Tagged: Afghanistan

Today on NPR: Women in Afghanistan are, in general, better off today than when the Taliban ruled. But activists say there has been backsliding on the gains of the past decade.

A soldier assigned to the 101st Airborne Division died Friday in Afghanistan. According to a Department of Defense news release, 20-year-old Pfc. Patricia L. Horne, of Greenwood, Mississippi, died in Bagram.  She was a member of the division’s 96th Aviation Support Battalion. The Defense Department did not release cause of death.

The 101st Airborne Division’s First Brigade Combat Team returns to Afghanistan this winter. Nineteen hundred of the brigade’s soldiers will be training Afghan forces to take over stabilizing the country as the Pentagon reduces U.S. forces there. Deployment begins in November. This will be the second unit from Fort Campbell sent to Afghanistan to serve the Afghan National Army, Afghan police or border patrol in a mostly advisory role.

Fort Campbell soldiers preparing for upcoming deployments to Afghanistan will be learning about the Islamic holiday Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan. Thousands of troops from the post are slated to return to Afghanistan this year.  Defense Language Institute instructors will work with U.S. personnel to teach them about the holiday. They will have the traditional meal, along with dancing and rugby. 

The 101st Airborne Division and Fort Campbell are celebrating 70 years since the inception of the airborne division with a week long celebration including games, a concert, an air show and memorials for the fallen.The celebration kicks off today while, one of the division's helicopter units, cases its unit colors to prepare for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan. The Week of the Eagles will also includes an air show on tomorrow and a demonstration of the division's air assault techniques.

We may resign Afghanistan to a sort of purgatory status. It's not great...not that bad either...kind of so-so. 

NPR reports President Obama paid a surprise visit to Afghanistan, and he says having just part of the country out of Taliban hands might be the best we can do.