Free Republic

Combined Forces Command Afghanistan officials have condemned the attack on U.S. contract employees Feb. 22 near Panjawi District, 50 kilometers west of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Employees of U.S. contractor Louis-Berger Group "were boarding their helicopter and attempting to leave the site of a clinic under construction," according to a command release. News reports quoted a U.S. embassy source saying that an "unidentified assailant" fired on the employees as the helicopter was preparing to take off. Reports indicate that the pilot was killed. Coalition forces evacuated the two seriously wounded individuals to medical facilities at Kandahar and then to Bagram, according to...

Officials are happy with the progress of 11 provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan and are looking to expand the program throughout the country. Eleven PRTs are operating in Afghanistan, with a 12th becoming active this week. Coalition partners operate three of these teams. New Zealand and the United Kingdom each operate a team, while Germany runs one under the auspices of NATO, the top American general in Afghanistan said Feb. 17. Army Lt. Gen. David Barno, commander of Combined Forces Command – Afghanistan, explained that a PRT is a catalyst. "It forms a focal point in a particular area with...

US troops to shift from S. Korea By Richard Halloran The United States will reassign some troops from South Korea to Afghanistan and Iraq and shift most of the 7,000 people in its headquarters in Seoul out of the capital beginning within a year, military officials say. Thought also is being given to disbanding the United Nations headquarters in South Korea and ending the practice of keeping a four-star general in command of operations in the country. The moves are part of a gradual disengagement of U.S. land forces from Korea and a greater reliance on sea power to maintain...