* China destroys culture, Hong Kong cares Jun 1, 2009
It was used for the Afghan movie The Kite Runner, NATO having rendered the real location, Kabul, too dangerous for filming. Now the old city is to be systematically demolished. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- Business)
National security adviser: US safer under Obama May 28, 2009
Pointing to increases in defense spending, efforts to get out of Iraq and revamp the strategy for Afghanistan, and a broad campaign to repair the U.S. reputation abroad, retired Marine Gen. James Jones said the nation is safer today than it has been ... Asked about the administration's new strategy for the Afghanistan war, Jones acknowledged that "the jury is still out" on whether the U.S. and its allies will be able to meet all their goals to improve the country's security, economy and... (Yahoo News -- Politics)
Afghan Gov't Destroys Books It Says Insult Sunnis May 28, 2009
Afghan Government Dumps More Than 1,000 Books In River, Says Texts Offend Sunnis ... Text Size: (AP) The Afghan government quietly dumped more than 1,000 Shiite texts and other books from Iran into a river after a local governor complained that their content insulted the country's Sunni majority ... The dispute highlights the continuing tension between Sunnis and Shiites in Afghanistan despite efforts by the government to preach tolerance across the sectarian divide. (CBS News -- World)
Afghan government destroys Shiite texts May 28, 2009
Members of the U.S. Army First Battalion, 26th Infantry man an isolated outpost in Afghanistans Korengal Valley ... Afghanistan's tumultuous history ... World Blog: Kabul, Afghanistan. (MSNBC -- International)
Shia books thrown in Afghan river May 26, 2009
Provincial authorities in south-western Afghanistan have thrown thousands of books, mainly about Shias or Shia Islam, into a river ... The books, which circulate freely elsewhere in Afghanistan, were seized six months ago as they were being imported from Iran ... Nimroz province, which borders Iran, is one of the few Afghan provinces which does not have a permanent presence of international troops. (BBC News -- South Asia)
Is the Military Supposed to Burn Bibles? May 26, 2009
Last May, dozens of Afghan language Bibles sent to a soldier in Afghanistan were confiscated and then destroyed by fire because the command believed the Bibles were intended to proselytize Muslims, which is a violation of military rules and Afghan law. A Pentagon spokesman said the act was a force protection measure to preclude Afghans from perceiving the U.S. military was trying to convert Muslims, which could lead to a violent anti-American reaction ... The Pentagon acknowledged that a... (Human Events Online)
Zardari, Karzai meet Ahmadinejad May 25, 2009
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his counterparts from Afghanistan and Pakistan on Sunday declared their joint commitment to battling Islamist extremism and drug smuggling. Ahmadinejad, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan's Asif Ali Zardari signed a document -- the Tehran Declaration -- under which they will to bring security to the region ... " The summit followed Afghanistan's largest-ever drugs seizure in an operation that ended on Saturday in a Taliban... (Yahoo! Asia News)
Steve Walt: Are Americans Wimps? May 22, 2009
Thu, 05/21/2009 - 10:48am. Is there anything more absurd than to deny funds to close Guantanamo, on the grounds that this might result in detainees being held on American soil. (Slate)
Slouching towards balkanization May 22, 2009
It's as if the George W Bush years in Afghanistan had never left, with Washington still wallowing in an intelligence-free environment ... A new mega-base is sprouting in the "desert of death" in the southern Afghan province of Helmand ... But history in Afghanistan continues to repeat. (Asia Times Online)
Once Were Radicals and Leave To Remain May 20, 2009
He believed the best thing he could do as a Muslim was join the mujahideen in Afghanistan to fight the Russian invaders ... He usefully sums up the inner conflict driving this decision: "As a young man growing up in a spiritual and cultural pendulum - swinging between being Indian, Pakistani, Muslim, Australian - I was confused. Political Islam, in the form of the Afghan jihad, provided some certainty and direction, even if it meant potentially cutting my life short.". (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
69 Dead In Indonesian Plane Crash May 20, 2009
