U.S. Army deserter Bergdahl’s sentencing hearing delayed until Wednesday

The sentencing hearing for U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who could go to prison for life for deserting his duties in Afghanistan in June 2009 and endangering the lives of fellow troops, was postponed on Monday for two days due to an emergency for a lawyer in the case. The proceedings at North Carolina's Fort Bragg will resume on Wednesday, Army Judge Colonel Jeffery Nance said in court.

Dramatic sentencing hearing expected in Bergdahl case

The fate of Bowe Bergdahl - the Army sergeant who pleaded guilty to endangering his comrades by leaving his post in 2009 in Afghanistan - now rests in the hands of a judge. A sentencing hearing for Bergdahl starts Monday at Fort Bragg and is expected to feature dramatic testimony about soldiers and a Navy SEAL badly hurt while they searched for the missing Bergdahl, who was held captive for five years by Taliban allies after leaving his post.

Afghan troops go AWOL in U.S.; IG says wastes taxpayer money, poses security threat

More than 150 Afghan troops brought to the U.S. for military training have gone AWOL since 2005, with 13 of them still unaccounted for and perhaps living as here illegal immigrants now, an inspector general said in a new report Friday. Part of the problem is that the U.S. never puts the trainees through an in-person interview and exempts them from registering as aliens when they arrive - both steps that other visitors would normally have to go through.

Bergdahl: Trump has reaffirmed criticism, tainting case

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl returns to the Fort Bragg courthouse after a lunch break on Monday, Oct. 16, 2017, on Fort Bragg, N.C. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl made a last-minute argument Tuesday that President Donald Trump has reaffirmed his criticism of the soldier - preventing him from receiving a fair sentence on charges he endangered comrades in Afghanistan.

Bergdahl guilty pleas leave room for drama at sentencing

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl returns to the Fort Bragg courthouse after a lunch break on Monday, Oct. 16, 2017, on Fort Bragg, N.C. Bergdahl, who walked off his base in Afghanistan in 2009 and was held by the Taliban for five years, is charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. By JONATHAN DREW, Associated Press FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Army Sgt.

Freed Taliban hostage says captors raped his wife, authorized child’s killing

A Canadian man who was freed along with his family after five years in militant captivity in Afghanistan said his captors authorized the killing of one of his children and raped his wife. "The stupidity and the evil of the Haqqani network's kidnapping of a pilgrim and his heavily pregnant wife engaged in helping ordinary villagers in Taliban-controlled regions of Afghanistan was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorizing the murder of my infant daughter, Martyr Boyle," Joshua Boyle told reporters upon his arrival at Toronto's Pearson Airport on Friday night.

Freed Taliban hostage claims wife was raped

A Canadian man who was freed along with his family after five years in militant captivity in Pakistan claimed his captors authorized the killing of one of his children and raped his wife. "The stupidity and the evil of the Haqqani network's kidnapping of a pilgrim and his heavily pregnant wife engaged in helping ordinary villagers in Taliban-controlled regions of Afghanistan was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorizing the murder of my infant daughter, Martyr Boyle," Joshua Boyle told reporters upon his arrival at Toronto's Pearson Airport Friday night.

General Pledges ‘Tidal Wave’ Of Bombs To Rain Down In Afghanistan

Pfc. Samuel Corsolini, a gunner assigned to F Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, pulls security with other Pathfinders as a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter takes off after unloading his team and members of 2nd Afghan National Civil Order Patrol Special Weapons And Tactics Team during a vehicle interdiction as part of Operation Pranoo Verbena in order to disrupt Taliban operations in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, March 16. US Army/Flickr The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan vowed a new wave of helicopter strikes by the Afghan National Security Forces on Taliban insurgents after the delivery of dozens of UH-60 black hawk helicopters, in a joint Saturday appearance with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Military assets including ships dumped at knockdown prices

British Forces' ships, planes and vehicles are going at bargain prices in the country's biggest-ever sell-off of military equipment. Experts fear the sale agreed by top brass will reduce Britain's ability to conduct military operations, but the money is desperately needed to plug an estimated A 20 billion black hole in defence finances.

News Analysis: Latest U.S. drone strike in Pakistan may further escalate bilateral tension

The latest U.S. unilateral drone attack in Pakistan would possibly enlarge the gaps between the two countries in their common course of anti-terrorism war, experts and analysts here said , expressing their concerns as the strikes are usually condemned by Pakistan as a violation of its sovereignty. The latest U.S. strike took place on Friday, killing at least three people who were reportedly the members of Afghan Taliban in Pakistan' northwestern tribal region of Kurram Agency that bordering Afghanistan.

War Gaming a U.S. Withdrawal From Afghanistan

Ironically, Pakistan's opposition to U.S. and NATO efforts to stabilize Afghanistan through its support of the Taliban and Haqqani insurgents would lead to greater regional instability and, perhaps, create an existential threat to Pakistan itself should Western forces withdraw. In the absence of U.S. and NATO assistance, the Afghan government would fall within twelve months and Afghanistan would revert to conditions similar to those of the 1990s civil war when the country was divided along ethnic and, to some extent, religious lines.

Trump’s strategic reset

At various times during our history, American troops abroad have been targeted with special ferocity by enemies aware that the more U.S. troops they killed, the more likely our government would be to accelerate already declared timetables for withdrawal. That ends now, President Donald Trump declared in his recent speech about policy toward the war in Afghanistan.

North Korea, Afghanistan top Hill’s fall national security agenda

The Senate returns to Washington in September preparing to take up a massive defense policy bill led by Sen. John McCain as the Arizona Republican returns to Congress following his first round of treatment for brain cancer. The chairman of the Senate armed services committee, McCain will lead debate on the National Defense Authorization Act, one of the few remaining "must-pass" pieces of legislation that would authorize $700 billion in Pentagon spending and set a wide swath of military policy.