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Pakistan's incoming Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addresses his party's newly elected members of parliament in Lahore on May 20, 2013.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's prime minister designate Nawaz Sharif told a packed hall of his party stalwarts that talks with the Taliban -- who have been fighting the state for almost a decade -- are not off the table.

"All options should be tried, and guns and bullets are not a solution to all problems … Why shouldn't we sit and talk and engage in dialogue?" said Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party, a center-right group that traces its roots back to the origin of Pakistan in 1947.

The party, once nurtured by military regimes, has now morphed into a modern, conservative, pro-business faction that secured a majority of the seats in the country’s parliament earlier this month.

Sharif's announcement in Lahore on Monday has created a schism among Pakistan's divided political classes.

For many, this is a war which must be committed to and won.

Days before the May 11 election -- the first, largely peaceful and constitutional transfer of power from one civilian administration to the next -- the country's powerful army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, reminded audiences in a rare public speech that "there can be no doubt that this is our war.”

“The soldier of the Pakistani army cannot fight under conditions of doubt …The army cannot fight this war alone. The Pakistani people must also fight alongside us,” he added.

The military says more than 5,000 people have been killed with over 20,000 wounded in the fight against the Taliban.

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Maj. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa, director general of Inter-Service Public Relations, said there was “no ambiguity about the military's position.”

“Pakistan will do what it can to protect itself from domestic as well as foreign threats. This is a national effort,” he said.

The Pakistani Taliban would be willing to partake in peace talks, according to their spokesman, Ihsanullah Ihsan. He said they had already been willing to participate in peace talks with the previous government – and that they had wanted to work with Sharif as a guarantor to implement accords, if they were agreed to.

"Before he was not part of the government and that's why we wanted him to become guarantor,” the Taliban spokesman told NBC News. “Now he will have his own government, so let us see what type of polices he formulates about us.”

Senator Pervez Rashid, spokesperson of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party, did not respond to an interview request.

For his part, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whose assassination was claimed by Pakistani Taliban, insists that the war-ravaged country has lost almost a $100 billion in the battle against the Taliban.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says that more than 40,000 civilians have died in Pakistan's version of the War on Terror. Sharif's rival during the recent election, the charismatic former cricket star Imran Khan and leader of a neo-nationalist political party called the Movement for Justice, calls it the state's "War of Terror on Pakistan."

Khan has been pushing for talks with the Taliban and has also called for Pakistan to shoot down U.S. drones that operate over the country’s unruly tribal areas.

The recent election secured a federal government for Sharif and a provincial government for Khan in the volatile Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan.

This means that two of Pakistan's major political opponents are now broadly in agreement about talks with the Taliban.

But there are still others who disagree.

"If our elected office holders think that the Taliban are not at war with the state, then with due respect, I don't think the Taliban got that memo," said Asad Khwaja, a host on a liberal radio network, soon after Sharif's announcement became national news.

"We have lost thousands - soldiers, men, women, children - to this menace. I really hope that our leaders understand what they're asserting, for the sake of Pakistan."

Related:

• Sharif declares victory in landmark Pakistan election
• The ex-cricket star vs. the comeback kid: Who will be nuclear-armed Pakistan's next leader?
• Pakistan intelligence agency claims Afghanistan supports Taliban splinter groups

This story was originally published on Tue May 21, 2013 2:15 PM EDT

LAHORE, Pakistan - Center-right Pakistani politician Nawaz Sharif was set to return as his country's prime minister on Monday - his third time in the job - after voters defied deadly Taliban attacks to cast their ballots in record numbers. 

Sharif, who campaigned on restoring Pakistan’s weak economy, was in overnight meetings to form a new government, according to Sen. Pervez Rashid, a spokesman for Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.

Officials said turnout was over 60 percent, a record in a country where historically less than half of registered voters cast their ballots, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan, the national body tasked with holding elections.  

The election marked another watershed -- it was the first time in the country's 65-year history that a legislature has completed its term, paving the way for the possibility of a peaceful transition of power from one civilian government to the next.

