April 15, 2010

Coalition partners honor Poland with ceremony

TAMPA, Fla. (April 15, 2010) — Coalition partners and representatives from U.S. Central Command gathered at MacDill Air Force base her April 15 to offer their sincere condolences to the Polish Liaison Team after the tragic plane crash that took the lives of the Polish president, first lady and other high level military and political leaders on April 10.

April 14, 2010

Petraeus praises families of fallen

WASHINGTON, April 14, 2010 – A military adage says the reason servicemembers take up arms in combat is on behalf of fellow troops to their right and their left.

April 13, 2010

Gates stresses importance of protecting civilians

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT (April 13, 2010) – Amid new reports of civilian casualties in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates re-emphasized today the top priority U.S. and NATO forces have put on protecting civilian lives, an effort he called critical to success of the Afghanistan strategy.

April 11, 2010

Farah leaders discuss laws stopping violence toward women

KABUL, Afghanistan (April 10, 2010) – More than 20 Farah province judges, prosecutors, members of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and members of the Ministry of Justice participated in the first of a three-day seminar focusing on the Constitution of Afghanistan and the Elimination of Violence Against Women Law (EVAWL), April 3.

April 11, 2010

Leaders review civilian-military efforts in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (April 12, 2010) — On April 11 and 12, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command, and the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan co-hosted an intense interagency review of U.S. civilian and military (civ-mil) efforts in Afghanistan for the coming year.

April 9, 2010

Pirates fire on USS Ashland, lose their boat and freedom

USS ASHLAND, Gulf of Aden - At approximately 5:00 a.m. local time, the USS Ashland (LSD 48), was fired upon by a skiff manned by suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden, approximately 330 nautical miles off the coast of Djibouti.

April 7, 2010

Army beating Iraq equipment drawdown estimate

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2010 – The Army is now 35 percent complete in its effort to move equipment and materiel out of Iraq as part of the U.S. withdrawal from that country.

April 6, 2010

Leaders lay cornerstone for Afghan Defense University

QUARGA, Afghanistan (April 6, 2010) — The Afghan Defense University headquarters and the new site of the National Military Academy of Afghanistan were officially established during a cornerstone laying ceremony at Quarga, April 6.

April 6, 2010

Navy captures pirates, rescues crew members

A boarding party from the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul inspect the Indian-flagged Faize Osamani. The dhow was a suspected pirate mothership accused of firing small arms andMANAMA, Bahrain (April 6, 2010) — USS McFaul captured 10 suspected pirates and rescued eight crew members from the pirated Indian cargo dhow Faize Osamani,  near Salalah,

April 4, 2010

Special forces to remain in Iraq through drawdown

WASHINGTON (April 1, 2010) – U.S. special operations forces in Iraq will remain at current levels even as the number of American troops there is nearly halved over the next five months, the top special operations commander said.