"One of three Afghan civilians wounded when U.S. contractors shot at them in an incident in early May died of his wounds Sunday....contractors involved in the shooting have left the country...[Contractors worked for Paravant]...Paravant's parent company, Xe." ... Apparently, they are now continuing with their "functions" in Afghanistan. (CBS News)
Bob Gates, America's Secretary Of War May 20, 2009
60 Minutes: Secretary Of Defense Robert Gates Talks About Iraq, Afghanistan And His Job ... Defense Secretary Robert Gates discusses the war in Afghanistan in a candid and wide-ranging interview with Katie Couric, who accompanied him to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan ... 00000646 (CBS) He calls himself the "Secretary of War." Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense for both Presidents Bush and Obama is the man in charge of winding down the war in Iraq and building up the war in Afghanistan. (CBS News -- 60 minutes)
Mullen: 2 Years To Turn Tide In Afghan War May 19, 2009
The U.S. coalition blamed Taliban militants for causing what Afghan officials say are dozens of civilian deaths during a prolonged battle that included American airstrikes ... (AP) The top U.S. military officer warned Monday that the deaths of Afghan civilians caught up in American combat operations could cripple President Barack Obama's revamped strategy for the seven-year-old war ... "We cannot succeed ... in Afghanistan by killing Afghan civilians.". (CBS News -- World)
Heart of Islamic Extremism Is in Pakistan May 19, 2009
Barely born, AFPAK, the acronym for Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single theater of operations, already has been displaced ... From independence in 1947 to the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan in 1989, Pakistan and the United States were close allies ... Hardly surprising that the recent visit of President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan and Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai produced no hits, no runs, no errors, as one veteran player on the PAKAF team put it. (Newsmax)
Berlin woman tells of Afghan life May 19, 2009
The Berlin resident shared some of these experiences with a small group gathered at the Somerset senior center Monday evening (Somerset Daily American, PA)
tp_bulkViewer.add("itemnumcomments","id=z546e76652722bea6882575ae0076c9c0"); May 17, 2009
MILITARY: Pendleton unit ready for Afghanistan assignment : North County Times - Californian 05-17-2009 ... MILITARY: Pendleton unit ready for Afghanistan assignment ... Marine Lt. William McCollough will lead about 1,000 Camp Pendleton troops into Afghanistan in the coming days. (North County Times)
Intrepid tourists still venture to Afghanistan May 16, 2009
Afghan visitors leave the shrine of Khoja Abu Nasr Parsa on the ruins of the ancient city of Balkh, located outside the northern Afghan town of Mazar-i-Sharif, on March 22, 2009 ... BAMIYAN, Afghanistan - Only the hardiest, or foolhardiest, of tourists make it to Afghanistan these days ... Tourists have been an exotic sight in Afghanistan for years, but residents of a peaceful valley nestled in the heart of the country are hoping to revive a trade they see as their best hope of an escape from... (MSNBC -- Travel)
Photographer who took famous Saigon photo dies May 15, 2009
He covered the Moro rebellion in the Philippines and was among the horde of journalists who flew into Kabul to cover the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ... Afghan police arrested van Es, but the plane had taken off so they took him to the hotel ... Van Es' still photos, for Time magazine, were the first to capture Soviet tanks rolling into Afghanistan. (Yahoo News)
Afghan official: 22 Taliban killed in south May 15, 2009
Change of command in Afghanistan ... KANDAHAR, Afghanistan At least 22 Taliban militants, including three regional commanders, were killed overnight in fighting in southern Afghanistan, a provincial official said Friday ... Three Taliban chiefs in Nawzad and surrounding districts were among the dead, he said, adding that no Afghan forces died in the fighting. (Yahoo News)
Sex as a weapon: It's as old as Aristophanes May 14, 2009
It's also relevant to the dispute over the Shia Family Law in Afghanistan on husbands' rights. This is the inverse movement to the Kenyan women's one: The law, which president Hamid Karzai signed and then claimed he hadn't read and will revisit, assures Shia men in Afghanistan of their conjugal sexual rights ... It's as if the Afghan lawmakers foresaw a global tide of Lysistrata-like female chastity in violent places and decided to forestall it by making it illegal to go on a sex strike. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
