Korengal Valley

(Newser) - The US has been conducting an increasing number of Special Ops raids in northeastern Afghanistan to deal with threats that haven’t been seen in years: al-Qaeda training bases. Over the past six to eight months, al-Qaeda has been trickling back into Afghanistan from Pakistan, setting up camp in the...

(Newser) - The US decision to pull out of the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan is no doubt the smart thing to do, writes Eugene Robinson. After all, our troops spent 5 years there and gained only 3 miles at the cost of 42 lives. That kind of fighting in remote territory doesn't...

(Newser) - The last US troops left Korengal Valley this morning, ending five years of seemingly pointless combat. Before dawn an American captain showed local village elders around what used to be the US base, the Washington Post reports, showing them the bullet-ridden crane and full fuel bladder they’d traded for...

(Newser) - Days after the bloody battle that has come to be called the "Black Hawk Down" of Afghanistan, US troops left the the isolated Afghan village of Wanat. Fourteen months later, they haven’t returned, giving the Taliban free reign in the Waygal Valley—but the retreat is starting to...