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WASHINGTON, April 21, 2010 – The past week was a very good one for security progress in Iraq, with two al-Qaida leaders being killed in an Iraqi-led operation, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said today. And Iraqi forces followed up their successes by arresting another senior al-Qaida leader in northern Iraq, Morrell noted at a Pentagon news conference.“This is not a good time … to be a leader of al-Qaida in Iraq,” Morrell said. “There’s not a lot of longevity in those jobs.”Although U.S. forces partnered with Iraqi forces for the operations, Morrell stressed, Iraqi security forces found and exploited...

WASHINGTON, April 19, 2010 – Afghan and international forces killed several insurgents and captured at least one other, according to initial reports of a firefight in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province this morning, military officials said. The forces were moving through the Qarah Bagh district in search of a senior Taliban commander and were approaching a compound when multiple insurgents engaged the force with machine guns, small arms, grenades, and rocket-propelled grenades. The combined force returned fire, killing several insurgents. As the combined force secured the compound, they continued to receive small-arms fire, grenades and heavy machine-gun fire from insurgents throughout the...

Sydney - President Barack Obama hit back at claims that the US had stalled in Afghanistan and vowed foreign forces would not be needed "in perpetuity", in a rare Australian TV interview aired on Thursday. Obama, speaking to public broadcaster ABC's 07:30 Report in Washington, also backed President Hamid Karzai to lead Afghanistan into the 21st century, dismissing recent controversies.

The International Space Station (ISS) orbital altitude will be raised by 1.7 kilometers (about a mile) on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Russian Mission Control orbital altitude has said. The space station manoeuvre will be carried out with the help of eight boosters on board the Progress M-04M space freighter which is currently docked with the Zvezda module on the ISS, Ria Novosti quoting the spokesman said. "As a result of the operation...the ISS's orbit will be raised 1.7 kilometers, bringing the space station to an altitude of 348 kilometers (about 216 miles) above the Earth's surface," he said. The...

WASHINGTON, March 17, 2010 – The commander of NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan said today he is pleased with the progress in the country so far while acknowledging that much more needs to be done. Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal said military operations in Helmand province have been promising, and that efforts to build the Afghan government in the province are the key to long-term success. McChrystal and Ambassador Mark Sedwill, the senior NATO civilian representative in Afghanistan, spoke to Pentagon reporters from Kabul. The “clearing” portion of the battle against insurgents in Helmand continues, even as the “hold”...

Courtesy Australian Government Department of Defence Special Force reservists from 1st Commando Regiment have successfully completed their mission in Afghanistan of providing protection for the local Afghan population.Thanks to their efforts in Uruzgan province, Taliban insurgents now have less access to the population and local Afghan police have a stronger presence.Their mission over winter was Population Centric Operations, which involved heading to remote and dangerous parts of Uruzgan that were at risk of insurgent influence, and working to build the support of local communities for the Afghan National Security Forces and International Security Assistance Force efforts to maintain security...

If We Wait for Armageddon by Norma Zager “The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn’t exist…” The Usual Suspects Evil never ceases to amaze me. Each moment as man progresses toward the demise of planet earth, he manages to regress by centuries. The terrorist double agent who murdered the CIA operatives recorded himself shortly before the killing. He was not intending to commit such a mass murder, but upon learning of the possibility of taking so many more lives, he commented the extra killings were “a gift from god.” “Whose god?” is what I...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2010 – NATO and Afghan forces have made early progress in an ongoing offensive on a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan, but have encountered some stiff resistance and may need another 25 to 30 days to secure the entire area, a top military official said. Video Overall the multinational force has reached the “end of the beginning” of the operation in central Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, said British Maj. Gen. Nick Patrick Carter, commander of NATO forces in International Security Assistance Force’s Regional Command-South, during a briefing today. “I guess it will take us another 25 to...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2010 – Noting signs that the new strategy in Afghanistan “is beginning to bear fruit,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates also said during an interview aired last night that the effort to build up Iraq’s security forces and move forward with the U.S. drawdown plan there remains on track. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates speaks with Greta Van Susteren, host of the Fox News program "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren," during an interview in Rome, Feb. 7, 2010. DoD photo by Cherie Cullen  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gates spoke with Fox News Channel’s...

DIYALA – "This is way easier than my last deployment," said Sgt. George Applegate, from Evergreen, Colo., while pulling security beside his Stryker vehicle near the Iraqi Police's 7th Battalion Emergency Reaction Force headquarters in Muqdadiyah, Jan. 31. Applegate, a fire team leader with 2nd Platoon, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, and the rest of 2nd Platoon were conducting a night patrol there, searching for possible improvised explosive devices. A couple years ago, Applegate wouldn't have been engaged in such a casual conversation while pulling security, because the threat of...

