AFGHANISTAN

What can Obama do to reinvigorate his 2012 campaign?

Contradicting earlier official reports, the top American commander in Afghanistan told reporters that the 17 Navy SEALs killed alongside 13 other U.S. troops and eight Afghan commandos were not on a rescue mission, The Daily reported. Instead, their helicopter came under fire after they had been called in to chase fleeing Taliban fighters.

For around $2 a day some Afghan children as young as 10 work long hours in the country's coal mines with no safety gear and, until now, no government mining policy to protect them.

A roadside bomb killed five American troops in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the U.S. military said, less than a week after American forces suffered their worst single loss of the Afghan war when Taliban insurgents shot down a helicopter.

A woman in a headscarf runs into the street to calm a crowd before violence erupts. "This is what a war zone looks like," a voiceover declares.

The attacks are openly denounced by Pakistani military and political leaders.

The U.S. Department of Defense has officially identified the 30 servicemen, 22 of them part of the Navy SEALs commando unit, Team Six, who died Saturday in Afghanistan when their CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down by the Taliban.

Secret exploratory peace talks between the United States and the Taliban have reportedly crumbled after details of the negotiations were leaked.

NATO forces killed the Taliban insurgents who shot down a Chinook helicopter on Saturday, which resulted in the death of 38 Afghan and American troops, to inlcude 22 SEAL Team 6 members. The commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan said coalition forces used a precision airstrike to kill the insurgents involved in the Aug. 6 downing of the helicopter.

An American airstrike has killed the Taliban fighters believed responsible for shooting down a Chinook helicopter that killed 38 people, 22 of whom were members of the Navy SEALs Team 6, the senior commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday.

Late last Friday night, special forces troops from the NATO-led coalition launched an operation to capture a Taliban leader in an inaccessible valley southwest of Kabul.

President Barack Obama is getting hammered on all sides for a stumbling U.S. economy and his uneven response to it, raising pressure on him to take steps to create jobs or risk being ousted in next year's election.

The military is launching an investigation into a helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan that killed 30 Special Operations forces, 22 of them Navy SEALs, and 8 Afghans.

The shooting down of a U.S. helicopter, which led to the deaths of 30 American troops, 22 of which were party of the Navy SEALs commando unit, Team 6, stemmed from an elaborate trap by the Taliban, an Afghan official said Monday.

As warfare becomes increasingly defined by targeted counter-terrorism operations rather than battles against conventional armies, Special Ops troops have grown in number and importance.

America is on the fritz.

Officials at Dover Air Force Base are preparing to accept the remains of 30 American troops, including 22 Navy SEALs, who were killed Saturday when their helicopter was shot down by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan.

Pentagon spokesman Dave Lapan on Monday said Saturday's helicopter crash in Afghanistan that killed 30 U.S. service members isn't a trend.

The Taliban's downing a NATO Chinook Helicopter in Afghanistan on Aug. 6, killing 30 U.S. special operations troops, doesn't signify the group is gaining momentum, an official said. A Pentagon spokesman on Monday said the incident isn't a "watershed" implying the insurgents' momentum, rather an incident in combat.

A helicopter that crashed two days ago, killing 38 people in the worst single incident in 10 years of war in Afghanistan, was carrying elite troops sent to help comrades in a firefight when it was likely hit by a rocket fired by the Taliban, NATO forces said Monday.

A NATO helicopter crashed in Afghanistan's east on Monday but there were no apparent casualties, officials said, another stark reminder of the dangers of the war after 38 people were killed in an air incident, the largest single loss for foreign forces in 10 years.