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NEWS ABOUT: Special Forces

US Eyes Switch to Special Ops in Afghanistan

Focus to be on training, special missions, not policing

(Newser) - The United States may be wrapping up its combat operations in Afghanistan a year early, but the fight against insurgents and terrorists will continue in the form of US special forces, who are expected to stay in the country well after 2014, reports the New York Times . According to the... More »

US Sending 'Mothership' to Gulf for Special Ops

Navy retrofitting warship for commando missions: Washington Post

(Newser) - With the US increasingly relying on targeted special ops instead of large military forces, the Pentagon will send an aging warship to the Gulf region to serve as a "mothership" for Navy SEALs and other special forces fighting Somali pirates, al-Qaeda, and other threats (like maybe this ), reports... More »

US Expands Secret Mideast Operations

Petraeus authorizes special ops in friendly, unfriendly Mideast nations

(Newser) - The head of US Central Command has green-lighted a huge expansion in American secret operations in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, and Central Asia, according to documents obtained by the New York Times . Gen. David Petraeus has authorized the sending of special forces to both friendly and hostile... More »

Afghan Survivor Tells Obama: 'You Be the Judge'

Video calls for UN-led investigation into US attack

(Newser) - American forces in Afghanistan lost "all credibility" by killing 5 civilians and attempting to hide the evidence by digging bullets out of their bodies, a new video campaign says. The video features an interview with Afghan scholar Sayid Mohammed Mal, who survived the attack. "They say they have... More »

US Officer Says We're Sorry With Sheep

Special Ops commander asks family of 5 dead for forgiveness

(Newser) - The most senior special operations commander in the American military begged a grieving Afghan father for forgiveness—by taking him two sheep. The man lost two sons, two daughters and a grandchild in a botched special forces operation in February. The peace offering seems to have worked: "We were... More »

Attack Draws Attention to Quiet US Efforts in Pakistan

Taliban may have had intelligence from within the Frontier Corps

(Newser) - The US had an uncomfortable light shined on its training operations in Pakistan yesterday, when three American soldiers were killed in a Taliban suicide bombing in Lower Dir. The soldiers were part of a Special Operations team training Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps, the New York Times reports, a program... More »

George W, Bill Clinton to Lead US Aid Team

Ex-presidents will help direct 'full-court press' on Haiti

(Newser) - In addition to pledging $100 million to Haiti relief efforts, President Obama is calling in some familiar names for help. He's asked former presidents Clinton and the younger of the Bushes to lead US relief efforts, reports Politico . Clinton is currently the UN special envoy to the nation. In other... More »

Elite US Forces Take Bigger Role in Afghanistan

Navy Seals, Army's Delta Force make gains against top militants

(Newser) - Elite US military units are taking on a larger role in the hunt for the most dangerous Taliban militants in Afghanistan. Navy Seals and the Army's Delta Force have had enough success over the past few months that their operations will be expanded next year, reports the New York Times... More »

Tora Bora Among 'Greatest Military Blunders'

US had him pinned but held back on troops

(Newser) - Peter Berg has assembled what he calls the “definitive account” of "one of the greatest military blunders in recent US history"—the failure to capture or kill Osama bin Laden in 2001 at Tora Bora in Afghanistan. The operation started out well enough, he writes in the... More »

US Backs Afghan Militias Against Taliban

Supporting local resistance, as in Iraq, is a delicate equation

(Newser) - The US is actively supporting local militia groups against the Taliban as American and Afghan officials move to encourage a demoralized Afghan population to re-engage in the war, reports Dexter Filkins of the New York Times . Tapping into the militias’ resources could fill the manpower gap as a vacillating White... More »

MIA Dog A-OK After Year in Afghanistan

Bomb-sniffer Sabi gone for a year after 2008 firefight

(Newser) - An Australian military bomb-sniffing dog that went missing during a firefight in Afghanistan in September 2008 has been reunited with one of her trainers. An American soldier found Sabi wandering near a remote base last week and realized the black Lab wasn’t a stray when she responded to commands.... More »

'Rumsfeld's Renegades' Blamed for Afghan Deaths

Unit of 'cowboys' behind some of war's worst civilian casualty incidents

(Newser) - A Special Forces unit set up by Donald Rumsfeld is being blamed for some of the worst civilian casualty incidents in the Afghanistan war, the Independent reports. The Marine Corps' Special Operations Command—known as MarSOC—ordered the air strikes that Afghan officials say killed 140 civilians last week, and... More »

Cheney Ran Secret Hit Squad: Hersh

(Newser) - The Bush administration ran a secret team authorized to assassinate foreign targets without being accountable to Congress, says New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh. On CNN's Situation Room, he said the hit squad could go "into a country without telling the CIA station chief or the ambassador and whack someone.... More »

US Secretly Training Pakistani Commandos

Forces help troops to fight Taliban, al-Qaeda

(Newser) - Dozens of American military advisers and technical specialists are secretly working in Pakistan to train armed forces to battle the Taliban and al-Qaeda, reports the New York Times. The Special Forces soldiers are providing intelligence and advising the Pakistani military on combat tactics, although they are not conducting combat operations.... More »

Aiming to Right History, Group Sniffs Out Fake POWs

Pretending to be war prisoner is legal, but vets say it dishonors the true heroes

(Newser) - When Richard Cayton told a Texas newspaper about his harrowing escape from captors in Vietnam, former Navy SEAL Steve Robinson thought something smelled fishy. He ran some quick checks, and told the newspaper that it had been lied to—Cayton had never been a prisoner of war. Sniffing out such... More »

US Troops in Afghanistan Battle Beard Ban

Clean-shaven troops complain lack of facial hair makes it harder to win Afghan respect

(Newser) - American troops in Afghanistan want to take a razor to the military's long-standing rule banning beards, US News & World Report writes. Beards are a sign of manhood in traditional areas of Afghanistan, and clean-shaven troops grumble that the rule—which the military maintains is essential for hygiene and... More »

US Airstrike Killed 30 Afghan Civilians: Inquiry

Outraged Afghans still maintain 90 died in controversial Aug. raid

(Newser) - A US military inquiry puts the number of Afghan civilians killed in an August 22 raid at more than 30, the New York Times reports, down from the 90 the Afghan government had claimed. The airstrike on Azizabad, a suspected Taliban stronghold, was condemned by the Afghan government. The US... More »

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