Phillip Walter Wellman

Army Pfc. Agnieszka Maslanka speaks with troops at a base in Afghanistan on Nov. 25, 2020. Thanksgiving dinner will be takeout only at bases across the country as part of measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
<br>Resolute Support

Service members celebrating a ‘takeout’ Thanksgiving in Afghanistan

Thanksgiving is different this year for troops deployed to Afghanistan.

Airmen with the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, Task Force Reaper, descend a hillside past an old earth building near Bagram Airfield in 2012. Media reports indicate President Donald Trump will reduce the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to 2,500 by mid-January.

<br>Ken Scar/U.S. Army

Premature US exit could embolden terrorists, Afghans warn

Reports this week of potential U.S. troop cuts met with warnings from Afghanistan security officials that a rapid drawdown would embolden terrorists and hamper Afghan military efforts to fight its enemies.

Said Noor, right, is commended while serving as a soldier in the Army. Noor is seeking U.S. asylum for his family in Afghanistan, saying their security is at risk.<br>Courtesy photo

Army veteran seeks help as asylum petitions for family in Afghanistan languish

An Afghan-born U.S. Army veteran has turned to the military and online communities for help after years of waiting for officials to act on asylum applications he filed for his family in Afghanistan.

215th Corps soldiers of the Afghan National Army graduate from their training program in Helmand Province in in October 2020.

<br>Afghan Defense Ministry

Insurgent attacks jeopardize peace efforts and US troop withdrawal in Afghanistan, watchdog agency says

American officials consistently have said U.S. troop reductions in Afghanistan are conditional on whether the Taliban fulfill commitments they made under a withdrawal deal.

An Afghan flag flies at half-staff over Kabul on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, as the country mourned 22 people, most of them students, who were killed when Islamic State gunmen stormed Kabul University a day earlier.<br>Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes

‘No place is safe now’: Afghans in mourning after 22 killed in attack on Kabul University

On a landmark hill overlooking the Afghan capital, a national flag fluttered at half-staff in the breeze, one of many around Kabul that had been lowered Tuesday to mourn 22 people who were killed in an attack by Islamic State militants on Kabul University.

Opium poppies grow near a road in Afghanistan's Kandahar province on April 9, 2019. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan said in a report this week the U.S. has lost roughly $19 billion to waste, fraud and abuse in Afghanistan since 2009, including in counternarcotics programs.<br>Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes

Fraud, waste and abuse cost US $19 billion in one decade in Afghanistan

Most of the nearly $19 billion of U.S. money lost in a decade of war in Afghanistan is attributed to failed counternarcotics and stabilization programs, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said in a report published Tuesday.

In a July 14, 2018 photo, an Afghan National Army soldier stands at attention during 2nd Kandak, 2nd Brigade's Operational Readiness Cycle graduation ceremony at Camp Shorabak in Helmand province. Hundreds have died after the Taliban launched an offensive in the area in mid-October, leading the U.S. to conduct airstrikes against the militants, officials and news reports said on October 14, 2020.<br>Luke Hoogendam/U.S. Marine Corps

Taliban attacks in Helmand boost Afghans’ fears about a hasty US pullout

A deadly Taliban offensive in Afghanistan’s Helmand province has drawn a crescendo of accusations that the militant group is openly flouting a deal under which all American troops could leave the country by next spring, and jeopardizing month-old peace talks with the government.

A checkpoint guarding a highway outside Lashkar Gah, in Helmand province, April 16, 2019. Hundreds have died after the Taliban launched an offensive in the area in mid-October, leading the U.S. to conduct airstrikes against the militants, officials and news reports said on October 14, 2020.
<br>J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes

Afghan troops killed as helicopters crash amid Taliban offensive in Helmand

Nine Afghan troops were killed when two helicopters collided in Helmand province, where fierce fighting between government forces and the Taliban has forced thousands from their homes and led to targeted airstrikes by the U.S. against the militant group.

An Afghan army outpost watches over a highway in Helmand province in April 2019. U.S. Forces in Afghanistan conducted several airstrikes in Helmand province over two days in October 2020 in defense of Afghan troops who had come under attack from the Taliban.<br>J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes

US strikes Taliban in Afghanistan's Helmand province

American forces launched airstrikes in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province after Afghan forces there came under attack from the Taliban, a U.S. military official said Monday.

Paratroopers assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division celebrated the Christmas Holiday on Kandahar Airfield, December 25, 2019. President Donald Trump said in a tweet Wednesday that U.S. troops should withdraw from Afghanistan by Christmas.

<br>Thomas Cieslak/U.S. Army

Trump tweet calls for troops in Afghanistan to be home by Christmas

The U.S. military in Afghanistan did not comment after being asked whether Trump’s tweet represented a change in policy.

Sgt. Bajun Mavalwalla, left, and his father Capt. Bajun Mavalwalla, met in Afghanistan in 2012, when both were deployed to the country.<br>Twitter/Bajun Mavalwalla

Years after they fought in Afghanistan, US troops watch as their children deploy to the same war

“When we started this, people asked why I was going, and my response was, ‘So my sons don’t have to fight this war,’” said Master Sgt. Trevor deBoer, who has deployed to Afghanistan three times.

