Kabul - A joint patrol of Afghan and US-led coalition troops killed two Afghan policemen after they opened fire on the combined forces during an anti-insurgent operation in eastern Afghanistan, the military said Sunday.

Members of Afghan and coalition forces were conducting a ground operation in the north-eastern province of Kapisa on Friday night to "disrupt Taliban senior leadership and suicide attack networks" when they came under fire by several individuals, the US military said in a statement.

New York, Mar. 8 : Only a legitimate and credible government in Afghanistan can neutralize the advances being made by the Taliban in that country, feel experts.

"I think it is clear that you have to have a political solution to Afghanistan, and I wouldn't rule anything off the table, including conversations with some aspects of the Taliban," said Reuben Brigety, an Afghanistan expert at the Center for American Progress.

Lahore/New Delhi, Mar. 8 : Last Tuesday's attack on Sri Lankan cricket players heralds the spread of Taliban-trained groups into Pakistani heartlands, feel experts.

The commando-style strike in Lahore left eight people dead and eight members of the Sri Lankan cricket squad injured, raising serious doubts over whether Pakistan will host international sporting fixtures again.

Kabul - A suicide attack on a police station in western Afghanistan killed two people, while at least 200 villagers protested against an operation by US forces which, they claimed, killed four civilians, officials said Saturday.

A suicide bomber who had strapped explosives around his body detonated himself inside the police station in Zaranj, provincial capital of south-western Nimruz province Saturday, killing a policeman and a civilian, said provincial governor Gholam Dastagir Azaad.

Tehran  - Tehran would consider an invitation by the United States to attend a regional conference aimed at stabilizing Afghanistan, Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said Saturday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that it was expected that Iran would be invited to a conference on Afghanistan scheduled for this month in a European capital.

The Iranian spokesman said that if the United States and the West needed Iran and conveyed an invitation, then Tehran would consider it for the sake of helping its neighbour.

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.