Noorullah Shirzada / AFP - Getty Images

Afghanistan border policemen take their positions on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan in Goshta district of Nangarhar province on May 7, 2013.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Tensions along the volatile border between Afghanistan and Pakistan have plunged relations between the two U.S. allies to their lowest level in years just before Pakistan’s general election.

Last week, Afghans accused their neighbor of trespassing on their sovereignty by building military checkpoints in the Goshta district of Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarahar province. 

Afghan military officials said they waited for a diplomatic resolution that never came -- resulting in clashes between Afghan and Pakistani military forces. One Afghan border police officer was killed in the fighting last week.

The clashes have sparked an outcry by the Afghan people as thousands have taken to the streets throughout the country protesting the alleged Pakistani breach with chants of “Death to Pakistan.”  The crowds have hailed the dead border police officer as a martyr. 

“The protection of this land is the duty of every single Afghan,” Sayed Agha Sakhizada, a protester in Laghman province said. “For me, the protection of my land and my religion is the same. I will stand alongside my security forces to fight against these violations on my land and even sacrifice myself for this holy fight to protect my country.”

Rahmat Gul / AP

Afghans chant slogans against Pakistan during a demonstration in Kochkin area on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, May 6, 2013.

The clashes have done something for the Afghan military that years of fighting the Taliban couldn’t do – they have garnered profound support of the Afghan National Security Forces from the general public.

“We are happy that the people of Afghanistan are standing in support of Afghan security forces. This raises the moral of our forces,” said Cmdr. Mohammad Ayoub Husain Khil, acting commander of the border police in Goshta.

“We are satisfied with the support of our people and will defend this soil and the people of this soil till the last breath of our lives.”

Contentious border: Durand Line
President Hamid Karzai pointed the finger at the Pakistanis during a press conference last Saturday. He accused them of trying to strong-arm the Afghans into accepting the Durand Line -- a contentious border between the two nations that was set by the British and an Afghan king in 1893 but was set to expire 100 years later. Afghans have always wanted the land back and Pakistanis say it is part of their country now.

Karzai said the Pakistanis are trying “to force Afghans to start negotiations on the Durand Line and accept the Durand Line as an international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. But they will never succeed to achieve any of these motives. The people of Afghanistan have never accepted the Durand Line since it was created by the British.”

Meantime, the dispute is making for some unusual bedfellows.

According to local officials and community leaders in Kunar, the Taliban have sent them messages saying they are ready to fight against the Pakistani forces and push them back into their land. 

The Taliban’s message said: “We have always defended Islam and our country. And even if today foreigners are attacking Afghanistan, we are ready to fight them back.”

Related links

• Afghan and Pakistani forces clash in deadly border firefight
• More NBC News coverage from Afghanistan
• More NBC News coverage from Pakistan

Five U.S. service members died Monday when a helicopter crashed in the Kandahar province of southern Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.

The cause of the crash was under investigation, but a statement from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said "there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the incident."

The names of the troops killed had not been released by U.S. officials Tuesday, but officials in the U.S. and Afghanistan said that all of those killed were American.

The helicopter went down west of the city of Kandahar, in the Daman district, coalition and Afghan officials said.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Les Carroll, an ISAF spokesman, said the incident happened in darkness.

Earlier in the day, two U.S. service members and three Afghans were killed in a possible insider attack at a special forces site in Afghanistan. The gunman in that attack was dressed in an Afghan National Security Forces uniform.

The attack, which occurred shortly after newly appointed Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel concluded his first trip to the country as head of the Pentagon, was just the latest in a string of bad news centered on the United States' relationship with Afghanistan.

Hagel's trip was marked criticism from Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the U.S. role in the country and the cancellation of a joint press conference due to "security concerns."

There have been 18 coalition deaths this year.

NBC News' Jamieson Lesko, Courtney Kube and Jim Miklaszewski contributed to this report.

Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

Rahmat Gul / AP

More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

Launch slideshow

This story was originally published on Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:25 PM EDT

Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo / Dept. of Defense via AFP - Getty Images

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel speaks with Afghan president Hamid Karzai during a private meeting in Kabul.

KABUL —Afghan President Hamid Karzai ratcheted up his criticism of the United States on Sunday, marring a debut visit by the new U.S. defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, and highlighting tensions that could undermine Washington's strategy to wind down the unpopular war.

A day after two Taliban bombings killed 17 people, Karzai accused the United States and the Taliban of colluding to convince Afghans that foreign forces were needed beyond 2014, when NATO is set to wrap up its combat mission and most troops withdraw.