While final election results had not been announced, preliminary results reported on local media appeared to give 63-year-old Sharif a resounding victory.

Sharif defeated telegenic former cricketer Imran Khan’s Movement for Justice party (PTI), who had been campaigning against older, more powerful parties like Sharif’s.  Khan was in a close fight for second place with the Pakistan People’s Party of president Asif Ali Zardari, which just ended its often-criticized rule in Pakistan after five years.

Khan, who was seriously injured in a fall on the eve of the elections, swore from his hospital bed that his party will form a strong opposition, while investigating alleged rigging.

Nevertheless, Fakhruddin Ebrahim, the country's chief election commissioner, congratulated the country on television for holding "historic and free" elections, though he did admit that there were irregularities in Karachi, Pakistan's largest and most violent city.

Protesters from different parties gathered in moderate numbers across the country, demanding an investigation by the election officials against poll rigging.  The Election Commission, in response, called a meeting for investigation rigging allegations for later Monday. 

Still, the mood in Pakistan seems upbeat, as the Karachi Stock Exchange just crossed record levels and breached the 20,000 point barrier.

Conciliatory tone
Sharif struck a conciliatory tone as results rolled in over the weekend.

"I appeal to all to come sit with me at the table so that this nation can get rid of this curse of power cuts, inflation and unemployment," Sharif said according to The Associated Press.

Sharif and his government will have their work cut out for them.  Pakistan suffers from a growing energy crisis, with some areas experiencing power outages for up to 18 hours a day. That has seriously hurt the economy, pushing growth below 4 percent a year.

Pakistan needs a growth rate of twice that to provide jobs for its expanding population of 180 million. They will also have to cope with spiraling violence.

The build up to the polls saw over a 100 people killed in militant attacks, and of Sharif's most urgent problems will be what to do about violent Islamic extremism throughout his country.  His party has been accused of being soft on radicals after not cracking down on violent groups in its stronghold of Punjab province.

The United States has pushed Pakistan for years to take stronger action against fighters whose who attack American troops across the border in Afghanistan.

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Once considered a protege of the country's powerful army, Sharif served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister in the 1990s before his relationship with the military deteriorated. He was ousted in a coup and replaced by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999, and exiled to Saudi Arabia.

Known to be a religious conservative personally, Sharif's first term in office was marked by efforts to increase the role of Islam in government, including trying to introduce Shariah law through parliament.

Pakistan also became a nuclear state during his second term in office. Sharif also built a reputation for launching large-scale, economic initiatives to spur development, including power, transportation, and technology projects.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

• Obama congratulates Pakistan for 'milestone' moment after successful elections
• The ex-cricket star vs. the comeback kid: Who will be nuclear-armed Pakistan's next leader?
• 9 more killed as Taliban attacks target secular campaigns in Pakistan

It was the summer of 2012 and the most dangerous part of the mission – when soldiers get complacent and make mistakes. So, even in 130-degree heat, Cpl. Randy Derstine and his men of the 1^st Battalion, 8th Marines, patrolled hard in the mountainous, heavily disputed Kajaki Dam area of Helmand province.

Between missions, they broke their remote firebase down to the nails and plywood. They were going home. Derstine’s commanders explained that this was not your usual “RIP” or swap-out with a follow-on unit. (In the military RIP stands for “Relief in Place” – not “Rest In Peace”).

This was nothing less than the end of an era – U.S. Marines had been active in Helmand since the spring of 2008, when a pre-surge Marine company inserted by helicopter into the Taliban stronghold of Garmser. 

Over the past five years, successive Marine units pushed Taliban fighters from their dug-in positions in the "Green Zone," the fertile, built-up areas along the Helmand River.

Fighting in the birthplace of the Taliban was often fierce – at least 500 Marines died, more than 4,500 were wounded – the highest casualties among U.S. fighting forces in Afghanistan. But now it was almost over. 

