Phillip Walter Wellman

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.

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.

A recently freed Taliban prisoner waits to be transported from Bagram prison in May 2020. The Taliban have maintained close ties with al-Qaida despite striking a deal with the U.S. that would require them to disavow the group in exchange for a U.S. troop withdrawal, the Defense Department said.<br>Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes

Taliban still working with al-Qaida as US looks to exit Afghanistan, DOD says

The Taliban remain closely tied with al-Qaida, despite assuring the U.S. they would disavow the terrorist group in exchange for a withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, the Defense Department said this week.

NATO Resolute Support service members and civilians wait for lunch at a dining facility in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 10, 2020. A defense Department IG report determined that U.S. Forces-Afghanistan did not seek full reimbursement for dining facility services provided to coalition partners at the facility during the January 2016 to September 2019 time period.<br>Resolute Support

Coalition partners in Afghanistan got years of free lunches because of military mix-up, IG says

U.S. didn't charge 17 allied countries more than $9 million for meals served at NATO headquarters in Kabul from 2016 to 2019.

U.S. troops waiting for transport watch the Super Bowl at Bagram Air Field's rotary PAX terminal on Monday, Feb. 4, 2019. A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has introduced a bill that would require Congress to oversee further drawdowns of American troops from Afghanistan.<br>Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes

US lawmakers press for Congress to have ‘thorough oversight’ of Afghanistan troop drawdown

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has introduced a bill that would require Congress to oversee the drawdown of American troops from Afghanistan, amid concerns that too rapid a withdrawal would threaten U.S. and global security.

Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation, seen here in a screenshot from an online event with the U.S. Institute of Peace on June 24, 2020, says escalating violence is making it more difficult to for the government to begin peace talks with the Taliban.<br>YouTube/USIP

Rising violence could further stall peace talks, Afghan top official says

Peace talks with the Taliban are unlikely to start if violence remains high throughout Afghanistan, the head of the country’s reconciliation team said this week.

A young Afghan boy tends to a goat near a poppy field in Afghanistan's Kandahar province in April 2019. The Afghan War remains the world's deadliest conflict for children, according to a United Nations report.<br>Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes

Afghanistan conflict still the world’s deadliest for children, UN says

The war in Afghanistan was the world’s deadliest conflict for children last year, the fifth consecutive year the country has held that status, a United Nations report said.

A person walks past a mural near the fortified Green Zone in Kabul on Monday, June 15, 2020, dedicated to George Floyd and three Afghan migrants who died in Iran.<br>Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes

George Floyd mural painted near Kabul’s Green Zone

On a concrete blast wall topped with barbed wire near Kabul’s Green Zone, Afghan artists have painted a large mural depicting George Floyd next to an image dedicated to Afghan migrants who recently died in Iran.

Recently freed Taliban prisoners wait to be transported from Bagram prison on May 26, 2020. Afghanistan will complete a release of 5,000 prisoners shortly in a bid to advance the peace process, President Ashraf Ghani said Thursday.<br>Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes

Afghanistan vows to release more Taliban prisoners, setting stage for talks

Afghanistan will soon complete a prisoner release that the Taliban have demanded before starting peace talks to end nearly two decades of war, the country’s president said.

US conducts first airstrikes against Taliban since Eid cease-fire

The U.S. has conducted airstrikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan as the insurgent group attacked Afghan security forces, a spokesman for the U.S.-led NATO mission in the country said.

Zalmay Khalilzad, American special envoy for Afghan reconciliation, left, and the Taliban's top political leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar sign a peace deal in Doha, Qatar on Feb. 29, 2020. A United Nations report says the Taliban have not met the deal's requirement that they sever ties with al-Qaida, as outlined in the U.S-Taliban peace deal.<br>J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes

Taliban maintains ties with al-Qaida despite US peace deal, UN says

The Taliban haven’t severed ties with al-Qaida and may have strengthened them, despite pledging to stop cooperating with terrorist groups, the United Nations said in a report released this week.

A Taliban prisoner at Bagram prison on Tuesday, May 26, 2020, receives the equivalent of about $65 after having is thumb print taken and signing a pledge not to return to the battlefield. About 900 prisoners were released across the country Tuesday. <br>Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes

Kabul releases 900 Taliban prisoners as warring sides say they’re open to extended cease-fire

About 900 Taliban prisoners were set free from government prisons near Bagram Airfield and elsewhere in Afghanistan on Tuesday, a move that could further an embattled peace process, Afghan officials said.

Afghan soldiers patrol a road in northern Kunduz province on Tuesday, May 19, 2020.<br>Afghanistan defense ministry

Taliban, Afghan government announce three-day cease-fire to mark Eid holiday

The Taliban and the Afghan government have announced a three-day ceasefire across Afghanistan starting Sunday to mark the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

An Afghan soldier stands by a Humvee in northern Kunduz province on Tuesday, May 19, 2020, after the country?s defense ministry said local forces were successful at repelling Taliban advances throughout the night.<br>Afghanistan defense ministry

Civilian deaths and injuries rose in Afghanistan following peace deal, UN says

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan rose sharply last month, the United Nations said Tuesday, even as U.S. troops begin to withdraw under a deal with the Taliban meant to bring peace to war-weary Afghans.

Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, left, watches President Ashraf Ghani deliver a speech in Kabul on Feb. 29, 2020. <br>Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes

Afghan political rivals agree on power-sharing deal after months of bickering

According to a close aide to Abdullah Abdullah, the two sides have agreed to form a coalition government and Abdullah will lead the peace process with the Taliban militants.

Taliban attack leaves five civilians dead as Afghan military prepares to attack the insurgents

A Taliban truck bomb killed at least five civilians when it exploded near a military court in eastern Afghanistan.

A special forces soldier assigned to Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security speaks in a video statement released by the NDS on Wednesday, May 6, 2020, after a series of raids the night before. The soldier said five members of an Islamic State terror cell blamed for attacks on Bagram Airfield were killed in the raids.<br>

ISIS fighters who attacked Bagram killed in raids, Afghan forces say

Five members of an Islamic State terror cell that attacked the largest American base in Afghanistan earlier this year were killed in a series of operations by Afghan commandos in and around Kabul, Afghan officials said Wednesday.

A U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone taxis on the runway at Kandahar Airfield in November 2017. The U.S. military said this week that it will no longer release data on the number of airstrikes it conducts in Afghanistan, including those carried out using drones.<br>Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes

Information restrictions on Afghan War deepen as military withholds American airstrike data

The U.S. military has stopped releasing information about airstrikes it conducts in Afghanistan, reversing a longtime policy amid a spike in violence in recent weeks, officials said.

John Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction attends a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2016. Sopko said Thursday, April 30, 2020, that the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan has stopped releasing information on enemy attacks amid a spike in violence that followed February's U.S.-Taliban peace deal.<br>Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes

US-led coalition in Afghanistan withholds more information from public as violence intensifies, watchdog says

The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan is for the first time withholding information about enemy attacks in Afghanistan from the public, as violence rises in the country and the U.S. begins drawing down its troops, a U.S. government watchdog said.

Soldiers with the 4th Security Force Assistance Brigade conduct medical training Feb. 27, 2020. The 4th SFAB, based at Fort Carson, Colo., is due to deploy to Afghanistan in the fall.<br>U.S. Army

Army stands up adviser brigade ahead of Afghanistan deployment

The latest Army unit created to train and advise foreign forces has been activated ahead of a fall deployment to Afghanistan.