Afghan Forces

At the gate of the capital's army recruitment headquarters, a young Afghan sergeant in crisp camouflage and a jaunty beret demanded a letter of introduction from arriving visitors. But when one was produced, written in Dari, the dominant language in Kabul, he asked one of the visitors to read it to him. These days, Afghanistan's armed forces are under pressure as never before to dramatically step up their performance in everything from literacy to logistics. NATO is speeding up its transfer of fighting duties to the national police and army, and at the same time, the cash-pinched coalition intends to cut back substantially on plans for funding a long-term Afghan force strength of more than 350,000.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Diplomats from the United States and Afghanistan met formally Saturday for only the second time since the two countries inked a strategic partnership agreement a year ago as they sought to hammer out an agreement defining Washington's 10-year commitment to the war-ravaged country. A senior diplomat from each country spoke of progress Saturday, but the talks come at a time of tension over Afghan President Hamid Karzai's public criticism of U.S. actions in Afghanistan as the NATO combat mission winds down.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Across Afghanistan, at combat outposts in the wind-scoured desert and the jagged mountains, it was daily routine: A small group of Afghan police or soldiers and Western ground troops would gather their gear and set out together on a foot patrol or a village visit. Until now. In its most sweeping response yet to "insider" shootings that have seen 51 Western troops killed this year by Afghans in uniform, the NATO force is halting, at least temporarily, joint patrols and other small-unit ground operations by Afghan and foreign troops unless specifically approved by a high-ranking regional commander, military officials said Tuesday.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Diplomats from the United States and Afghanistan met formally Saturday for just the second time since the two countries signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement a year ago as they sought to hammer out a pact defining Washington's 10-year commitment to the war-ravaged country. A senior diplomat from each nation spoke of progress afterward, but the talks come at a time of tension over Afghan President Hamid Karzai's criticism of U.S. actions in his country as the NATO combat mission winds down.

KABUL, Afghanistan - American and Afghan forces rescued an American doctor who had been kidnapped by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan, military authorities announced Sunday. Officials in Washington later confirmed that one of the rescuers was killed in the operation. The doctor, identified as Dilip Joseph, a U.S. citizen working for a nonprofit group based in Colorado, was rescued along with two Afghan colleagues and an Afghan driver, according to international forces and local officials.

KABUL, Afghanistan - The Afghan police and army have won praise for fighting off one of the war's most ambitious insurgent strikes, but the marathon siege of key diplomatic, government and military installations in Kabul also highlighted worrisome weaknesses, including glaring intelligence failures. With evidence pointing to a virulent Taliban offshoot known as the Haqqani network as the perpetrators of the tightly coordinated assaults, the prospect of protecting Kabul appears even more difficult.

Hundreds of U.S. and Afghan troops pushed into insurgent-dominated areas west of Kandahar city early Wednesday, hoping to establish a foothold not far from the area where the Taliban movement was born. The assault south of the main highway in the Zhari district by elements of the 101st Airborne Division was aimed at cutting off routes that insurgents use to move fighters, explosives and drugs into Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city. The operation, which involves parts of three U.S. battalions, as well as British engineers deployed to help clear hidden bombs, is one of the biggest troop actions in a months-long military campaign in the region.

The Pentagon is planning to slash U.S. assistance to Afghanistan's army and police by more than half over the next three years, settling for a no-frills Afghan security force to battle the Taliban-led insurgency after American forces pull out. Training and equipping Afghans to take over security has been key to the Obama administration strategy to withdraw all U.S. combat troops by the end of 2014. But the White House increasingly views high spending on the beleaguered Afghan military as unsustainable and has pressured the Pentagon for steeper cuts than previously planned.

Afghan and Western troops have launched a new push into Taliban strongholds on the outskirts of Kandahar, Western military officials said Sunday, intensifying a months-long effort to dislodge insurgents from the southern city they regard as their spiritual home. The offensive's latest phase is centered on districts to the west and south of the city where Taliban fighters are deeply entrenched, military officials said. "We expect hard fighting," Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz, a spokesman for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization force, told reporters in Kabul, the Afghan capital.