By July this year, Afghan forces will be in charge of security throughout the country. And by the end of 2014, U.S. Marines will be out of Afghanistan and back at their home bases.

As the rest of the U.S. military draws down, it must grapple with the logistical nightmare of figuring out what to do with 1.38 million pieces of equipment: What is fit to be repacked and sent home versus what is beyond “use by” dates or too costly to ship, and will be left behind. 

But for the Marines, it’s a much more clear-cut issue. “We take it all,” explained Col. James Clark, standing in a triage area at Camp Leatherneck, the Marines’ headquarters in Helmand.

“Lithium batteries, armor, lubricants. We take our Marines and sailors and we take our gear. What we can’t recycle, we burn.” According to Clark, the massive recycling will save the U.S. taxpayer some $150 million. “It’s a pretty good bargain for the American people,” Clark said.

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Weeks later, when Derstine’s unit flew back to Camp Lejeune, N.C., they reunited with their loved ones and each took a well-deserved month of leave. Derstine and his wife, Alexi, found a new apartment.  They enjoyed homemade smoothies and DVD movies. Both share a passion for running and in October they competed in a half-Iron Man triathlon.

But, before long Derstine was back training, this time for deployment with the Marine Corps Special Operations Command, sometime this spring. The 21-year-old Pennsylvanian’s dream of becoming a Special Operator was coming true.

So far, the fears of the Afghans Derstine left behind – that the Taliban would take back Kajaki as soon as the Marines left – have not come to pass. Though his full battalion of about 600 Marines was replaced by a single company not even half that size (the 1^st Battalion, 1^st Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.) the local Afghan Uniformed Police have taken up much of the slack.

They have proved to be an effective, self-starting force – going toe-to-toe with the Taliban, holding what the Marines had cleared and even taking ownership of other contested areas on their own.

U.S. military officials say they believe there are currently some 3,000 to 4,000 Taliban fighters in all of “Regional Command Southwest” – the heart of the fight in Helmand and Kandahar provinces. But they face about 20,000 Afghan soldiers and 9,000 police, supported by the 1/1 Marines.

It’s late spring, so the new fighting season has just begun. U.S. commanders say they hope the Taliban gets their message: You’re outnumbered and outgunned – it’s unwise to push the fight.  But Taliban commanders know that winning back the Kajaki Dam area would mean owning the precious water and source of power for the whole region.

They may not be listening.

Jim Maceda is an NBC News Foreign Correspondent based in London who has covered Afghanistan since the 1980s. He’s the author of “Scythes & Rounds,” an Afghan war e-play published by Cyberpress.

Related links 

• Afghan and Pakistani forces clash in deadly border firefight
• Taliban strike first fatal blow against heavily armored vehicle
• NBC's complete coverage of Afghanistan

Rehan Khan / EPA

People look over the scene of a bomb blast near a polling station in Karachi, Pakistan, on Saturday.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistanis voted in a landmark test of democracy on Saturday and were quickly reminded of the militant violence that plagues the country, with election-related bombings in several cities.

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An attack on the office of the Awami National Party (ANP) in the commercial capital, Karachi, killed 10 people and wounded 30, followed by another blast minutes later.

An explosion destroyed an ANP office in the northwest. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Television channels also reported an explosion in the city of Peshawar.

Pakistan's Taliban, who are close to al Qaeda, have killed over 110 people in election-related violence since April. The group, which is fighting to topple the U.S.-backed government, regards the elections as un-Islamic.

The election will bring the first transition between civilian governments in a country ruled by the military for more than half of its turbulent history.

The people hope the polls will deliver change and ease frustrations with the Taliban, a feeble economy, widespread corruption, chronic power cuts and crumbling infrastructure.

"The problems facing the new government will be immense, and this may be the last chance that the country's existing elites have to solve them," said Anatol Lieven, a professor at King's College, London, and author of a book on Pakistan.

