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A former senior policy adviser to President Barack Obama has been arrested and accused of child sex crimes in Great Britain. According to court documents, Rahamim 'Rami' Shy, a 46-year-old resident of New Jersey, stands accused of arranging a child sex offense, in addition to charges of possessing indecent images of children, according to a report from The Daily Mail. Shy, a US citizen, who lives in New Jersey, worked for the White House under president Barack Obama and secretary of state Hillary Clinton, was arrested in late February by Bedfordshire Police. He was charged the following day and appeared...

A former U.S. commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan, was the organizer of the July 15 military coup attempt in Turkey, sources said. General John F. Campbell was one of the top figures who organized and managed the soldiers behind the failed coup attempt in Turkey, sources close to ongoing legal process of pro-coup detainees said. Campbell also managed more than $2 billion money transactions via UBA Bank in Nigeria by using CIA links to distribute among the pro-coup military personnel in Turkey. The ongoing investigation unveiled that Campbell had paid at...

So the five Afghan soldiers who went missing from two separate U.S. military bases are now all accounted for and apparently headed back to their home country. Feel safer now? Don't. The Pentagon, State Department and Department of Homeland Security would like this story to be over and done. (Just like they wanted the White House "fence-jumper" story to be buried. But then we found out he didn't just jump the fence; he also overpowered a Secret Service agent, burst through the halls and invaded the East Room wielding a knife.) Here are my nagging questions about another hushed-up national...

A United States Army major general was killed on Tuesday by an Afghan soldier, shot at close range at a military training academy on the outskirts of Kabul, an official of the American-led coalition and Afghan media reported Tuesday. The officer was the highest-ranking member of the American military to die in hostilities in the Afghanistan war. The coalition official, who spoke on condition of anonymity and would not release the name of the major general, said an unspecified number of other service members of the American-led coalition and Afghan soldiers, including a senior Afghan commander were also shot. Their...

Six American soldiers have died in a crash involving an aircraft in southern Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) says. The cause of the crash in Zabul is unknown and an investigation is under way, Isaf said. Initial reports indicated there was "no enemy activity in the area" at the time of the incident, a short statement said. US defence department officials confirmed the victims´ nationalities. The deputy governor of Zabul province told the Associated Press news agency that a Nato helicopter had crashed in the remote district of Shajau. It was not clear if he was referring to...

The International Security Assistance Force did not identify the nationalities but the four were Americans killed by a bomb in the early hours of Sunday, U.S. defense officials said. Also in southern Afghanistan, a security guard shot a soldier dead in a separate incident, Reuters reported. It wasn't clear what nationalities of the guard and the soldier were.

Relatives of Navy SEALs who died when their helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan in August 2011 spoke at a press conference Thursday to condemn the Obama administration and claim that the U.S. military presented a Muslim cleric at the dead SEALs’ funeral who disparaged “sinners and infidels who are fodder for the hell fire.” FreedomWatch president Larry Klayman, the attorney representing the families, claimed at the press conference, which Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota and former Florida Republican Rep. Allen West also attended, that the U.S. military presented an anti-American speaker at the SEALs’ 2011 funeral.

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Five U.S. service members were killed when a helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan, a U.S. official said early Tuesday. The chopper went down Monday in the Daman district of southern Kandahar during a rain storm, said Jawid Faisal, a government spokesman for the province. There was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the incident, according to a statement by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The U.S. official, who did not want to be identified, did not offer additional information about the victims.

(Reuters) - Two explosions and shooting were heard at a U.S. base in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Sunday, a Reuters witness said. The Taliban said they carried out an attack on the compound and inflicted casualties. NATO officials were not immediately available for comment. Security forces surrounded the area. "We can confirm there have been multiple explosions in the vicinity of the Jalalabad airfield," the U.S.-led coalition said in a statemen. "Currently, ISAF officials are on the scene gathering facts, and as more information becomes available, we will release it as appropriate."

This is the most stunning and forceful letter I have read from the Afghanistan war. It was written in 2010 from Afghanistan by Colonel Harry Tunnell, the Brigade Commander of 5/2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team. After this letter, Colonel Tunnell was investigated and the normal smear campaign unfolded. Having been embedded with his Brigade in 2010, it became obvious that they were put into a no-win situation, with troops spread over several provinces in Afghanistan.

