On February 18, 2009, President Barack Obama has authorised the deployment of up to 17,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan. Mr Obama said the soldiers had been due to go to Iraq but were being redirected to "meet urgent security needs".

Kyrgyzstan ordered U.S. forces on Friday February 20, 2009, to depart within six months from an air base key to military operations in Afghanistan, complicating plans to send more troops to battle rising Taliban and al-Qaida violence. U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said, however, that he believed the base was not a "closed issue." The U.S. has said it would consider paying more rent to keep the base open. The U.S. announced a small victory in that hunt Friday -saying neighbouring Uzbekistan had granted permission for the transit of non-lethal cargo to Afghanistan.

President Obama declared in an interview on March 7, 2009, that the United States was not winning the war in Afghanistan and opened the door to a reconciliation process in which the American military would reach out to moderate elements of the Taliban, much as it did with Sunni militias in Iraq. Mr. Obama pointed to the success in peeling Iraqi insurgents away from more hard-core elements of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a strategy that many credit as much as the increase of American forces with turning the war around in the last two years.

President Barack Obama chose a career military officer, Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, who once was the top US commander in Afghanistan is his choice to be the next ambassador to the war-torn country. Eikenberry has warned repeatedly that the US cannot win in Afghanistan and defeat global terrorism without doing something about al-Qaida fighters holed up in neighbouring Pakistan. The president also announced that Ivo Daalder is his pick to be the US ambassador to NATO and Christopher Hill to be the new top diplomat in Iraq.

British Defence Secretary John Hutton on Thursday March 19, 2009, blasted NATO's inability to fully fund a rapid response force of 25,000 troops, and said the alliance needed a "radical transformation" to adapt to new threats. Britain has been pressing for 26 NATO defence ministers to agree at a summit next month to create a small NATO rapid deployment force to defend mainland Europe and free troops for duty in Afghanistan. The proposed force would have 1,500 troops ready for deployment and 1,500 in training.

On March 23, 2009, President Barack Obama said that the US must have an "exit strategy" in Afghanistan, even as Washington sends more troops to fight Taliban militants and as the White House prepares to unveil a comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan. Mr Obama said preventing attacks against the US remained its "central mission" in Afghan operations. His comments come at a low-point in relations between Washington and Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government.

The United States said on Monday March 23, 2009, it had found an encouraging symmetry of views with its NATO and EU allies after outlining a strategy review meant to end a stalemate in Afghanistan after President Barack Obama said it would contain an exit strategy and greater emphasis on economic development. The US stressed the need for a regional approach to the Afghan problem, including Pakistan, and of stepping up both civilian and military efforts.

The Obama administration believes it has only a small window of opportunity, possibly just a year, to turn around the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan before US public support begins to erode we were told March 26, 2009. Among the proposals is a plan to send 4,000 more US troops to Afghanistan -in addition to the 17,000 combat troops he ordered last month- to train the Afghan army. Instead of creating a national army, they will focus instead on the more modest goal of trying to turn ragtag militia groups into forces capable of providing protection against the Taliban and al-Qaida. More emphasis is to be given to civilian projects, with the US to double its civilian contingent in the country to 900 to provide help with agriculture projects, small businesses and setting up a rudimentary judicial service.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was in Afghanistan's Helmand province on April 27, 2009, visiting British troops. He talked to soldiers at Camp Bastion during the first stage of a trip in which he also visits Pakistan. After talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, he announced a new strategy for dealing with terrorism across border areas with Pakistan. Mr Brown warned of a "chain of terror" starting in the mountainous region and ending in capital cities worldwide.

President Barack Obama fired the top U.S. general in Afghanistan on Monday May 11, 2009, replacing him with a former Special Forces commander in a quest for a more agile, unconventional approach in a war that has gone quickly downhill. With the Taliban resurgent, Obama's switch from Gen. David McKiernan to Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal suggests the new commander in chief wants major changes in addition to the additional troops he's ordering into Afghanistan to shore up the war effort. McKiernan, on the job for less than a year, has repeatedly pressed for more forces. Although Obama has approved more than 21,000 additional troops this year, he has warned that the war will not be won by military means.

Four U.S. private security guards are being held against their will in Afghanistan by the company formerly known as Blackwater after their involvement in a deadly shooting, their lawyer said Saturday May 16, 2009. The shooting and allegations of forced confinement by the contractors' lawyer highlights the murky legal world in which private security companies operate in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Blackwater was involved in a 2007 shooting in a busy square in Baghdad that left as many as 17 Iraqi civilians dead and led to the end of its Baghdad operations this month. It has since changed its name to Xe.

The Pentagon said on May 19, 2009, it has video of the incident in Afghanistan's Farah Province two weeks ago, in which a U.S. air strike apparently killed some Afghan civilians.  But U.S. officials dispute the Afghan government claim that as many as 140 civilians were killed. 

President Barack Obama said on Jue4, 2009, the United States has no intention of keeping its troops in Afghanistan and America seeks no permanent military bases there. Obama calls it costly and politically difficult to continue the conflict. But he says there still are violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan who are determined to kill Americans.

On June 15, 2009, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander, US General Stanley McChrystal took over as the new commander of the NATO-led ISAF in Afghanistan US General Stanley McChrystal has vowed to accelerate security and development in the war-torn country.

The mounting number of casualties in Afghanistan has not led to increased public hostility to the war, according to a new ICM poll for the Guardian and the BBC's Newsnight published July 12, 2009. Research carried out as news broke of the deaths of eight soldiers in 24 hours - taking the British death toll in Afghanistan past the total for Iraq – shows support for the war remains firm while backing for UK involvement in the conflict has grown. Opposition to the war, at 47%, is just ahead of support, at 46%. And backing for Britain's role in the conflict has grown since 2006, the last time an ICM poll was conducted on the subject – up 15 points from 31%. Opposition has fallen over the same period by six points, from 53%.

Britain is sending 125 troops to Afghanistan to replace casualties incurred in heavy fighting with Taliban insurgents we were told on Friday July 24, 2009. Nineteen British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this month, one of the highest monthly tolls since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, as they launched a major operation against the Taliban in the southern province of Helmand.

NATO's new chief called Friday August 7, 2009, for additional reinforcements in Afghanistan, and the alliance announced the deaths of eight more U.S. and British troops as violence worsens in the eight-year-old war's deadliest phase.

The UK's commitment to Afghanistan could last for up to 40 years, the incoming head of the Army, General Sir David Richards, said on August 8, 2009. He added that "nation-building" would last decades. Troops will be required for the medium term only, but the UK will continue to play a role in "development, governance [and] security sector reform". Shadow defence minister Gerald Howarth said the UK had to be there long-term to achieve its objectives.

A front-line UK soldier in Afghanistan told the defence secretary on October 5, 2009, "more troops on the ground" are needed. Bob Ainsworth had asked Staff Sgt Kim Hughes, a bomb disposal specialist, what was his "top desire from right here at the chalk face". Mr Ainsworth, accompanied by Home Secretary Alan Johnson, told him troop reinforcements would be slow and could not be delivered by the UK alone.

A new brigade and commander have taken over UK military operations in Afghanistan on October 10, 2009. The 19 Light Brigade is returning home, having lost 70 men during six months of fighting the Taliban. They have been replaced by 11 Light Brigade, which has been formed specifically for Helmand. The new brigade is smaller than the one it replaces, meaning some troops have had to extend their tour in Helmand.

On October 14, 2009, Gordon Brown says the UK will send 500 more forces personnel to Afghanistan - but only if key conditions are met. They will be sent as long as they have the necessary equipment, if other Nato allies boost their troop numbers and more Afghan soldiers are trained. There are currently about 9,000 UK personnel in Afghanistan.

The US ambassador in Kabul has written to the White House to oppose sending thousands more troops to Afghanistan. Karl Eikenberry said President Karzai's government should first prove it would tackle corruption. The dramatic intervention puts the ambassador -a former military commander in Afghanistan- at odds with generals seeking reinforcements.

The United States, as part of its efforts to boost the capacity of the Afghanistan Air Force, pledged on Sunday November 15, 2009, to donate 20 aircrafts and of these two C-27 have been handed to Afghanistan. The remaining 18 more aircrafts would be handed over to Afghanistan within the next two years.

Britain offered to host an international conference early next year to set a timetable for transferring security responsibilities to Afghan forces from 2010, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday. November 16, 2009. The bloodiest year for British troops in Afghanistan has fuelled public opposition to the campaign, creating another headache for Brown as he tries to close a big gap on the opposition Conservatives ahead of an election due by June. Brown, trying to show voters he had an exit strategy, argues that expanding training of Afghan security forces may allow Britain to reduce its troop numbers over time.

Eager to dispel its image as a rights abuser after "war on terror" prison scandals, the US has opened a new Afghan jail on November 16, 2009, that critics say still falls short of basic legal standards. The new Parwan Detention Facility has been built at the Bagram military base where it will begin taking 640 inmates from a tented camp elsewhere on the base by the end of the month.

President Obama issued orders to send about 30,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan. Mr. Obama conveyed his decision to military leaders on Sunday November 29, 2009, during a meeting in the Oval Office and then spent Monday phoning foreign counterparts, including the leaders of Britain, France and Russia.

The British defence secretary said on December 8, 2009, that the Afghanistan mission is vital to the UK's national security.

On January 26, 2010 it was confirmed that Britain will host a one-day international conference on Afghanistan this week to try to forge a common strategy to improve security, good governance and development.  There is growing concern about deteriorating conditions on the ground as allies look for an exit strategy.

Some 70 nations raised $140 million Thursday January 28, 2010, as part of a focused, momentum-building effort to aid the government of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. But clear signals were also delivered that the US and its NATO allies are crafting a departure strategy and determined to transfer security responsibility to Kabul within five years.

On January 28, 2010, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said mid-2011 should be the deadline for "turning the tide" in the fight against insurgents in Afghanistan. Before the talks began, President Hamid Karzai said Afghanistan could need foreign support for its security forces for up to 15 years. He later announced plans to reintegrate some Taliban fighters into society. The Taliban have ruled out talks until foreign forces leave Afghanistan.

On February 23, 2010, western diplomats have expressed deep concern at a decree from Afghan President Hamid Karzai granting him total control over a key election body. The move gives him the power to appoint all five members of Afghanistan's Electoral Complaints Commission.

Britain will be "militarily engaged" in Afghanistan for a further five years, the head of the Army, General Sir David Richards, said on February 27, 2010.

Princess Anne made a surprise visit to British and Canadian troops serving in Afghanistan we were told on Tuesday March 2, 2010. She spent time in the British forces' main Camp Bastion base and visited Canadian troops in Kandahar.

On March 12, 2010, we were told that British troops hand over control of key Afghan town to US. Soldiers based in Musa Qala in northern Helmand to be redeployed, but 800 troops will remain in Sangin. Control of a key town in southern Afghanistan, twice captured by British troops and where 23 were killed, is to be handed over to the US marines. Five hundred British soldiers based in Musa Qala, in northern Helmand, will be redeployed further south to join most of the UK's remaining 10,000 troops in the province, Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, told MPs. However, 800 British troops will remain in Sangin, described by British commanders today as one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan. Six British soldiers have been killed there since the beginning of March, some as a result of what military sources called "increasing accuracy" in small arms fire by Taliban fighters. Sangin is a place which "matters to the Taliban" as an important transit route, near a major poppy route and a narcotics region. The district is "one of the most enduring problems in Helmand". The Taliban were intimidating the population at night and British and Afghan troops are manning 30 patrol bases and checkpoints.

The Prince of Wales has become the most senior royal to visit British troops in Afghanistan in a surprise trip to the country on March 25, 2010. He went to the main British base at Camp Bastion and travelled to a base involved in a major offensive against the Taliban, Operation Moshtarak.

The US airbase at Bagram in Afghanistan contains a facility for detainees that is distinct from its main prison, the Red Cross confirmed on May 11, 2010. Nine former prisoners have told the BBC that they were held in a separate building, and subjected to abuse. The US military says the main prison, now called the Detention Facility in Parwan, is the only detention facility on the base. However, it has said it will look into the abuse allegations made to the BBC.

On Tuesday May 18, 2010, the toll of American dead in Afghanistan passed 1,000, after a suicide bomb in Kabul killed at least five United States service members. Having taken nearly seven years to reach the first 500 dead, the war killed the second 500 in fewer than two.

Three British cabinet ministers, led by Foreign Secretary William Hague, are in Kabul on May 22, 2010, to meet political and military leaders in the Afghan capital. Mr Hague, Defence Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell are looking at ways to accelerate Afghan troop training.
Dr Fox said he was seeking to pull out UK troops "as soon as possible" and Britain was not a "global policeman". But Mr Mitchell said it was "crucial" to create a functioning Afghan state. The ministers earlier indicated they were not planning any significant changes to UK policy on Afghanistan.

US soldier Jeremy Morlock has been charged with three counts of premeditated murder and one count of assault in the deaths of three Afghan civilians. The charges against Mr Morlock involve three separate alleged events. The incidents are alleged to have taken place between January and May at or near Forward Operating Base Ramrod in Afghanistan. Mr Morlock returned to a state base in the US state of Washington on Thursday and was arrested and placed in pre-trial confinement on Friday June 4, 2010.

David Cameron has announced more money for tackling the threat of roadside bombs in Afghanistan, during his first visit to the country as prime minister.  An extra £67m would go into countering insurgents' bombs. It is on top of £150m pledged last year by ex- PM Gordon Brown for a similar project. Mr Cameron later flew to Helmand province to visit UK soldiers. But he was forced to cancel an earlier visit to a military base because of a security alert. The PM had earlier said the UK had no plans to commit more troops to the country.

On June 22, 2010, the top US commander in Afghanistan has been summoned to Washington in the wake of a magazine article that quotes him and aides criticising senior Obama administration officials and diplomats. General Stanley McChrystal has apologised over the article in Rolling Stone. In it, he is quoted as sharply criticising the US ambassador to Kabul, Karl Eikenberry. And the general's aides say he was "disappointed" when meeting President Barack Obama for the first time. Other targets of criticism by the general or his aides include Vice-President Joe Biden, National Security Adviser James Jones and the special US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke.

Britain's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, who has criticized elements of the U.S. war strategy, has resigned and the new government of Prime Minister David Cameron is reviewing whether to fill the job, we were told on Monday June 21, 2010. Sherard Cowper-Coles had held the position since early 2009, after serving nearly two years as ambassador to Afghanistan. He had pushed for a political solution in Afghanistan and for higher priority to be given to talks with the Taliban and other insurgent groups, while expressing scepticism that increased military force could prevail.

President Barack Obama sacked his loose-lipped Afghanistan commander Wednesday June 23, 2010 and chose the familiar, admired General David Petraeus to replace him. Petraeus, architect of the Iraq war turnaround, was once again to take hands-on leadership of a troubled war effort. Obama said bluntly that Gen. Stanley McChrystal's scornful remarks about administration officials in interviews for a magazine article represent conduct that "undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system." He fired the commander after summoning him from Afghanistan for a face to face meeting in the Oval Office and named Petraeus, the Central Command chief who was McChrystal's direct boss, to step in. By pairing those announcements, Obama sought to move on from the firestorm that was renewing debate over his revamped Afghanistan policy. It was meant to assure Afghans, U.S. allies and a restive American electorate that a firm hand is running the war.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday June 25, 2010, that British military forces must be out of Afghanistan before the next general election, scheduled to be held in 2015. Cameron said he preferred "not to deal in too strict timetables," but said the goal is "not a perfect Afghanistan, but some stability in Afghanistan, and the ability of the Afghans themselves to run their country so we can come home."