"If the lives of ordinary Pakistanis are not significantly improved over the next five years, a return to authoritarian solutions remains a possibility," Lieven wrote in a column in the Financial Times.

Disenchantment with the two mainstream parties appeared this week to have brought a late surge of support for former cricket star Imran Khan, who could end up holding the balance of power.

Khan, 60, is in a hospital after injuring himself in a fall at a party rally, which may also win him sympathy votes.

With no clear-cut winner, weeks of haggling to form a coalition will follow, which would raise the risk that the government is undermined by instability.

That would only make it more difficult to reverse the disgust with politicians felt among the country's 180 million people and drive through the reforms needed to revive its near-failed economy.

Power cuts can last more than 10 hours a day in some places, crippling key industries like textiles, and a new International Monetary Fund bailout may be needed soon.

The Taliban have focused their anger on secular-leaning parties like the outgoing coalition led by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the ANP. Candidates, fearful of being assassinated, have avoided open campaigning.

The army stayed out of politics during the five years of the last government, but it still sets the nuclear-armed country's foreign and security policy and will steer the thorny relationship with Washington as NATO troops withdraw from neighboring Afghanistan next year.

The party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif looks set to win the most seats in the one-day vote. But Khan could deprive Sharif of a majority and dash his hopes for a return to power 14 years after he was ousted in a military coup, jailed and later exiled.

Pakistan's best-known sportsman, who led a playboy lifestyle in his younger days, Khan is seen by many as a refreshing change from the dynastic politicians who long relied on a patronage system to win votes and are often accused of corruption.

Related:

• The ex-cricket star vs. the comeback kid: Who will be nuclear-armed Pakistan's next leader?
• Son of former Pakistan PM kidnapped at gunpoint during election rally
• Prosecutor probing Pakistan ex-PM's assassination slain in 'targeted killing'

The son of former Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was kidnapped at gunpoint during an election rally on Thursday, officials said.

Ali Haider Gilani, whose father was prime minister from 2008 to 2012, was seized by several armed men in Multan in central Pakistan. The Gilanis are members of the liberal PPP party.

Punjab government official Rao Iftikhar Ahmad told The Associated Press that one of Gilani's guards was killed and five people were wounded in the attack. The figures could not immediately be confirmed by NBC News.

"One of the gunmen grabbed Haider who had blood splashed on his trousers," witness Shehryar Ali told Pakistani television broadcaster Geo News. 

An intelligence official said that authorities were hunting "four to five kidnappers in a black car."

Fawad Hussein / EPA, file

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is seen here in 2011. His son was kidnapped on Thursday.

It was not immediately known who abducted Gilani or why.  The Pakistani Taliban has vowed to disrupt Saturday's election.

Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan said that candidates, party leaders and activists would be attacked by dozens of suicide bombers and other fighters.

The militants have warned people to stay away from polling stations on the day of the vote and warned government officials not to carry out election duties.

Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, has written a letter to the Election Commission, demanding better security for liberal parties.

Since April, the Pakistani Taliban have killed more than 70 people in attacks targeting three major political parties, preventing many of their most prominent candidates from openly campaigning, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The Taliban say they are targeting "secular" parties and that elections only "serve the interests of infidels and enemies of Islam," the news service said. Right-wing religious parties that have joined the election race have been largely left alone by the militants.

On Tuesday, former cricket star Imran Khan, who is now the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, was injured in a fall from a platform at an election rally.

Saturday's election will mark the first time in the country's 65-year history that a legislature has completed its term, paving the way for the possibility of a peaceful transition of power from one civilian government to the next.

NBC News' Mushtaq Yusufzai and Ian Johnston, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Related:

• Explosion kills at least 25 people at Islamist party election rally in Pakistan
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LAHORE, Pakistan -- Sports-star-turned-politician Imran Khan was injured after he plunged from a forklift that was taking him up to a stage at a political rally just days before Pakistan’s parliamentary election.

