US Soldier Battles Taliban in Pink Boxers

Second American is still missing, believed drowned

(AP) - Military divers have found the body of a US soldier who disappeared last week with a fellow soldier as the two tried to recover airdropped supplies from a river in western Afghanistan. The two Americans, from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, went missing Nov. 4 in Badghis province, a remote area that borders Turkmenistan. Local police say the two were swept away by the river. The second American has not been found. More»

(NEWSER) - The Taliban says it will execute a captured American soldier if the US does not withdraw from two districts in southeastern Afghanistan, the Voice of America reports. A Taliban rep said today the soldier is healthy but will be killed if operations in Paktika and Ghazni continue. The fate of the soldier, whom the military has classified as "believed captured," will be decided by Taliban leader Mullah Omar, the AP adds. More»

(NEWSER) - A US soldier who took up the fight against the Taliban sans pants and clad in “I Love NY” pink boxers got a vote of his support from the nation’s defense chief last night, reports Reuters. “Any soldier who goes into battle against the Taliban in pink boxers and flip-flops has a special kind of courage,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a New York speech. More»

Attack brings year's death toll to 5,400

(AP) - A suicide car bomber struck a US military convoy passing through a crowded livestock market in eastern Afghanistan today, killing an American soldier and at least eight civilians and wounding an additional 74 civilians. Yesterday, two British troops were also killed when their vehicle was struck by an explosive while they were on a patrol with Afghan security forces in southern Afghanistan. More»

Gen. John Allen reads Sgt. William Stacey's reasons for fighting

(NEWSER) - US troops in Afghanistan marked Memorial Day with the words of a fallen comrade—one of at least 1,851 Americans to have died in the war. Marine Gen. John Allen, the leading US commander in Afghanistan, read a letter penned by Marine Sgt. William Stacey, killed by homemade explosives in January at age 23. The letter to Stacey's family reflected on his reasons for fighting in case he died. More»