An Army carry team transfers the remains of Sgt. 1st Class Antonio R. Rodriguez, of Las Cruces, N.M., at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Feb. 10, 2020. As of Saturday, Rodriguez and Sgt. 1st Class Javier J. Gutierrez were the last Americans to die in combat in Afghanistan when they came under enemy fire in eastern Nangarhar province in February.

<br>Eric M. Fisher/U.S. Air Force

Afghan war sees its longest span without a US combat death

Sunday marks the longest span between U.S. combat deaths of the nearly 19-year war in Afghanistan, even while fighting continues between the Taliban and U.S.-allied Afghan government forces.

Soldiers from 10th Mountain Division sort testing kits for movement to forward operating base at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, April 24, 2020. A report released Monday, Sept. 15, 2020, by the Eurasia Group Foundation found that a majority of Americans prefer diplomacy over military intervention and want the U.S. to withdraw from Afghanistan.<br>Briaira Tolbert/U.S. Army

Americans want end to Afghanistan war and fewer foreign interventions, report says

Americans prefer diplomacy over military intervention, want negotiations with adversaries like the Taliban and would rejoin international agreements the country has pulled out of under President Donald Trump, a new report said.

Taliban attacks continue across Afghanistan as peace talks begin

The attacks in 18 Afghan provinces included an advance in northern Jowzjan province Sunday that forced hundreds of people to flee their homes, local officials said.

William Ruger, a conservative foreign policy expert who supports a full withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, has been nominated by President Donald Trump to be the next U.S. Ambassador to the country.
<br>Twitter/William Rugher

Trump nominates war skeptic as ambassador to Afghanistan

William Ruger is a foreign policy expert and veteran of the post-9/11 conflict who has repeatedly called for a full withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.

Residents look at the site in Kabul where a blast gouged a large hole in the street and destroyed several buildings on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. The explosion, which killed at least 10 civilians, targeted First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who was slightly injured.<br>Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes

Afghan vice president survives bomb attack that kills 10

Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh survived an assassination attempt Wednesday when a powerful bomb exploded in central Kabul as he drove past.

A U.S. Army C-47 Chinook helicopter is loaded with pallets of supplies, as the U.S.-led NATO mission in Afghanistan teamed up with local forces to deliver supplies to civilians affected by recent floods.<br>Twitter/Resolute Support

NATO coalition service members help flood victims in Afghanistan

Over 150 people were killed and hundreds of homes were destroyed in Afghanistan as of Friday after heavy rains earlier in the week caused flash floods in several central and eastern provinces, the government said.

Taliban prisoners are released from a government jail in Afghanistan on Thursday, August 13, 2020. The release was meant to pave the way for direct talks between the government and the Taliban aimed at ending the war.<br>Office of the National Security Council

Kabul starts releasing final group of Taliban prisoners to begin peace talks

The Afghan government has started releasing the final 400 Taliban prisoners the insurgent group wants as a condition for launching long-delayed peace talks, officials said.

A photo taken on July 8, 2020, and provided by one of the foreign contractors who have been stranded without pay at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, shows one of the sparse rooms they have been held in. One worker who has been confined for months after losing his job, is petitioning the U.S. military in Afghanistan to bring his former employer to court and help facilitate his release. <br>Courtesy

Worker stranded at Bagram base petitions military for freedom

A government contractor who’s been confined for months at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan has asked a U.S. military judge to bring his former employer to court and to order his immediate release.

An Afghan soldier exchanges a glance with a Taliban prisoner being released from government custody in May. While violence has spiked across the country in recent months, on Friday the Taliban and government forces announced a three-day cease-fire to mark the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha.<br>Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes

Three-day cease-fire begins in Afghanistan

The Taliban and Afghan government forces began a three-day cease-fire Friday, pausing violence that’s persisted since the U.S. signed a peace deal with the insurgents earlier this year.

Employees working for the U.S.-based Fluor Corporation at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the company’s HR office on base on July 12, 2020. The workers, mainly from Africa and Asia, say Fluor's pays them less than workers from the U.S. or Europe.

<br>Courtesy

African, Asian Bagram workers protest US contractor over allegations of pay discrimination

African and Asian workers at Bagram Airfield who recently demonstrated on base say their company pays them less than others for the same work because of where they’re from.

Trainee maintainers check a manual on the ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle outside the city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. Afghanistan's $174 million surveillance drone program has been plagued by issues, including inadequate training and missing equipment, a government watchdog agency said in a new report.<br>Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes

DOD doesn’t know if Afghan drone program was worth $174 million in US taxpayers’ money, report says

The U.S. military does not know what it got from a five-year effort to train and equip Afghan forces with surveillance drones to help target Taliban fighters in combat, a watchdog agency has found.

A photo taken July 8, 2020, and provided by one of the foreign contractors stranded without pay at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, shows one of the rooms they were living in. Many of the contractors were stuck at Bagram for months, after the U.S. company that brought them to Afghanistan to work on U.S. bases terminated their contracts.<br>Courtesy

COVID-19 restrictions leave contractors stranded for months without pay on Afghanistan base

“Red-badged” employees of U.S.-based Fluor Corp., which the military contracts with for services, have been confined to temporary lodging quarters at Bagram Airfield, several contractors said. One contractor took his own life after waiting two months to return home, colleagues said.