ISTANBUL, Feb. 4, 2010 – Although he stopped short of saying the worst is over for troops as they prepare to surge into some of the toughest Taliban-held areas, the top NATO and U.S. commander in Afghanistan said here today that conditions no longer are deteriorating. “I am not prepared to say that we have turned the corner. I am saying that the situation is serious. But I think we have made significant progress in setting conditions in 2009, and … we’ll make real progress in 2010,” said Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of the International Security Assistance Force...

Getting the Israelis and Palestinians to agree to negotiate, or even to agree to the framework in which negotiations will take place, "is just really hard," US President Barack Obama said in an interview with Time magazine published Thursday, as the president was completing his first year in office. Obama admitted that the administration "overestimated our ability to persuade [both sides] to [negotiate] when their politics ran contrary to that. Both sides - the Israelis and the Palestinians - have found that the political environment, the nature of their coalitions or the divisions within their societies, were such that it...

BAGHDAD – Troops here with the 317th and 808th Engineer Companies are bringing electricity to the future living spaces of U.S. Forces as they prepare to hand off their current housing to the Iraqi Army. The move will happen as soon as Soldiers from the 1434th Engineer Company complete the new Joint Operations Center at COS Carver. The IA will then occupy a portion of Carver that is currently home to Soldiers from 10th Mountain Division. The engineers are busy digging ditches, upgrading electrical boxes, burying cables, and connecting boxes to generators, which provide housing units with electricity. The new...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13, 2010 – NATO’s top military commander expects significant progress in Afghanistan before the scheduled departure of U.S. troops begins in July 2011, a timeline that he said lends focus to the mission. The remarks today by Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe, add weight to an American troop withdrawal start date that has been criticized as representing more a symbolic aspiration than a realistic commitment. “I have great confidence that as we get forward toward 2011, we’re going to have significant progress,” he said in an interview. “If we do that, we...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2010 – Training Afghan forces to assume security responsibility is a key component of President Barack Obama’s Afghanistan strategy, and American paratroopers are working with Afghan units to speed that day. Army Col. Brian Drinkwine, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, told Pentagon reporters today via video teleconference that the training and mentoring program is going well. The unit is the Army’s first brigade conducting this type of training and mentoring in Afghanistan. The 5,000-member unit covers an area half the size of Texas in southern and western Afghanistan. The unit works with...

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq — December was the first month since the Iraq war began in which there were no American combat deaths, a milestone hailed by military officials Friday as they inaugurated a new name for the U.S. force at the start of the year that will see the war wind down in earnest. Henceforth, the Multinational Force-Iraq will officially be called the United States Force-Iraq, in belated recognition of the fact that for some time there have been no other nations serving alongside U.S. troops in the nearly 7-year-old conflict. British, Australian and Romanian soldiers pulled out in July,...

Friday, 01 January 2010 17:32 BAGHDAD – Multi-National Security Transition Command –Iraq held its final ceremony on Phoenix Base here, Dec 31. Lt. Gen. Michael D. Barbero, the final MNSTC-I commander, recognized the command’s contributions to a safer, more secure Iraq since 2004 to an audience of distinguished Iraqi officials, U.S. servicemembers and civilians. Among the honored guests were Minister of Defense Secretary Salih Sarhan, Mr. Al Husseini, senior advisor to Defense and Security Council Chairman Hadi Al Ameri, and Lt. Gen. Al Awadi, Federal Police commissioner. Army Gen. David Petraeus was the first MNSTC-I commander when it activated June...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 1, 2010 – Progress in Iraq will continue as American forces draw down in the next year, U.S. commanders in Iraq said today. Army Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of U.S. Forces Iraq, and Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, spoke about current conditions in Iraq during a press conference in Baghdad. Odierno said December marked the first month since the war started in 2003 with no U.S. battle casualties. “We had three non-battle deaths, but we had zero battle deaths due to combat operations,” he said. Iraqi forces are doing well in dealing with...

TALIL, Iraq, Dec. 18, 2009 – Iraq has made remarkable progress in a short while, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said during a news conference here today. U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks with U.S. Navy sailors assigned to Riverine Squadron Three after an all hands call, Basra, Iraq, Dec. 18, 2009. DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen praised Iraqi citizens and American civilian and military personnel for their hard work and sacrifice. The...

NAWA, Afghanistan, Dec. 18, 2009 – An irrigation ditch bisects the main thoroughfare of this town in Helmand province, and shops line each side of the street. U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks to villagers during a market walk in Nawa, Afghanistan, Dec. 17, 2009. DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The shops sell everything from fresh vegetables to livestock to snack foods and transistor radios. The town looks like nothing special, but it is. The chairman of the Joint...