AFP - Calling Afghan President Hamid Karzai an "unworthy partner," a key Democratic leader warned Friday that Congress cannot fund an expanded military mission without a reliable ally in Kabul.

Reuters - The Afghan government would quickly be overthrown if NATO troops pulled out of the country now, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Friday.

AP - Underpaid, under-equipped and under-trained, Afghanistan's 93,000-member police force is the weak link in an ambitious security strategy to hand over defense of the country to Afghans so American and other foreign troops can go home.

AFP - US Senator John McCain predicted an allied win in Afghanistan in one year to 18 months if sufficient troops are sent, as the White House mulls sending tens of thousands of reinforcements.

Reuters - The United States must tighten control of Afghan aid contracts as a first step toward stemming rampant corruption, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday.

AFP - The international community must ensure that aid and development projects in Afghanistan do not fuel corruption in the war-torn nation, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Friday.

Reuters - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is an "unworthy partner" who does not deserve a big boost either in U.S. troops or civilian aid, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

AFP - Bomb attacks on Friday killed 23 people in Afghanistan, a deadly start to President Hamid Karzai's second term that underscored spiralling insecurity nine years into the US-led war.

AP - A suicide bomber killed 16 people and wounded at least 23 others Friday in a busy city square in western Afghanistan, while near Kabul a powerful former warlord narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, officials said.

AP - Afghan police say Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a parliamentarian and powerful former warlord, has narrowly escaped an assassination attempt near Kabul.

AP - France's foreign minister walked into a remote Afghan village on Friday to talk with small farmers and local tribal leaders about how to bypass corrupt officials and bring aid directly to those who need it.

AFP - A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle blew himself up in a town in southwestern Afghanistan on Friday, killing 12 people and wounding dozens more, local officials said.

AFP - A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle blew himself up in the heart of Afghanistan's southwestern town of Farah, killing 12 people and wounding dozens more, an official said.

AP - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said any new U.S. forces President Barack Obama sends to Afghanistan could move into the country swiftly, despite logistical hassles that force almost all major deliveries of troops and supplies to go by air.

AFP - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said it is too soon to set a timeline for shifting security duties from NATO-led troops to Afghan forces, as proposed by Britain.

AFP - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proposed Thursday to Afghan President Hamid Karzai to bring technocrats rather than warlords into his new government.