Kabul - A remote-controlled roadside bomb killed seven Afghan security forces Wednesday in eastern Afghanistan, while Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the killing of an Afghan journalist, who was shot dead by unknown assailants in southern region.

Seven Afghan security forces were killed when their vehicle was blown up by a remote-controlled roadside bomb in Lakan area of south- eastern province of Khost on Wednesday morning, General Najeeb Nuhzad, an army commander in the province said.

Tehran - Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Tehran on Tuesday to attend the 10th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and discuss regional political and economic issues.

Iran, Pakistan and Turkey founded the ECO in 1985. Later Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan joined the group.

Karzai is expected to discuss possible Iran-US cooperation in Afghanistan with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prior to the summit on Wednesday.

Kabul  - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday approved a decision by the election commission to set presidential polls in August, retracting his earlier decree that called for the voting to be held next month.

Karzai had thrown the country into political turmoil last week by ordering the Independent Election Commission, which had set balloting for August 20, to bring the election forward to comply with the constitution.

Kabul  - Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission on Wednesday defended its decision to set August 20 as the date for the next presidential election, rejecting President Hamid Karzai's decree for early polls in April as simply too soon for the country to prepare for.

Karzai last week ordered the commission to move the polling up to comply with the constitution, sparking an outcry from politicians who said they were not ready for an earlier election date.

Kabul- Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission said Wednesday that the presidential election should be held in August despite President Hamid Karzai's decree that called for polls to be brought forward to April.

The commission said it would be unable to hold the voting next month because of security and logistical problems.

Kabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered in a decree on Saturday that the country's presidential poll, which had been slated for August, be brought forward to April.

The Afghan Election Commission will therefore conduct presidential, parliamentary, provincial council, district council and municipality elections in accordance with the constitution, the decree said.

According to the Afghan constitution, the presidential election should be held at least 30 days before the end of the presidential term on May 22.