Afghan women, US students learn at Holy Cross May 12, 2009
Yalda Faqeerzada (left) and Uzra Azizi, enrolled at Holy Cross, are among 47 Afghan women in the United States taking part in a program called The Initiative to Educate Afghan Women ... WORCESTER - Yalda Faqeerzada and Uzra Azizi defied Taliban rebels in the Khyber Pass in their native Afghanistan last summer, so determined were they to make their way here and begin four years of college at Holy Cross, courtesy of a program that educates Afghan women in the United States ... "We had a hall... (Boston Globe)
New general, new approach in Afghanistan May 12, 2009
The top U.S. general in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, has been asked to resign in a decision announced today by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen ... I suspect the breaking point may have been last week s bombing attack on Afghan villages in Farah province, which killed more than 140 civilians, if you believe the Afghan government ... And this most recent incident occurred just before Afghani President Hamid Karzai was scheduled to come to Washington for... (Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- Opinion)
US, Pakistan build military ties, one officer at a time May 12, 2009
Revived exchange program points up Pakistan's importance to US aims in Afghanistan ... Success in Afghanistan hinges on its neighbor, Pakistan, and on America's ability to leverage its on-again, off-again relationship with the government in Islamabad ... He says his country well understands the need to fight militants on its western border with Afghanistan. (Christian Science Monitor)
McKiernan Leaves As U.S. Strategy Shifts May 12, 2009
CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric Looks At America's New Approach In Afghanistan ... New Strategy For Afghan War ... U.S. and international forces are trying a new approach in Afghanistan by spreading out their security presence. (CBS News)
Contractor gets probation for killing Afghan prisoner May 9, 2009
Former US contractor in Afghanistan given probation, fine for killing prisoner. An undated photo shows the military contractor, Don Ayala (right), with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan ... - A former military contractor was sentenced yesterday to probation for shooting and killing a handcuffed prisoner in Afghanistan. (Boston Globe)
American gets probation in Afghan killing May 9, 2009
He was military contractor in Afghanistan when colleague was set on fire. Military contractors Don Ayala and Paula Loyd served together in Afghanistan ... Loyd was killed by an Afghan, and Ayala shot the man to death minutes later. (MSNBC -- Crime)
Pakistan's Top Gun Obsession May 8, 2009
Suicide bomber demolishes mosque near Afghan border packed with worshippers attending Friday prayers ... And can Washington ever really get tough and deny Pakistan something it wants without risking a loss of cooperation in the effort to stabilize Afghanistan and maintain Pakistan as a Western-aligned ally ... In 1981, shortly after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, the United States pulled Pakistan close with the sale of 40 F-16s. (CBS News)
Students explore world at Ike Elementary May 8, 2009
Near a plate of samsa made of chicken, potatoes and onions, kindergartner Richard Gash, dressed in Afghan clothing, notes Kyrgyzstan's greeting and draws the country's flag in his passport during International Day May 1 at Eisenhower Elementary School. Lamp photo by Prudence Siebert. (Leavenworth Lamp, KS)
How can the Taleban be defeated? May 7, 2009
US President Barack Obama has held a security summit with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts and said that they are united in the goal of defeating al-Qaeda ... Dozens of civilians are thought to have died in US air strikes on Taleban targets in Afghanistan on Tuesday ... How important is it that the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan work together. (BBC News)
Supporters of gay marriage show arrogance May 7, 2009
conservativeUS wrote on May 6, 2009 12:22 PM:" where is the liberal uproar over the hundreds of dead in afghanistan?you liberals would have been screaming for bush's life and yet your obama gets a free pass over what he promised he would end.blood on his hands, and to add to his abortion lives. " ... hundreds of us soldiers and afghan civilians were recently killed and these liberals dont care. (Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier)
