic development, but also to ensure that it will never be safe haven for terrorists. The NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said a Chicago audience on the eve of the crucial summit, over the next two days the participants will take stock of the progress they are making in Afghanistan. The summit is expected to be attended by more than 60 countries. 

Rasmussen said that with the help of NATO and US forces Afghan forces are already in the lead for providing security for half the country's population. He said, by next year they will reach a really significant milestone and Afghans will take lead for providing security throughout their country.

Pakistani officials say President Asif Ali Zardari will attend the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago, after the cabinet endorsed a last-minute invitation to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

The foreign ministry today said Mr. Zardari has accepted NATO's invitation and the Cabinet endorsed the decision. He will meet with heads of state on the sidelines of the summit and be accompanied by Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen invited President Zardari to the summit earlier this week after Pakistan suggested it would soon re-open ground supply routes to international troops in Afghanistan.

Islamabad closed the supply routes to NATO nearly six months ago to protest U.S. airstrikes that mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani troops near the Afghan border.

A Russian-made cargo plane belonging to a foreign military has been force-landed in Karachi airport, on the directives of Pakistan Air Force. According to sources, the Pakistan authorities forced the plane to land in Karachi after it entered Pakistani airspace. The cargo plane took off from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and was supposed to fly to Al Maktoum International airport in UAE. The source said usually this kind of cargo planes are used to carry Nato supplies to Afghanistan. Checking of the plane is underway and its crew is also being interrogated.

Two day meeting of NATO Defence and Foreign Ministers begins in Brussels today to pave the way for Chicago conference on Afghanistan scheduled on May 20-21. The strategy for the military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the funding of Afghan security forces after the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the country will be the main topics of discussion in the meeting of the NATO countries. The long term strategic partnership agreement between the US and Afghanistan is also likely to be discussed in the Brussels meet. 

Meanwhile Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that the US-Afghan strategic accord must clearly spell out the amount money international community would provide to Afghan security forces after the draw down of foreign troops from the country in 2014.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said that the Afghan security forces have made impressive progress in assuming the responsibility of defending their country and the security transition process will complete by the end of 2014 as scheduled. Addressing a joint press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul today Rasmussen said that Afghan troops are in lead roal in 50 per cent of the Afghanistan and would be ready to take the lead role around the country by mid-2013. He said the NATO forces are committed to hand over full responsibility to them as per the time table. However he also assured that the departure of foreign troops will not create security vacuume in Afghanistan. NATO will remain in traninig role even after the departure of all combat troops from the country in 2014. Rasmussen said strength of the Afghan security forces is increasing day by day and currently they number around 330000. By the end of the year their number will reach upto 3,52,000. Afghan President Hamid Karzai also addressed the press conference. In reply to a question he hinted that the Presidential elections in the country can be preponed in 2013. The five year term of President Karzai will end in 2014.