Peacekeeping Forces Afghanistan

A rocket exploded just yards from a camp housing international peacekeepers Sunday, the first such attack since security forces began patrolling the Afghan capital last year. Nobody was hurt in the rocket attack on the Kabul camp of German and Danish troops, which occurred about 2:30 a.m., said Flight Lt. Tony Marshall, a spokesman for the British-led International Security Assistance Force. A 107-mm rocket flew over the peacekeeping compound and exploded to the northwest, Marshall said.

A rocket exploded just yards from a camp housing international peacekeepers Sunday, the first such attack since security forces began patrolling the Afghan capital last year. Nobody was hurt in the rocket attack on the Kabul camp of German and Danish troops, which occurred about 2:30 a.m., said Flight Lt. Tony Marshall, a spokesman for the British-led International Security Assistance Force. A 107-mm rocket flew over the peacekeeping compound and exploded to the northwest, Marshall said.

A senior commander was among 15 Taliban fighters killed in overnight clashes with U.S.-led forces and government troops in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said Monday. "Fifteen Taliban were killed, including Mullah Abdur Rahim, in Maruf district," Afghan Foreign Ministry official Khalid Khan Achakzai said. Maruf is about 80 miles east of Kandahar in rugged mountains near the Pakistani border. The U.S. military confirmed the death toll.

President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday announced the issuing of a new currency, designed to end the confusion from several forms of money now in circulation and provide a symbol of Afghan renewal and unity. On the same day, Afghanistan handed over 55 longtime Pakistani prisoners who had fought on the side of the ousted Taliban regime to their government, saying they no longer posed a danger here.

The Americans in combat fatigues kicked in the door at the home of the Afghan high court's chief judge, fired warning shots into the walls, trussed up the jurist and seven other men and whisked them off to jail. There, one of the captives said, the men were doused with cold water, deprived of food and grilled about terrorism. This was no ordinary raid, though.