from our correspondent Enrico Piovesana   This morning Lashkargah woke up under siege. The Afghan police, armed to the teeth, had blocked all the roads and closed off the city to traffic. The sky was full of low-flying Apache combat helicopters and big, double-rotor Chinooks buzzing back and forward to the British NATO base as they skimmed over the treetops. And all because of a surprise visit by the Afghan president, continue...

Daniele Mastrogiacomo, correspondent of the italian newspaper 'La Repubblica', has been 'arrested' by the Talibans. The word 'arrested' has been used by the taliban spokesperson Qari Yousef Ahamdi. Contacts with Mastrogiacomo had been lost sunday evening, after he had reached Kandahar from Kabul. With the italian reporter, two afghan interpreters and two afghan women have allegedly been taken by the Talibans. continue...

Nato troops have announced on Tuesday morning the launch of a military offensive in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand. Over 5,000 troops – foreign soldiers and Afghan security forces – will try to grab control of this mostly deserted land, largely taken over by the Taliban in the last month.   A province at war. In early February the district of Musa Qala, continue...