Petraeus confirmed by Senate
The Senate has voted unanimously to confirm Gen. David Petraeus as the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan.
Petraeus was tapped by President Obama to replace Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was relieved of his duties last week after the general and his staff were quoted in a Rolling Stone magazine article criticizing and mocking key administration officials.
Your view: Success in Afghanistan
The situation in Afghanistan is intensifying. Record coalition troop deaths in June. Tumult and transition among the war's leadership. Another Taliban attack, this time on the Jalalabad airport.
Last week, Gen. David Petraeus told CNN that he supports President Barack Obama's July 2011 deadline to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, a key point of contention between the president and many of his Republican critics in Congress.
What do you think? Will the U.S. meet the July 2011 date? How do you think the government should define success? How would you define success in Afghanistan?
Taliban attacks airfield
Taliban insurgents attacked Jalalabad Airfield in eastern Afghanistan Wednesday, hitting the entrance of the facility with a car bomb, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire, said a statement from NATO's International Security Assistance Force. FULL POST
101 coalition casualties this month in Afghanistan
The June death toll for NATO-led forces reached 101 on Wednesday, the highest ever in a single month since the war began almost nine years ago. The deadliest month previously had been August, 2009, when 79 soldiers died.
A member of the international coalition fighting in Afghanistan died Wednesday of wounds sustained in an insurgent small arms attack in eastern Afghanistan, the military said. And U.S. Sgt. John M. Rogers, 26, of Scottsdale, Arizona, died Sunday of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident.
The number of U.S. and coalition casualties in June has now climbed to 101, a CNN count shows.
Last week, June became the deadliest month of the nine-year Afghan war for coalition troops when the death toll hit 80.
The grim milestone comes amid tumult among the war's leadership, with top military commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal exiting over disparaging comments he made about civilian officials in a magazine interview. He will be replaced by Gen. David Petraeus, now head of U.S. Central Command and the architect of the surge strategy in the Iraq war.
MORE: Home and Away: Casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq – explore the faces of the fallen and send your tributes
Photo at top: At a patrol base in Helmand province, British soldiers created a makeshift memorial to fellow troops killed in action on previous tours of Afghanistan.
