Taliban

"Kunduz city has collapsed into the hands of the Taliban," Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told the Associated Press.

The fall of Kunduz marks a major setback for government forces, who have struggled to combat the Taliban since the U.S. and NATO shifted to a supporting role at the end of last year.

Military reinforcements have been sent to Kunduz, where government forces managed to fend off a major Taliban assault earlier this year. "We are trying our best to clear the city as soon as possible," Sediqqi said.

"U.S. forces conducted airstrikes in Musa Qala today against individuals threatening coalition and Afghan forces," Col. Brian Tribus, a spokesman for U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, said without providing further details.

Afghan Army Brig. Gen. Mohammad Rasool Zaizai said Afghan and allied warplanes struck army and police headquarters in the Musa Qala district in northern Helmand province Thursday, likely killing fighters and civilians.

An army statement released Thursday says another militant was sentenced to life in prison. It says army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif has confirmed the sentences.

The statement says the eight belong to the Taliban and two local militant groups.

The attack on the army-run school in Peshawar, in which nearly all the victims were schoolchildren, shocked Pakistanis and led the country to lift a moratorium on executions in place since 2008.

Bashir Ahmad Shaker, a provincial council member in Helmand, said the attackers were dressed as police and driving in a police vehicle, allowing them to sneak past a checkpoint and carry out the attack early Wednesday.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yusouf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack and said the insurgents had captured eight police.

In a televised address, Ashraf Ghani also blamed neighboring Pakistan for what he described as Islamabad's support to the insurgents whose war against Kabul is now nearing its 14th year, and said he was sending a delegation to Islamabad later this week to demand a stop to this.

"We know they have sanctuaries there, we know they are active there," Ghani said, referring to Taliban leaders living in Pakistan. "We need all those activities to be stopped."

The Taliban Shura, or Supreme Council, chose Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, who had served as Mullah Omar's deputy for the past three years, as its new leader, two Taliban figures told the Associated Press, saying the seven-member council had met in the Pakistani city of Quetta.

Afghanistan's main intelligence agency announced Mullah Omar's death earlier Wednesday and said he'd been dead for more than two years.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz isn't commenting on the time frame, but he says the U.S. intelligence community is looking into the circumstances around Mullah Omar's death.

Abdul Hassib Seddiqi, the spokesman for Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security, said Wednesday that Mullah Omar died in a hospital in the Pakistani city of Karachi in April 2013.

"We confirm officially that he is dead," he told The Associated Press.

The confirmation comes two days before the Afghan government and the Taliban are to hold their second round of official peace talks in Pakistan.

The Republican told reporters that Afghan national forces are fighting bravely, but suffering heavy losses in the field.

American and international troops have already stopped playing a combat role, remaining as trainers for local forces. The international numbers will be reduced further at the end of 2016. But McCain said reductions should be based on conditions on the ground.

The brazen attack on the symbolic centre of power raises questions about the NATO-trained Afghan security forces' ability to cope with militant attacks.

The attack began when a Taliban fighter driving a car loaded with explosives blew up outside the parliament's gates, Kabul police spokesman Ebadullah Karimi said.

Six gunmen who took up positions in a building near parliament were killed after a gun battle lasting nearly two hours, Mr Karimi said.