"Those bombs that went off in Kabul and Khost were not a show of force to America. They were in service of America. It was in the service of the 2014 slogan to warn us if they (Americans) are not here then Taliban will come," Karzai said in a speech.

"In fact those bombs, set off yesterday in the name of the Taliban, were in the service of Americans to keep foreigners longer in Afghanistan."

It was one of several inflammatory comments by Karzai and his government on Sunday and follow weeks of efforts by the Afghan leader to curtail U.S. military activity in Afghanistan, including a call to kick American special forces out of an important province. U.S. commanders see special operations forces as key to the end-phase of the conflict.

Hours after Karzai's speech, Hagel said he spoke "clearly and directly" about the comments during his first meeting with the Afghan leader since becoming U.S. defense secretary on February 27.

Hagel appeared at pains to be respectful of Karzai and avoid sharp criticism, but he told reporters that any collusion between the U.S. and the Taliban "wouldn't make a lot of sense."

The U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Joseph Dunford, was more categorical.

"We have fought too hard over the past 12 years, we have shed too much blood over the past 12 years, we have done too much to help the Afghan security forces grow over the last 12 years to ever think that violence or instability would be to our advantage," Dunford told reporters travelling with Hagel.

Of Karzai's remarks, he added: "I'll let others judge whether that's particularly helpful or not at the political level."

Still, politics will be key over the next several months, as the United States and NATO allies work to carry out their strategy of pulling out their troops and decide how large a residual force to leave behind after 2014.

NATO defense chiefs meeting in Brussels last month discussed keeping a combined U.S. and allied force of 8,000-12,000 in Afghanistan, focusing on training Afghan troops and countering the remnants of al Qaeda, the Pentagon has said.

Any deal for a follow-on force, which Washington says must include immunity for U.S. troops, would need Karzai's blessing.

Abusing students? Taliban talks?
Karzai has a history of making incendiary statements that exasperate Washington but the nature and awkward timing of his latest remarks about the United States were exceptional.

He also alleged on Sunday that the Taliban and the United States had been holding talks in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar on a "daily basis," further fuelling his suggestion that Washington and the militants were working at common purposes.

"I told the president that it was not true," Hagel said. "The fact is any prospect for peace or political settlements - that has to be led by the Afghans."

The Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, denied that negotiations with the United States had resumed.

Karzai's government also alleged that U.S.-led forces and Afghans working with them were abusing and arresting university students. Karzai issued an executive order banning foreign troops from entering all education institutions.

Hagel and Karzai were meant to have appeared together at a joint news conference on Sunday evening. But, in a reminder of the threats posed by the resilient insurgency, U.S. officials said it was canceled because of security concerns.

Hagel was about a kilometer away and within earshot of a Saturday morning suicide attack outside the defense ministry that killed nine people. He was meant to have met his Afghan counterpart there this weekend but the venue was later changed.

Hagel's visit coincided with the passing of a deadline imposed by Karzai for U.S. special forces to leave Wardak province accusing them of overseeing torture and killings.

U.S. forces have denied involvement in any abuses.

Hagel has sounded hopeful that a deal could be reached on their continued deployment but acknowledged no breakthroughs were made in his talks with Karzai.

It was unclear how Hagel's trip would be viewed by U.S. Republicans who bitterly fought his nomination to become defense chief, portraying him as soft on Iran and questioning his judgment.

Hagel at times appeared sympathetic to the stresses of political life that Karzai must endure.

"I know these are difficult issues for President Karzai and the Afghan people. And I was once a politician," Hagel said. "So I can understand the kind of pressures - especially leaders of countries - are always under."  

Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi

Omar Sobhani / AP

Gen. John Allen, left, the outgoing U.S. and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander in Afghanistan stand with Gen. Joseph Dunford who replaced him during a changing of command ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford took over Sunday as the new and probably last commander of all U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan. 

The American-led NATO coalition is entering the final stretch of its participation in a war that will have lasted more than 13 years when most foreign combat troops pull out at the end of 2014. 

Dunford took over leadership of the International Security Assistance Force, and a smaller but separate detachment of American troops, from Marine Gen. John Allen, who had led them for the past 19 months. 

"Today is not about change, it's about continuity," Dunford told a gathering of coalition military leaders and Afghan officials. "What's not changed is the growing capability of our Afghan partners, the Afghan national security forces. What's not changed is our commitment, more importantly, what's not changed is the inevitability of our success." 

He takes charge at a critical time for President Barack Obama and the military. NATO decided at its 2010 summit in Lisbon to withdraw major combat units, but to continue training and funding Afghan troops and leave a residual force to hunt down al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. 

Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

Aref Karimi / AFP - Getty Images

More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

Launch slideshow

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "much work lies ahead" for Dunford as he tries to meet those objectives while at the same time withdrawing about 100,000 foreign troops, including 66,000 from the United States. 

Dunford, from Boston, Massachusetts, will face serious challenges as he tries to accommodate an accelerated timetable for handing over the lead for security responsibility to Afghan forces this spring — instead of late summer as originally planned. 

"I told him our victory here will never be marked by a parade or a point in time on a calendar when victory is declared. This insurgency will be defeated over time by the legitimate and well-trained Afghan forces that are emerging today and who are taking the field in full force this spring," Allen said. 

He added that success would be described as an "Afghan force defending Afghan people, and enabling an Afghan government to serve its citizens. This is victory; this is what winning looks like." Although the Afghan security forces are almost at their full strength of 352,000, it is unclear if they are yet ready to take on the fight by themselves. 

Also attending the ceremony were U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis, Commander, U.S. Central Command, and Gen. James Amos, head of the Marine Corps. President Hamid Karzai did not attend. 

More work needed
Before departing, Allen admitted that the Afghans still need much work to become an effective and self-sufficient fighting machine, but he said a vast improvement in their abilities was behind a decision to accelerate the timetable for putting them in the lead nationwide this spring when the traditional fighting season begins. 

Obama said last month that the Afghans would take over this spring instead of late summer — a decision that could allow the speedier withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan. 

It is also unclear when the remaining 66,000 U.S. troops would return home, or how many American soldiers will remain after the end of 2014. 

Obama may use his State of the Union address on Tuesday to announce the next steps for concluding the war and a timetable for withdrawal along with plans for a residual force post-2014. 

Much of that depends on the U.S. negotiating a bilateral security agreement with the government that includes the contentious issue of immunity from Afghan prosecution for any U.S. forces that would remain here after 2014.  Karzai has said he will put any such decision in the hands of a council of Afghan elders, known as a Loya Jirga. 

Although Dempsey said earlier in the week that the United States had plans to leave a residual force, a failure to strike a deal on immunity would torpedo any security agreement and lead to a complete pullout of U.S. forces after 2014 — as it did in post-war Iraq.

It is widely believed that no NATO-member nation would allow its troops to remain after 2014 to train, or engage in counterterrorism activities, without a similar deal. 

The head of NATO joint command in Europe, German Gen. Hans-Lothar Domrose, said the alliance was already making plans for a post-2014 presence, plans he said that were "all well advanced." 

Related: 

Two more Marines charged in scandal over Afghan urination video

Afghanistan's Karzai on Prince Harry's bravado, Britain's involvement in war

Ten Afghan police officers killed in suicide attack

Gul Rahim / AFP - Getty Images

An Afghan policeman stands guard at the site of a suicide attack in Kunduz city on Jan. 26, 2013. At least ten policemen were killed and 18 others, mostly civilians, were wounded in a suicide attack Saturday in a crowded area of the northeast Afghan city of Kunduz, provincial authorities said.

Ten police officers, including the local counter-terrorism chief, were killed in a suicide bombing in northern Afghanistan on Saturday.

Shortly after 5 p.m. local time a man driving a motorbike detonated a large bomb at a busy roundabout in the north city of Kunduz near a group of police officers, provincial police chief spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini said.

"As a result of a suicide attack 10 policemen were killed, including the head of the traffic department and the head of the counter-terrorism office," said Hussaini.

Gul Rahim / AFP - Getty Images

Medical staff assist a wounded blast victim at the main hospital in Kunduz city on Jan. 26, 2013.

Four civilians and five other police officers were wounded in the bombing, he said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but militants, including the Taliban, are active in the area.

The attack came a day after a suicide bomber in a car killed at least five civilians and wounded 15 others when he attacked a NATO convoy in the north eastern province of Kapisa.

Responsibility for that attack was claimed by the Taliban via spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

Taliban militants have been waging an 11-year war against Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a U.S.-led NATO force.

U.S. troops in Afghanistan will move into a support role starting this spring, President Barack Obama announced at a joint news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday.

"This war will come to a responsible end,” Obama said.

Troops will have a new mission in Afghanistan, Obama said, which will include the training, advising, and assisting of Afghan forces and will set the stage for a further reduction of coalition forces.

The president acknowledged that the timetable to turn over the lead to Afghan forces in military operations this spring was “accelerated somewhat.” The drawdown was already scheduled to take place sometime this summer.

