National Directorate of Security

(Newser) - Afghanistan's spy agency has a new target: Afghan troops. With attacks on US and Afghan troops by Taliban infiltrators on the rise, the National Directorate of Security is launching an ambitious spying program designed to identify any threats. In addition to the previously reported "special reconnaissance group" that...

(Newser) - A Taliban suicide bomber at a mosque near Kabul killed 23 people today, including Afghanistan's deputy chief of intelligence. The explosion ripped through a crowd in Laghman province just as officials were leaving the mosque. Two top provincial officials from Laghman were also among the dead, and the blast destroyed...

(Newser) - Hundreds of Taliban are buying their way out of jail every year, bribing police, judges, and wardens to return to the fields and streets of Afghanistan to fight again. Despite denials from the government, American and Afghan sources—and the Taliban itself—attest to the growing trend. Newsweek reports from...