The Afghan Taliban and the United States have been holding secret talks in Qatar on a daily basis, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said March 10, Reuters and Xinhua reported.

A bomb exploded in a Sunni mosque in Peshawar on March 9, killing five and wounding 28, officials said, AFP reported.

Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf arrived in India on March 9 for a pilgrimage to a Muslim shrine and was welcomed by Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid, AFP reported.

A suicide bomber detonated his device outside the Afghan Defense Ministry on March 9, killing nine people, during U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's visit to Afghanistan, officials said, AP reported.

A homemade explosive device detonated in Dhaka on March 4 near the hotel where Indian President Pranab Mukherjee is staying, IANS reported.

Dual bomb blasts hit a residential building in the southern port city of Karachi on March 3, leaving at least 8 dead and 20 others injured, local media and police said, Xinhua reported.

Bangladesh deployed troops to the town of Bogra after protests over the conviction of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders on charges of abuses during war turned violent and left eight people dead, Reuters reported March 3.

Russia is concerned that militants and drugs may begin spilling over from Afghanistan to Central Asia, according to a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry, RIA Novosti reported March 2. The ministry released the statement after Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov met with a U.S. delegation to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and withdrawal of NATO forces from the country. Russia has considered expanding cooperation with India over concerns about the spillover of militants from Afghanistan into Central Asia.