Afghanistan War

American support for a U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan continues to erode rapidly and has now hit a new low, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center in Washington. The poll, taken from April 4 to 15, found a decline of support among independents, Republicans and Democrats.   Notably for the U.S. political parties, it shows nearly as much erosion among voters who say their presidential choice is still undecided as among those who are committed to voting for President Obama.

KABUL, Afghanistan - The Taliban and U.S. military were both at fault in a NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan this month that killed 17 civilians, including 12 children, according to an Afghan government investigation. The inquiry raised the number of civilian deaths from an earlier total of 11. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has completed an investigation of the same incident in Kunar province, but its report is still under review, a coalition spokesman said. The deaths of civilians in the Afghanistan war have been a highly sensitive political issue.

They came from Walker Basin, a speck of a community at the edge of the Sequoia National Forest. From the farm town of Reedley, where a barber gives boys joining the military free haircuts before they ship out. They came from San Francisco. Los Angeles. San Diego. When they died, photos went up on post office walls in their hometowns. On Veterans Day, there are parades and charity golf tournaments. Buddies gather at graves to drink to the ones who are gone. In the 11 years since the wars began in Iraq and Afghanistan, 725 service members from California have been killed.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will ultimately cost between $4 trillion and $6 trillion, with medical care and disability benefits weighing heavily for decades to come, according to a new analysis. The bill to taxpayers so far has been $2 trillion, plus $260 billion in interest on the resulting debt. By comparison, the current federal budget is $3.8 trillion. The costs of the wars will continue to mount, said the study's author, Linda Bilmes, a public policy expert at Harvard University.

Congressional opponents of the war in Afghanistan forced a debate Wednesday on the floor of the House of Representatives on a resolution to bring U.S. forces home and end the 8-year-old conflict. The measure ended up losing, 356 to 65, a margin that had been expected. Nonetheless, antiwar lawmakers welcomed the debate as a chance to express pent-up frustration with the continued troop buildup in Afghanistan, and to express their view that the original mission of U.S. forces, defeating Al Qaeda, had been lost.

No money, no park Re "A park left vulnerable," Feb. 25 The one thing that will save Mitchell Caverns (and other shuttered state parks) is the one thing California probably will not do: The state should sell the park to someone who will take care of the place. Owners take far better care of their property. Sure, any buyers would want to make the park profitable, but what's wrong with that? With a little investment and promotion, Mitchell Caverns and other parks like it could become tourist attractions to an extent they never have been previously.

Far from the prestigious windowed offices on the outer ring of the Pentagon, a new war room focusing entirely on the conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan sits deep inside a cavernous basement. Created by Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pakistan Afghanistan Coordination Cell is intended to bring together the Pentagon's top strategy and intelligence experts. The cell is also a visible symbol of how much the related conflicts have become Mullen's war.

After eight years, U.S.-led forces must show progress in Afghanistan by next summer to avoid the public perception that the conflict has become unwinnable, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in a sharp critique of the war effort. Gates said that victory was a "long-term prospect" under any scenario and that the U.S. would not win the war in a year's time. However, U.S. forces must begin to turn the situation around in a year, he said, or face the likely loss of public support.

The conflict in Afghanistan has entered a dangerous phase, and the next three to six months could prove crucial in determining whether the United States and its NATO partners can suppress a revitalized enemy -- or will be dragged into another drawn-out and costly fight with an Islamic insurgency, according to senior military and security officials and diplomats.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta heads to this weekend's NATO summit prepared to confront Pakistan over what he considers price-gouging for transport of supplies to Afghanistan and hoping for a "consensus" among allies over the war effort. In an interview before his arrival in Chicago, where the summit is scheduled to begin Sunday, Panetta all but ruled out paying Pakistan $5,000 for each truck carrying supplies across its territory for NATO troops waging the Afghanistan war. Pakistani officials have demanded that amount as a condition for reopening supply routes that have been closed to the alliance since fall.