The US Senate Wednesday July 1, 2010, approved Gen. David Petraeus’ nomination to be the new top commander in Afghanistan following the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal last week. The Senate voted unanimously to confirm the 58-year-old Petraeus, the current Commander of the United States Central Command, in his new role.

The United States' top field commander, General David Petraeus, warned on Saturday July 3, 2010, of a tough mission ahead a day after arriving to take command of the 150,000-strong NATO-led foreign force in Afghanistan. Petraeus is charged with not only winning the war against a growing Taliban insurgency, but also with starting a withdrawal of U.S. forces from July next year.

British troops in the Sangin area of Afghanistan's Helmand province are to be replaced by US forces we were told on July 7, 2010. The UK has suffered its heaviest losses in the area, with 99 deaths since 2001. About 1,000 Royal Marines are expected to leave and be redeployed to central Helmand by the end of 2010. The military insists the move is a redeployment, now there are more US troops on the ground, but the Taliban are certain to portray it as a defeat.

The tens of thousands of classified military documents posted on the Internet Sunday July 25, 2010, confirm what critics of the war in Afghanistan already knew or suspected: We are wading deeper into a long-running, morally ambiguous conflict that has virtually no chance of ending well. The Obama administration, our NATO allies and the Afghan government responded to the documents -made public by a gadfly organization known as Wikileaks- by saying they tell us nothing new. This is the problem, they knew.

Human rights groups have urged the whistle blowing website WikiLeaks to remove thousands of names from the leaked Afghanistan war logs over fears of "deadly ramifications" for the people identified. Five human rights organisations including Amnesty International and the Open Society Institute, have written to WikiLeaks to express their concerns about the biggest leak in US military history.

The founder of WikiLeaks said Thursday August 12, 2010, the whistle-blower website is preparing to release another roughly 15,000 documents about the war in Afghanistan. The Pentagon warned WikiLeaks against releasing more documents: it would compound a mistake that has already put far too many lives at risk.

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan is asking for 2,000 more soldiers to join the 140,000-strong international force here, we were told on Monday September 6, 2010. It was unclear how many would be Americans. Nearly half will be trainers for the rapidly expanding Afghan security forces and will include troops trained to neutralize roadside bombs that have been responsible for about 60 percent of the 2,000 allied deaths in the nearly 9-year war.

General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan warned on September 7, 2010, that a Florida pastor's plan to burn Korans at his church on September 11 could be increasing the danger to his troops. The so-called "Burn a Koran Day" ignited a protest for a second day in a row by hundreds of Afghans, who burned American flags and shouted "Death to America." The crowd in downtown Kabul reached nearly 500 on Monday, with Afghan protesters chanting, "Long live Islam," and, "Long live the Koran," and burning an effigy of Terry Jones, senior pastor from the Dove World Outreach Centre in Florida, who is planning the event.  While Jones has an approximately 50-member following in Gainesville, Florida, protesters in Afghanistan were well aware of the pastor's inflammatory comments, such as, "Islam is an evil religion," because they have spread wide on the Internet. Jones also has authored a book, "Islam Is of the Devil."

An obscure U.S. Christian pastor whose plan to burn copies of the Koran on September 11 has sparked an international outcry said on Wednesday he would go ahead with the event despite warnings it would endanger American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
On September 8, 2010, Pastor Terry Jones, leader of a tiny Protestant church in Gainesville, Florida, which campaigns against what it calls "radical Islam," is facing a barrage of calls from U.S. government, military and religious leaders, and from abroad, to cancel plans to publicly burn Islam's holy book. "We are not convinced that backing down is the right thing," Jones, a gray-haired, moustachioed preacher and author of a book titled "Islam is of the Devil". "A burning of the Koran is to call attention that something is wrong". "We need to stand up and confront terrorism," referring to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States by militant Islamist group al Qaeda. The planned Koran-burning on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks has attracted worldwide condemnation and touched off protests in Afghanistan and Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country. Top U.S. military commanders have warned the event could trigger violent retaliation against American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

President Obama urged a Florida pastor Thursday September 9, 2010, to call off a plan to burn copies of the Koran on Sept. 11, warning that such a "stunt" would amount to a "recruitment bonanza for al-Qaeda" and would endanger Americans. Obama added his voice to a chorus of criticism of the proposed Koran-burning. Amid continuing protests in countries such as Afghanistan, he urged Terry Jones, pastor of a small evangelical church in Gainesville, Florida to listen to his "better angels" and cancel his plan to burn copies of the Muslim holy book on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The top U.S. military intelligence officer in Afghanistan, who has led an aggressive and controversial push to change what kinds of intelligence the military collects, will be returning to Washington we were told on September 9, 2010. Army Major General Michael Flynn is expected to be promoted to lieutenant general and take a job with James Clapper, the new director of national intelligence, who had pushed hard for Flynn to work for him. Flynn arrived in Afghanistan in June 2009 with General Stanley A. McChrystal, who had been appointed the previous top commander in Afghanistan. The two officers had worked together on several previous occasions and had a close relationship.

As of Thursday, September 16, 2010, at least 1,178 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 957 military personnel have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan at least 94 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 12 were the result of hostile action. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 8,040 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

British forces in one of Afghanistan's deadliest regions have handed security control to United States troops.  It has been more than four years since British troops were deployed to Sangin and in that time 106 Britons have lost their lives. British forces handed control on Monday September 20, 2010, of the deadly Sangin district to U.S. troops, and about 1,000 Royal Marines are to be redeployed to Helmand province.

On October 21, 2010, General David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said allied forces are in the "final stages" of a large operation to clear insurgent fighters from key regions just west of Kandahar, the country's second-largest city and principal focus of the coalition's military campaign against the Taliban.

Britain's former special envoy to Afghanistan said on November 9, 2010, that the army was submitting "misleadingly optimistic" reports on the State of the war and that ministers who questioned them were accused of being "defeatist or disloyal". Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, who left the Foreign Office last month after serving twice as ambassador in Kabul, also gave an account of an army officer in Helmand province who told his superiors that the strategy was not working but was instructed to change his report to make it more positive.

A 25-year-old U.S. Army staff sergeant from Iowa on Tuesday November 16, 2010, became the first living recipient of the Medal of Honour from the war in Afghanistan.

President Obama awarded the nation's highest medal of valour to Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta. Three previous recipients from the war in Afghanistan, four from the Iraq war and two from the Somalia campaign in 1993 all died in action. Giunta was a specialist serving with the Airborne 503rd Infantry Regiment on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan when his unit was attacked on the night of October 25, 2007.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday December 7, 2010, that British troops may begin withdrawing from Afghanistan as early as next year. Mr. Cameron made the remarks during an unannounced visit to Afghanistan's Helmand province, where he met with Britain's top military official, General David Richards. Mr. Cameron added the goal is to withdraw all British forces by 2015.

The US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke has died in the United States. Holbrooke, who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Asia in the Carter administration, and Assistant Secretary of State for Europe in the Clinton administration, passed away Monday December 13, 2010, after having undergone surgery over the weekend to repair a tear in his aorta. Holbrooke was 69-years-old. He died at The George Washington University hospital in Washington.

The death on December 13, 2010, of Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, will have an unpredictable impact on US policy in the region and could open the door to a greater peace-brokering role for the United Nations, observers and diplomats said today. As plaudits flooded in from around the world for the diplomatic veteran of Vietnam, the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan, Barack Obama's administration was struggling to reshuffle its team on the eve of a long-awaited Afghan policy review. The loss of a strong-willed heavyweight could unblock an impasse that hobbled Washington's capacity to make decisions on Afghanistan, European diplomats said. It was harder to predict what course US policy would take once the dust had settled. Holbrooke was a fervent supporter of a political solution to the Afghan conflict.

An Army doctor who refused deployment to Afghanistan because he questioned whether President Obama was born in the United States pleaded guilty on December 15, 2010, for failing to obey orders but pleaded not guilty to the count of missing a flight he needed to be on. Lt. Col. Terry Lakin is among the so-called "birthers," who continue to question whether Obama was born in the United States and thereby eligible for the presidency. They argue that they have yet to see Obama's original, signed birth certificate, even though the president released a copy during his campaign. Lakin was set to deploy in April, for his second tour of duty, but he never showed up.

The United States will send more than 1,000 additional Marines to Afghanistan this month to try to solidify progress in the south before troop reductions begin in July, American military officials said Thursday January 6, 2011. The majority of the forces will be sent to Helmand Province, where 20,000 Marines are already present.

Wide majorities of Americans across the political spectrum favour accelerating the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan we were told on February 8, 2011. Seventy-two percent of respondents said they support Congress taking up the issue. While self-identified Democrats were the most in favour of a quicker exit (86 percent), 61 percent of Republicans and 72 percent of independents said the same thing.

The preacher who last month oversaw the burning of a copy of the Qur'an in his Florida church after a mock hearing said on April 2, 2011, that anyone blaming him for provoking the mob who killed UN workers was "only making a justification" for murder. Pastor Terry Jones insisted last night that his actions bore no responsibility for the murders in Mazar-e-Sharif.

The US military is investigating what appears to be the first case of American troops killed by a missile fired from a U.S. drone. The investigation is looking into the deaths of a Marine and a Navy medic killed by a Hellfire missile fired from a Predator after they apparently were mistaken for insurgents in southern Afghanistan last week, we were told on Tuesday April 12, 2011.

David Cameron has announced that 400 British troops will withdraw from Afghanistan this year in the first stage of his plan to remove all UK combat troops by the end of 2014. The move, given greater urgency by the killing of Osama bin Laden, had been initially resisted by defence chiefs. Cameron made the announcement to MPs on Tuesday May 17, 2011, in advance of President Obama's state visit to the UK next week. Cameron also pledged to bring in a legally binding target for spending on overseas aid, despite objections by the defence secretary, Liam Fox. He said legislation would be tabled in the current parliament to increase aid to 0.7% of gross national income by 2013, adding that it was in the UK's interest to honour the commitment made in the coalition agreement with the Liberal Democrats.

While support for the war in Afghanistan remains steady, a majority of American voters want U.S. troops to come home this summer as planned, if not sooner, now that Usama bin Laden is dead. That’s according to a Fox News poll released Wednesday May 18, 2011. By 62 percent to 32 percent, American voters support the U.S. military action in Afghanistan. It’s about the same as the 64 percent that supported the action in 2009. Sizable majorities of Republicans (70 percent) and Democrats (61 percent) support the war. And a slim 51-percent majority of independents supports it. Men (64 percent) and women (60 percent) are about equally likely to back the action in Afghanistan. Now that bin Laden is gone, 39 percent of voters say they would still stick with the president’s announced July 2011 withdrawal date. Another 25 percent would start removing troops right away. The remaining 33 percent would keep the troops in Afghanistan long as it takes to establish stability in the region.

As of Wednesday, June 1, 2011, at least 1,491 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S. invasion in late 2001. At least 1,232 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 99 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts two military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 11,541 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

As President Barack Obama plans his initial troop drawdown in Afghanistan, he and his military commanders are offering sharply different takes on how the death of Osama bin Laden will shape the war. The disparate views, in public comments over the last week, appear to reflect a high-stakes, behind-the-scenes debate over how fast and how far to withdraw troops from the South Asian country. President Obama, who is expected to announce his decision in coming weeks, on Monday June 6, 2011, suggested in his most emphatic statement to date that the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last month may have altered the calculus in neighbouring Afghanistan. President Obama vowed he would not order a precipitous drawdown, but said that "by killing bin Laden, by blunting the momentum of Taliban, we have now accomplished a lot of what we set out to accomplish 10 years ago."

As of Tuesday, June 14, 2011, at least 1,510 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 1,250 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan 98 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. There were also two military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 12,002 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the U.S. is holding peace talks with Taliban guerrillas who accept Afghanistan’s constitution, Afghanistan’s development, democracy and freedom. They have started this year, and they are going well we were told on Saturday June 18, 2011.  International forces, especially America, are carrying out these talks. The U.S. hasn’t confirmed the talks and Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has denied that they are taking place. The Taliban ruled Afghanistan, harbouring the al-Qaeda terrorist network, until they were ousted by a U.S.-led invasion following the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. President Barack Obama has said he will announce the first reduction of U.S. troops in Afghanistan next month.

As of Tuesday, June 28, 2011, at least 1,534 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 1,269 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 99 more members of the U.S. military have died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts two military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 12,306 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

British newspapers said on Sunday July 3, 2011, that Prime Minister David Cameron this week will announce the withdrawal of at least 500 troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2012. The move, expected to be announced Wednesday, follows last month's announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama that 10,000 American troops will be withdrawn this year as part of a process of handing security over to Afghan forces. Further withdrawals planned for 2012 are to reduce U.S. troop numbers in Afghanistan to about 68,000.

The U.S. will send home about 800 combat Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine regiment, later this year as part of the drawdown of the surge forces in Afghanistan, we were told on Wednesday July 6, 2011. There will be some other gradual draw downs during the summer, most the remainder of this year's draw down of 10,000 forces will occur in the fall. President Barack Obama announced last month that 10,000 troops will be sent home from Afghanistan this year and that the remainder of the surge of 33,000 troops will be home by the end of September 2012.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced Wednesday July 6, 2011, that Britain will withdraw 500 troops from Afghanistan by the end of next year.

On Friday July 15, 2011, we were told that several hundred American soldiers left Afghanistan this week, the first group of about 10,000 U.S. troops to be withdrawn from the country by the end of the year. Around 650 U.S. army troops serving in the northern Afghan province of Parwan left for the United States on Wednesday. U.S. President Barack Obama announced last month that 33,000 American forces would leave Afghanistan by September of 2012, ending a troop surge that he ordered in 2009. The remainder of the 100,000 U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan are expected to return home by the end of 2014, when Afghan forces are supposed to take full responsibility for their country's security.

On Saturday July 23, 2011, we were told by a bipartisan congressional commission that the United States has wasted some $34 billion on service contracts with the private sector in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a study being finalized for Congress. The analysis by the Commission on Wartime Contracting, details offers the most complete look so far at the misuse of U.S. contracting funds in Afghanistan and Iraq, where more than $200 billion has been doled out in the contracts and grants over nearly a decade. It also gives the most complete picture of the magnitude of the U.S. contracting workforce in the two countries. More than 200,000 contractors have been on the U.S. payroll at times in Iraq and Afghanistan -outstripping the number of U.S. troops currently on the ground in those countries.

