Afghanistan war

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Last Aussie Combat Troops Leave Afghanistan

400 trainers will stay on

(Newser) - Australia has called time on its longest-ever overseas military deployment after 12 years, 40 deaths, and 261 serious injuries. The final Australian combat troops left their base in Afghanistan's Uruzgan province today, though around 400 Australians will still serve in advisory roles across the nation, the Australian reports. Some...

US: Sorry About Drone Strike That Killed Child

Top commander apologizes to Hamid Karzai

(Newser) - The top US commander in Afghanistan apologized to President Hamid Karzai for a drone strike that killed a child and NATO promised an investigation today as rising tensions threatened efforts to persuade the Afghan leader to sign a long-delayed security agreement. Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford called Karzai late yesterday to...

US, Karzai Butt Heads Over Afghan Security Deal

Karzai wants Gitmo releases, help with Taliban talks; US threatens to walk

(Newser) - As the US and Afghanistan attempt to hammer out a troop withdrawal agreement, things are getting testier on both sides. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is telling US National Security Adviser Susan Rice that he won't sign any deal unless the US agrees to new demands. He wants Washington to...

Afghans Demand Obama Write 'Contrite' Letter

In exchange, US troops who stay behind will be able to raid houses

(Newser) - The US has just about cinched a deal with Afghanistan regarding the US military presence in the country after next year's big withdrawal—and it hinges on President Obama writing a letter acknowledging US "mistakes" in the war, reports the Wall Street Journal . (The New York Times has...

Afghan Opium Crop Hits Record High

Withdrawal expected to give drug trade another boost

(Newser) - After more than a decade of international efforts to combat the narcotics trade in Afghanistan—depriving the Taliban of funds in the process—the country is now producing more opium than ever before, a UN reports funds. The harvest this year resulted in a staggering 6,000 tons of opium,...

Obama Honors Oldest Living WWII Vet

Lays wreath at Arlington on this Veterans Day

(Newser) - President Obama today paid tribute to those who have served in the nation's military, including one of the nation's oldest veterans, 107-year-old Richard Overton. "This is the life of one American veteran, living proud and strong in the land he helped keep free," Obama said during...

US Military Selling Off All Its Gear in Afghanistan

Too bad it's breaking it all first

(Newser) - Searching for a good deal on a used treadmill? Look no further than Afghanistan, where the US military is selling off 2 million to 14 million pounds of its equipment every week, as it winds down operations there. There's just one catch, reports the Washington Post : most of the...

Defense Chief Apologizes to Medal of Honor Soldier

We lost your paperwork, says Chuck Hagel

(Newser) - Yesterday, Former Army Capt. William Swenson got the Medal of Honor for bravery from President Obama. Today, Swenson got a personal apology from the secretary of defense for taking so long to recognize his actions, reports the AP . Defense chief Chuck Hagel said Swenson's paperwork got lost in the...

Medal of Honor Recipient: Send Me Back to War

Will Swenson makes rare request of Army to return to active duty

(Newser) - Former Army Capt. Will Swenson received the nation's highest military honor today for rescuing fellow soldiers under heavy fire in Afghanistan a few years ago, reports CNN . And in a rare move, the 34-year-old has formally asked the Army to return him to active duty, reports AP . Generally speaking,...

Obama, House Order Fix for Fallen Troops' Families

Shutdown blocked $100K death benefit; remedy in the works

(Newser) - It looks like one unfortunate side effect of the showdown will be quickly fixed: The House voted unanimously today to restore the $100,000 death benefit paid to soldiers' families, reports the Hill . The Senate may not need to follow suit, however, because the White House has ordered an administrative...

Full Withdrawal From Afghanistan Grows More Likely

As US prepares to suspend failing negotiations

(Newser) - The US is getting nowhere in its negotiations with Afghanistan over the future of America's military presence in the country, rendering the prospect of a total troop withdrawal in 2014 ever more likely. Officials say they're getting ready to suspend talks unless there's a breakthrough in the...

Why War Reporters Get It So Wrong
 Why War Reporters 
 Get It So Wrong 
opinion
Oct 3, 2013 4:40 PM CDT

Why War Reporters Get It So Wrong

Patrick Cockburn: It's a hard job when propaganda and bullets are flying

(Newser) - Journalists have given us the wrong impression about four Middle East wars since 9/11—but how did they blow it so badly? In the London Review of Books , Patrick Cockburn looks at how the media fumbled the ball in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. In each case, he argues, reporters...

US Base in Afghanistan Attacked

3 insurgents reportedly killed

(Newser) - Militants attacked a US base in Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan today, setting off bombs, torching vehicles, and shutting down a key road used by NATO supply trucks, officials said. At least three people—apparently all attacking insurgents—were killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the strike in the...

Afghanistan Vet Joins Elite Club, Gets Medal of Honor

Army Staff Sgt. Ty Carter risked his life to save another

(Newser) - US Army Staff Sgt. Ty Carter is set to get the nation's top military honor today, and with it, enter into a very exclusive club. Only a dozen men who have fought in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have received the Medal of Honor, reports Stars and Stripes , and...

US Soldier Gets Life Without Parole in Massacre

Robert Bales killed 16 Afghan villagers

(Newser) - The second of two high-profile military trials is in the books: A military jury has sentenced a US soldier who massacred 16 Afghan civilians last year to life in prison without a chance of parole. The decision came today in the case against Staff Sgt. Robert Bales , who pleaded guilty...

US Can&#39;t Close Bagram, Either
 US Can't Close Bagram, Either 
Aug 5, 2013 5:22 PM CDT

US Can't Close Bagram, Either

Nicknamed the 'second Guantanamo'

(Newser) - The US is preparing to pull out of Afghanistan, but there's one fly in the ointment: the prison at Bagram air base, which has been nicknamed "the second Guantanamo," the Washington Post reports. The US currently houses 67 non-Afghan inmates there, some of whom it says are...

US Has Been Building Afghan Dam Since 1950s
US Has Been Building
Afghan Dam Since 1950s
new report
Jul 30, 2013 9:43 AM CDT

US Has Been Building Afghan Dam Since 1950s

Inspector general: Great Pyramid of Giza was erected faster

(Newser) - The US started construction on Afghanistan's Kajaki dam in the early 1950s—and it's still not done. "After using multiple contractors and subcontractors, spending tens of millions of dollars, and losing scores of US and coalition lives, the work is still not complete," writes the special...

8 Afghan Workers Killed en Route to US Base

Deadliest attack since Ramadan started

(Newser) - Eight Afghan workers were shot and killed as they headed to work on a US military base, the BBC reports. Local officials say the Taliban was behind the attacks. The civilian workers "were forced out of their car and taken about 200 meters off (the) road to a nearby...

'Frustrated' Obama May Yank All Troops in Afghanistan

Relations with Karzai going downhill fast, insiders say

(Newser) - President Obama is so sick of dealing with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai that he is seriously considering bringing American military involvement in the country to a speedy and complete end, senior administration officials tell CNN and the New York Times . The "zero option" of leaving no American troops...

Afghans Bust Ex-US Translator in Disappearances

Zakeria Kandahari worked with US special forces

(Newser) - Afghanistan authorities have arrested a former translator for US special forces over "multiple crimes," officials said today, without elaboration. The AP fills in a few of the blanks, reporting that the Defense Ministry had said Zakeria Kandahari was wanted on charges of murder and torture in connection with...

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