Washington, Aug. 4 : An MIT-trained Pakistani neuroscientist, accused of belonging to an al-Qaeda cell based in Boston, is alive and in American custody in Afghanistan, five years after she was reported missing.

“It has been confirmed by the FBI that Aafia Siddiqi is alive,” The News quoted Elaine Whitfield Sharp, a lawyer for Siddiqi’s family, as saying.

Sharp said she spoke to an FBI official on Thursday, who told her that Siddiqi is injured but alive, and that she is in Afghanistan.”

Kabul, Aug. 4 : Afghanistan of late has turned into a deadlier battlefield than Iraq with the Taliban demonstrating a new level of resilience and ferocity six years after being driven from power.

According to the New York Times, the resurgence of the Taliban is ringing alarm bells in Kabul, Washington and many NATO capitals, prompting a fresh round of soul-searching over how a relatively ragtag insurgency has managed to keep the world’s most powerful armies at bay.

The paper claims in its report that the objectives of the war against the Taliban have become increasingly uncertain.

Colombo, Aug 2 : Afghan President Hamid Karzai today attacked Pakistan for providing safe sanctuary to terrorists.

"It is because of the safe havens and sanctuary which terrorists are getting in Pakistan, the country lost their great leader Benazir Bhutto," he claimed.

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007, after departing a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) rally in Rawalpindi, two weeks before the scheduled general election of 2008 where she was a leading opposition candidate.

London - British citizens are a part of Taliban forces fighting against international troops in Afghanistan, said British General Ed Butler in an interview published Saturday in the Daily Telegraph.

A former commander in Afghanistan, Butler was quoted as saying "there are British passport holders who live in the UK who are being found in places like Kandahar."

Speaking of the possibility of terrorist activity being planned for Britain in Afghanistan, he added that "there is a link between Kandahar and urban conurbations in the UK."

Kabul - Three civilians were killed and five others were wounded in a suicide attack in western Afghanistan, officials said on Saturday.

The attack took place in Zaranj city, the capital of western Nimroz province on Friday night, when a bomber, who was under police pursuit, detonated explosives he had strapped around his body, said Ahmad Khan, a senior provincial police official.

Islamabad, Aug 2 : Pakistan has strongly rejected a report published by a US daily claiming that its intelligence agency ISI was behind July 7 suicide attack on Indian embassy in Kabul. Describing the report as “rubbish”, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmud Qureshi said that his country was too suffering from the menace of terrorism, and promised to cooperate with neighbouring countries to combat terror.

Earlier this week, the New York Times had reported that intercepted communications had provided clear evidence that the ISI was involved in the suicide attack on the Indian mission, which killed around 60 people.

“We are suffering, and this region is suffering, from this menace of extremism and terrorism,” The News quoted Quereshi ass saying.