As of Tuesday, August 2, 2011, at least 1,575 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 1,308 military service members have died as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 100 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts two military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 13,011 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

As of Tuesday, August 30, 2011, at least 1,640 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 1,367 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, at least 100 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts two military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 13,447 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

On Tuesday August 30, 2011, the United States government has wasted more than $30 billion on private contractors and grants in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last ten years, according to a bi-partisan commission entrusted with the responsibility of looking into the matter. Tens of billions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted through poor planning, vague and shifting requirements, inadequate competition, substandard contract management and oversight, lax accountability, weak inter-agency co-ordination, and subpar performance or outright misconduct by some contractors and federal employees.

August 2011 has been the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since the conflict began nearly 10 years ago. Sixty-six American troops have died this month, topping July 2010 when 65 troops died. Almost half of the August troop deaths took place on August 6, when insurgents shot down a U.S. helicopter in the eastern central province of Wardak. The Taliban claimed militants downed the helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade. Thirty U.S. service members -including 17 Navy SEALs- were killed in that attack, the single largest loss of life for U.S. troops since the Afghan war began in late 2001. In contrast, 36 U.S. service members were killed in all of July. Prior to the August attack, the most U.S. troops killed in a single month this year was 47 in June.

Suicide bombers are responsible for killing more than 12,000 Iraqi civilians and wounding more than 30,000 since the war began, according to study released by the British medical journal Lancet on September 4, 2011. The study found that 1,003 documented suicide bombings accounted for 12,284 of 108,624 Iraqi civilian deaths, 11% of those killed between March 20, 2003, and December 31, 2010. It also found such attacks accounted for 30,644 -or 26%- of the 117,165 documented cases of Iraqi civilians wounded within the same period.

As of Tuesday, October 18, 2011, at least 1,692 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. This count is six less than the Defence Department's tally. At least 1,417 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 102 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 12 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 14,534 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

The Obama administration has named a senior member of the Haqqani network a specially designated global terrorist, slapping sanctions on the commander as it continues to increase pressure on the Pakistan-based group. The commander, Mali Khan, was recently captured in Afghanistan during a combined Afghan and coalition operation. “Mali Khan has overseen hundreds of fighters, and has instructed his subordinates to conduct terrorist acts,” the State Department said. The new designation, announced Tuesday November 1, 2011, freezes any assets Khan has in U.S. jurisdictions and bars Americans from engaging in any transactions with him.

A senior U.S. military commander in Afghanistan was relieved of duty Friday November 4, 2011, for making disparaging comments about the country's president and its top leadership. The decision to remove Maj. Gen. Peter Fuller, deputy commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization mission to train Afghan forces, was made by the coalition commander, U.S. Gen. John Allen. Gen. Fuller told the news web site Politico in an interview published Thursday that Afghanistan's leaders were ungrateful for U.S. assistance and "isolated from reality." The U.S. has given some $20 billion in 2010 and 2011 to train and equip Afghanistan's security forces, on top of many billions more in development assistance. Gen. Fuller also described recent comments by President Hamid Karzai as "erratic" and said he hoped the Afghan leader would be succeeded by "a guy that's more articulate in public." Gen. Allen rejected Gen. Fuller's remarks as "inappropriate" and praised the Afghans as "an honourable people."  Still, Gen. Fuller's frank remarks are emblematic of the growing frustration felt by U.S. officials here as the Afghan war enters its eleventh year.

The American ambassador to Afghanistan on Saturday December 0, 1, raised the possibility that United States combat troops could stay in the country beyond the 2014 deadline that the White House had set for their withdrawal. The ambassador, Ryan C. Crocker, speaking at a roundtable event with a small group of journalists, said that if the Afghan government wanted American troops to stay longer, the withdrawal could be slowed.  He emphasized, however, that no such decision had been made.

NATO will carry out nighttimes kill-and-capture raids against suspected insurgents with increased participation from Afghan special forces, the alliance said Monday December 19, 2011, after repeated protests by President Hamid Karzai. The raids have become a flash point for anger over foreign meddling in Afghanistan and whether detention operations will be run by the Afghans or Americans. Karzai has demanded that foreign troops stop entering homes, saying Afghan citizens cannot feel secure if they think armed soldiers might burst into their houses in the middle of the night. Karzai's office said in a statement that during a National Security Council meeting late Sunday, the president emphasized the need to prevent civilian casualties, saying the casualties and the night raids on homes "have created serious problems."

A video showing four United States Marines urinating on three dead Taliban fighters provoked anger and condemnation on Thursday January 12, 2012 in Afghanistan and around the world, raising fears in Washington that the images could incite anti-American sentiment. The video showing such a desecration -a possible war crime- is likely to weaken the American position. The Taliban and Mr. Karzai each pointed to the images as evidence of American brutality, a message with broad appeal in Afghanistan.  The Pentagon confirmed that the video was authentic and that they had identified the Marines as members of the Third Battalion, Second Marines.  The video had been made between March and September 2011, when the Marine battalion was stationed in Helmand Province.

The four Marines seen in a video that purports to show them urinating on dead bodies have been identified and will face charges soon we were told on Friday  January 134, 2012. The Marines are from the 3rd battalion, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. A fifth individual, the camera operator, apparently has not been identified.

A bomb in northern Iraq killed at least eight people on Monday January 16, 2012. The blast struck a housing development for displaced Iraqis outside of the ethnically- and religiously-mixed city of Mosul.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) said Wednesday January 18, 2012, that the Marines shown in a video apparently urinating on dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan should be "disciplined accordingly" but not sent to court martial. Hunter added the Marines should not punished in an effort to placate the Afghanistan government. "Despite their actions, these Marines are sons of America," he wrote.  I hope the Afghans do the same to American victims to see what  such persons really think. However the Afghans seems to me more respectful of the dead.

The Marine Corps once again did damage control after a photograph surfaced of a sniper team in Afghanistan posing in front of a flag with a logo resembling that of the notorious Nazi. The Corps said in a statement that using the symbol was not acceptable, but the Marines in the photograph taken in September 2010 will not be disciplined because investigators determined it was a naive mistake. The Marines believed the SS symbol was meant to represent sniper scouts and never intended to be associated with a racist organization, said a spokeswoman for the Marines. Do you believe it?

An Islamic extremist who killed two U.S. airmen in an attack at Frankfurt airport last year was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison on February 10, 2012. Arid Uka, 22, was also convicted of attempted murder and serious bodily harm for wounding two other servicemen and taking aim at a third before his 9mm pistol jammed.

The American embassy in Kabul is on lockdown as protests rage in multiple Afghan cities over an incident the U.S. says was inadvertent burning of Muslim holy books at a military base. Afghan police on Thursday February 23, 2012, fired shots in the air to disperse hundreds of protesters who tried to break into an American military base in the country's east to vent their anger over this week's Koran burning incident. The fresh violence came one day after clashes between Afghan troops and protesters broke out in the capital and in three eastern provinces over the incident, leaving at least seven people dead and dozens wounded. The deaths occurred in the Afghan capital of Kabul, in the eastern city of Jalalabad, and in the provinces of Logar and Parwan. Four of the dead were killed during a protest in Parwan, security guards at a U.S. base outside Kabul killed one man, while one man each was killed during protests in Jalalabad and Logar.

Afghan rage over the burning of Qurans by NATO troops continued Thursday February 23, 2012, even after a President Barack Obama apologized for the "error."
Afghanistan erupted in violent demonstrations after the troops burned the Islamic religious material at the beginning of the week. Two American troops were killed Thursday by a man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform. The gunman is thought to have been acting in conjunction with a protest outside the base. In a letter delivered to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Obama called the act "inadvertent.".

Twelve people were killed on Friday February 24, 2012, in protests that have raged across Afghanistan over the desecration of copies of the Muslim holy book at a NATO military base with riot police and soldiers on high alert braced for more violence. Hundreds of Afghans marched toward the palace of Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, while on the other side of the capital protesters hoisted the white flag of the Taliban. Chanting "Death to America!" and "Long live Islam!," protesters also threw rocks at police in Kabul, while Afghan army helicopters circled above. Armed protesters took refuge in shops in the eastern part of the city, where they killed one demonstrator. In another Kabul rally a second protester was killed. Seven more protesters were killed in the western province of Herat, two more in eastern Khost province and one in the relatively peaceful northern Baghlan province. In Herat, around 500 men charged at the U.S. consulate. Muslims consider the Koran to be the literal word of God and treat each copy with deep reverence. Desecration is considered one of the worst forms of blasphemy.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets Saturday February 25, 2012, across Afghanistan, the fifth day of demonstrations over the burning of Qurans at a U.S. base. Four civilians were killed and 50 injured amid protests near the United Nations office in Kunduz. Twelve police officers were among the wounded. The protesters tried to burn down the U.N. building.

Military investigators have concluded on Friday February 2, 2012, that five U.S. service members were involved in the incineration of a pile of Korans last week. The burning of the Muslim holy books -which U.S. officials say was accidental- incited a week of protests that left 30 Afghans dead. The burnings also were cited as motivation for at least some of the six fatal attacks on U.S. military personnel that have occurred in the past eight days. Investigators appointed by Marine Gen. John R. Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, found that the service members removed the Korans from a prison at Bagram air base after they were discovered to contain extremist messages. The books were then placed in an office for safekeeping. But they were mistaken for garbage and taken to a landfill on the base. Afghan employees identified the books as Korans just as the pages caught fire, a major desecration according to Muslim teachings. U.S. military officials said that although the five service members will be reprimanded, it is unlikely that their names will be released or that their punishment will approach the severity of what some Afghans are demanding, including trial in an Islamic court.

The U.S. is on track to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan this year as part of a planned drawdown, President Obama said Tuesday March 13, 2012, as questions arose about speeding up a timeline for withdrawal that is already scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014.

On Wednesday March 14, 2012, half of Americans want President Obama to speed up the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken after a U.S. soldier allegedly went on a shooting rampage. More than one in four of those surveyed say events in recent months, including attacks on coalition forces in the wake of the burning of Qurans at a U.S. military base, have persuaded them that the time has come for the troops to come home.

President Barack Obama's top commander in Afghanistan will make recommendations about how quickly the United States should pull out of that long and costly war late this year, probably after November's elections. General John Allen, who commands U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said on Tuesday March 20, 2012,he would present recommendations for Obama on troop levels in 2013 and beyond during the last three months of this year, after assessing the military campaign following the departure of 33,000 U.S. troops due by October.

The top commander in Afghanistan said Thursday March 22, 2012, he prefers a robust U.S. combat force of 68,000 in 2013, signalling a potential halt in the drawdown and complicating any effort by President Barack Obama to accelerate the timetable after more than a decade of war. Pressed by the panel's top Republican, John McCain, on whether a force of 68,000 would be sufficient, Allen said, "Sixty-eight thousand is a good going-in number, but I owe the president some analysis on that." Obama faces increasing political and public pressure to accelerate the timetable after more than 10 years of fighting and recent incidents that dealt a major setback to the fragile U.S.-Afghanistan relationship. Afghan outrage over the burnings of Qurans and a shooting spree that left 17 Afghan civilians dead have been blamed on Americans.

The military charged Bales Friday March 23, 2012, with 17 counts of murder, six counts of attempted murder and six counts of assault in the March 11 pre-dawn massacre in two southern Afghanistan villages near his base. But while Afghans are calling for swift and severe punishment, it probably will be months, even years, before the public ever gets to see Bales in a courtroom. The Bales case probably will be equally complex, involving questions of his mental state and the role that the stresses of war and possible previous head injuries may have played in his alleged actions. Most of the eyewitnesses are the Afghan villagers and survivors who may be brought in for the trial. The father of two from Lake Tapps, Washington, was officially informed of the 29 charges just before noon at the U.S. military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he is confined. The maximum punishment for a premeditated murder conviction is death, dishonourable discharge from the armed forces, reduction to the lowest enlisted grade and total forfeiture of pay and allowances. The mandatory minimum sentence is life imprisonment with the chance of parole.

U.S. officials now say on Sunday March 24, 2012, that the soldier accused of killing 17 Afghan civilians split the bloodshed in two separate massacres. Accordingly Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 38, returned to his base after the first episode and then slipped away for more killings. The scenario would support the U.S. assertion that Bales acted alone in March 11 because the killings would have happened over a longer period of time. But some Afghans dispute the American version of events.

The U.S. paid $50,000 in compensation for each villager killed and $11,000 for each person wounded in a shooting rampage allegedly carried out by a rogue American soldier in southern Afghanistan we were told on Sunday March 25, 2012. The families were told that the money came from President Barack Obama. The unusually large payouts were the latest move by the White House to mend relations with the Afghan people after the killings threatened to shatter already tense relations.

After a series of violent episodes and setbacks, support for the war in Afghanistan has dropped sharply among both Republicans and Democrats, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll published Tuesday March 27, 2012. The survey found that more than two-thirds of those polled  -69 percent- thought that the United States should not be at war in Afghanistan. Just four months ago, 53 percent said that Americans should no longer be fighting in the conflict, more than a decade old.  The poll found that 68 percent thought the fighting was going “somewhat badly” or “very badly,” compared with 42 percent who had those impressions in November. The latest poll was conducted by telephone from March 21 to 25 with 986 adults nationwide. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

On Wednesday March 28, 2012, we were told that U.S. troops in Afghanistan now have far-reaching new protections against rogue killers among their Afghan allies, including assigned "guardian angels" -fellow troops who will watch over them as they sleep. Marine Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, ordered the added protections in recent weeks to guard against insider threats. They come in the wake of 16 attacks on U.S. and coalition forces by Afghans that now represent nearly one-fifth of all combat deaths this year.
On Thursday March 29, 2012, U.S. Wants To Avoid Ban on Afghan Night Missions. U.S. troops have conducted thousands of night time raids in Afghanistan, but the Afghan government is trying to put an end to the practice, which would severely hamper the military's strategy. Thousands of times last year, long after night fell over Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan troops stormed houses in hot pursuit of the Taliban and al Qaeda. Of the 2,200 night missions in 2011, 83 percent resulted in the capture of an enemy lieutenant or senior leader. During those raids, rarely was a single shot ever fired.

As Ron Paul falls farther and farther behind in the Republican race for the presidential nomination, there’s one area in which most of the American public increasingly is in full agreement with the congressman from Texas: the war in Afghanistan. Rep. Paul may have failed to win any GOP primary elections or caucuses, and he may be way behind in accumulating delegates to the party convention in August, but that hasn’t stopped the idealistic libertarian from speaking critically of his own party. "The truth is, I'm trying to save the Republican Party from themselves because they want perpetual wars; they don't care about presidents who assassinate American citizens; they don't care about searching our houses without search warrants," Paul said on CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday April 1, 2012. In fact, many Americans also find troubling current government policy regarding warrantless searches and killing American citizens who have aligned themselves with terrorists bent on attacking the US. But it is the war that’s gone on for more than 10 years in Afghanistan -a war that is not going particularly well and that has seen a series of incidents where supposed Afghan allies have killed US service personnel- where the public’s agreement with Paul seems most evident.

