United States military

Alaska cruise ship dock permit issued; construction to begin

Jan. 24, 2020 9:20 AM EST

KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued a permit for a cruise ship dock in southeast Alaska, but the dock's opening date is unclear, agency officials said. The permit was issued Tuesday for the 1,300-foot (400-meter), two-berth cruise ship dock in Ward Cove, about 300 miles...

FILE - In this Feb. 8, 2019, file photo, Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad pauses while speaking about the prospects for peace, at the U.S. Institute of Peace, in Washington. Afghanistan’s former deputy minister says Khalilzad is in the Afghan capital “to discuss the latest in peace efforts.” Former deputy foreign minister Hekmat Karzai tweeted pictures of his meeting with Khalilzad Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, saying ‘we spoke about the way forward.” (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Taliban say frustrated by additional demands of US

Jan. 24, 2020 8:08 AM EST

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban, in a rambling commentary published on their website, expressed frustration with what they describe as additional U.S. demands in peace talks — even after they had offered a “reduction of violence.” They have not publicly outlined what that would entail and...

Followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr gather in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. Thousands of supporters of an influential, radical Shiite cleric gathered Friday in central Baghdad for a rally to demand that American troops leave the country amid heightened anti-US sentiment after a drone strike ordered by Washington earlier this month killed a top Iranian general in the Iraqi capital. (AP Photo)

Thousands turn up for 'million' Iraq rally against US troops

Jan. 24, 2020 7:35 AM EST

BAGHDAD (AP) — Thousands rallied in Baghdad on Friday to demand that American troops leave the country, though their numbers fell short of the “million-man” march called for by an influential Shiite cleric. The rally came amid heightened anti-U.S. sentiment after a U.S. drone strike earlier...

Central American migrants walk carrying a handmade U.S. flag and banners, after crossing the Suchiate River from Guatemala in Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. Hundreds of Central American migrants hoping to reach the United States marooned in Guatemala walked en masse across the river leading to Mexico in a second attempt to convince authorities there to allow them passage through the country. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Some see end to caravans as Mexican guardsmen stop migrants

Jan. 24, 2020 12:02 AM EST

FRONTERA HIDALGO, Mexico (AP) — From the roadside stand where his family sells mole, barbecue and chicken stew, Miguel Ángel Vázquez has seen all the caravans of Central American migrants and asylum seekers stream past his front door in recent years, throngs of people driven to flee poverty and...

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson leaves the U.S. District Court in Seattle Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020, following arguments in his lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's funding of the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The administration is diverting $3.6 billion in military construction money, including $89 million for a naval pier in Washington, toward the wall. (AP Photo/Gene Johnson)

Far from US-Mexico border, Seattle judge weighs wall funding

Jan. 23, 2020 7:21 PM EST

SEATTLE (AP) — A federal judge in Washington state is considering whether to block President Donald Trump from diverting billions of dollars from military construction projects to build sections of border wall along the Southern border. U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Rothstein said Thursday she hoped to...

Coast Guard: 2 unresponsive people pulled from ocean

Jan. 23, 2020 6:40 PM EST

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Two people were pulled unresponsive from the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after a fishing boat's automated emergency beacon was issued 45 miles southeast of Portland, the Coast Guard said. A Coast Guard rescue swimmer found an empty raft and two people face down in the water, said...

Tennessee National Guard soldiers return from Poland

Jan. 23, 2020 5:52 PM EST

SMYRNA, Tenn. (AP) — More than 100 Tennessee National Guard soldiers have returned home. About 110 soldiers with the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment deployed in March in support of NATO's enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group Poland, the guard said. The 278th leadership transferred responsibility for the...

Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, meets with sailors and Marines on the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020, in the northern Red Sea. McKenzie told some newly arrived troops in the region that they could be there for a while. (AP Photo/Lolita Baldor)

US general says troop surge in Middle East may not end soon

Jan. 23, 2020 3:47 PM EST

ABOARD THE USS BATAAN (AP) — Over the past eight months, the United States has poured more than 20,000 additional troops into the Middle East to counter the escalating threat from Iran that peaked with the recent missile attack on American forces in Iraq. Despite President Donald Trump’s pledge to...

FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2011 file photo, Spc. Angel Batista, 26, left to right, of Bloomingdale, N.J., Spc. Jacob Greene, 22, of Shreveport, La., and Sgt. Joe Altmann, 26, of Marshfield, Wisc., with the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Battalion 27th Infantry Regiment based in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, sit beneath a new American flag just raised to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Sept. 11, 2011 at Forward Operating Base Bostick in Kunar province, Afghanistan. Most Afghans want US and NATO troops to leave Afghanistan once a peace deal to end Afghanistan's 18-year war is signed with the Taliban, according to a survey carried out by the American Institute of War and Peace Studies. The survey conducted in 2019, between Nov. 23 and Dec. 20 has a five percent margin of error. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

Survey: Nearly half of Afghans want US troops out after deal

Jan. 23, 2020 2:55 PM EST

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — N early half of all Afghans want U.S. and NATO troops to leave Afghanistan once a peace deal to end the country's 18-year war is signed with the Taliban, according to a survey released Thursday. The American Institute of War and Peace Studies also found that an overwhelming 80%...

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011 file photo, hundreds of newly trained al-Shabab fighters perform military exercises in the Lafofe area some 18 km south of Mogadishu, in Somalia. The U.S. Africa Command, signaling concern over the Pentagon's potential cuts, has emphasized the Somalia-based al-Shabab as a threat to the U.S. homeland, in intent if not yet in capability _ and warning that neither China nor Russia is doing much to counter Africa's extremist groups. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File)

AP Explains: Why US troop cuts in Africa would cause alarm

Jan. 23, 2020 12:54 PM EST

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Even as destroyed U.S. military aircraft smoldered from an al-Shabab attack that killed three Americans this month in Kenya, the al-Qaida-linked group issued a taunting message to African troops: The U.S. will abandon you just as it did the Kurds. Islamic extremists are already...

Latest United States military News