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President Barack Obama left Afghanistan on Wednesday, targeting a foreigners' housing compound with a suicide car bomb and militants disguised as women in an assault that killed at least seven people. It was the second major assault in Kabul in less than three weeks and highlighted the Taliban's continued ability to strike in the heavily guarded capital even when security had been tightened for Obama's visit and Wednesday's anniversary of the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan. Obama arrived at Bagram Air Field late Tuesday, then traveled to Kabul by helicopter for a meeting with President...

President Barack Obama said on Monday the massacre of 16 villagers by a U.S. soldier raises his determination to get American troops out of Afghanistan, while a U.S. official said the accused staff sergeant previously had suffered traumatic brain injury. Sunday's shootings triggered angry calls from Afghans for an immediate American exit. Obama said there should not be a "rush to the exits" for U.S. forces who have been fighting in Afghanistan since 2001 and that the drawdown must be carried out in a responsible way. The accused U.S. Army staff sergeant walked off his base in the southern province...

• Outrage over Karzai endorsement of edict on womens rights • President endorsed and promoted Ulema Council edict • Significant, recent, advances for women at extreme riskHuman rights groups are up in arms about Afghan President Karzai's very public support this week for a crackdown on womens' rights in his country. The move by the Afghanistan government, which curiously coincided with International Women's Day, has dismayed many who have applauded the advancement of women in Afghanistan in the years since the U.S.-led invasion of 2001 which toppled the Taliban. The head of the Save the Children Fund Jasmine Whitbread...

Results from new poll of GOP primary voters from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling: Newt Gingrich (28 percent), Herman Cain (25 percent), Mitt Romney (18 percent), Rick Perry (6 percent), Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul (5 percent), Jon Huntsman (3 percent), Rick Santorum and Gary Johnson (1 percent). One particularly interesting note from PPP: “There’s reason to think that if Cain continues to fade, Gingrich will continue to gain. Among Cain’s supporters 73 percent have a favorable opinion of Gingrich to only 21 percent with a negative one.”

I'm James Kvaal, the new policy director for President Obama's 2012 campaign. You'll be hearing from me occasionally about the President's policies and those of our opponents, and how we can all help bring about change for our country. Yesterday, we accomplished one major change when President Obama announced that all American troops in Iraq will be home before the holidays. With that action, the Iraq war will end. And one of the President's central promises will have been kept. Both as Americans and as supporters of President Obama, this is something for us to reflect on, and be proud...

Exposed: Ron Paul’s Foreign Policy Ignorance and Naivety Did it never occur to the congressman that al-Qaeda could be, um, lying when he regurgitates their talking points? September 15, 2011 by Raymond Ibrahim Among other qualities, a good presidential candidate must be knowledgeable and able to think outside the box; equally important, he must not be naive or gullible — certainly not swallow everything the enemy says hook, line, and sinker.During the recent Republican candidate debate, Congressman Ron Paul exhibited his ignorance and gullibility when the panel was asked: “Do you plan to decrease Defense spending, to balance spending, or...

Congressional Democrats are leading the criticism of President Barack Obama's plan for withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, arguing that his timeline for bringing 33,000 home by next summer is too slow. Some Republicans worry that the drawdown will be too fast, however, and the nation's top military officer said Thursday the plan is riskier than he originally considered prudent. An initial drawdown of 10,000 troops is expected to take place in two phases, with 5,000 troops coming home this summer and 5,000 more by the end of the year. An additional 20,000-plus are to follow by September 2012.

NEAR THE IRAQ-KUWAIT BORDER — The last U.S. combat troops were crossing the border into Kuwait on Thursday morning, bringing to a close the active combat phase of a 7½-year war that overthrew the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein, forever defined the presidency of George W. Bush and left more than 4,400 American service members and tens of thousands of Iraqis dead. The final convoy of the Army’s 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Lewis, Wash., were about to enter Kuwait shortly after 1:30 a.m. (6:30 p.m. Wednesday ET), carrying the last of the 14,000 U.S. combat forces...

THE HAGUE, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Dutch troops ended Sunday it' s four years mission in Afghanistan and handed over the responsibility in the Afghan province of Uruzgan to the U.S. and Australia, makes the Netherlands the first NATO member to leave Afghanistan. According to the Dutch Defense Ministry, the Dutch troops had 24 casualties and 140 injuries during the last four years. "But we have brought the people of Uruzgan major improvements." "It hurts because it marks the end of the Dutch leading role in Afghanistan, I want to say goodbye to the people here we have intensive...

U.S. (ChattahBox) – Be prepared for more annoying copy/paste ‘Vote Ron Paul’ comments on every forum, message board, media site, and news source. Ron Paul has announced that he is official considering a 2012 run for president, CNN reports. The Texas Republican Rep. has run in the past, and he hasn’t gotten far. Though having a small group of extremely loyal supporters, most of which are Independent or Libertarian voters, he is unable to garner enough support for a GOP nomination. As for running on a third party docket, that has never gone well for any politician. It is doubtful...