On Monday April 30, 2012, we were told that the U.S.-led military coalition in Afghanistan is under-reporting the number of times that Afghan soldiers and police open fire on American and other foreign troops. The coalition routinely reports deliberate attacks in which a coalition soldier is killed by an Afghan in uniform. But it does not report the instances in which an Afghan wounds U.S. or NATO troops or misses his target. Officials acknowledge the attacks are a worrisome problem for the U.S. and its military partners as they work increasingly closely with Afghan troops in preparation for handing off security responsibility by the end of 2014. Last week, two U.S. soldiers were wounded when Afghan policemen opened fire on them. The Afghans were quickly killed, and the incident was not reported by the international coalition.

Support for the war in Afghanistan has reached a new low, with only 27 percent of Americans saying they back the effort and about half of those who oppose the war saying the continued presence of American troops in Afghanistan is doing more harm than good. In results released Wednesday May 9, 2012, 66 percent opposed the war, with 40 percent saying they were "strongly" opposed. A year ago, 37 percent favoured the war, and in the spring of 2010, support was at 46 percent. Eight percent strongly supported the war in the new poll. The poll found that far fewer people than last year think the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. troops increased the threat of terrorism against Americans. Overall, 27 percent say the al Qaeda leader's death resulted in an increased terror threat, 31 percent believe his death decreased the threat of terrorism and 38 percent say it has had no effect.

The parents of the only American soldier held captive by Afghan insurgents have broken a yearlong silence on May 9, 2012, about the status of their son, abruptly making public that he is a focus of secret negotiations between the Obama administration and the Taliban over a proposed prisoner exchange.  The negotiations, currently stalled, involved a trade of five Taliban prisoners held at the American military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl of the Army, who is believed to be held by the militant Haqqani network in the tribal area of Pakistan’s northwest frontier, on the Afghan border. Sergeant Bergdahl was captured in Paktika Province in Afghanistan on June 30, 2009. His family has not heard from him in a year, since they saw him in a Taliban video, although they and the Pentagon believe that he is alive and well.

Mapping the way out of an unpopular war, the United States and NATO are trying to build an Afghan army that can defend the country after 130,000 international troops pull out in 2014. The problem with the exit strategy is that someone has to pay for that army in an era of austerity budgets and defence cutbacks. The problem for the United States is how to avoid getting stuck with the check for $4.1 billion a year. About 60 countries and organizations are expected to be represented, including nations such as Japan. More than 20 nations have already agreed to help fund the Afghan army and more are expected to announce their commitments at the Chicago summit. That force is now projected to be smaller than NATO had planned only a year ago. The decision to trim the goal for an Afghan force from about 350,000 to roughly 230,000 was driven more by economic reality than a shift in thinking about Afghanistan's security needs after 2014.

As of Tuesday, May 29, 2012, at least 1,857 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan. At least 1,545 military service members have died as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan at least 113 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 12 were the result of hostile action. 16,024 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

On Sunday July 1, 2012, we were told that the United States is spending $92 million to build Afghanistan a new “Pentagon,” a massive five-story military headquarters with domed roofs and a high-tech basement command centre that will link Afghan generals with their troops fighting the Taliban across the country. The military headquarters building is one of the most prominent public symbols of America’s ongoing financial commitment to Afghanistan. Even at this late stage of the war, with American troops beginning their withdrawal, the U.S. government is still working its way through a $10 billion menu of construction projects aimed at bolstering the Afghan security forces. Of the 1,150 buildings planned, more than 600 —or more than half— have been completed, with a total value of $4 billion. In addition to the Defence Ministry headquarters, the United States is building a $54 million Kabul headquarters for the Interior Ministry, which oversees the Afghan police, as well as a $102 million base for the military’s 201st Corps in eastern Afghanistan.

The U.S. designation Saturday July 7, 2012, of Afghanistan as its newest "major non-NATO ally" amounts to a political statement of support for the country's long-term stability and solidifies close defence cooperation after American combat troops withdraw in 2014. The declaration allows for streamlined defence cooperation, including expedited purchasing ability of American equipment and easier export control regulations. Afghanistan's military, heavily dependent on American and foreign assistance, already enjoys many of these benefits. The non-NATO ally status guarantees it will continue to do so. Afghanistan is the 15th such country to receive the designation. Others include Australia, Egypt, Israel and Japan. Afghanistan's neighbour Pakistan was the last nation to gain the status, in 2004.

Insurgent attacks in Afghanistan during the past three months were up 11 percent, compared to the same period last year. The figures, which NATO released on Thursday July 26, 2012, also show that the number of attacks in June was the highest for any month since fighting surged in the summer of 2010. The number of "enemy-initiated attacks" –such as roadside bombings and gunfire attacks from insurgents– rose in all three months of the second quarter, compared with the same months in 2011. This follows 11 consecutive months where attacks were below the number reported in the same month the year before. 206 Afghan soldiers were killed from March 20 until June 20.

The American-led coalition on Sunday July 29, 2012, bluntly rebutted an assertion made last week by a senior Pakistani official that American forces had on 52 occasions done little over all to stop Pakistan Taliban militants from using Afghan territory as a springboard for attacks on Pakistani forces in the mountains along the poorly marked frontier.

As of Tuesday, August 14, 2012, at least 1,953 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. The AP count is two less than the Defence Department's tally. At least 1,627 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan at least 116 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 12 were the result of hostile action. The AP count of total OEF casualties outside of Afghanistan is one more than the department's tally. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths.

The U.S. military said on Monday August 27, 2012, it was disciplining U.S. troops over two incidents that provoked outrage in Afghanistan early this year, one involving a video depicting Marines urinating on corpses and another over burned copies of the Koran. The administrative punishments -which could include things like reduce rank or forfeiture of pay- fell short of criminal prosecution, and it was unclear whether they would satisfy Afghan demands for justice. A detailed U.S. military investigation showed that up to 100 Korans and other religious texts from a detention centre library -a previously undisclosed figure- were burned on February 20. The investigation found that warnings from Afghans, including an Afghan soldier, had been ignored and attributed the incident in part to distrust between Americans and Afghans.

The U.S. military has halted the training of some Afghan forces while it digs deeper into their background following a surge of attacks by soldiers and police on their international partners, we were told on Sunday September 2, 2012. The move only puts about 1,000 Afghan trainees into limbo, a small fraction of the country's security forces. Officials say that the international coalition ultimately hopes to recheck the backgrounds of the entire 350,000-strong Afghan army and police.

The last of the 33,000 surge troops deployed to Afghanistan two years ago have now left, leaving 68,000 U.S. forces in the war zone we were told on October 3, 2012.

The killing of an American serviceman in an exchange of fire with allied Afghan soldiers pushed U.S. military deaths in the war to 2,000 on Sunday September 30, 2012.

Gen. John Allen has returned to Kabul on Wednesday November 21, 2012, to resume his duties as the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, more than a week after the Pentagon announced it was investigating potentially "inappropriate" correspondence between the four-star general and a woman linked to the David Petraeus sex scandal.

The White House is considering a plan to leave around 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014. Gen. John Allen, the commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, has proposed to keep between 6,000 and 15,000 U.S. troops in the country following the end of combat operations in 2014. Gen. Allen is expected to submit his plan to draw down the 66,000 American troops who are currently stationed in the country as one of his last acts as top commander in Afghanistan.  According to the new plan, Americans who remain in Afghanistan after 2014 would conduct training and counterterrorism programs with Afghan soldiers. Any presence by Americans in Afghanistan past 2014 would require the approval of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, though Karzai likely wants U.S. troops to fall under the jurisdiction of Afghan court. Similar demands led to the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

Four servicewomen who have done tours in Iraq and Afghanistan filed a suit against the Defence Department Tuesday November 27, 2012, challenging the military's longstanding policy against women in ground combat. Some of the plaintiffs led female troops who went on missions with combat infantrymen, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the women.

Reflecting a war-weary nation, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday November 29, 2012, for an accelerated withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan after more than a decade of fighting. The strong bipartisan vote of 62-33 sends a clear message to President Barack Obama and the military as they engage in high-stakes talks about the pace of drawing down the 66,000 U.S. troops there, with a White House announcement expected within weeks. Although the vote was on a nonbinding amendment to a defence policy bill, its significance could not be discounted amid the current discussions. Thirteen Republicans, including Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, the top GOP lawmaker on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, backed the measure.
 
U.S. Defence officials said on Thursday November 29, 2012, they have not decided how many troops to maintain in Afghanistan after a general pullout in 2014, but U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta says the remaining presence should be substantial. Panetta says the remaining terrorist threats from al-Qaida and others, as well as the need for continued training of Afghan forces, means the U.S. will have to keep a number of troops in Afghanistan after 2014.
 
As of Tuesday, December 4, 2012, at least 2,031 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan. At least 1,694 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, at least 118 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. 18,071 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

The Obama administration has ordered significant cutbacks in initial plans for a robust U.S. civilian presence in Afghanistan after U.S. combat troops withdraw two years from now, according to U.S. officials.

Learning from Iraq, where post-war ambitions proved unsustainable, the White House and top State Department officials on Thursday December 6, 2012, are confronting whether the United States needs —and can protect— a large diplomatic compound in Kabul, four consulates around the country and other civilian outposts to oversee aid projects and monitor Afghanistan’s political pulse. Planners were recently told to reduce personnel proposals by at least 20 percent. Projects once considered crucial are being divided into lists of those considered sustainable and those that will not be continued.

On Thursday December 6, 2012, President Barack Obama has tapped the general who oversaw the final troop withdrawal in Iraq to direct the end of the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan. General Lloyd Austin III, currently vice chief of staff of the Army, would become the next top U.S. commander for the Middle East if the Senate confirms his nomination. Austin would be the first African-American general to lead U.S. Central Command. An experienced combat leader, Austin headed the 3rd Infantry Division that marched into Baghdad in March 2003. He returned to Iraq in February 2008 for a year, and then deployed there again in late 2010 as the top commander, directing the final troop withdrawal and the end of the war.

The U.S. military has detained more than 200 Afghan teenagers who were captured in the war for about a year at a time at a military prison next to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. The U.S. State Department characterized the detainees held since 2008 as “enemy combatants”. The U.S. military had held them “to prevent a combatant from returning to the battlefield”. As of Saturday December 8, 2012 a few are still confined at the Detention Facility in Parwan, which will be turned over to the Afghan government. “Many of them have been released or transferred to the Afghan government”. Most of the juvenile Afghan detainees were about 16 years old, but their age was not usually determined until after capture. If the average age is 16, “This means it is highly likely that some children were as young as 14 or 13 years old when they were detained by U.S. forces”.

U.S. military officials are investigating the apparent suicide of a Navy SEAL commander. Navy SEAL Cdr. Job W. Price, 42, of Pottstown, Pa., died Saturday December 23, 2012, of a non-combat-related injury while supporting stability operations in Uruzgan Province. The death "appears to be the result of suicide."

As of Wednesday, January 2, 2013, at least 2,043 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan. At least 1,703 military service members have died as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan at least 119 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. Three military civilian also died. 18,167 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

The Obama administration does not rule out a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan after 2014, the White House said on Tuesday January 8, 2013, just days before President Barack Obama is due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The comments by U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes were the clearest signal yet that, despite initial recommendations by the top military commander in Afghanistan to keep as many as 15,000 troops in the country, Obama could opt to remove everyone, as happened in Iraq in 2011.

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 January 11, 2013. "This war will come to a responsible end,” Obama said. Troops will have a new mission which will include the training, advising, and assisting of Afghan forces and will set the stage for a further reduction of coalition forces.

As of Wednesday, January 16, 2013, at least 2,043 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan. At least 1,704 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 118 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 18,201 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

General Joseph F. Dunford Jr. took over Sunday February 10, 2013, as the newest and probably last U.S. commander in Afghanistan, charged with ending America's longest war even as insurgents continue to challenge the U.S.-backed Afghan government. Dunford, a four-star Marine officer, arrives as the U.S.-led NATO coalition has closed three-quarters of its 800 bases and as it watches to see whether the Afghan security forces it trained can keep the Taliban insurgency at bay. A ceremony inside the coalition's heavily guarded compound in Kabul marked the end of the 19-month tenure of Gen. John R. Allen, whose command was marred by a rash of deadly "insider" attacks by Afghan forces against their U.S. and NATO trainers and by strained relations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

President Obama's decision to reduce troop levels in Afghanistan by 34,000 by this time next year leaves the coalition enough muscle to support Afghan security forces as they battle through another fighting season this summer while staying on track to wrap up the combat mission in two years. Obama announced his plan Tuesday February 12, 2013 night during his State of the Union speech before a joint session of Congress.

Officially, the West plans to continue helping Afghanistan beyond the conclusion of the NATO mission at the end of 2014. But, we were told on Thursday February 21, 2013, the US is planning a massive withdrawal, leaving behind a skeletal force of only 10,000 troops. Washington's allies will have to fill the gaps that result. Only half of the units stationed in Afghanistan beyond 2014 will be made available for training Afghan troops.

As of Tuesday February 26, 2013, at least 2,047 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan.  The AP count is one less than the Defence Department's tally. At least 1,707 military service members have died as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan at least 118 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The AP count of total casualties outside of Afghanistan is five more than the department's tally. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations, 18,285 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defence Department.

With debate intensifying in the United States over the use of drone aircraft, the U.S. military said on Sunday March 10, 2013, that it had removed data about air strikes carried out by unmanned planes in Afghanistan from its monthly air power summaries. The debate over the use of drones in Afghanistan and elsewhere was triggered in part by U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to nominate his chief counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan, an architect of the drone campaign, as the new director of the CIA.

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Joseph Dunford, is warned his troops on Thursday March 14, 2013, to be ready for increased violence because of a series of anti-American statements by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Karzai has accused the U.S. of colluding on suicide attacks with the Taliban to keep the country unstable and give foreign forces an excuse to stay beyond their 2014 mandate.

The continued presence of American Special Operations troops in Wardak Province, against the wishes of the Afghan government, brought demonstrators to the capital on Saturday March 16, 2013, and provoked a strongly worded denunciation from Muslim clerics. President Hamid Karzai had given the Americans until March 10 to remove all Special Operations troops from the province, after complaints about night raids in which victims disappeared. American forces are still there, and General Joseph F. Dunford Jr., said that “he has not issued a directive to the force.” The influential Ulema Council, whose members are appointed by President Karzai and represent all of the country’s Islamic clerics, issued a threatening statement demanding the withdrawal from Wardak as well as a transfer of the American-controlled prison at Bagram to Afghan control. Also on Saturday, 300 demonstrators from Wardak Province staged a noisy but peaceful demonstration calling for Mr. Karzai’s order to be obeyed.

As of Tuesday, March 26, 2013, at least 2,061 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 1,712 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan at least 119 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. Three military civilian were also killed.

The U.S. death toll rose sharply last month with an uptick in fighting due to warmer weather. Just one U.S. service member was killed in February -a five-year monthly low- but the American death toll climbed to at least 14 last month. Overall, the number of Americans and other foreign forces killed in Afghanistan has fallen as their role shifts more toward training and advising government troops instead of fighting.

