Influential US lawmakers on Thursday called for levying a new income tax to pay for the war in Afghanistan, warning its costs pose a mortal threat to efforts like a sweeping health care overhaul.

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.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Three policemen were killed and six wounded when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Pakistan's volatile city of Peshawar early Friday, police said.

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.

Two days before shipping off to war, Marine Pfc. Jesse Sheets sat inside a trailer in the Mojave Desert, his gaze fixed on a computer that flashed a rhythmic pulse of contrasting images.

Four Pakistani soldiers were killed when militants stormed a security post in a troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said Friday.

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.

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles at a northwestern Pakistani militant stronghold on Friday, killing eight people, the second such attack this week, security and Taliban officials said.

Four Pakistani soldiers were killed when militants stormed a security post in a troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said Friday.

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

Canada's government has dismissed opposition demands for a public inquiry into claims that troops in Afghanistan handed detainees over to local officials who were believed to torture.

16 killed in suicide bombing in western Afghanistan; lawmaker escapes assassination near Kabul. 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.

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber in southwestern Afghanistan killed 17 people Friday, and an Afghan lawmaker escaped a separate blast on the outskirts of Kabul but five of his bodyguards were killed, officials said.

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber in southwestern Afghanistan killed 17 people Friday, and an Afghan lawmaker escaped a separate blast on the outskirts of Kabul but five of his bodyguards were killed, officials said.

Back from Asia, Obama pauses for daughter Sasha's school event on Friday. Fresh from his weeklong trip through Asia, President Barack Obama is taking time to catch up on dad duty.

A suspected US missile attack targeting Al-Qaeda-linked militants killed eight people in Pakistan's mountains on the Afghan border as CIA chief Leon Panetta held talks in Islamabad on Friday.

A suspected US missile attack targeting Al-Qaeda-linked militants killed eight people in Pakistan's mountains on the Afghan border as CIA chief Leon Panetta held talks in Islamabad Friday.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Eight Islamist militants were killed in a U.S. missile strike in northwest Pakistan on Friday, officials said, after three policemen were killed in a bomb blast.

A US missile attack killed eight people, including foreign militants on Friday in the second such attack in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt in two days, Pakistani security officials said.

The strike took place in the district of Mir Ali, northeast of Miranshah, the main town of the restive North Waziristan tribal district, officials said.