A video of the fall showed Khan and three security guards standing precariously on the platform as it rose up, then suddenly toppling over at about 7 p.m. local time Tuesday (10 a.m. ET) at the rally in Lahore. Police estimate that Khan and his bodyguards fell from a height of 20-25 feet.

Athar Hussain / Reuters

Imran Khan, seen speaking to supporters in Karachi on Tuesday, was later injured in a fall at another political rally.

Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, was then taken to a local hospital for treatment.

"He fell, hit his head on the grill, and started bleeding. The chairman has been taken to a hospital, please pray for his health," said a message on Khan's Facebook page.

Thousands of well-wishers gathered outside Shaukat Khanum Hospital. Local police have ruled out foul play.

A doctor at the hospital said Khan is in stable condition and in good spirits. He suffered no internal injuries and his spinal chord is OK, but he did sustain a fracture in his back. He will be kept at least overnight. 

The May 11 election is being held amid tight security because of the risk of being attacked by the Pakistani Taliban.

Since April, the Pakistani Taliban have killed more than 70 people in attacks targeting three major political parties, preventing many of their most prominent candidates from openly campaigning, Reuters reported.

The Taliban say they are targeting "secular" parties and that elections only "serve the interests of infidels and enemies of Islam," the news service said.

However, they have mostly not attacked Khan's party, which advocates shooting down U.S. drones and withdrawing the Pakistani military from insurgency-infested Pashtun areas along the Afghan border, Reuters said. Right-wing religious parties that have joined the election race have also been largely left alone by the militants.

Khan made his name playing cricket, a hugely popular sport in Pakistan. He is regarded as one of the best players in the history of the game.

His political campaign has made great use of social media; his Facebook page currently has 822,000 likes.

NBC News' Ian Johnston and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

Can social media propel 'rock star' politician Imran Khan to power in Pakistan?

Pakistan halts anti-drone protest led by ex-cricketer Imran Khan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A suicide bombing at an Islamist party's election rally killed at least 25 people and injured 65 others Monday in Pakistan's Kurram tribal region, local officials said.

Ulfat Hussai, an administrative official, said the leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) party, a candidate for the National Assembly from the region, was among the injured.

Another government official said a suicide bomber blew himself up as JUI-F leader Munir Hussain Orakzai was about to leave the gathering in the village of Sewak after his speech to local tribesmen.

Dr. Inayatullah Khan, administrator of the Agency Headquarters Hospital in Sadda, said 20 bodies and 65 injured had been brought to his hospital while the bodies of five others had been taken directly to their homes by relatives.

Khan said the death toll could rise as half a dozen of the injured were still in critical condition.

Officials at the scene said many of the dead appeared to have succumbed to blood loss. The village is in a remote mountainous area, making it impossible to quickly get victims to hospitals.

Dr. Abdul Qadir, younger brother of Orakzai, said by telephone that he, his brother, two bodyguards and six close relatives were injured in the blast.

"They have been taken to the hospital and their condition is out of danger," Qadir said from Parachinar, the headquarters of Kurram tribal region, which is near the Afghan border.

He said the injured were being taken to hospitals in Parachinar and Sadda, the second-largest town of the volatile region.

Monday’s incident marked the first time a political gathering of a religious party such as JUI-F, considered pro-Taliban, had been targeted in the tribal areas.

Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan called NBC News and claimed responsibility for the suicide attack.

Ishan said Orakzai was their target, claiming that in the past five years, he had been involved with three major secular parties that the Taliban considers pro-American.

The Taliban launched has launched an offensive that has killed several leaders and activists belonging to the three parties: the Pakistan People's Party, Mutahidda Qaumi Movement and Awami National Party. 

Related:

• Prosecutor probing Pakistan ex-PM's assassination slain in 'targeted killing'
• Afghan and Pakistani forces clash in deadly border firefight

This story was originally published on Mon May 6, 2013 10:46 AM EDT

Nisar Ahmad / AP

Afghans carry the body of a policeman killed in a border clash with Pakistani troops on Thursday.