As of Tuesday, April 23, 2013, at least 2,071 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to an Associated Press count. At least 1,717 military service members have died as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 119 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 18,418 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

As of Tuesday, May 21, 2013, at least 2,091 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan. At least 1,732 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan at least 124 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 18,535 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

Representatives from the United States and the Taliban will engage in Afghanistan peace talks Thursday June20, 2013 in an office that has opened in Qatar. Detainee exchanges will likely be among the topics discussed in the Doha office, which opened Tuesday after months of delays. Afghan President Hamid Karzai's High Peace Council is expected to follow up with its own talks a few days later. The first meeting will focus on an exchange of agendas and consultations on next steps.

Facing a tight withdrawal deadline and tough terrain, the U.S. military has destroyed more than 170 million pounds of vehicles and other military equipment as it rushes to wind down its role in the Afghanistan war by the end of 2014. Military planners have determined that they will not ship back more than $7 billion worth of equipment —about 20 % of what the U.S. military has in Afghanistan— because it is no longer needed or would be too costly to send home. Bequeathing a large share to the Afghan government would be challenging because of complicated rules governing equipment donations to other countries, and there is concern that Afghanistan's fledgling forces would be unable to maintain it. Some gear may be sold or donated to allied nations, but few are likely to be able to retrieve it from the war zone. Therefore, much of it will continue to be shredded, cut and crushed to be sold for pennies per pound on the Afghan scrap market.

As of Tuesday, June 25, 2013, at least 2,109 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan. The AP count is two less than the Defence Department's tally. At least 1,749 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 124 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. 18,795 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

On Tuesday July 9, 2013, we were told that increasingly frustrated by his dealings with President Hamid Karzai, President Obama is giving serious consideration to speeding up the withdrawal of United States forces from Afghanistan and to a “zero option” that would leave no American troops there after next year. Mr Obama is committed to ending America’s military involvement in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, and Obama administration officials have been negotiating with Afghan officials about leaving a small “residual force” behind. But his relationship with Mr Karzai has been slowly unravelling, and reached a new low after an effort last month by the United States to begin peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar. Mr Karzai promptly repudiated the talks and ended negotiations with the United States over the long-term security deal that is needed to keep American forces in Afghanistan after 2014. A videoconference between Mr Obama and Mr Karzai designed to defuse the tensions ended badly. Mr Karzai accused the United States of trying to negotiate a separate peace with both the Taliban and their backers in Pakistan, leaving Afghanistan’s fragile government exposed to its enemies. The option of leaving no troops in Afghanistan after 2014 was gaining momentum before the June 27 video conference. But since then, the idea of a complete military exit similar to the American military pull-out from Iraq has gone from being considered the worst-case scenario to an alternative under serious consideration in Washington and Kabul. The officials cautioned that no decisions had been made on the pace of the pull-out and exactly how many American troops to leave behind in Afghanistan. The goal remains negotiating a long-term security deal.

As of Tuesday, July 23, 2013, at least 2,114 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan. At least 1,752 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan at least 127 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. There were also three military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations 19,005 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

On Wednesday July 24, 2013, we were told that the CIA has begun closing clandestine bases in Afghanistan, marking the start of a drawdown from a region that transformed the agency from an intelligence service struggling to emerge from the Cold War to a counter­terrorism force with its own prisons, paramilitary teams and armed Predator drones. The pullback represents a turning point for the CIA as it shifts resources to other trouble spots. The closures were described by U.S officials as preliminary steps in a plan to reduce the number of CIA installations in Afghanistan from a dozen to as few as six over the next two years.

As of Tuesday, August 13, 2013, at least 2,126 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan. At least 1,759 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 127 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. 19,103 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

As of Tuesday, August 27, 2013, at least 2,129 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan. At least 1,766 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, 128 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. 19,181 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

The commandant of the Marine Corps on Monday October 1, 2013, took the extraordinary step of firing two generals for not adequately protecting a giant base in southern Afghanistan that Taliban fighters stormed last year, resulting in the deaths of two Marines and the destruction of half a dozen U.S. fighter jets. It is the first time since the Vietnam War that a general, let alone two, has been sacked for negligence after a successful enemy attack. But the assault also was unprecedented:

• Fifteen insurgents entered a NATO airfield and destroyed almost an entire squadron of Marine AV-8B Harrier jets, the largest single loss of allied materiel in the almost 12-year Afghan war.
• The commandant, Gen. James F. Amos, said the two generals did not deploy enough troops to guard the base and take other measures to prepare for a ground attack by the Taliban. The two, Maj. Gen. Charles M. Gurganus, the top Marine commander in southern Afghanistan at the time, and Maj. Gen. Gregg A. Sturdevant, the senior Marine aviation officer in the area, “failed to exercise the level of judgment expected of commanders of their rank,” Amos said.

As of Tuesday, November 5, 2013, at least 2,151 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 1,782 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 131 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 19,447 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action. ---

As of Tuesday, December 31, 2013, at least 2,162 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 1,788 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 134 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 19,541 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday January 28, 2014, is still begging Afghanistan to let a small force of troops from America and its allies to remain in Afghanistan after 2014 if it signed the bilateral security agreement as negotiated. That force will have “two narrow missions: training and assisting Afghan forces, and counterterrorism operations to pursue any remnants of al Qaeda,” he said in his fifth State of the Union address.

Still more crying from the USA. The United States and its allies cannot continue to put off decisions about a post-2014 mission in Afghanistan, U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said, urging Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sign a pact allowing U.S. troops to stay beyond this year. Karzai has demanded an end to U.S. military operations on Afghan homes and a step forward in hoped-for peace talks with the Taliban before he will sign the deal. The U.S. military has advocated keeping a modest-sized force of around 10,000 soldiers in Afghanistan to anchor a post-2014 mission that would focus on training and supporting Afghan forces and conducting counter-terrorism activities. Administration officials say no decisions have yet been made. It is unclear whether the Obama administration would be willing to wait until after Afghanistan elects a new leader in April to finalize the deal, or whether it will call off plans for a post-2014 presence before then.

As of Wednesday January 29, 2014, at least 2,169 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 1,792 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan at least 133 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 19,638 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action. ---

As of Tuesday, May 6, 2014, at least 2,179 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 1,805 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 133 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. 19,722 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

British troops have pulled out of their last outpost in Helmand on Saturday May 10, 2014. The only British troops in Helmand are now in their main base at Camp Bastion, which they will leave later this year. At the peak of the operation there were 137 bases. All but five of the 453 British service personnel who have died in Afghanistan were killed since the Helmand operation began in January 2006.

On a surprise visit to Afghanistan, President Barack Obama pledged Sunday May 25, 2014, to bring America’s longest war to a 'responsible end' by the close of the year. He promised a decision soon on keeping a small contingent of troops to help protect gains made over nearly 13 years of combat. He told troops at this sprawling military base that the war had reached a pivotal point, with Afghan forces assuming primary responsibility for their country’s security.

The only American soldier held prisoner in Afghanistan has been freed by the Taliban in exchange for the release of five Afghan detainees from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, we were told on Saturday May 31, 2014. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was handed over to U.S. special operations forces by the Taliban in an area of eastern Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border. In a statement, the Taliban said Bergdahl was handed over on the outskirts of Khost province. The 28-year-old Bergdahl was in good condition and able to walk. ---

U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who spent five years as a Taliban prisoner of war before being released last month, has been discharged from a military hospital in Texas and will continue treatment as an outpatient we were told Sunday June 22, 2014. Bergdahl was transferred from Brooke Army Medical Centre in San Antonio, Texas, to the nearby Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston. Bergdahl's next phase of recovery, during which he'll continue to get medical care and undergo psychological treatment tailored for soldiers who have spent time in captivity, could last anywhere from a few days to a month.

As of Tuesday, June 24, 2014, at least 2,193 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan. At least 1,815 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan at least 133 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. Since the start 19,803 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

As of Tuesday, July 8, 2014, at least 2,194 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 1,817 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 133 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 19,873 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action. ---

As of Tuesday, July 29, 2014, at least 2,197 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 1,819 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan at least 135 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. 19,889 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

A suicide attacker killed a cousin of outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai near the southern city of Kandahar on Tuesday July 29, 2014. Hashmat Karzai was a campaign manager in Kandahar for Ashraf Ghani, one of the two presidential candidates involved in a bitter dispute over fraud that threatens to pitch the country into worsening instability. Hashmat Karzai was killed by a man with explosives hidden inside his turban when visitors arrived to celebrate Eid, the holiday marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

On Monday August 11, 2014, Amnesty slammed US' 'poor record' of probing civilian killings in Afghanistan. Amnesty International has accused the US military of a lack of accountability for Afghan civilian deaths. A newly released report finds that thousands of civilians have been left without justice.

As of Wednesday, August 20, 2014, at least 2,200 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan. At least 1,821 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, at least 134 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 19,952 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

New York Times correspondent Matthew Rosenberg left Kabul on Thursday August 21, 2014, after the Afghan government ordered him out in response to his recent reporting about the threat of a coup. Rosenberg was told on Wednesday that he had 24 hours to leave Afghanistan. The order came after the Times correspondent refused to name the sources for the article published Tuesday, which said that senior officials in Kabul were talking about establishing a committee-run "interim government" to resolve an impasse over the outcome of June's presidential runoff. This first expulsion of a journalist in post-Taliban Afghanistan is a regrettable step backward for press freedom," the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, James B. Cunningham, said Thursday.

The United States has moved 11 new prisoners out of a military prison near the Afghan capital we were told on Wednesday August 27, 2014, as the Obama administration seeks to shut down a controversial detainee program in Afghanistan ahead of its troop withdrawal. Nine prisoners were repatriated to Pakistan last week from the Parwan detention centre, located on a military base near Kabul. Another two prisoners were sent to Yemen this week. The prisoners were handed to the governments of their home countries. The Obama administration has been quietly moving prisoners out of the secretive prison as the United States and its NATO allies wind down their long military mission in Afghanistan.

As of Tuesday, September 2, 2014, at least 2,202 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 1,822 military service members have died as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 134 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts three military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 19,959 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action. ---

As of Tuesday, October 28, 2014, at least 2,207 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 1,827 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 135 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts four military civilian deaths. 20,037 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

Barack Obama has quietly approved guidelines in recent weeks to allow the Pentagon to target Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, broadening previous plans that had limited the military to counterterrorism missions against al-Qaida after this year. The president’s decisions also allow the military to conduct air support for Afghan operations when needed we were told Friday November 21, 2014. The Taliban’s presence in Afghanistan far exceeds that of al-Qaida, adding significance to Obama’s authorisation. The president’s move came in response to requests from military commanders who wanted troops to be allowed to continue to battle the Taliban.

The United States is preparing to increase the number of troops it keeps in Afghanistan in 2015 to fill a gap left in the NATO mission by other contributing nations. The final numbers are still being agreed, but there will be at least several hundred more than initially planned. Under the U.S. commitment, described as a "bridging solution" until other nations fulfil their pledges later in the year or the troops are no longer needed, Washington may provide up to 1,000 extra soldiers. The additional U.S. troops will be assigned to a 12,000-strong NATO force staying in Afghanistan to train, advice and assist Afghan forces through a new mission called Resolute Support.

The United States will keep up to 1,000 more soldiers than previously planned in Afghanistan into next year we were told on Saturday December 6, 2014, in a recognition of the still formidable challenge from Taliban insurgents. The additional forces were needed because delays in signing security pacts had impacted plans to raise troops from other countries. A particularly violent surge of Taliban attacks in Kabul in the last two weeks was a reminder of the continued need for a foreign presence. ---

As of Tuesday, December 23, 2014, at least 2,213 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan as a result of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. At least 1,833 military service members have died in Afghanistan as a result of hostile action. Outside of Afghanistan, the department reports at least 136 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, 11 were the result of hostile action. The Defence Department also counts four military civilian deaths. Since the start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, 20,065 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action.

On Wednesday February 18, 2015, two American soldiers in Afghanistan have been convicted on federal charges of bribery and fraud in connection with a scheme to sell fuel on the black market in the eastern part of the country. Sgt. James Edward Norris and Sgt. Seneca Darnell Hampton pleaded guilty last week to charges of money laundering and conspiring to bribe a public official. While stationed at Forward Operating Base Gardez in eastern Afghanistan, both soldiers allowed Afghan civilians to steal fuel from the base’s reserves on a routine basis. Norris and Hampton were given $2,000 a day in exchange for allowing Afghan truckers access to the base’s fuel depots. As part of their plea agreements, Norris and Hampton will be required forfeit proceeds from the bribery scheme, forfeit the vehicles, and pay restitution.

More than 2,300 soldiers from three major Army units will deploy to Afghanistan this spring and summer we were told on Friday January 27, 2015. The deployments are part of the regular rotation of forces to Afghanistan, where the mission in January transitioned to a train-and-advise mission called Resolute Support.

The Obama administration is abandoning plans to cut the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to 5,500 by year's end, bowing to military leaders who want to keep more troops. While no final decision on numbers has been made the administration is poised to slow withdrawal plans and probably will allow many of the 9,800 American troops to remain well into next year. Currently, about 2,000 U.S. troops are conducting counterterrorism missions, and military leaders have argued that they will need to continue pursuing the remnants of al-Qaida and to monitor Islamic State militants looking to recruit in Afghanistan. It's not clear yet whether the White House will agree to a small, symbolic decrease by the end of this year or insist on a larger cut. ---

On Wednesday March 18, 2015, we were told that the U.S. military bases in Kandahar and Jalalabad are likely to remain open beyond the end of 2015, as Washington considers slowing its military pull-out from Afghanistan to help the new government fight the Taliban. The anticipated policy reversal reflects the U.S. embrace of Afghanistan's new and more cooperative president, Ashraf Ghani, and a desire to avoid the kind of collapse of local security forces that occurred in Iraq after the U.S. pull-out there. Obama is expected to decide in the next few days whether to slow the pace of the U.S. troop withdrawal, possibly by next week when Ghani and Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah travel to Washington.  

The Obama administration is nearing a decision to keep more troops in Afghanistan next year than it had intended, effectively upending its drawdown plans in response to roiling violence in the country and another false start in the effort to open peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government. As recently as last month, American officials had hoped that a renewed push to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table would yield the beginnings of a peace process and allow the United States to stick with its plan to drop the number of troops in Afghanistan from just under 10,000 to about 5,600 by the end of the year. But those hopes have been dashed by signs that the Taliban remain deeply divided over whether to engage in talks and that the remaining Qaeda presence in the region is proving more resilient than officials had anticipated.

A young British woman held by security officials in Turkey while allegedly trying to join Islamic State militants in Syria was expected to be flown back to Britain on Friday March 20, 2015. Muslim convert Jamila Henry, 21, was travelling on her twin sister’s passport when she was stopped by officers in Ankara. Ms Henry handed over Jalila’s documents to officers when she was arrested, apparently heading for the Syrian border.

President Obama said Tuesday March 24, 2015, that he will delay a planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and maintain a force of 9,800 in the war-torn nation through the end of this year. Reductions in 2016 will be made based on conditions on the ground. While the United States had planned to cut its Afghanistan force nearly in half this year, Obama said he agreed to Ghani's request for a slowdown so that Afghanistan can continue building up its own force.

