Afghanistan, Kabul | featured news

The first partial results from Afghanistan's election had President Hamid Karzai and his main rival running neck-and-neck on Tuesday, suggesting a close race headed for a second round.

Two U.S. soldiers also die in a separate bombing as violence grows in scattered areas of the nation. A powerful truck bomb killed at least 25 people today, more than half of them schoolchildren, in a province just south of Kabul.

U.S. air strikes earlier this month killed 140 villagers, an Afghan government investigation concluded on Saturday, putting Kabul starkly at odds with the U.S. military's account.