Fighting in Afghanistan left at least 24 insurgents and five Afghan security forces dead, officials said. In eastern Paktika province, along the Pakistan border, five soldiers and 18 militants were killed when insurgents attacked an Afghan army post, the U.S.-led coalition said. Clashes also continued in Helmand province, where police on Saturday killed six Taliban militants.

Afghanistan has suffered “a troubling rise” in killings of civilians, with the figure surging almost 30% in the first three months of the year, according to a United Nations envoy. Despite the sobering statistic, the U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday that other facts “highlight the improved security across the country,” including dramatic increases in the number of children in school and the share of Afghans who have access to healthcare. The death toll is being closely watched because Afghan forces are slated to take over responsibility for securing the country ahead of the departure of most foreign troops in 2014.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Two U.S. troops died in eastern Afghanistan after their aircraft crashed Tuesday, military officials said. The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force said the cause of the crash, which took place in a field, is under investigation, although early indications are that there was no enemy activity nearby. Media reports said the accident involved a helicopter, but ISAF spokesman John Manley declined to verify the type of aircraft involved until the service members' next of kin are notified.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in Afghanistan on Friday for talks on the size of the U.S. force expected to remain in the country after next year. The visit, which was not announced in advance, was Hagel's first to the war zone since taking office last month. "I need to better understand what's going on there ... to get a good sense from commanders on the ground ... so I can better advise the president," Hagel told reporters on his Air Force jet before his arrival.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Late last year, before leaving Forward Operating Base Tillman for the last time, U.S. troops took apart every inch of the remote outpost near the border with Pakistan, from the dirt-packed barricades to the flat-screen TVs in the intelligence center. Mohibullah Samim, the governor of Paktika province, where the base was located, called it a waste. "I was against dismantling it," Samim said. "It would have been better to hand it over to the Afghan army to keep the border area safe.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Over the last 25 days, something unusual has happened in Afghanistan: Not one U.S. service member has been killed. The lion's share of the fighting - and dying - is now being done by Afghans. The last American troop death, from injuries suffered in a December roadside bombing, occurred Jan. 20, marking the longest stretch without a fatality since 2008 and offering a glimmer of evidence that the United States' 11-year war is in its twilight. Deaths among U.S. troops in Afghanistan last year reached a four-year low as commanders hailed a tipping point in a conflict that has claimed more than 2,100 American lives.

The Pentagon will withdraw about half the 66,000 U.S. troops now in Afghanistan over the coming year, a steep reduction that reflects President Obama's determination to end America's role in the 11-year-old conflict. In his State of the Union address, Obama said 34,000 Americans would be brought home over the next 12 months, and further reductions will continue through the end of 2014, when all U.S. and other foreign troops are scheduled to leave. "American troops will come home from Afghanistan," Obama said.

Russia and neighboring Central Asian nations have agreed to let supplies pass through their territory to American soldiers in Afghanistan, reducing Washington's dependence on dangerous routes through Pakistan, a top U.S. commander said Tuesday. Securing alternative routes to landlocked Afghanistan has taken on added urgency this year as the United States prepares to double the number of troops there to 60,000 to battle a resurgent Taliban more than seven years after the U.S.-led invasion. U.S.

The Taliban has deepened its infiltration of Afghan institutions and sharpened its surveillance of Afghan and foreign troops as it seeks to exploit an edge in the information war that will help decide the fate of the insurgency. Much of the Taliban's structure was destroyed or dispersed by the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, which forced the militant group from power. Midlevel commanders have been hit hard in recent months by Western forces, and NATO officials say the Pakistani-based leadership is plagued by infighting.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A NATO airstrike apparently targeting Taliban commanders in an Afghan village near the border with Pakistan killed 10 civilians, including women and children, officials said Wednesday. The attack Tuesday night in the village of Chugam, in eastern Kunar province, also killed four Taliban commanders, according to Abdul Zahir, the governor of Shigal district. Zahir said Afghan and NATO forces were conducting a ground operation in the area when insurgents opened fire on them from inside a house.

WASHINGTON -- In his State of the Union speech Tuesday, President Obama will announce plans to withdraw half the U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan over the next year, a steep reduction that reflects his determination to end the American role in the 11-year-old conflict, a senior administration official said. About 34,000 Americans will be withdrawn over the next 12 months and "further reductions will continue through the end of 2014," when nearly all U.S. troops are scheduled to leave, the official said in a statement released by the White House.