Afghanistan War News Updates -- July 16, 2012

U.S. Army Spc. Jesse Border walks outside his Stryker vehicle during Operation Buffalo Thunder II near Shorabak in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, June 29, 2012. Border, a combat medic, is assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division's Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Brendan Mackie

Marines Confront Afghan Enemy In Firefight -- U-T San Diego

Marines and sailors from Camp Pendleton engage insurgents in a two-day battle at a remote village.

LWAR BAJIGAR, Afghanistan — The moon is nearly full when the helicopters descend on fields of cucumber and cracked ground strewed with poppy chaff. Eight airborne assault waves of Marines wearing heavy rucksacks and night-vision goggles step into the darkness with rifles drawn, returning to a cluster of villages where they battled insurgents a week before.

The assault force is part of Operation Branding Iron, a move by the Marines to confront and eliminate enemy fighters in the remote Kajaki district, one of their last strongholds in Helmand province.

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More News On Afghanistan

ISAF Joint Command morning operational update, July 16 -- ISAF
War in Afghanistan News - 16 July 2012 -- War On Terror News
Attack. explosion in southern Afghanistan kill 2 NATO service members, 3 Afghan men -- Washington Post/AP
Militants kill two NATO soldiers in southern Afghanistan -- Khaama Press
Five killed in Afghanistan attacks -- Press Association
12 NATO oil tankers torched in eastern Afghanistan -- Press TV (Iran)
Taliban Wipe Out NATO Fuel Tanker Convoy -- RIA Novosti
Afghan minister: Initial evidence ties Taliban, terrorists to wedding attack that killed 23 -- Washington Post/AP
Afghan police: Taliban suspected in wedding blast -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Moderate Taliban want peace, says outgoing US ambassador to Afghanistan -- New York Daily News
Warplanes: Afghanistan Is No Longer Mirage Country -- Strategy Page
Afghanistan may attract more energy firms as Exxon shows interest -- Chicago Tribune/Reuters
Afghanistan’s Army of Sand -- Kabul Press
Progress in Afghanistan: The kind of society the Taliban have fought to prevent now exists in spite of them -- Lauryn Oates, Toronto Sun
Afghanistan's dim future -- Hafizullah Gardesh and Mina Habib, Times Union
Don’t Meddle in Afghanistan’s Election -- Michael Rubin, Commentary