As residents make the arduous trip to the western Pakistani city of Mardan, they prepare to join the hundreds of thousands who have already sought refuge from recent fighting between the Pakistani military and hard-line Islamist militants. The exodus now threatens to complicate Pakistan's efforts to contain an expanding Taliban and Al-Qaeda insurgency.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is "very serious" about a demand for foreign forces in Afghanistan to halt air raids, even though it was rebuffed by a top U.S. security official, his spokesman has said.
The United States has said it will not halt air strikes in Afghanistan as demanded by President Hamid Karzai after civilian deaths, and it denied using burning phosphorus in the attacks.
More than 40 female police academy graduates have been officially confirmed as officers in Kabul, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reports.
At least five people were killed on May 10 when two suicide bombers attacked a convoy of police in Afghanistan's volatile southern province of Helmand, a provincial police chief said.
Pakistan's military has ordered people out of parts of the Swat valley, temporarily relaxing a curfew to enable civilians to flee an intensifying offensive against Taliban militants.
Since the authorities opened the way for private investment into Afghanistan's education system nearly two years ago, more than 300 private schools have opened, from Kabul to remote provinces. Parents' welcoming of private schools is seen by many Afghans as a further sign of growing stability.
The U.S. military and the Afghan government have issued a joint statement confirming that some civilians died in a battle that included air strikes in the west of the country this week, but gave no figures.
Missiles fired by suspected pilotless U.S. drone aircraft have struck a compound in a Pakistani region on the Afghan border, killing at least five militants, intelligence and Taliban officials said.
The UN refugee agency says 500,000 people have fled fighting in northwestern Pakistan in the past few days. It also warns that the military offensive against militants in the Swat Valley would lead to a total of 1 million people eventually being displaced.
As the Pakistani military prepares to fight a decisive battle against the Taliban in the western Swat Valley, the public mood in Pakistan has visibly turned against the Taliban. Analysts maintain that the change in public perceptions might prove crucial in denying the extremists public support and mobilizing the state to confront them head-on instead of trying to contain and appease them through peace agreements.
Pakistani aircraft have bombed Taliban positions in Swat, a day after the prime minister ordered the military to eliminate terrorists and on the heels of a commitment to the United States to fight extremists.
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