Senate Votes to Condemn MoveOn for Ad Attacking General Petraeus Friday , September 21, 2007 WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a measure condemning MoveOn.org for a newspaper ad it ran last week attacking Gen. David Petraeus. The move came as President Bush accused Democrats of cowering to the liberal political action group. The measure passed in a 72-25 vote, with none of the Democratic presidential candidates supporting it. Sponsored by Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, never one to shy away from forcing Democrats to go on record on politically sticky issues, the amendment to the defense authorization...

The White House is clinging to President Obama's ill-conceived pledge to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in July 2011, regardless of how the war is going at the time. In dogmatically standing by that pledge, Mr. Obama is virtually guaranteeing he will preside over America's second lost war. The issue arose last week during congressional testimony when Central Command commander Gen. David H. Petraeus said that withdrawing from Afghanistan would be "based on conditions" and that "July 2011 is not the date where we race for the exits." Au contraire, according to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. "The July...

PARIS – French police have banned a street party whose organizers planned to serve alcoholic cocktails and pork sausages in a heavily Muslim neighborhood of Paris, authorities said in a statement Tuesday.Police said the party, called "Sausage and Booze," could have been viewed as a provocation in the Goutte-d'Or neighborhood of northern Paris, where many Muslims pray on the streets because there are not enough mosques. Alcohol and pork are forbidden by Islam and the party had been slated for just after Friday's main Muslim weekly prayers.Organizers said they were holding the party to protest Islam's encroachment on traditional French...

Four days late, Barack Obama will interrupt his Hawaii vacation and finally speak to the nation today about the Christmas Day terror attack on America. However, he will be hiding from the American people and a media that might (might) ask uncomfortable questions by releasing a taped statement rather than making a live address.Reports are that he will tape his remarks at the nearby Marine base he has been using for his gym workouts, golfing and beach outings. Obama is staying at a $8.9 million estate that rents for an estimated $4000 per night. The White House Web site still...

COPENHAGEN — Has Copenhagen collapsed? That seems to be the growing sentiment inside the city's Bella Conference Center, where officials, environmentalists and even delegates to the international climate conference began streaming out Friday evening. What began with excitement and anticipation two weeks ago ended Friday night with disappointment and anger for thousands. "This is a sad day for my country," said Mama Konate, chief delegate from the West African nation of Mali. "We have worked very hard to reach this agreement. And now it seems over. Without a deadline, I don't know if we will ever finish." The conference, the...

Lockerbie bomber, Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi has been misplaced. The terrorist was released by Scottish authorities back in April in a show of great compassion for the barbarian who slaughtered 270 innocent citizens in 1988. Based on the assertion that Megrahi was suffering from prostate cancer and had one foot in the land of seventy-two virgins, the savage was exempted from doing any more prison time contingent upon his pinky swear that he would behave himself and die forthwith. Even Barack Obama took a non-nurturing posture regarding this particular terrorist. Miraculously, the terrorist is still getting around months later. He’s...

President Barack Obama's attempt to clarify his July 2011 deadline for a US departure from Afghanistan has resulted in more confusion and will dilute Pakistan's commitment to fighting the Taliban, Senator John McCain has told The Daily Telegraph. Sen McCain, who has led criticism in Washington over the President's most controversial element said that senior administration officials had only contradicted each other when trying to explain how the timeline for the beginning of a US troop withdrawal would work in practice. "Since the President made his speech we have not had further clarification, in fact we have had further contradiction,"...

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's national security advisor said on Friday the United States hopes Canadian troops will "stay as long as they possibly can" in Afghanistan and encouraged NATO nations to avoid "summary announcements of total withdrawal" from the war zone. But retired General James Jones did not say if Washington had asked Ottawa to extend the Canadian combat mission past July 2011, the date on which the U.S. expects to start withdrawing its forces. "Canada has made such a huge contribution to the mission in Afghanistan for so long that it is a charter member of the effort. So...

Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan. It seemed like a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric -- and left both dreamers and realists feeling distraught. One can hardly blame the West Point leadership. The academy commanders did their best to ensure that Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama's speech would be well-received. Just minutes before the president took the stage inside Eisenhower Hall, the gathered cadets were asked to respond "enthusiastically" to the speech. But it didn't help: The soldiers' reception was cool. One didn't have to...

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — Only a handful of the thousands of troops in the U.S. Marines' main base here thought it worth the effort to get out of bed for President Barack Obama's speech on Afghanistan, which began at 5:30 a.m. local time. In the workout gym — one of the few public places with TVs — only two Navy Seabee engineers were watching when the speech began, and they were sharply divided on the wisdom of the president's plan. "I didn't really hear a good reason," said E3 Steven Lewis, 23, of Boise, Idaho. "I think it's all gone...