Afghanistan News

GARDEZ KHALA, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan - Armored vehicles carrying U.S. and Afghan Special Forces arrive at this remote village and are greeted by dozens of angry men.

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. OBAMA TO PUSH NUCLEAR CUTS A senior administration official says Obama will propose reduce the U.S. and Russian stockpiles by up to one-third at a speech in Berlin.

In the hours following an announcement by the Taliban and the United States saying they were ready to begin peace talks, we received reminders of just how tenuous that situation is: On Tuesday night the Taliban said they fired two rockets near Bagram airbase in Kabul.

Trying to tamp down concerns about government over-reach, President Barack Obama on Wednesday defended U.S. Internet and phone surveillance programs as narrowly targeted efforts that have saved lives and thwarted at least 50 terror threats.

Authorities say a woman was held captive by three people who forced her to do housework, raided her bank account and menaced her with snakes.

G8 LEADERS SAY TAX AUTHORITIES SHOULD AUTOMATICALLY SHARE INFORMATION "TO FIGHT THE SCOURGE OF TAX EVASION" AND MAKE IT HARDER FOR COMPANIES TO "SHIFT THEIR PROFITS ACROSS BORDERS TO AVOID TAXES" * HEAD OF THE NATL SECURITY AGENCY TELLS CONGRESS THAT THE GOVT'S SWEEPING SURVEILLANCE PROGRAMS HAVE THWARTED SOME 50 TERRORIST PLOTS AROUND THE WORLD, ... (more)

General Keith Alexander said the NSA's surveillance programs have helped stop more than 50 potential strikes since the 9/11 attacks.

In a major breakthrough, the Taliban on Tuesday announced the opening of its office in Doha, which would hold peace talks with the Afghan government and separate direct parleys with US that could boost Afghan reconciliation process after 12 years of war.

A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of hundreds of mourners attending a funeral in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing 27 people.

An Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 could learn on Tuesday whether a judge will grant him more time to prepare as he represents himself in the military trial.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced at a ceremony on Tuesday that his country's armed forces are taking over the lead for security nationwide from the U.S.-led NATO coalition.

A large bomb exploded in the Afghan capital on Tuesday, killing at least three people on the day the international military coalition hands over responsibility for fighting the Taliban insurgency to the nascent national army and police they have been training.

"Afghanistan MASH units are in GREAT NEED of sheets!" said the Facebook page created to help.

Senator Bob Corker says he's holding up $75 million in U.S. assistance to Afghanistan until he gets answers from the Obama administration about alleged cash payments from the CIA to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

In the chapel of the Serenity funeral home, Xavier Rejano peered into the coffin at his murdered father and made a promise no child his age should have to keep.

Roadside bomb attacks killed 10 Afghan soldiers ahead of the handover this week of full security responsibility for the country, the Defence Ministry said on Monday, dpa reported.

A legal requirement that women make up at least a quarter of all provincial elected officials was quietly removed by conservative male parliamentarians, officials said, the latest in a series of decisions undermining advances in women's rights in Afghanistan.

An Afghan police chief survived a suicide car bomb attack on his convoy that wounded three officers early Monday, officials said.

A former hitman who admits killing 20 people is expected to take the stand at the trial of reputed gangster James "Whitey" Bulger .

Story by Sgt. Jessi McCormick Capt. Brad Losner, a Marietta native and a graduate of Sprayberry High School, arrived in theater in November 2012.