Afghanistan War

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bill and Beverly Osborn still can't bring themselves to erase the phone message from their son Ben. He had called from Afghanistan in June to assure them that he was safe. Four days later, he was killed in a Taliban ambush. The Osborns long ago accepted the risks faced by their son, an Army specialist. But what they can't accept now are the military rules of engagement, which they contend made it possible for the Taliban to kill him. "We let the enemy fire first, and they took my son from us," Beverly Osborn said of the rules, which in most instances require U.S. forces to identify an enemy threat before firing, and to withhold fire if civilians are close by. The rules also place restrictions on close air support and artillery, prompting complaints from some service members that their lives are put at risk against an enemy that fights by no rules at all. As American combat deaths have reached record levels this summer, public support is eroding for the 9-year-old conflict.

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.

Key editors at the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday explained the decision to publish a story and pictures of U.S. soldiers posing with body parts of Afghan suicide bombers, after questions were raised by the White House, the Pentagon and readers. In a live chat on latimes.com, Editor Davan Maharaj explained the decision to publish the material, especially the pictures, even though the events occurred two years ago. The publication comes at an especially sensitive time, with the U.S. and its NATO allies seeking to disengage from the Afghanistan war that began in October 2001.

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.

  It was by no means a common occurrence. But in the year that just drew to a close, a day would often pass, sometimes several, without an American service member dying in Afghanistan. For the first time in years, U.S. military deaths here declined in 2011. American and Taliban commanders have very different explanations, and very different views of what that means for Afghanistan in the new year and beyond. As they prepare to accelerate their withdrawal from Afghanistan, U.S. officials speak of having turned a corner in 2011.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Wednesday that security gains seen in parts of Afghanistan over the last year represented a "turning point" in the decade-old conflict. "We're moving in the right direction and we're winning this very tough conflict in Afghanistan," he told troops of the U.S. Army's 172nd Infantry Brigade at Forward Operating Base Sharana, about 30 miles from the Afghan-Pakistani border. U.S. officials generally have not explicitly claimed to be winning the conflict, mindful of insurgent attacks that continue to exact a heavy civilian toll, the stubborn resilience of the Taliban and other militant groups, Washington's deteriorating relations with Pakistan and the political woes of the administration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Their name conjures up the most celebrated moment of America's post-Sept. 11 military campaigns. Now the Navy SEALs belong to a grimmer chapter in history: the most deadly incident for U.S. forces in the 10-year Afghanistan war. Three months after they killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan and cemented their place in military legend, the SEALs suffered a devastating loss when nearly two dozen of the elite troops were among...

Key editors at the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday explained the decision to publish a story and pictures of U.S. soldiers posing with body parts of Afghan suicide bombers, after questions were raised by the White House, the Pentagon and readers. In a live chat on latimes.com, Editor Davan Maharaj explained the decision to publish the material, especially the pictures, even though the events occurred two years ago. The publication comes at an especially sensitive time, with the U.S. and its NATO allies seeking to disengage from the Afghanistan war that began in October 2001.

Margot Stengel went to bed Sunday on the early side, with a heavy heart, as she had ever since her son died during his tour in Afghanistan. She was surprised when the phone rang a little before 10, and even more surprised to hear the voice of her grandson. An often taciturn teenager, Jessee had a lot on his mind. Osama bin Laden, he told her, was dead. And it had come too late for his father, who died in December saddled with doubt about his slog through a dangerous pocket of Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border.