Scots election anniversary marked May 6, 2009
US Afghan strikes 'killed dozens. Scientists pinpoint fats danger. (BBC News -- UK)
Should people be barred from the UK? May 6, 2009
Page last updated at 05:01 GMT, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 06:01 UK. Should people be barred from the UK. (BBC News)
much more. Tuesday, May 05, 2009 May 5, 2009
According to the Senate report, in an Oct. 2, 2002, memo they prepared a list of harsh interrogation techniques that ended up influencing interrogation policy not only at Guantnamo, but also in Afghanistan and Iraq ... He spent the winter of 2001 at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan at a time when some of the earliest interrogations were occurring ... g., isolation, sensory deprivation, "disruption of sleep and biorhythms") pressures "may be very effective in inducing learned helplessness and... (Salon)
The films that highlighted this year's Tribeca May 5, 2009
"Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi," about the kidnapping of an Afghan hired by foreign journalists, was acquired by HBO, and its director, Ian Olds, won the prize for best new documentary filmmaker. PBS bought Spike Lee's "Passing Strange" a documentary of the rock musical by the same name. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Afghan mountains separate Army lovebirds May 4, 2009
1st Lt. Troy Yoho, 25, and 1st Lt. Kelsey Tardieau, 24, are involved in the U.S. military's extensive counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan ... ORGUN-E, Afghanistan -- A 21-minute helicopter flight apart in the dusty mountains of eastern Afghanistan wasn't what Troy Yoho and Kelsey Tardieau had in mind when the couple arranged to be deployed together in Task Force Yukon (the 4th Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division) from their base at Fort Richardson ... 1st Lt. Tardieau, an intelligence... (Anchorage Daily News)
TRUDY RUBIN: Push back against Taliban gains May 3, 2009
Now he commands the Frontier Corps (FC), a 60,000-man paramilitary force that has taken the brunt of the fighting against militants in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan ... The Frontier Corps is assigned to maintain law and order in the tribal areas and patrol the long border with Afghanistan ... Over 30 years, dating back to the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, thousands of Islamic militants, including members of al-Qaida, have flowed into these areas. (Fresno Bee -- Opinion)
Hot Docs film reviews May 1, 2009
Afghan Star Havana Marking (Afghanistan/U.K.) ... Democracy is alive and well in Afghanistan at least when it comes to voting for the most popular pop star on an American Idol-style television show, Afghan Star ... This is how 24-year-old Ajmal Naqshbandi describes his job as a fixer, someone who helps foreign journalists negotiate, translate and arrange interviews in Afghanistan. (Globe and Mail)
Afghan studies expert to speak at Chadron Apr 30, 2009
A university administrator with experience in Afghanistan studies and culture will present a free public program Thursday, April 30, at Chadron State College ... Gouttierre is dean of International Studies and Programs at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska Medical Center and is director for the Center of Afghanistan Studies at UNO.. (Rapid City Journal, SD)
Polis: A tale of two wars Apr 29, 2009
He says it seems the mission in Afghanistan could last years. He says we face daunting odds in trying to bring Afghan society to modernity ... Jared Polis says he spent Congress' "spring break" on a trip to visit troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. (CNN -- US)
Pashto poetry and pain Apr 28, 2009
Afghan poets tackle scars of war ... The violence in Afghanistan and the Pashtun-inhabited parts of Pakistan is making itself felt on the cultural and social life of the Pashtuns ... Pashtuns (also known as Pathans, Pakhtuns or Afghans) are increasingly writing poems about the "ill fate" of their nation and the new dynamics of violence in their homeland. (BBC News -- South Asia)
Speaker tests worth of U.S. Apr 28, 2009
Regarding the American troops currently in Afghanistan, D'Souza said he had heard someone say that America had only moved the Afghan people from the 11th century to the 14th, not the 21st. "That's progress," D'Souza said. (Daily Collegian, PA)
Disarray on Taleban threat Apr 28, 2009
Page last updated at 11:32 GMT, Friday, 24 April 2009 12:32 UK. Disarray on Pakistan Taleban threat. (BBC News -- South Asia)