The U.S. military is ending a massive nation-building experiment in Afghanistan, shutting down teams that have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into roads, schools and administrative buildings in the country’s hinterlands, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. As part of an effort to improve the reach and reputation of Afghanistan’s central government, the U.S. and its allies set up over two dozen Provincial Reconstruction Teams around the country to dispense development aid and advise local officials. At least five of these have closed in recent months, and most of the remainder will shut down over the next year, the...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:Surprise, surprise. The Obama administration suspended most joint military operations with the American-trained Afghan army due to a string of "insider attacks" on U.S. and coalition forces. "These actions balance the tension of the recent video with force protection, while maintaining the momentum of the [Afghan training] campaign," said a statement released by NATO's International Security Assistance Force.It appears the Pentagon joins with the U.S. State Department in blaming a 13-minute anti-Islamic video with disrupting America's diplomatic and military alliances with our Muslim "friends" around the world."Now such partners will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and approved...

Two sources report similarly: "ALL OPERATIONS ARE CURRENTLY SUSPENDED. A 3 STAR MUST APPROVE ANY ACTIONS. ADDITIONALLY, ALL ISAF FORCES ARE TO SEPARATE FROM THEIR AFGHAN COUNTERPARTS." END

The United States will help the Afghan government recheck the entire 352,000-member Afghan security force in the wake of an upsurge of attacks against international troops by Afghans in uniform, the No. 2 U.S. general in the country said Wednesday. “We’re going back through, along with our partners up here at [the Afghan interior and defense ministries,] a lot of information out there to try to pull together patterns,” said Lt. Gen. James Terry, commander of ISAF Joint Command.(snip) The U.S./NATO strategy in Afghanistan rests on close partnering between international advisors and Afghan troops as the clock ticks toward the...

The senior commander for Special Operations forces in Afghanistan has suspended training for all new Afghan recruits until the more than 27,000 Afghan troops working with his command can be re-vetted for ties to the insurgency. The move comes as NATO officials struggle to stem the tide of attacks on NATO forces by their Afghan colleagues. The attacks, which have killed 45 troops this year, have forced NATO officials to acknowledge a painful truth: Many of the incidents might have been prevented if existing security measures had been applied correctly. But numerous military guidelines were not followed — by Afghans...

The uptick in attacks by Afghan security forces against coalition troops has hit home, with all troops at NATO headquarters and all bases across Afghanistan now ordered to carry loaded weapons around the clock, CNN learned Friday. Gen. John Allen, the NATO commander in Afghanistan, ordered the move, according to a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the orders. The order, made in recent days, was divulged amid two more so-called green-on-blue or insider attacks Friday. An Afghan police officer opened fire on U.S. troops in Farah province in southwestern Afghanistan, killing two service members, the NATO-led command said. Two...

(CNN)– A NATO helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan Thursday killed at least 11 people, including three Americans, the alliance’s International Security Assistance Force said. The Associated Press is reporting that the Taliban is claiming that insurgents are responsible for the attack. ISAF said three were U.S. Forces-Afghanistan service members. The others include four ISAF service members, but it is not clear what their nationalities are. Three members of the Afghan National Security Forces and an Afghan civilian interpreter also died. The cause of the crash is under investigation, ISAF said in a news release.

Four aid workers kidnapped in northern Afghanistan last month have been freed by coalition forces, officials say. British nutritionist Helen Johnston, Kenyan medic Moragwa Oirere and two Afghans were rescued in Badakhshan province on Friday after being captured on 22 May, the Nato-led Isaf said. UK Prime Minister David Cameron called it an "extraordinarily brave, breathtaking" operation. Five hostage takers were killed during the rescue, Nato said The group - all employees of Switzerland-based aid group Medair - were making their way on horseback to the remote, mountainous province of Badakhshan, in north-eastern Afghanistan, when they were captured. A fifth...

One of Kyrgyzstan’s top defense officials told Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta on Tuesday that a crucial United States air base here should have “no military mission” when its lease expires a little more than two years from now. The request creates a potential hurdle to American plans to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014. Notes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other areas of conflict in the post-9/11 era. The base, officially called a transit center, is at the Manas airport close to the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, and has been a vital hub for troops and matériel moving in and out...

General John R. Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force, today issued the following statement: