Afghanistan's attorney general says his office is investigating five current and former Cabinet ministers on allegations of corruption.
Investigators have not named those under suspicion, and President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said Tuesday that no arrest warrants have been issued for any minister.
Mr. Karzai has been under intense international pressure to crack down on government embezzlement, fraud and graft that watchdog groups say have made the country the second-most corrupt in the world, behind Somalia.
Meanwhile, local officials in eastern Afghanistan say a roadside bomb in Khost province has killed five Afghan civilians and wounded three others. International forces say Taliban militants killed a U.S. soldier during an attack in southern Afghanistan on Monday. NATO did not give any further details on the assault.
NATO and Afghan officials said Monday that earlier insurgent attacks in eastern and southern Afghanistan had killed four U.S. soldiers and eight Afghan troops.
Also Monday, NATO urged its member nations to commit more troops, equipment and funding to Afghanistan in the run-up to U.S. President Barack Obama's decision on sending up to 40,000 additional troops there.
A NATO spokesman said Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is trying to get more resources for the newly established NATO Training Mission, which is tasked with building up Afghanistan's army and police forces.
NATO foreign ministers plan to meet next week and some are expected to pledge additional contributions to the war effort.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