Craigslist: Classified For Murder? Apr 28, 2009
he's expanding the Afghan war because he's a pacifist. Just call it what it is and spare us the obfuscation. (CBS News -- 48 Hours)
How's he doing? Barack Obama's 100-day report card Apr 28, 2009
He has also proposed a big spending programme on infrastructure projects, and pledged 4,000 troops to train Afghan security forces ... Afghanistan *** : He could be doing worse. (BBC News -- Americas)
"OUTCASTS UNITED" Apr 28, 2009
It seems a group of local drug dealers, accustomed to lounging on the steps in a tenement complex, refused to make way for an Afghan woman, until the woman's son informed them that this was a sign of disrespect in their culture. Afterward, notes St. John approvingly, "whenever the young man's mother walked down the stairs, the men quietly stood, cupped their joints in their hands, and stepped aside.". (New York Post -- Opinions)
Reiterating Pakistan`s commitment to fight terrorism, President Asif Ali Zardari urged the world on Friday to extend full support Apr 18, 2009
He said the heroin and Kalashnikov culture had resulted from the Cold War and the Afghan jihad, adding this was still hurting Pakistan. He thanked the government of Japan for hosting the donors conference, hoping it would help overcome the economic challenges faced by Pakistan. (Daily Times, Pakistan)
Afghanistan's controversial law emboldens women's rights activists Apr 17, 2009
Afghan Shiite in Kabul women carry a banner that reads "We want a law, but democratic one," during a march Wednesday against a new marriage law that would require women to get their husband's permission before leaving the house and would legitimize marital rape. Some 1,000 Afghans swarmed the demonstration of 300 women, pelting them with small stones as police struggled to keep the two groups apart ... Afghanistan's controversial law emboldens women's rights activists. (Christian Science Monitor -- USA)
Terror Monitor: U.S. Al Qaeda: West On Brink Of Failure Apr 15, 2009
"Obamas own statements contradict his claims," Gadahn asserted, as he referred to the U.S. president's assurances to Israel that Jerusalem will remain its undivided capital, and his pledge to increase U.S. forces in Afghanistan ... The video contained excerpts from statements released previously by other al Qaeda leaders, such as al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al Zawahri, al Qaedas leader in Afghanistan Mustafa Abu al Yazid and al Qaeda ideologue Abu Yahya al Libi ... It... (CBS News -- World)
Taliban Gains New Stronghold In Pakistan Apr 15, 2009
America's first strike against terrorism focuses on Afghanistan ... But this isn't happening in Afghanistan - the country most associated with the Taliban - but next door, in ... Now Washington worries it will become a militant stronghold for attacking U.S. positions in Afghanistan. (CBS News)
The triumph of tribalism Apr 14, 2009
com: Tribalism triumphs in Afghanistan ... Tribalism triumphs in Afghanistan ... With every fibre of my feminist Muslim being, I believed in our Afghanistan mission. (Globe and Mail)
Tribalism triumphs in Afghanistan Apr 14, 2009
With every fibre of my feminist Muslim being, I believed in our Afghanistan mission ... On Sunday, the Taliban assassinated another Afghan women's rights activist ... It happened only days after the world learned of yet one more anti-female statute that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had signed into law. (Globe and Mail)
ABCs Jake Tapper Apr 11, 2009
On to Nato and the next big objective: to persuade the same European evasion experts that America, Britain and Canada should no longer bear the brunt of the Afghan struggle virtually unassisted ... So The One retired triumphant, having secured a massive contribution of 5,000 extra troops - all of them non-combatant, of course - which must really have put the wind up the Taliban, at the prospect of 5,000 more infidel cooks and bottle-washers swarming into the less hazardous regions of... (Harper's Magazine)
Why Europe Won’t Fight Apr 11, 2009
No one will say this publicly, but the true fact is we are all talking about our exit strategy from Afghanistan ... Afghanistan is to be America s war ... During what the Times called a fractious meeting, NATO agreed to send 3,000 troops to provide security during the elections and 2,000 to train Afghan police. (The American Conservative)
Letter: Obama’s adoption of Afghan war a mistake (April 9) Apr 9, 2009
