Afghanistan

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Illustration on the removal of Chuck Hagel by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times

JED BABBIN: Chuck Hagel dumped for defense of Obama policy

By Jed Babbin

FILE - In this Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011, file photo, U.S. Army Pfc. Garrick Carlton, center, of Sacramento, Calif., hikes past burning rubbish to man a hilltop observation post along with fellow Pfc. Michael Tompkins, of Wadsworth, Ohio, left, and Pfc. Austin D'Amica, of San Diego, at Combat Outpost Monti in Kunar province, Afghanistan. U.S. officials say President 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 2014. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

Obama quietly broadens mission in Afghanistan

By Lolita C. Baldor and Julie Pace - Associated Press

In this Friday, Nov. 14, 2014 photo, friendly characters that looklike Jerry the mouse from Tom and Jerry, left, and Minnie Mouse welcome visitors at Afghanistan's first amusement park called City Park in Kabul. Excitement builds in the queue forming behind the barbed-wire security fence outside the park as children in bright clothes clutch their parents' hands and hop from foot to foot in anticipation of the pleasures waiting behind the high concrete blast walls. For the thousands of families who have visited there since it opened during a national religious holiday weekend in October, it is a rare escape from lives blighted by war, death and misery. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghanistan’s first fun park brings joy amid war

By Rahim Faiez - Associated Press

FILE - This file image posted on a militant website on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014, which is consistent with AP reporting, shows a convoy of vehicles and fighters from the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, now called the Islamic State group, in Iraq's Anbar Province. &#8220;We can&#8217;t stop this thing, but we can limit it,&#8221; a former Islamic State group commander told the Associated Press of the Sunni militant group&#8217;s ambition to create a self-styled caliphate. &#8220;Daesh has nothing to lose,&#8221; he added, using the group&#8217;s Arabic acronym. &#8221;They like it when (they are) hot in the news.&#8221; The former commander was interviewed at an Iraqi prison where he is now held and works as an informant.(AP Photo/militant website, File)

WALTZ AND MOSS: Stop chasing the violence

By Michael Waltz and Lorianne Moss

The Pentagon. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Taxpayers charged for Afghan project months after KBR contract terminated

By Jim McElhatton - The Washington Times

Afghan and foreign security forces inspect the site of a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014. A least four people were killed in a suicide attack in Kabul early Tuesday, the latest in a series of fatal blasts to hit the Afghan capital. In what appears to have been a complex attack, a small truck packed with explosives rammed the gate of a compound housing foreigners on the city's eastern outskirts soon after sunrise, said Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Doubts about Afghanistan’s military on rise

By Maggie Ybarra - The Washington Times

An Afghan farmer works on a poppy field in the Khogyani district of Jalalabad, east of Kabul. Last May's harvest produced a staggering 6,000 tons of opium, 49 percent higher than the previous year and more than the combined output of the rest of the world, according to a report issued Wednesday. (Associated Press)

Audit: State Dept. fails to track billions of U.S. dollars in Afghan anti-drug efforts

By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times

A-10 "Warthogs" have been valuable to ground troops in the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, but the Air Force is looking at combat needs of the future. (Associated Press)

EDITORIAL: Don’t blame Pentagon spending cuts for ‘friendly fire’ deaths

By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Illustration on the failing results of our training of Iraqi defense forces by Linas Garsys/The Washington Times

WEINER & ABAY: The myth of ‘training’ to fight ISIS

By Robert Weiner and Joseph Abay

In this photo reviewed by the U.S. military, a detainee stands inside a cell inside the U.S. run Parwan detention facility near Bagram north of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 27, 2010. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Detainee brought from Afghanistan to U.S. for trial

By Larry O'Dell - Associated Press

bird of prey: In inquiries following the friendly fire deaths of five American servicemen and one Afghan battalion commander, officials have questioned the efficacy of the B-1B bomber and its crews to carry out precision strikes. (u.s. air force)

EXCLUSIVE: Budget cuts, errant B1 bomber blamed in deadly ‘friendly fire’ accident in Afghan war

By Rowan Scarborough - The Washington Times

ANA special forces candidates participate in specialized training on weaponry and ordnance at the military School of Excellence near Kabul. (Photo by Valerie Plesch/Special to The Washington Times)

Afghan National Army trains to hold off Taliban after U.S. exit

By Valerie Plesch — Special to The Washington Times

Marines and sailors with Marine Expeditionary Brigade; Afghanistan load onto a KC-130 aircraft on the Camp Bastion flightline, Oct. 27, 2014. The Marine Corps ended its mission in Helmand province, Afghanistan, the day prior and all Marines, sailors and service members from the United Kingdom withdrew from southwestern Afghanistan.

As Marines depart Afghanistan, legacy lingers

By ROBERT BURNS - Associated Press

exit strategy: Afghanistan faces the prospect of an uncertain future — for both its security and its economic health — as the last U.S. Marines prepare to return home from America's longest war. (associated press)

Afghan economy struggles amid security fears as U.S. troops pull out

By Mark Pace - The Washington Times

LAST LINE OF DEFENSE: Afghan National Army forces are not ready to rebuff an expected Taliban offensive, on its own, once all American troops leave after 2016, according to reports from U.S. Green Berets. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Green Berets reveal Afghan National Army soldiers’ incompetence

By Rowan Scarborough - The Washington Times

Armed Afghan policemen destroy an opium poppy field in Noorgal, Kunar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, on April 13, 2013. (Associated Press)

America’s $7.6B war on opium in Afghanistan failing: inspector general

By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times

John F. Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2014, before the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa hearing on Examining U.S. Reconstruction Efforts in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Afghanistan anti-corruption task force shuttered amid U.S. troop drawdown

By Maggie Ybarra - The Washington Times

A new mission: After serving eight years in the Army Reserves, including a tour in Iraq, Kate Hoit wants to stay active in community service. She and other post-9/11 veterans say they feel more welcome in modern groups. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

Younger veterans bypass VFW, American Legion for service, fitness groups

By Jacqueline Klimas - The Washington Times

Michael Chertoff, a former Homeland Security secretary, says if more immigrants were granted deferred action, it doesn't solve the problem for businesses that would have to decide whether to hire them and could halt momentum toward a full legalization solution. (associated press photographs)

FEULNER: Vouching for the Visa Waiver Program

By Ed Feulner

U.S. soldiers investigate the scene of an suicide attack in the Torkham, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, on June 19. Afghan officials say three Taliban suicide bombers targeted NATO fuel trucks at the border with Pakistan, setting off a gunbattle with police guards. (Associated Press)

Taliban adopts Islamic State terror tactics as U.S. troops exit Afghanistan

By Rowan Scarborough - The Washington Times