Obama puts restrictions on drone program

WASHINGTON — Reining back the aggressive counter-terrorism strategy he has embraced for five years, President Obama declared clear,...

Fourth U.S. drone victim influenced by Sept. 11, war

WASHINGTON — In his early teens, Jude Kenan Mohammad was a familiar sight in his middle-class section of Raleigh, N.C., riding...

Fourth American fatality by U.S. drones disclosed

WASHINGTON — As President Obama prepared to deliver a major speech on national security Thursday, his administration acknowledged...

Afghan women's rights in peril, group says

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The number of women and girls jailed by Afghan authorities for "moral crimes" has risen by 50% in the last...

Defense official says U.S. has authority to target terrorists anywhere

WASHINGTON — A senior Pentagon official told a Senate committee Thursday that the U.S. would be at war with Al Qaeda for 15 to 20 more...

Afghan militants threaten more attacks after deadly bombing

KABUL, Afghanistan — A militant group said its attack Thursday on a NATO convoy in the Afghan capital marked a stepped-up campaign...

Pakistan's incoming prime minister turns pragmatic

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — After a resounding victory in Pakistan's national elections, presumptive new Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif could...

Afghans on U.S. bases losing jobs after years of devoted service

CHARIKAR, Afghanistan — Abdul Shakour was working the night shift at Bagram air base repairing American vehicles when he was called to...

Pakistan ex-premier's party sweeps elections

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's overwhelming victory in weekend parliamentary elections returns to power...

Pakistanis vote in landmark election

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Millions of Pakistanis braved threats from militants and voted Saturday in national elections that marked the...

U.S., Afghan diplomats work toward long-term agreement

KABUL, Afghanistan — Diplomats from the United States and Afghanistan met formally Saturday for just the second time since the two...

U.S. seeks use of nine Afghanistan military bases after 2014

KABUL, Afghanistan — The United States has requested the use of nine large military bases in Afghanistan after international forces...

In Pakistan, clamor for change propels 2 parties

CHINIOT, Pakistan — Even from his hospital bed, with a gash in his head and three broken vertebrae from a 15-foot fall, Imran Khan...

Pakistan bombing again targets Islamist party

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — For the second day in a row, a bomb blast killed and maimed participants at a campaign rally being held by one...

U.S. turns over troubled dam project to Afghanistan

KAJAKI, Afghanistan — After struggling for more than a decade to upgrade a huge hydroelectric plant in a volatile region that saw...

Smashed U.S. cars get second chance in Afghanistan

HERAT, Afghanistan — They sit in the sun harboring their lost histories, their forgotten dreams, their traces of funerals, graduations...

Pakistan secular candidates campaign at their own risk

SHABQADAR, Pakistan — When Masoom Shah hits the campaign trail these days, he brings a 9-millimeter Glock pistol and a team of up to...

12 killed in Pakistan campaign violence

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — At least 12 people were killed and 43 injured Sunday in bomb blasts targeting a candidate's convoy and the...

Taliban announces spring offensive

KABUL, Afghanistan — At a pivotal moment when U.S. forces are winding down combat operations in Afghanistan and handing over the...

Pakistani police arrest former President Pervez Musharraf

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was arrested and placed in police custody Friday, a day after...

Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf flees court after arrest ordered

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — An Islamabad court Thursday ordered the arrest of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on charges of illegally...

Afghanistan opium poppy production increasing, U.N. says

KABUL, Afghanistan — Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has been increasing for a third year in a row and is heading for a...

Afghanistan faults U.S., Taliban for deadly airstrike

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban and U.S. military were both at fault in a NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan this month that...

Slain diplomat in Afghanistan 'felt she was making a difference'

CHICAGO — Members of Anne Smedinghoff's family consoled themselves Sunday with the thought that the young U.S. diplomat died in the...

U.S. reconstruction effort in Afghan provinces is unfinished work

CHARIKAR, Afghanistan — At the doorstep of the U.S.-funded schoolhouse in this mountain-fringed northern town, Ghulam Nabi crouched in...

Attack on convoy in Afghanistan leaves 5 Americans dead

KABUL, Afghanistan — On the day that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey arrived in Afghanistan for an assessment...

U.S. contractor illegally detained in Afghanistan, officials say

KABUL, Afghanistan — An American contractor was detained illegally for 24 hours in an Afghan prison, beaten, denied more than basic...

Drone maker AeroVironment sputters as defense spending dries up

At the height of the wars in the Middle East, AeroVironment Inc. — a drone maker based in Monrovia — soared into the public...

Afghans seek their own exit strategy

KABUL, Afghanistan — Nabil Ahmad was at his desk at a logistics support firm last spring when an explosion ripped through the office.

Fawad Mohammadi ('Buzkashi Boys') takes a long trip to the Oscars

KABUL, Afghanistan — On a recent afternoon here in the Afghan capital, 14-year-old Fawad Mohammadi stood shivering on a muddy corner,...

Obama to halve U.S. force in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON -- In his State of the Union speech Tuesday, President...

America's go-to man in Afghanistan's Oruzgan province

TARIN KOWT, Afghanistan — A shy boy with filthy hands and a shabby tunic approached the great man, bowed and tried to kiss his hand.

On Location: 'Zero Dark Thirty's' compound challenges

First-time feature production designer Jeremy Hindle admits to some dicey feelings while taking director Kathryn Bigelow on an initial walk-...

Afghanistan Taliban appears to be softening stance

KABUL, Afghanistan — Recent pronouncements by the Taliban have raised the possibility that the insurgents may be softening their...

Fereshta Kazemi takes a risky stand for acting in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — Coarse mud was clinging to Fereshta Kazemi's high-heeled boots as she tottered on a slippery footpath. No one...

Afghanistan's displaced dread the coming winter

PARWAN-A-DUH CAMP, Afghanistan — Winter is descending on the Shakur clan.

U.S. troops posed with body parts of Afghan bombers

The paratroopers had their assignment: Check out reports that Afghan police had recovered the mangled remains of an insurgent suicide...

Pakistanis fear becoming isolated

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — As U.S. frustration with Pakistan's six-month blockade of Afghanistan-bound supplies became painfully apparent...

Osama bin Laden, born to privilege, dies a pariah

Osama bin Laden, a scion of one of Saudi Arabia's wealthiest families, became the grim apostle of a strain of Islamic radicalism that...