Some 66,000 U.S. troops are currently in Afghanistan.

Obama was also clear that while Afghan forces will “take the lead” in any future military operations, American troops will continue fighting alongside them.

"Our men and women will still be in harm’s way,” the president said, adding that he is still expecting recommendations from generals on the ground to shape a plan for a responsible drawdown. What the transition to supporting role in Afghanistan would mean for a reduction in U.S. troops "isn't yet fully determined," Obama noted.

International forces will no longer be present in Afghan villages, Karzai said, adding that Afghanistan is moving closer to becoming a strong, sovereign state that can stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the United States. Karzai had previously said that the presence of U.S. troops were putting strain on Afghan villages.

Beyond 2014, the troops' focus will be two-pronged: on one hand, they will continue training and assisting Afghan troops; in addition, they will continue to go after remnants of al-Qaida and other terrorist affiliates who may threaten the United States.

Immunity agreement
Obama said any agreement to keep troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014 must include an immunity agreement so that U.S. troops are not subjected to Afghan law. Karzai noted that he could argue for immunity in a way that would not compromise his country's sovereignty.

The mission in Afghanistan has come close to achieving its central goal, Obama said, which was to incapacitate and dismantle al-Qaida so that it could no longer attack the United States. Having a safe and sovereign Afghanistan was also in the interest of the United States' national security, he added.

But Obama also said it would not be possible for Afghanistan to reconcile with the Taliban unless the group renounces terrorism.

Looking ahead to the upcoming elections, Karzai said organizing a free and fair election would be one of his biggest achievements.

"For me, the greatest of my achievements, eventually, as seen by the Afghan people, will be a proper, well organized, interference-free election in which the Afghan people can elect their next president," Karzai said, adding he would have no qualms about stepping down.

"I will be a retired president, and very happily a retired president."

Karzai's visit comes at a time when U.S.-Afghan relations are strained, and there is an ongoing debate in Washington over the unpopular war and the U.S. military role in Afghanistan once the mission there expires in 2014.

The Pentagon has said thousands of troops will be needed to bolster and train Afghan security forces.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton were among those who met with Karzai this week.

"After a long and difficult past, we finally are, I believe, at the last chapter of establishing ... a sovereign Afghanistan that can govern and secure itself for the future," Panetta told Karzai on Thursday.

The Afghan president met with Clinton on Thursday night at the State Department.

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Mohammad Shoib / Reuters

A businessman travels with his personal security personnel in Afghanistan's Herat province on Dec. 11.

KABUL -- Afghan construction magnate Haji Asadullah Ghaznawi was dragged from his office with a gun to his head and locked up in a slaughterhouse for almost three weeks.

Ghaznawi was later shocked to discover someone had leaked details of his bank account to the kidnap gang who pulled up in a car in broad daylight in Kabul a year ago and abducted him.

Violent criminals who gain access to confidential information about Afghan millionaires like Ghaznawi have raised alarming questions about the dangers of doing business in one of the world's poorest and most corrupt countries.

"Eight days before I was kidnapped a business partner added one million dollars to my bank account," Ghaznawi said from his luxurious office in the Afghan capital.

"The kidnappers told me that I had $1 million in my bank. How could they know this?," he asked.

The leaks, some businessmen allege, are coming from the very people who are supposed to be protecting Afghans and helping them prosper -- intelligence officials, police and bankers.

Safeguarding Afghanistan's economy is just as important for the troubled South Asian country’s stability as containing the Taliban-led insurgency as NATO combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014.

Wealthy Afghans fearful of a new civil war or a Taliban push to seize power have already been sending vast sums of money to banks in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai and elsewhere, prompting authorities to impose measures to try and stem the flow.

Government officials fear bank account scams and kidnappings could accelerate that process, and potentially bring the fledgling economy to its knees.

Purchased freedom
Ghaznawi spent 17 days in the basement slaughterhouse, worried about his safety and also troubled that criminals now know exactly how much he is worth. A business partner bought his freedom for $820,000.

It is a problem that has Afghan entrepreneurs so worried that many are hiring large teams of armed guards to provide around-the-clock protection.

10 Afghan girls collecting firewood killed in blast

Afghanistan's banking sector has seen an influx of cash from foreign aid and steady growth in industry and construction, but it remains weak and open to exploitation by criminals.

Businessmen and top officials from the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry say bank employees are leaking account balances to sophisticated gangs who arrange kidnappings.

