The 8 articles you should read about the Taliban in Afghanistan today

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai heads to Pakistan on Monday for his first high-level meeting with that nation's newly-elected government. He said he is looking for help to open peace talks with the Taliban to end 12 years of war before the withdrawal of 87,000 NATO troops from Afghanistan next year.

Karzai's trip to Pakistan will be his 20th, but his first visit to Islamabad in 18 months. The trip is seen as a desire by both countries to overcome distrust and hostility. 

This will be Karzai's first meeting with Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who took office in June after winning elections. Karzai praised Sharif for having "all the right intentions for stability and peace," but he conceded that previous visits had not achieved the goal of improving security in Afghanistan"

Two roadside bombs killed 11 people in Afghanistan on Tuesday, including passengers on a bus that took a detour to avoid an explosive-laden road, officials said.

Roadside bombs are a major threat to civilians in Afghanistan, where Taliban fighters have escalated their activities as U.S.-led foreign forces withdraw...

No one has claimed responsibility for any of Tuesday's bombings, but Taliban involvement is suspected.

Around 1,300 Afghan civilians were killed between February and August -- a large portion of them in Taliban attacks -- according to the United Nations. The U.N. says that 53 percent of these deaths were cause by improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, like the roadside bombs used in Tuesday's attack.

As the United States pulls out its troops, which are expected be fully withdrawn by the end of 2014, the 30 percent increase in civilian casualties compared to the same period last year is cause for concern. Many fear that Afghan forces will not be able to maintain security on their own.

The latest string of bombings in Afghanistan occurs in the backdrop of neighboring Pakistan's decision to release several senior Taliban officials, including second-in-command Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, at the Afghan government's request. The move is seen as a concession on the part of the Pakistani government to ameliorate tensions with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government.

Both governments hope that Baradar, who is expected to be released this month, will be amenable to holding peace talks with the Afghan government.

"The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan apologized to President Hamid Karzai for a drone strike that killed a child and NATO promised an investigation Friday as rising tensions threatened efforts to persuade the Afghan leader to sign a long-delayed security agreement...

The U.S.-led international coalition in Afghanistan, known as the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), announced hours earlier that it is investigating an airstrike it launched that Afghan officials said killed a child and injured two women, leading to a condemnation of the attack by the country's president...

Karzai has demanded an end to all such incidents along with a stop to all raids on Afghan homes by foreign forces as a condition for him to sign a long-delayed security deal with the United States."

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai appeared to stiffen his resolve Saturday not to sign a security pact with Washington, saying the United States should leave Afghanistan unless it could restart peace talks with the Taliban.

"In exchange for this agreement, we want peace for the people of Afghanistan. Otherwise, it's better for them to leave and our country will find its own way," Karzai told a news conference.

The president said pressing ahead with talks with the Taliban, in power from 1996-2001, was critical to ensure that Afghanistan was not left with a weak central government.

"Starting peace talks is a condition because we want to be confident that after the signing of the security agreement, Afghanistan will not be divided into fiefdoms," he said.

Most diplomats now agree that Karzai is unlikely to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) that would allow for some form of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan after the end of 2014, when most troops are due to leave."

"Conflict took an increasing toll on Afghanistan's civilians in 2013 as fighting intensified between the government and insurgents, the United Nations said in a report Saturday, with total casualties rising 14 percent.

Last year was the worst for women and children since 2009, with the number killed or injured by the conflict increasing by more than a third from 2012, the report said.

The gradual withdrawal of foreign troops has left Afghan government forces more vulnerable to attack by insurgents, and the resulting battles contributed to last year's rise in casualties, the U.N. report said.

"The new trend in 2013 of increased civilian casualties from ground engagements, including the alarming increase in women and children casualties, reflected the changing dynamics of the conflict over the year," the U.N. said.

About 27 percent of all 2013 casualties stemmed from fighting between the government and insurgents, and most of these could not be attributed to one side.

"This 'fog of war' dynamic reflects the changed nature of the conflict in Afghanistan in 2013 which was increasingly being waged in civilian communities and populated areas," the U.N. said."

"The Afghan Taliban killed 21 soldiers in an assault Sunday in a remote mountainous region, the Afghan government said. In addition to the 21 dead, six soldiers were missing after the most deadly assault on the security forces in months.

Also Sunday, in a possible blow to U.S. efforts to foster peace talks to end the Afghan conflict, the Taliban said they had suspended efforts to arrange a possible exchange of Taliban and U.S. prisoners due to the "complexity" of the situation.

It was not immediately clear whether the attack in the eastern province of Kunar was related to the suspension of talks on a prisoner swap.

In response to the killings in Kunar, a mountainous region that borders Pakistan and has long been a stronghold of the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and other armed groups, President Hamid Karzai put off a trip to Sri Lanka."

"Taliban leaders warned Afghans on Monday about participating in presidential elections and ordered fighters to “use all force” possible to disrupt polling. The April 5 vote, which will usher in a successor to President Hamid Karzai, is seen as key to Afghanistan’s stability ahead of the final withdrawal of international troops later this year.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement emailed to media that the group had also instructed clerics across the country to spread the word that the election is "an American conspiracy."

The election is seen as a major test of stability in the country as violence increases, and as President Karzai becomes increasingly vocal about his disdain for the U.S., refusing to sign a security agreement that would allow some U.S. forces to stay beyond their scheduled withdrawal in late December."

"The outgoing president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, has told the United States in his final address to parliament that US soldiers can leave the country at the end of the year.

Karzai said on Saturday that his military was ready to take over because it already protected 93 percent of the country, and were strong enough to defend Afghanistan without assistance.

Karzai has refused to sign a security agreement with the US, which would allow US forces to remain in the country from 2015 and beyond, and said he would not do so until peace is achieved.

All 10 presidential candidates for the April 5 election have said they would sign the security agreement if elected. But Karzai does not want his legacy to include a commitment to extending a foreign military presence.

"I want to say to all those foreign countries who, maybe out of habit, or because they want to interfere, that they should not interfere," Karzai said.

He added that the war in Afghanistan was "imposed" on his nation and told the US that it could bring peace to Afghanistan if it went after "terrorist sanctuaries" and countries that supported "terrorism", a reference to Pakistan."