An Afghan border police officer was killed and two Pakistani soldiers were injured during a prolonged firefight on the troubled border between the two countries, officials said.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office said in a statement that it had summoned an Afghan embassy official to protest what it called an “unprovoked firing incident” at a disputed border gate late Wednesday.

“Two Frontier Constabulary soldiers got injured as a result of the heavy fire directly targeting the post,” the statement said. “Pakistan security forces exercised maximum restraint and communicated first to the Afghan side about this serious violation through military channels.”

“This is not the first time that the heavy fire was initiated from the Afghan side causing heavy injury and damage to the Pakistani structures,” it added.

Afghan Ministry of Interior spokesman Sidiq Sidiqqi said the fighting continued into early Thursday.

“One [Afghan] border policeman was killed. Pakistani and Afghan local officials are holding talks to ease the situation,” he said.

The latest tensions are focused on Pakistan's building of the military gate at Gursal that Afghan officials say is inside Afghanistan, Reuters reported. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered his top officials to take immediate action to remove the gate and other "Pakistani military installations near the Durand Line."

The Durand Line is the 1893 British-mandated border between the two countries. It is recognized by Pakistan but not by Afghanistan. Afghanistan maintains that activity by either side along the Durand Line must be approved by both countries.

Afghans living near the border with Pakistan praised what they saw as Kabul's decision to stand up to Islamabad.

"Our security forces have done a great job standing up to Pakistan. We are proud because Pakistan keeps on pushing us and will try and occupy us some day. I'm angry about the situation but glad we have acted,” Mohammed Sabil, a taxi driver, said.

Gula Jan, who works at a gas station near the border, said: "We thought Afghanistan could not do anything against Pakistan -- that we were turning into slaves of Pakistan, but now we know that isn't true, and I back the Afghan government's actions.”

Afghanistan has grown increasingly frustrated with Pakistan over efforts to pursue an Afghan peace process involving the Taliban, suggesting that Islamabad is intent on keep Afghanistan unstable, Reuters reported.

Afghan officials say Pakistan has a long history of supporting Afghanistan's Taliban and other insurgent factions, the news service noted. Pakistan has in turn accused Afghanistan of giving safe haven to militants on the Afghan side of the border.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

• Pakistan intelligence agency claims Afghanistan supports Taliban splinter groups
• Karzai accuses US and Taliban of conspiring to keep troops in Afghanistan
• Pakistan, Afghanistan trying to turn Taliban into political movement

A bomb attack on allied forces in Afghanistan on Tuesday marked the first time the Taliban has been able to effectively strike the heavily armored Mastiff personnel carrier, British officials said.

“It’s the first time personnel inside a Mastiff have been killed by an IED [improvised explosive device],” a Ministry of Defense official said.

Based on the Cougar mine-resistant vehicle made by U.S. defense giant General Dynamics, the Mastiff is designed specifically to protect soldiers from improvised explosive devices and rocket-propelled grenades, the firm says on its website.

The company says the 21-ton Cougar vehicle has “withstood literally thousands of IED/landmine attacks” in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A General Dynamics spokesman in the U.S. declined to comment, saying he would defer to Britain's defense ministry.

The ministry declined to give details of the incident, though it said in a statement that the three British soldiers who were killed were inside the vehicle and that they "received immediate medical attention" and were airlifted to a military hospital "but could not be saved."

Reuters file

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron walks past Mastiff armored vehicles at Camp Bastion, outside Lashkar Gah, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in December 2012.

Nine Afghans also died in the blast, and six other British soldiers were wounded, according to Reuters. The military has not given specifics about where the Afghans and other soldiers were in relation to the 10-person vehicle.

The attack in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province came just two days after the Taliban announced the start of its annual spring offensive, which it said would be “monumental.”

Gen. Richard Dannatt, former head of the British Army, told BBC's Radio 4 that the incident was a matter of “invention and counter-invention” as the Taliban tries to stay ahead of the armoring technologies of the military.