More news about South and Central Asia on NBCNews.com

"These kidnap gangs have some good connections, they work as teams, they know who the rich people are," said Shir Baz Kaminzada, president of the Afghan Industrial Union, who runs a lucrative printing and packaging firm and travels in a bullet-proof car.

"Our banks aren't so secure and some bank people, we suspect they're providing information to criminals," he said.

Some businessmen go further and allege rogue officials from Afghanistan's intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security, are obtaining the financial records of high-rollers. The agency did not respond to interview requests.

Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

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More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

Launch slideshow

UN calls for Afghanistan to protect women from rape, forced marriage

Lucrative business
Kidnapping is a lucrative business, with ransoms often in excess of $1 million. Many cases go unreported and most are unsolved.

"Among our members, we have many kidnap victims and the problem is mostly solved by paying the ransom without involving police," said Ahmad Tawfiq Dawari, a deputy head at the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Facebook takes down Taliban recruiter page

"They hire 10-15 private guards themselves and it's expensive. When security forces do nothing to stop the kidnappers, how can we trust them to protect us?" he asked.

Businessmen place the blame squarely on law enforcement agencies. The chief of the Kabul Criminal Investigation, Mohammad Zahir, insists police are cracking down on the gangs and says the leaks most likely came from employees or relatives.

Slideshow:

Kevin Frayer / AP

In southern Afghanistan, the focus of the U.S. war effort, nearly all the Afghan soldiers are foreigners too. Photographer Kevin Frayer shows these soldiers in a series of portraits.

Launch slideshow

"These kidnappers had private prisons where they tortured victims if they refused to pay, so we started a fight against them and we've brought this problem to its lowest point," Zahir said, reeling off the names of prominent people rescued and kidnapping kingpins who have been arrested.

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"The government supports us and we're not afraid of anyone," he added.

Sitting with an associate in his Kabul office, Ghaznawi gets little comfort from such talk and believes businessmen have a bleak future in Afghanistan. He constantly fears that the kidnappers will return.

EXCLUSIVE: US, NATO behind 'insecurity' in Afghanistan, Karzai says

"I wanted to shut down my business but my partners convinced me to continue," he said. "Other businessmen know what I went through, why would they put their money and lives at risk?"

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KABUL -- The United Nations on Tuesday joined mounting criticism of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government over women's rights, urging it to enforce a law designed to prevent violence against women.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said in a report that the country still had a long way to go in implementing a law enacted to eliminate violence against women.

The legislation made child marriage, forced marriage, forced self-immolation and other violent acts, including rape, a criminal offense.

The 2009 law came law came after years of lobbying by Afghans and Westerners alike, and was held up as a beacon of progress.

EXCLUSIVE: US, NATO behind 'insecurity' in Afghanistan, Karzai says

"Progress in addressing violence against women will be limited until the … law is applied more widely," Georgette Gagnon, director of UNAMA's human rights unit, told a news conference after the release of the report. 

"So we are calling on the Afghan authorities to take much greater steps to both facilitate reporting of incidents of violence against women and actually open investigations and take on prosecutions," she added.

Afghan women are increasingly concerned for their future as the deadline looms for most NATO-led combat troops to leave by the end of 2014.

They have won back basic rights in voting, education and work since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. But some female lawmakers and rights groups say abuse against women is on the rise as Karzai's government tries to advance the reconciliation process with the Taliban, an allegation it denies.

Newlywed beheaded for her refusal to become a prostitute

On Monday, unknown gunmen shot dead Nadia Sediqqi, acting head of the women's affairs department in eastern Laghman province as she was going to work, in an attack widely condemned by the international community.

She had replaced Hanifa Safi, who was killed in a bomb attack five months earlier.

"We have educated women who are being locked inside houses," teacher Masooda Jan, 35, said. "I wish that those women who are locked in their homes by their families and are tortured and beaten would be rescued."

After 10 years of Karzai's rule, has life improved in Afghanistan?

Shukria Barakzai, an Afghan politician, told NBC News that Afghan women's suffering is twofold. At home, their husbands keep the women away from education and don't give them permission to go out for work.

Internationally, laws to protect women do exist, but she argues that they are mostly symbolic and never implemented.

Afghan women's groups had expressed concern that without international backing, it would be difficult to press for their rights.

UNAMA spokeswoman Nilab Mobarez told NBC News that there are more cases going through the courts and judiciary systems than in the past but violence against women remains under reported.

"We have a long way to go to for full implementation of the law," Mobarez said.

Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

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More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

Launch slideshow

Reuters and NBC's Atia Abawi contributed to this report.

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