Letter: Obama s adoption of Afghan war a mistake (April 9). With the dispatch of several thousand troops to Afghanistan, President Obama has assumed ownership of the war ... Our stated aim is to establish stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan and deny the terrorists a base of operations. (Corvallis Gazette Times, OR)
Changing face of newspapers Apr 8, 2009
Inside, the paper contains large amounts of foreign news, including a page-four lead about Muslim rebels killing 100 troops of the Afghan Communist government ... Afghan migrants yearn for better life over border. (BBC News -- Technology)
Talking Points Apr 8, 2009
Yes, Obama did get some European money and training personnel for Afghanistan, but no combat troops, which are badly needed to inhibit the Taliban ... Right now, only Canada, Great Britain, Australia and Poland are aggressively fighting terrorists in Afghanistan ... So Europe is content to allow the Taliban a chance to once again brutalize Afghans and give sanctuary to Al Qaeda. (Fox News)
Obama to Muslim world: US not at war with Islam Apr 7, 2009
Turkey also has important leverage with both Afghanistan and Pakistan and has served as a broker between Israel and several Arab states ... Turkey maintains a small military force in Afghanistan, part of the NATO contingent working with U.S. troops to beat back the resurgent Taliban and deny al-Qaida a safe haven along lawless stretches of the Afghan-Pakistan border ... It has offered to help the U.S. train and support Afghan security forces. (Muscatine Journal, IO)
Afghan president orders marital law review Apr 5, 2009
Afghan president orders review of marital law - USATODAY.com ... Afghan president orders review of marital law ... KABUL (AP) The Afghan president ordered a review of a new law that critics say makes it legal for men to rape their wives, responding to criticism from around the world that included sharp comments from President Obama. (USA Today)
Obama, NATO pressure Karzai over law on women Apr 5, 2009
Obama denounces Afghan law on women as "abhorrent". NATO leaders say law could hurt their Afghan mission ... (Incorporates earlier AFGHANISTAN-WOMEN/BRITAIN). (AlertNet)
QUEEN IPOD LOADED WITH OBAMA SPEECHES Apr 2, 2009
The wars in Iraq and Afghan. could go well or terrible, good or bad, yet everything else stayed on track. (The Drudge Report)
Play review: 'The Kite Runner' true to source Apr 1, 2009
Though David Ira Goldstein stages the action with cinematic grace, using Vicki Smith's effortlessly sliding sets and lovely kite montages to create a seamless flow and some striking tableaux, there's little here of the immersion in Afghan sights and customs that is one of the novel's most fascinating aspects ... Gregor Paslawsky and Demosthenes Chrysan contribute intense cameos when Amir returns to Afghanistan to pay his honor-debt to Hassan. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Netanyahu Vows Continued Peace Efforts Apr 1, 2009
Israel's Incoming Prime Minister Says He Will Seek "Full Peace" With Arab And Muslim World. JERUSALEM, March 31, 2009. (CBS News)
Can Obama Turn Popularity Into Results? Apr 1, 2009
Now, Mr. Obama's about to embark on a return trip to Europe, his first overseas trip since taking office, and his sales pitch has shifted due to the current conditions the global economic meltdown and the war in Afghanistan ... To take advantage of the Europeans' high regard for him and to persuade them to follow his lead on rescuing the economy and to offer more help with the war in Afghanistan ... But the main item on the agenda at the NATO summit is for the president to gin up support for... (CBS News)
Obama says he'll fight for tax cut Mar 30, 2009
On Afghanistan, Mr. Obama said his plan, announced Friday, to dispatch an additional 4,000 troops to train Afghan soldiers, in addition to 17,000 troops he already approved, means the U.S. is finally putting the right resources into that conflict ... President Obama took ownership of the war in Afghanistan on Friday, announcing a stronger and smarter strategy to defeat the terrorists and promote regional stability. (Insight on the News)
Activists paint grim picture of U.S. in Afghanistan Mar 30, 2009
PRINCETON TOWNSHIP -- A room full of eager learners took a crash course on Afghanistan yesterday that included lectures, a slideshow, a recommended reading list and even a pop quiz. They found out Afghanistan is half as big as Iraq, that 47 languages are spoken there, and only Great Britain has successfully oc cupied the country ... The Soviet Union sent 250,000 troops there starting in 1978 and still failed; the U.S. has had ground troops in Afghanistan for eight years; and so far 671 U.S.... (NJ.com -- Times)