KABUL, Afghanistan - When he saw the flowing blood, Mohammed Anwar at first thought his son was dead. Five-year-old Muqadas had been shot in the head in June during a firefight between U.S. forces and Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan. But Anwar's quick response not only saved his son's life, it also secured modern medical treatment that has allowed Muqadas to resume a normal life. Thousands of Afghan civilians are killed or maimed each year in warfare, and most are doomed to rudimentary medical care in this impoverished country.

This post has been updated. See notes below. KABUL, Afghanistan - Members of Afghanistan's warring sides gathered near Paris on Thursday to begin informal talks about the country's future as U.S. and NATO forces pull out. It was the first time that senior figures in the Taliban and Hezb-i-Islami insurgent groups met with Afghan government officials and members of the former Northern Alliance that fought the Taliban for years. Organizers of the two-day gathering, which is being hosted by a French think tank, hope it will generate helpful discussions, but have said there will not be negotiations for a peace deal.

SAN DIEGO - When Army Pfc. Geoffrey Quevedo was airlifted late last year to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after being severely wounded in Afghanistan, his family in California was told to hurry to Washington to say a final goodbye. The 20-year-old from the farming community of Reedley in Fresno County was not expected to live beyond a few days. A blast from an improvised explosive device had ripped off his left foot and his left arm above the elbow. It knocked out four front teeth, broke his nose and jaw, and collapsed a lung.

They came from Walker Basin, a speck of a community at the edge of the Sequoia National Forest. From the farm town of Reedley, where a barber gives boys joining the military free haircuts before they ship out. They came from San Francisco. Los Angeles. San Diego. When they died, photos went up on post office walls in their hometowns. On Veterans Day, there are parades and charity golf tournaments. Buddies gather at graves to drink to the ones who are gone. In the 11 years since the wars began in Iraq and Afghanistan, 725 service members from California have been killed.

To meet the needs of an increasing number of amputees, Naval Medical Center San Diego is expanding its prosthetics lab where service personnel are fitted with artificial limbs and trained to use them. In 2007, when the hospital opened its Comprehensive Combat and Complex Casualty Care (C-5) facility, the prosthetics department was designed to support 40 patients with single amputations. Currently, the department is treating 100 active-duty personnel and 50 retirees, many with multiple amputations, officials said.

TEMECULA - To visit Cpl. Juan Dominguez in his new "smart home" adapted to his combat injuries, his friends will wind through streets with names from the traumatic event that led to the Marines being sent to Afghanistan. Off Meadows Parkway, they'll cruise along Nacke Drive, then Bradshaw Drive, Dahl Drive and Lyles Drive, all named for people who died aboard United Airlines Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. From Lyles Drive, they'll come to Rivera Drive, also named for someone who was on the flight that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew members thwarted the terrorists' plan to crash the aircraft in Washington.

KABUL, Afghanistan - The Taliban and U.S. military were both at fault in a NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan this month that killed 17 civilians, including 12 children, according to an Afghan government investigation. The inquiry raised the number of civilian deaths from an earlier total of 11. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has completed an investigation of the same incident in Kunar province, but its report is still under review, a coalition spokesman said. The deaths of civilians in the Afghanistan war have been a highly sensitive political issue.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta heads to this weekend's NATO summit prepared to confront Pakistan over what he considers price-gouging for transport of supplies to Afghanistan and hoping for a "consensus" among allies over the war effort. In an interview before his arrival in Chicago, where the summit is scheduled to begin Sunday, Panetta all but ruled out paying Pakistan $5,000 for each truck carrying supplies across its territory for NATO troops waging the Afghanistan war. Pakistani officials have demanded that amount as a condition for reopening supply routes that have been closed to the alliance since fall.

SEATTLE - John Henry Browne's first brush with the U.S. military was during the Vietnam War. The lanky attorney, then a student who drove a purple hippie van, was rejected for the draft because he was too tall. "I had done research, and I knew if you were over 6 foot 6 you were not qualified to go kill short people," said Browne, who has a 1969 photo of himself in an Uncle Sam hat towering above a sea of fellow antiwar protesters. "So I'd done a bunch of yoga and stretched myself - and I got some help from some Quaker doctors - and I went in with a letter saying I was close to 6-7, which I was at the time.