Afgan warlords meet US envoy

Two rival warlords in northern Afghanistan have held separate meetings with the United States' special envoy to the country ahead of face-to-face talks aimed at ending violence between their forces.

General Rashid Dostum and General Atta Mohammad met the envoy, Zalmai Khalilzad, in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, where at least six people were killed in fighting on Saturday.

Both leaders are official representatives of President Hamed Karzai's government, but their supporters have clashed a number of times in recent weeks.

A United Nations-backed security commission has been set up in northern Afghanistan to try to maintain peace there.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service