Some U.S. senators are questioning whether the ambitious plans to increase the size of Afghanistan's security forces are coming at a cost that Afghanistan can never afford to underwrite.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says the size of Afghanistan forces - what he called "our ticket out of Afghanistan" - is under discussion inside the Obama administration.
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Despite laws barring women on the front lines, the
top U.S. military officer said Thursday that many women have faced the same dangers as men on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I know what the law says, and I know what it requires. But I'd be hard pressed to say that any woman who serves in Afghanistan today, or who served in
Iraq over the last few years, did so without facing the risks of their male counterparts," said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in
a speech to the U.S. Institute of Peace.
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Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, Said T. Jawad, confirmed Tuesday that he has completed his service as ambassador but he adamantly denied that he has been forced out by what he called "a smear campaign." FULL POST