Kabul

WASHINGTON -- The survival of Afghanistan's fragile government in the face of a resurgent Taliban threat will be high on the agenda for President Bush and the presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan in a series of White House meetings starting today. While the White House credits Pakistan for helping to capture or kill more al-Qaida operatives than any other country since the attacks of Sept. 11, it worries about support that Pakistan's unruly regions provide for Taliban fighters intent on unseating the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide bomber rammed his car into a U.S. military convoy yesterday morning, killing two U.S. soldiers and at least 16 Afghans in the deadliest attack in the country's capital since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. One of the most powerful explosions seen in Kabul, it comes amid a sharp escalation of violence in Afghanistan. The resurgent Taliban have taken control of parts of southern Afghanistan, where NATO-led troops are waging daily battles. The holdouts have been turning to Iraqi-style tactics - including increasing numbers of suicide bombings - to try to derail the government of President Hamid Karzai.

MUQOR, Afghanistan -- This town was once a success story, where girls attended school and the Taliban had no sway. But on a recent night, enemy soldiers surrounded the district headquarters, fired rockets and bullets at the few men guarding the place and kidnapped seven people. "Son of Bush," they shouted. Three days later, U.S. Army Capt. Erik Schiemann looked at the damage, the smoke-blackened rooms, the bullet-pocked walls, the caved-in roof. He told the new police chief, away during the attack, that the government and the military had failed Muqor.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide car bomber killed at least 21 Afghans yesterday, many of them children, near a mosque in southern Kandahar province, according to Afghan and NATO authorities. The blast in the village of Panjwayi, a Taliban stronghold, came three days after NATO took command of the counterinsurgency war in the region and as Canadian troops moved through the area, the NATO-led force in southern Afghanistan confirmed. Most of the casualties were children ages 12 to 15 who were leaving a mosque where they had been studying the Quran, the Islamic holy book, said Yousuf Stanizai, spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- After al-Qaida's deputy leader urged in a videotape that Afghans rise up against U.S.-led forces, President Hamid Karzai called Ayman al-Zawahiri the enemy of the people and said the Egyptian-born fugitive had killed thousands of Afghans. The video, al-Zawahiri's sixth this year, was posted yesterday on an Islamic Web site and called "American Crimes in Kabul." It appeared to have been filmed just after the violence in Kabul on May 29 when at least 20 people died in rioting that erupted after a U.S. military truck ran into a dozen Afghan vehicles.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The U.S. military is investigating the possibility that soldiers fired into a crowd of Afghans at the scene of a fatal traffic accident that set off a day of rioting this week. "There are indications, as part of our initial investigation, that coalition soldiers did in fact use their weapons in self-defense," Col. Tom Collins, a spokesman for U.S. forces here, said yesterday. In a statement released Monday, Collins had said there were "indications that at least one coalition military vehicle fired warning shots over the crowd."

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A special session of Afghanistan's parliament called yesterday for the prosecution of U.S. troops involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident that sparked hours of intense rioting here. "Those who are responsible for Monday's incident must be investigated and prosecuted," said a statement from the speaker of the lower house, Younis Qanooni, which was read over state-run television last night. Members of the upper and lower houses of the Afghan parliament, chosen in landmark elections last fall, met all day to discuss events that sent waves of panic across the capital.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- In the Afghan capital's worst unrest since the fall of the Taliban five years ago, Afghan mobs fought running battles yesterday with troops and police trying to quell riots sparked when U.S. military vehicles fled the scene of a fatal accident after hitting civilians. At least eight people were killed and more than 100 injured, most in the rioting that followed an early morning traffic accident involving a convoy of U.S. military vehicles, Afghan officials said. Rioters attacked the offices of the United Nations and foreign aid agencies, stealing computers, books, desks and even shoes.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide car bomber struck near a U.S. military base yesterday, killing at least two people, and a U.S. soldier was reported killed in fighting with insurgents in southern Afghanistan. A car accident apparently prevented the suicide bomber from reaching his intended target, believed to be a store frequented by foreigners on the outskirts of Kabul, said Yousuf Stanizai, a spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry. The target also might have been U.S. or NATO forces that have bases on the same road, Stanizai said.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Abdul Rahman, threatened with the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity in a case that drew Western condemnation, disappeared yesterday. He was not in a Kabul mental hospital despite allegations that he is mentally ill. He was not with international troops. Members of his family said they did not know where he is. Most likely, after his release late Monday from an Afghan prison, Rahman was being protected by the United Nations, Afghan officials and a Western diplomat said.