Charges that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl deserted and endangered his post in Afghanistan intensify the debate (March 2015) over his release: Should he spend years in prison as punishment for endangering soldiers who risked their lives to find him? Or was five years as a Taliban captive, where he was so isolated officials suggested it had affected his ability to speak English upon his return to the U.S., punishment enough? Bergdahl, 28, won't face a death sentence, although the punishment is an option for prosecutors to pursue against deserters in wartime. Bergdahl's "reintegration" when he returned to Fort Sam Houston in Texas suggests how difficult his life was in captivity. He was on a bland diet at first and did not initially have access to a television. He was gradually allowed to venture off the base to go to grocery stores, restaurants and shopping centres. He even had to readjust to the idea that he could control aspects of his life as simple as choosing when to eat, and what. Some members of his former unit have called for serious punishment, saying others risked their lives searching for him. ---

U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who walked away from his post in Afghanistan and became a Taliban prisoner for five years, will face court-martial with a potential life sentence we were told on Monday December 14, 2015. Bergdahl, 29, was charged earlier this year with desertion and endangering U.S. troops and could face the life sentence if convicted of the latter, more serious offense. Bergdahl disappeared on foot on June 30, 2009, from Combat Outpost Mest-Malak in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, and was subsequently captured by the Taliban. He left his post to draw attention to "leadership failure" in his unit, Bergdahl said last week. The Idaho native suffered torture, abuse and neglect at the hands of Taliban forces, including months of beatings and being confined for 3-1/2 years to a metal cage barely big enough to stand in. The official search for Bergdahl lasted 45 days, but the United States spent years trying to determine his whereabouts and bring him home. He was freed in a prisoner swap in May 2014 that sent five Taliban leaders held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay to Qatar, where they had to remain for a year. The deal drew heavy criticism from Republicans. Major General Kenneth Dahl, who led the military's investigation of Bergdahl's case, testified at a military probable cause hearing in September that Bergdahl was not a Taliban sympathizer and no soldiers directly involved in the search for him were killed.

On Tuesday January 26, 2016, we were told that top U.S. military commanders, who only a few months ago were planning to pull the last American troops out of Afghanistan by year's end, are now quietly talking about an American commitment that could keep thousands of troops in the country for decades. The shift in mind-set reflects the Afghan government's vulnerability to continued militant assault and concern that terror groups like al-Qaida continue to build training camps whose effect could be felt far beyond the region.

More than a dozen U.S. military personnel have been disciplined —but face no criminal charges— for mistakes that led to the bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital that killed 42 people in Afghanistan last year we were told Thursday March 17, 2016. The punishments are largely administrative. But in some cases the actions, such as letters of reprimand, are tough enough to effectively end chances for further promotion. The disciplined include both officers and enlisted personnel. ---

About 16 U.S. military personnel, including a two-star general, have been disciplined for mistakes that led to the bombing of a civilian hospital in Afghanistan last year that killed 42 people we were told Thursday April 28, 2016. No criminal charges were filed and the service members received administrative punishments in connection with the U.S. airstrike in the northern city of Kunduz. A number of those punished are U.S. special operations forces. And while none was sent to court-martial, in many cases a no judicial punishment, such as a letter of reprimand or suspension, can effectively end a military career.

On Saturday November 12, 2016, we were told that the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan has closed following deadly insurgent attacks on a German Consulate and an American military base. It will be "closed for routine services" Sunday "as a temporary precautionary measure."

At least 23 loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed in an airstrike in eastern Nangarhar province on Sunday November 13, 2016. The airstrike was carried out in Achin district of Nangarhar.

5.2.3 Cost of the war
Forty US troops have been killed between the beginning of the operation Enduring Freedom and April 2002. Eight were listed as killed by enemy fire but most of the others died in accidents, including helicopter and plane crashes, not to mention friendly fire that killed also many Afghans, soldiers and civilians alike.

In February 2002, the British newspapers began to talk about civilian war casualties. The estimations available at that time range from 2,000 to 8,000 civilians killed by the US bombing. This figure is credible, if one takes into account four factors:
-              The bombing accuracy from a height of 30,000 feet is not very good, as other conflicts have shown.
-              The so-called “US Intelligence” is not very good either, and has led to many mistakes, killing probably more anti-Taliban fighters that true enemies.
-              The Americans relies on information received from local leaders who take the opportunity to settle old scores with their own enemies. 
-              The special American forces on the ground do not take any risk. They order to kill people first, and then check if they are Taliban or al-Qaida fighters.

However, the Global Exchange, a US Human Rights Organisation, made an analysis of how many civilian Afghans have been killed in the bombing of that country, mainly by US planes and arrived at a completely different figure. They have counted 812 deaths, but this figure includes only the victims who lived in the main cities (11 sites visited), their field workers have not been able to survey the small villages that have also been hit. The use of air strikes instead of ground troops has reduced the number of US deaths to a minimum, but it has increased the number of Afghan victims.

A reasonable count estimates that 3,000 to 3,4000 Afghan civilians were killed by the US bombings between October 7, 2001 and March 2002. It is not known how many died later on as a result of the continuing hostilities. The number of Afghan soldiers who died in the war is also unknown.

The families of the civilian victims of the US bombing are asking compensation from the US. Their request -$10,000- is very modest; it shows that the cost of a life depends on the nationality of the dead. By comparison the families of the victims of the attack on New York City and Washington will receive in excess of one million dollars each!
 
In mid-2002, as many of forty, if not more, British medical military personnel at Bahran in Afghanistan were sick with an unknown type of virus. It could be gastro-enteritis, or something similar. Five or six were very ill, one has been sent to a military American Hospital in Germany, and the others were sent back to Britain. More that 300 soldiers have been quarantined until the nature and the causes of the illness are known.

On May 1, 2003, Defence Secretary Rumsfeld announced in Kabul that the US had "ended major combat activity" in Afghanistan, and a period of stability was coming. His faithful executor, Hamid Karzai, sat at his side with some prophetically sagging flowers between the pair. One year and some $40 billion later –in September 2004- an assessment can be made. Is all this caused by mere "remnants" of a defeated Taliban?

Summary of Deaths Caused by Conflict in Afghanistan, June 2003 - May 2004

Afghan/Pakistani civilian deaths                340-361
Afghan/Pakistani military deaths              596-703
US and Allied military deaths      54-55
Taliban and allies killed  365-481
Totals    1,355 - 1,600

The one striking "success" of the United States has been its ability to get the Afghans of the Northern Alliance to do the fighting for them. And be killed, of course. This year has been a difficult one for the Afghan soldiers serving the Karzai regime, much more deadly than being a Taliban or Al Qaida member. For every Euro-American soldier who died, 10 to 13 Afghan troops were killed.

The number of US soldiers dead in Afghanistan amounts to 180 (12 in 2002, 43 in 2002, 46 in 2003, 52 in 2004 and 27 until April 2005).

German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said Monday May 14, 2007, that he had complained to NATO about the increased number of civilian casualties during US-led military operations in Afghanistan. Some 20 Afghan villagers were killed last week in an operation by US-led coalition forces in southern Afghanistan. The coalition is smarting from claims of mounting civilian casualties after nearly 60 other people were said to have been killed in its operations late last month.

As of Friday, June 22, 2007, at least 337 members of the US military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. Of those, 216 were killed by hostile action. Outside the Afghan region, 61 more soldiers died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, two were the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as: Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey and Yemen. There were also four CIA officer deaths and one military civilian death.
The figures for the other nations involved are:
Britain 60
Canada 56
Spain 21
Germany 21
Other nations 42
TOTAL: 598
Last year's fighting was the bloodiest in Afghanistan since US-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001 and violence is increasing this year. Fifty foreign soldiers have been killed in fighting so far this year.
More than 4,000 people were killed in fighting in 2006, a quarter of them civilians and about 170 of them foreign soldiers killed in fighting or in accidents while on patrol.

US-led coalition and NATO forces fighting insurgents in Afghanistan have killed at least 203 civilians so far this year until June 24, 2007. Insurgency attacks and military operations have surged in recent weeks, and in the past 10 days, more than 90 civilians have been killed by air strikes and artillery fire targeting Taliban insurgents, said President Hamid Karzai.

The United Nations estimated on July 2, 2007, that about 600 Afghan civilians have been killed in insurgency-linked violence this year, just over half of them by pro-government forces. The number of civilian killed in May was the highest in months. Those killed by national and foreign forces supporting the government appear to "largely exceed" those killed by rebels.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered a "strong" appeal to military commanders in Afghanistan to avoid civilian casualties. Ban met the commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul on June 29. Also, Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission said air strikes have recently killed more civilians than the Taliban. The group urged US and NATO-led forces to cut back on air strikes and boost the number of foot soldiers in Afghanistan.

As of Monday, August 13, 2007, at least 356 members of the US military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. Of those, the military reports 235 were killed by hostile action. 62 more members of the US military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, two were the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey and Yemen. There were also four CIA officer deaths and one military civilian death.

As of Wednesday, September 26, 2007, at least 375 members of the US military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. Of those, the military reports 249 were killed by hostile action. Outside the Afghan region, the Defense Department reports 62 more members of the US military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, two were the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen. There were also four CIA officer deaths and one military civilian death.

President Bush sent an emergency request to the US Congress on October 22, 2007, for an extra $46 billion in expedited funds for Iraq, Afghanistan and other national security needs. The money is in addition to the $145 billion in war-related spending included in his original 2008 budget. The president says the additional money is needed to make sure American troops have the resources they need to do their job.

The public debate in both Canada and the Netherlands whether to stay or leave Afghanistan has been weighed in the cost of both lives and treasure we were told on October 27, 2007. But for the Dutch there has been a lot of emphasis on treasure. The enormous cost of the military mission —the biggest for the Netherlands since the Second World War— is a top of mind issue you hear from almost everyone here when Afghanistan is mentioned. Much of the Dutch resentment over the refusal of other European NATO members to contribute troops to volatile southern Afghanistan has been framed in financial terms, with complaints about how expensive equipment is being ground up and will have to be replaced.

United States military deaths reached 110 in 2007, the highest since the American-led invasion in 2001. Britain lost 41 soldiers, while Canada lost 30. Other coalition nations lost a total of 40. Militants killed more than 925 Afghan police officers. Taliban suicide bombers set off a record number of attacks, more than 140, and in many ways the attacks became more sophisticated.

As of Monday, March 24, 2008, at least 419 members of the US military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the US invasion in late 2001. Of those 287 were killed by hostile action. Outside the Afghan region, the Defense Department reports 63 more members of the US military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, two were the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen. There were also four CIA officer deaths and one military civilian death.

As of Monday, May 12, 2008, at least 427 members of the US military died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the US invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. Of those, the military reports 294 were killed by hostile action. Outside the Afghan region, 64 more members of the US military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, two were the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen. There were also four CIA officer deaths and one military civilian death.

The number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan in June 2008 has reached 40 —the highest monthly toll of the seven-year-old war. The latest casualty came when a coalition service member was killed on Thursday June 26, 2008. The top US commander in southeastern Afghanistan, Major General Jeffrey Schloesser, said that attacks on his troops were up 40 percent in the first five months of 2008.

As of Tuesday, July 1, 2008, at least 468 members of the US military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the US invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.  Of those, 331 were killed by hostile action. Outside the Afghan region 65 more members of the US military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Two were the result of hostile action. These other locations are Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen. There were also four CIA officer deaths and one military civilian death.

June 2008 was the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan since the war began nearly seven years ago with 28 US combat deaths, along with the deaths of 18 international troops. June was the second straight month in which more US and NATO troops were killed in Afghanistan than were killed in Iraq.

The US military suffered its 101st death of the year in Afghanistan August 23, 2008, when a soldier died of gunfire wounds. The total number of US dead last year -111- was a record itself and is likely to be surpassed.

As of Wednesday, September 10, 2008, at least 517 members of the US military died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the US invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. Of those 368 were killed by hostile action. Outside the Afghan region, the Defence Department reports 65 more members of the US military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, two were the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen. There were also four CIA officer deaths and one military civilian death.

5.2.4 New Afghan administration
The Northern Alliance was ready and willing to run Afghanistan but, under American pressure, they had to accept a power-sharing government. Representatives of the Northern Alliance, the followers of the old king (he was thrown out of power about 25 years ago, and has been living in Rome since), the Afghans who went into exile in Pakistan, Iran, and the western world, met in a castle near Bonn, Germany, in December 2001. After setting aside their old and bitter divisions, they decided to form a government of thirty members -including two women- led by Hamid Karzai who was imposed by the Americans. Karzai is a Pashtun who lived in the USA –where he became a CIA agent- and, consequently, he speaks English and is trusted by the Americans who tell him what to do. This government took formal power on December 28, 2001, to run the country for six months. During this period the old king will call a council of tribal leaders - loya jirga- to write a constitution, and choose the next government that should remain in power for another two years. It is hoped that by then the country would be stabilised, and that democratic elections could take place.

An international "peace force" of 4 to 5,000 soldiers led by Britain was decided in Bonn to guarantee the security of the new government and of the capital, Kabul, for an initial period of six months. Already at the beginning of 2002, some difficult negotiations went on to agree on its size, the length of its presence in Afghanistan, and which regions they should control. The old Afghan structure, based on local war chiefs and tribal leaders, wanted to regain control and defends its interests.

In January 2002, at an international donor's conference in Tokyo, Hamid Karzai managed to persuade the participants to pledge more than $4bn to help rebuild Afghanistan.

January 15, 2002, the last President of Afghanistan (from 1992 to 1996), and formal head of the Northern Alliance, the Tajik Rabbani, announced that he wanted to come back to power. In Bonn he had to bow down to Hamid Karzai, chosen by the USA and the United Nations. But in June, a "loya jirga" presided by the ex-king Zahir Shah would choose new leaders and Rabbani will be a candidate for the top job. He has quite a lot of support at home, but less than Karzai’s Pashtun who are the majority in that country. He believes that it is time to let the Afghans run their own country as they see fit. And many Afghan people agree with him, especially the pro-Iran fundamentalists and the former Taliban who do not like the pro-western politics of the new government, as well as those who do not like, by principle, to see foreign troops on their soil.

The Wall Street Journal of January 16, 2002, wrote openly of a disappointing US policy in Afghanistan and said that a more direct intervention is necessary. More and more warlords are beginning to play their old tricks and Afghanistan's neighbours Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Russia, ...) are interfering again in the running of the country. The warlords have acted as proxy for the US ground force against the Taliban and it is their men, and not the Americans, who have suffered huge casualties. Now they want something in exchange and, not only do they refuse to disarm, they want to go on running their part of the country.

President Bush invited the Afghan leader, Hamil Karzai, to Washington for talks, and to be present when he delivered his message on the “State of the Union” to the US Congress on January 29, 2002. Karzai then went to London to talk to Mr Blair. He gave a good impression in both countries. His main requests were for the participation of the US to the peace force, and for an increase in the British participation. Both the US and Britain said NO

At the beginning of 2002 there were tensions between the different fractions, clans, tribes, and warlords inside Afghanistan. This was shown very clearly by the fact that the authority of the provisional government of Hamid Karzai was limited to Kabul. Karzai asked the UN to send more peacekeepers to Afghanistan, the only way to extend the power of the central government, but the main countries –US, Britain, France, Germany- refused. Afghanistan could be heading for another civil war of the type that disrupted the country after the end of the Russian invasion of the 1980’s. 