"The Taliban have found a way of countering the protective qualities and characteristics of the Mastiff,” he told Radio 4.

"It would seem that this was an extremely large bomb that was so powerful that actually it was able to cause fatalities within the vehicle itself. I've not seen a technical report, but my understanding in talking to the Ministry of Defense is that in all probability it was a very large device in terms of the amount of explosive and it may well have physically lifted up the vehicle and possibly even turned it over."

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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.

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The Taliban took credit for the attack in a statement, adding: "It was a very heavy explosion and we have destroyed their tank."

NP Aerospace, the British company that outfits the Mastiff once it is shipped from the U.S., declined to comment on the vehicle’s capabilities.

“All our sympathy and condolences go to the families and friends of the soldiers tragically killed,” the company said through a spokesman.

The soldiers killed were all from the Royal Highlands Fusiliers, 2^nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said in an interview with Britain’s Sky News that the incident points to the danger even as British involvement in the war winds down.

“That process of withdrawal in itself is going to be extremely dangerous and will have to be extraordinarily well managed,” Salmond said. “The most dangerous thing in terms of our troops in Afghanistan has been the roadside devices affecting the armored vehicles. The soldiers obviously knew the risk they were running, but that doesn't make it any easier for the families or indeed for the rest of the regiment.”

NBC News' Peter Jeary and Akbar Shinwari contributed to this report.

Related:

• Taliban marks start of offensive with deadly attack
• Full Afghanistan coverage from NBC News

KABUL, Afghanistan — Seven people were killed when a U.S.-run civilian cargo plane crashed shortly after takeoff at Bagram Airfield outside of Kabul, officials said on Tuesday.

A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) added that the cause of Monday's crash was unknown, but dismissed Taliban claims of responsibility, saying there were no reports of "enemy activity" around the base.

ISAF did not release details on the nationalities of those killed, referring questions to National Air Cargo, the company running the flight.

National Air Cargo officials were not immediately available for comment. 

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.

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The Taliban claimed in a statement on Monday that it had shot down an American plane. It said the alleged downing of the plane was part of its spring offensive, which began Sunday and which the Taliban pledged would be "monumental.”

On Monday, ISAF's Lt. Quenton Roehricht said the plane had crashed "very shortly" after taking off at about 3 p.m. local time (6:30 a.m. ET).

The cargo plane crash came two days after four U.S. service members were killed when their surveillance aircraft in southern Afghanistan went down in bad weather. 

NBC News' F. Brinley Bruton and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

• Taliban marks start of 'monumental' spring offensive with deadly attack
• Plane crash kills four American service members in Afghanistan
• 2 US service members killed in Afghanistan helicopter crash

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A civilian cargo plane crashed at Bagram Airfield on Monday, officials said.

Lt. Quenton Roehricht, of the International Security Assistance Force, said the plane developed some kind of problem "very shortly" after taking off and crashed at about 3 p.m. local time (6:30 a.m. ET).

"At this time, we can confirm there was no insurgent activity when contact was lost," he said.

Roehricht said information was still being gathered and he was not able to confirm whether there had been any casualties or what might have caused the crash.

Zamaray Khan, a local police chief, said there was a large fire after the plane crashed and it appeared that the crew members had been killed.

The Taliban claimed in a statement that it had shot down an American plane at 4 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. ET).

It said the alleged downing of the plane was part of its spring offensive, which began Sunday and which the Taliban pledged would be "monumental.”

The Taliban is known for employing bombastic language in describing its achievements, and its claims are frequently invalidated or unproved.

At least three police officers were killed by a bomb in Ghazni province in the east of the country on Sunday.

NBC News' Ian Johnston contributed to this report.

Related:

Taliban marks start of 'monumental' spring offensive with deadly attack

Plane crash kills four American service members in Afghanistan

This story was originally published on Mon Apr 29, 2013 9:21 AM EDT