Around February 15, 2002, the minister of Transport and Tourism of the Provisory Government of Hamid Karzai was killed at Kabul Airport. First we were told that would-be pilgrims had killed him. They were there to fly to Mecca and were fed up for having been waiting for a plane for two days although they had already paid about $1,750 for the round trip. They believed that the minister had commandeered their plane to go to New Delhi, India. However, a few days later, Hamid Karzai told the international media that some security agents of his old fraction had killed the minister. The same day the British Foreign Minister, Mr Straw, visited Kabul where he saw Hamid Karzai and the British troops. Mr Karzai asked Britain to send more troops to insure security, not only in Kabul but also in other cities, and to stay longer than the four months agreed that will end in April. Mr Straw, in agreement with the US, refused.

In February 2002, a football match took place between an Afghan team and soldiers of the International Peaceful Force. The stadium was soon filled to its maximum capacity and still many people wanted to enter. A riot followed and quite a few people were hurt, if not killed.

A big earthquake hit the northeastern provinces of Afghanistan killing more than 2,000 people, wounding ten thousand, and destroying thousand of houses, or what was left of them after more than 20 years of war. These people were already suffering from hunger due to the war and lack of rain for a few years. Most people in this region were already living from international aid and this did not help them at all. This region was already difficult to reach before the earthquake, and the destruction of the remaining infrastructure complicated the work of the Aid organisations.

At the beginning of April 2002, President Musharraf of Pakistan flew to Kabul for a few hours visit to meet the Afghan’s interim leader, Hamid Karzai. This was mainly to try to make the new Afghan leadership forget that Pakistan was backing the Taliban until September 11, 2001. It is well known that the new leadership has strong doubt about Pakistan.

In April 2002, the Pashtun in northern Afghanistan complained that they were brutally treated by ethnic Hazara and Uzbeck soldiers. There were reports of murder, looting, and rapes and that thousand of Pashtun near the city of Mazar-I-Sharif were leaving their homes. But the central government had no power outside Kabul, and even in Kabul things are not too good either. The provisory government claimed these days to have arrested hundred of people preparing a coup to throw out the present authority. True or not, we do not know but it is certain that everything was not going well. Even the old ex-king of Afghanistan had to delay his return to Kabul where he was supposed to help prepare the way to the second phase of the political life of Afghanistan.

Finally the old King of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, 87 years old, went back to Afghanistan in April 2002 after 29 years of exile in Italy. He will convene a traditional assembly of warlords known as a “loya jirga” in June that should select a new government in advance of democratic elections 18 months later. Once again the Americans chose old discredited leaders to run a country where they overthrew the legal government.

In the meantime normal life is resuming in Kabul, but not in all Afghanistan. The number of cars has increased, and traffic jam is frequent. More and more restaurant, bars, and cinemas are opening everyday, and street vendors are doing good business. One can even see some women around without their traditional “burga”. Unfortunately the new prosperity has brought crime with it. Theft is part of every day’s life and it is barely under control in spite of the presence of the ISAF peacekeeping force patrolling the streets in armoured cars. Rents are high and beginning to be out of reach for the normal Afghans, and especially to the refugees coming home to find their houses destroyed by the US bombing. Outside Kabul, however, life is not so good; local warlords are fighting to get their share of the cake, with the result that the population suffers, as bombing and fighting are quite frequent.

At the beginning of June 2002, it seemed very probable that Hamid Karzai, the interim leader of Afghanistan, would be confirmed in power after the meeting of the “loya jirga”, the assembly of about 1,500 warlords, foreseen for the middle of June. Secret meetings between the various fractions involved seem to have reached the decision to reappoint him for the next two years. The Pashtun majority was still fighting to have a better representation in the government but the Tajik, who lead the Northern Alliance, were not ready to give up the Defence and Interior ministries. The former king, Zahir Shah, played a very important role in the negotiations but at his age, 87, he appeared to be frail and out of touch with the reality on the land.

Afghanistan, little by little, was getting back on its feet. As decided during the talks in Bonn in December 2001, a commission was given final authority for determining the procedures and number of participants to an assembly, known as the Loya Jirga (grand tribal council), and to convene it. The Commission chose some 1,500 delegates and it was decided that the assembly would start its work at the beginning of June.

The “loya jirga” opening was delayed to June 10 to try to bring the views of the different fractions closer. Finally the meetings took place in a giant tent flown from Germany, where it is normally used for the beer festivals. Among the 1,500 delegates there are about 200 women. There were precise rules to elect the delegates, but they were not followed everywhere; the politicians and the warlords imposed themselves, and decided everything in advance. Soon the role and the powers to be given to the old king Zahir Shah created some friction.

On the second day of the Loya Jirga, on June 11, 2002, the old king Zahir Shah, under pressure of the USA, formally renounced all political ambitions to help the future of Afghanistan although the majority of the delegates wanted him to be Head of State. Hamid Karzai’s allies and the US asked him to back Hamid Karzai for the leadership of the country. He easily agreed given his age, but his family was far from happy with his decision. He will receive the purely honorific title of “Father of the Nation.” As a result Hamid Karzai was more or less certain to be elected leader of Afghanistan for the next 18 months.

On June 13, 2002, Hamid Karzai, with the help of the Americans was elected Head of State of Afghanistan for 18 months when free elections would be held. More than two third of the 1,500 delegates (exactly 1,295) voted for him in a secret ballot. A woman, Ms Massouda Jalal received 171 votes. There were still many problems, like eliminating the warlord power, and this will not be easy. The choice of the main ministers was difficult but very important. Up to now the most important was Zahir Shah from the Northern Alliance (mainly Tajiks) but some new balance of power is necessary. Will the Tajik ministers agree to leave was an open question? A few days later, about two third again of the delegates left the meeting. They were fed up because the election of the ministers was taking more time that foreseen due to the haggling between the different landlords. Hamid Karzai decided that he would personally choose his ministers.

What was really urgent was to obtain enough international financial and political aid. The western governments promised quite a lot of cash but very little has reached Afghanistan until now.

The longest war in American history will last at least another decade, according to the terms of a garrisoning deal for US forces signed by the new Afghanistan government on Tuesday September 30, 2014. The deal guarantees that US and Nato troops will not have to withdraw by year’s end, and permits their stay “until the end of 2024 and beyond.” The security pact, which puts US troops beyond the reach of Afghan law. The primary explicit purpose of the deal, known as the Bilateral Security Agreement, is to permit the US to continue training Afghanistan’s roughly 350,000 security forces, which the US and Nato have built from scratch. But the accord is also a hedge against the resurgence of the Taliban and a recognition that 13 years of bloody, expensive war have failed to vanquish the insurgency. Any earlier termination of the deal must occur by mutual consent, ensuring a US veto in the event of an about-face by newly inaugurated President Ghani or his successor. Ghani’s predecessor, Hamid Karzai, incensed the Obama administration by refusing to sign the basing deal, rebuking the country that installed him as Afghanistan’s leader after the US drove the Taliban from Kabul in 2001. Ghani also agreed to a garrisoning accord with Nato forces, known as a Status of Forces Agreement. Nato has agreed to fund Afghanistan’s soldiers and police through 2017. Under the Bilateral Security Agreement the US military will have access to nine major land and airbases, to include the massive airfields at Bagram, Jalalabad and Kandahar, staging areas not only for air operations in Afghanistan but the US drone strikes that continue across the border in tribal Pakistan. The additional bases –in Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif, Herat, Helmand, Gardez and Shindand– ensure the reach of the US military throughout Afghanistan. ---

Afghanistan's unity government on Monday January 12, 2015, announced its first cabinet at a press conference in the capital, Kabul. The news came 106 days after President Ashraf Ghani (pictured) had been sworn in. The cabinet impasse lasted for more than 3 months because of a disagreement between Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah over the nominees for key ministries. There are mainly new faces in the line-up including three women.

• Salahuddin Rabbani, the former head of the country's high peace council was nominated for foreign minister.
• Military chief of staff Sher Mohammad Karimi was nominated for defence minister.
• A former general, Noor-ur-Haq Ulomi, becomes interior minister.
• Current intelligence Chief Rahmatullah Nabil was nominated to keep his job.
• The attorney general and Supreme Court chief justice positions are yet to be filled.

On Wednesday February 4, 2015, Afghanistan’s fragile unity government is struggling to name ministers to key cabinet positions, raising questions about further political instability in the country. The presidential election last year was only decided after months of negotiations led to a US-brokered compromise agreement between Abdullah Abdullah, who became chief executive, and Ashraf Ghani, who became president. The new administration then struggled to come up with a list of potential ministers that would satisfy their supporters. Candidates were finally presented to parliament on January 20, but several of them have since been rejected or dropped out, leaving only nine new cabinet members out of a possible 27 to be sworn in on Sunday earlier this week. For now, vacant positions are filled by temporary replacements and it’s unclear how long the deadlock will continue.

5.2.5 Are the Taliban and al-Qaida fighters finished?

A pre-recorded videotape of Osama bin Laden released before the beginning of the bombing on October 7, 2001, condemned any attacks against Afghanistan. Al-Jazeera, the Arabic satellite news channel, claimed that these tapes were received shortly before the attack. In this recording bin Laden claimed that the United States would fail in Afghanistan and then collapse, just as the Soviet Union did, and called for a war of Muslims, a Jihad, against the entire non-Muslim world.

At the beginning of March 2002, it became clear that some Taliban and al-Qaida fighters had regrouped in the eastern part of Afghanistan. This preoccupied the Americans who immediately went on bombing them from 30,000 feet, as usual; they also launched some ground operations, but they were not successful. According to Afghan sources, two or three Americans soldiers died, together with six Afghans, after coming under heavy fire. They heavily bombed the mountain range of Shah-e-cot near Gardez, using some new 2,000 Lb laser-guided “thermobaric” bombs, which provoke suffocating blasts in the caverns where the Taliban and al-Qaida fighters were assumed to be hiding. These bombs are killing people without destroying the structures such as houses or caves, making it easy, afterwards, to count the dead! On March 2, an attack in which at least 1,000 US troops –used for the first time in direct combat whereas before the fighting was made by their Afghan allies alone- and many Northern Alliance Afghan soldiers was launched. They soon withdrew to Gardez after coming under heavy fire, and suffering some injuries. One US soldier was reported dead together with a few Afghans. The number of Taliban/al-Qaida fighters was not known; their number was variously estimated to be between 500 and 7,000 depending on the source of information. In the north of the country there was also some fighting between rival Afghan tribes, and here too the US “helped” their friends by bombing the opposition.

After six months of war (around mid-March, 2002) some American people are not happy with the results of the war in Afghanistan, and not only the Democrats. A few weeks ago President Bush was claiming victory, and now it looks like the Taliban/al-Qaida are regrouping and still ready to fight, and Osama bin Laden and Mohammed Omar have not been found yet. We are being told that eight senior al-Qaida leaders have been killed, but even the head of the CIA, George Tennet, admitted to the US Congress that al-Qaida has still active cells, loosely linked together, in 59 countries. In clear, this means that even if the top leaders were killed, these national organisations would still be operating and dangerous. Moreover the Arab world has still a negative opinion of the US; they believe that it was wrong for the US to attack Afghanistan. After all, the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan is now higher that the number of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist actions on the US (between 2,000 and 8,000 were killed, and about 3,000 died of hunger or cold as they left their home).

At the beginning of June 2002, it seemed very probable that Hamid Karzai, the interim leader of Afghanistan, would be confirmed in power after the meeting of the "loya jirga", the assembly of about 1,500 warlords, foreseen for the middle of June. Secret meetings between the various fractions involved seem to have reached the decision to reappoint him for the next two years. The Pashtun majority was still fighting to have a better representation in the government but the Tajik, who lead the Northern Alliance, were not ready to give up the Defence and Interior ministries. The former king, Zahir Shah, played a very important role in the negotiations but at his age, 87, he appeared to be frail and out of touch with the reality on the land.

Afghanistan, little by little, was getting back on its feet. As decided during the talks in Bonn in December 2001, a commission was given final authority for determining the procedures and number of participants to an assembly, known as the Loya Jirga (grand tribal council), and to convene it. The Commission chose some 1,500 delegates and it was decided that the assembly would start its work at the beginning of June.

The "loya jirga" opening was delayed to June 10 to try to bring the views of the different fractions closer. Finally the meetings took place in a giant tent flown from Germany, where it is normally used for the beer festivals. Among the 1,500 delegates there are about 200 women. There were precise rules to elect the delegates, but they were not followed everywhere; the politicians and the warlords imposed themselves, and decided everything in advance. Soon the role and the powers to be given to the old king Zahir Shah created some friction.

On the second day of the Loya Jirga, on June 11, 2002, the old king Zahir Shah, under pressure of the USA, formally renounced all political ambitions to help the future of Afghanistan although the majority of the delegates wanted him to be Head of State. Hamid Karzai's allies and the US asked him to back Hamid Karzai for the leadership of the country. He easily agreed given his age, but his family was far from happy with his decision. He will receive the purely honorific title of "Father of the Nation." As a result Hamid Karzai was more or less certain to be elected leader of Afghanistan for the next 18 months.

On June 13, 2002, Hamid Karzai, with the help of the Americans was elected Head of State of Afghanistan for 18 months when free elections would be held. More than two third of the 1,500 delegates (exactly 1,295) voted for him in a secret ballot. A woman, Ms Massouda Jalal received 171 votes. There were still many problems, like eliminating the warlord power, and this will not be easy. The choice of the main ministers was difficult but very important. Up to now the most important was Zahir Shah from the Northern Alliance (mainly Tajiks) but some new balance of power is necessary. Will the Tajik ministers agree to leave was an open question? A few days later, about two third again of the delegates left the meeting. They were fed up because the election of the ministers was taking more time that foreseen due to the haggling between the different landlords. Hamid Karzai decided that he would personally choose his ministers.

What was really urgent was to obtain enough international financial and political aid. The western governments promised quite a lot of cash but very little has reached Afghanistan until now.

The US military leaders are now saying that the war against terrorism in Afghanistan is loosing momentum because the remaining Taliban and al-Qaida members adapt themselves more successfully to the US tactics, than the US militaries are adapting to theirs. These were the words of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers. He added that there is a debate within the Pentagon about whether the US needs to change its priority in Afghanistan, supporting reconstruction instead of continuing with military operations.

The Saudi government denied on September 24, 2006, a French newspaper report saying France's secret services believe Osama Bin Laden is dead. The newspaper quoted the Saudi secret services as saying the al-Qaida leader had died of typhoid in Pakistan. But, in a statement, the Saudi government said it had "no evidence" that Bin Laden was dead.

The Taliban on Sunday April 1, 2007 executed three men accused of spying for NATO and Government forces in southern Afghanistan, a local militant commander and villager said. Two Taliban commanders were killed as a result of information from these three men.

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has praised martyrdom as a weapon and a path to glory for Muslims in a new video posted on a website on July 15, 2007. The bin Laden clip, which lasted less than a minute, was undated and part of a 40-minute video featuring purported al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan paying tribute to fellow militants who have been killed there. Bin Laden glorified those who die in the name of jihad, or holy war, saying even the Prophet Mohammed "had been wishing to be a martyr". The US Senate on Friday doubled the bounty on bin Laden to $US50 million.

On Sunday September 29, 2007, the Taliban refused to negotiate with the Afghan authorities until US and NATO forces leave the country, again rebuffing an overture for peace talks from President Hamid Karzai. Karzai had said Saturday that he would be willing to meet personally with the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, and give militants a position in the government in exchange for peace. Karzai said that he would agree if a Taliban group comes to him asking for a role in government in return for an end to fighting.

One of the al-Qaida leaders in Afghanistan considered to be the one in charge of the attack against Dick Cheney in February 2007, Abu Laith al-Libi, was killed in a bombing at the border with Pakistan on January 31, 2008. The death of Abu Laith al-Libi was reported by the American command and confirmed by a site web linked to al-Qaida.

On February 24, 2008, Pakistan's Taliban militants said they are willing to talk with the parties expected to form the country's new government, but only if military operations against militants and terrorists end in the tribal regions. Mr. Musharraf angered many Islamists by sending the army into tribal areas, near the border with Afghanistan, as part of a military offensive to flush out fighters connected to the al-Qaida terrorist network.

Taliban insurgents on Monday February 25, 2008, gave Afghan mobile phone operators three days to shut down their networks at night or face attack, as the rebels said international forces used the cell phones to track them down.

Afghan security forces are searching for hundreds of prisoners who escaped a jail in Kandahar, after Taleban fighters blew up the main gate on June 14, 2008. 350 Taleban militants had got away and 15 guards were killed in the truck bomb and rocket attack. More than 1,000 people are thought to have escaped. Nato troops are helping Afghan forces hunt for the prisoners.

On July 17, 2008, we were told that Afghanistan has been drawing a fresh influx of jihadi fighters from Turkey, Central Asia, Chechnya and the Middle East, one more sign that al-Qaeda is regrouping on what is fast becoming the most active front of the war on terrorist groups.

On Saturday March 14, 2009, a new audio message from al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden accuses moderate Arab leaders of conspiring with the West against Muslims. Bin Laden also renews his attacks on Israel in the recording attributed to him. It was broadcast by the Qatari-based TV channel al-Jazeera which did not say how it had been obtained.

After agreeing to bury their differences and unite forces, Taliban leaders based in Pakistan have closed ranks with their Afghan comrades to ready a new offensive in Afghanistan as the United States prepares to send 17,000 more troops there this year. Several Taliban fighters based in the border region said preparations for the anticipated influx of American troops were already being made. A number of new, younger commanders have been preparing to step up a campaign of roadside bombings and suicide attacks to greet the Americans we were told on March 26, 2009.

The Taliban militia on Monday July 6, 2009, said it has captured an American soldier in Afghanistan who went missing last week. The "drunken American soldier" was captured five days ago near Melech in Yusuf Kheil district, Paktika province. The soldier is still a prisoner of the mujahedeen. The statement also claimed the killing of another "drunken" US soldier by sniper fire outside his military quarters in the Saydabad district of Wardak province.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on August 6, 2009, there is a strong likelihood that Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed along with his wife and bodyguards in a missile attack two days ago. Following are some details about Mehsud:
-              In late 2007, Mehsud proclaimed himself leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Movement of Taliban of Pakistan, grouping 13 factions.
-              Mehsud became Public Enemy Number One after launching suicide attacks in 2007 against the military and politicians.
-              The government of ex-president Pervez Musharraf and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency both saw Mehsud as chief suspect in the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Mehsud denied it.
-              The United States had offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to Mehsud's location or arrest. The Pakistan government has put a $615,000 bounty on his head.
-              Regarded as an ally of al Qaeda, Mehsud has assembled militants from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Mehsud is reckoned to have 10,000 to over 20,000 fighters with him in mountainous South Waziristan.
-              Pakistani officials say Mehsud is helped by arch-rival India, but diplomats in Islamabad are sceptical and see that as an attempt to dislodge Indian influence in Afghanistan.
-              Critics say Pakistan's army tolerated Mehsud for too long, and deride a 2005 peace deal, saying militants were paid off.
-              In June, U.S. drones began attacking Mehsud territory more frequently. Diplomats say Mehsud's elimination would mark a major coup for Pakistan. Mehsud was born in 1974 in Bannu in North West Frontier Province. His ancestral village of Shaga is in South Waziristan, the poorest of seven Federally Administered Tribal Areas from the ethnic Pashtun belt straddling the border with Afghanistan.
-              Mehsud belongs to the Bromikhel, a traditional sub-clan of the fiercely independent Mehsuds. The son of a minor cleric, Mehsud was educated to the age of 12 in a madrasa, or religious school, is barely literate and worked as a truck driver. Journalists who have met Mehsud describe him as physically unimposing, round-faced beneath a beard.
-              A Nigerian man has been charged with attempting to destroy a plane after he allegedly tried to detonate a bomb on a passenger jet arriving in the US on Friday December 25, 2009. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was overpowered by passengers and crew shortly before the Northwest Airlines plane landed in Detroit from Amsterdam. The US says the bomb consisted of a high explosive and a syringe. He was formally charged with attempting to destroy the plane and with placing a destructive device on the aircraft.
-              On December 26, 2009, we were told that the father of the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a transatlantic jet on Christmas Day had voiced concerns to US officials about his son. The father, a top Nigerian banker, warned US authorities last month about 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's extreme views. US sources confirm a file was opened, but say the information did not warrant placing the accused on a "no-fly" list.
-              The man charged with trying to blow up a transatlantic plane had been on a UK watch-list we were told on December 28, 2009. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was refused a visa in May and placed on a security list after he applied to study at a bogus college.
-              On December 29, 2009, we were told that the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a jet over the US on Christmas Day was living in Yemen until earlier this month. The foreign ministry said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was in Yemen from August until the beginning of December. He had a visa to study Arabic at an institute in the capital Sanaa.
-              The US revealed on December 31, 2009, that it was aware, weeks before an attempted bombing on a US plane that "a Nigerian" in Yemen was being prepared for a terrorist attack.
-              At least 60 militants have been killed in fighting between the Taliban and a rival Islamic group, Hezb-e-Islami we were told on Sunday March 7, 2010. The fighting in Baghlan province erupted on Saturday. A number of civilians died in the crossfire. The rivalry between former allies seems to concern control of local villages and taxes. Dozens of Hezb-e-Islami fighters had defected to the government during the fighting. Hezb-e-Islami, loyal to former PM Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, is the second biggest militant group in Afghanistan. The two groups have previously been allied in their opposition to Afghan's central government and foreign forces. 40 Hezb-e-Islami fighters had been killed, as well as 20 Taliban militants. The Taliban are said to have detained at least 50 members of Hezb-e-Islami.
-              On March 26, 2010, a message said to be from Osama Bin Laden threatens to kill Americans if the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks is executed by the US. The al-Qaeda leader was talking about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspects. According to the tape, if the US made the decision to execute, al-Qaeda would also "execute" anyone it captured. The five suspects are due to be tried in New York for the 2001 attacks.

A Taliban gulag has been uncovered in Afghanistan. NATO discovered the ramshackle jail near Musa Qaleh in Helmand province we were told on Wednesday August 18, 2010. Soldiers discovered 27 Afghan men in the prison, who were found shackled and showed signs of having been tortured. Five additional prisoners were killed during the fire fight. The prisoners worked for an Afghan aid agency. Thirteen insurgents were killed during the operation. Numerous weapons were also uncovered at the makeshift facility.

Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, called on Afghans on September 8, 2010, to redouble their efforts against the Nato-led coalition, claiming they are losing the war in Afghanistan.  Omar, who was speaking in a message to mark Eid al-Fitr, the feast that ends the holy fasting month of Ramadan, said victory over the coalition was "imminent". "Put all your strength and planning behind the task of driving away the invaders and regaining independence of the country". He claimed that "those military experts who have framed strategies of the invasion of Afghanistan or are now engaged in hammering out new strategies, admit themselves that all their strategies are nothing but a complete failure." He said "other foreign forces which have come here for occupation of our country... are now under pressures from their people due to the growing and heavy military expenditures, casualties and the fruitlessness of the war. Each of them is hastily seeking ways of exit from Afghanistan." Addressing Americans, he said "you tested all your might... to maintain your occupation over the Afghan Islamic and independent country but you achieved nothing except a dashing defeat."

The U.N. Security Council on Friday June 17, 2011, split the U.N. sanctions list for Taliban and al Qaeda figures into two, which envoys said could help induce the Taliban into talks on a peace deal. The move comes as Washington prepares to start pulling out its 97,000 troops in Afghanistan next month as part of a process to hand over all combat operations against Taliban insurgents to Afghan security forces by 2014. Details of the divided sanctions lists were contained in two U.S.-drafted resolutions, which the 15-nation Security Council adopted unanimously. One resolution established a Taliban blacklist and the other an al Qaeda blacklist of individuals facing travel bans and asset freezes.

On Monday August 29, 2011, we were told that direct U.S. talks with the Taliban had evolved to a substantive negotiation before Afghan officials, nervous that the secret and independent talks would undercut President Hamid Karzai, scuttled them. Published reports about the clandestine meetings ended the talks abruptly. Collapse of the direct talks between the Taliban and U.S. officials probably spoiled the best chance yet at reaching Mullah Mohammed Omar, considered the linchpin to ending the Taliban fight against the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan. The contacts were preliminary but had begun to bear fruit.

On Sunday January 28, 2012, we were told that Afghan officials plan to meet Taliban representatives in Saudi Arabia in the near future in an attempt to put the government of President Hamid Karzai in a lead role in peace negotiations. So far, the Taliban have only publicly acknowledged their willingness to talk with the U.S.. The Taliban weren't immediately available for comment. The main purpose of the coming talks is to put Mr. Karzai's government in the lead "by any avenues necessary". Saudi Arabia remains "an important player" in negotiations and "has facilitated talks in the past and now". The Afghan government has long complained that the U.S. and the tiny Gulf state of Qatar have negotiated with the Taliban while leaving Mr. Karzai in the dark, which America denies. In protest, Afghanistan recalled its ambassador to Qatar in December and said the ambassador wouldn't return until the Gulf state sends a delegation to Kabul to apologize and promise to put the Afghans in the lead role in discussions.

Headmaster Abdul Rahman was heading to work when a man he believes was a member of the Taliban accosted him and warned him to shut his high school in eastern Afghanistan or face the consequences. Rahman agreed and his school, which teaches girls and boys, became one of more than 100 mixed or girls' schools that have closed in Ghazni province in recent weeks. On Wednesday May 9, 2012, we were told that Rahman has since re-opened his school, just south of provincial capital Ghazni, but is having difficulty in persuading students to return. Afghan girls were banned from receiving an education and women were not allowed to work or vote under the five-year rule of the hardline Islamist Taliban.

The Haqqani insurgent network, based in Pakistan and with ties to al-Qaida, is suspected of being a driving force behind a significant number of the "insider" attacks by Afghan forces that have killed or wounded more than 130 U.S. and allied troops this year we were told on Friday October 5, 2012. Until now the attacks seemed to stem either from personal grievances against the allies or from Taliban infiltration. The Taliban has publicly claimed to be orchestrating the campaign to subvert the U.S.-Afghan alliance. New data also reveal that in addition to 35 U.S. and allied troops killed in insider attacks last year, 61 were wounded. Those included 19 in a single attack in the eastern province of Laghman on April 16, 2011, in which six American servicemen were killed. Thus far in 2012 there have been 53 killed and at least 80 wounded. Haqqani involvement in the plotting would add a new dimension to that group's insurgent activity, which has been marked largely by spectacular attacks against targets inside Kabul. Haqqani leaders have pledged allegiance to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, but the group largely operates independently. The two groups have a shared interest in evicting foreign forces.

Pakistan agreed to free a handful of Taliban prisoners at the request of the Afghan government, in a move meant to help jumpstart a shaky peace process with the militant group in neighbouring Afghanistan, we were told on Wednesday November 14, 2012.The decision to release the prisoners -described as mid- and low-level fighters- is the most encouraging sign yet that Islamabad may be willing to play a constructive role in peace efforts that have made little headway since they began some four years ago. The U.S. and its allies fighting in Afghanistan are pushing to strike a peace deal with the Taliban so they can pull out most of their troops by the end of 2014 without the country descending into further chaos. But considerable obstacles remain, and it is unclear whether the Taliban even intend to take part in the process, rather than just wait until foreign forces withdraw.

Taliban Islamic insurgents have amputated a hand and a foot of two private security guards because they worked for foreign troops we were told on Saturday April 20, 2013. The Taliban confirmed they had cut off the right hand and left foot of each man but said the men were punished because they were highway robbers. One of the victims had his right arm and left leg swathed in bloodstained bandages. The man aged 25, whose name was not given, said he and his companion had been kidnapped a few days ago by the militants. Family members and residents had reported that the men were targeted because they worked for a private security company guarding supply convoys for foreign forces. The incident happened in the Rabat-e Sangi district and the men were brought to Herat city for treatment. The Taliban said the men had confessed to "the District court of the Islamic Emirate" that they had robbed travellers on roads in the area.

A group of foreigners abducted on Monday April 22, 2013, by militants in eastern Afghanistan are being "well looked after" the Taliban said. Up to 11 people, thought to include eight Turks, two Russians and an Afghan were taken in Logar province after their helicopter landed in bad weather. Tribal elders who saw the captives said that they were being fed and looked after.  The Taliban told the BBC the captives were in good condition.

The U.S. confirmed on Friday October 11, 2013, that American troops are holding a senior Pakistani Taliban commander. Latif Mehsud, a leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, was captured by U.S. forces in a military operation. Mehsud is a senior commander in TTP, and served as a trusted confident of the group's leader, Hakimullah Mehsud. The news surfaced as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Kabul trying to negotiate the terms of a U.S.-Afghan security agreement that would govern the activities of American forces in Afghanistan after the NATO-led combat mission ends at the close of next year.

The U.S. confirmed on Friday October 11, 2013, that American troops are holding a senior Pakistani Taliban commander. Latif Mehsud, a leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, was captured by U.S. forces in a military operation. Mehsud is a senior commander in TTP, and served as a trusted confident of the group's leader, Hakimullah Mehsud. The news surfaced as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Kabul trying to negotiate the terms of a U.S.-Afghan security agreement that would govern the activities of American forces in Afghanistan after the NATO-led combat mission ends at the close of next year. ---

Taliban militants have executed four women they had abducted earlier in the week we were told on Saturday October 18, 2014. Taliban militants after kidnapping four women from Farah city Thursday, shot them dead and abandoned their bodies in the outskirts the city where the bodies were found Friday night. The extremist outfit, which had banned education for girls and confined women in their houses, has executed several women on charge of adultery over the past decade in areas it controlled in Afghanistan.