WASHINGTON — Uneasy allies, President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai demonstrated Friday they could agree on one big idea: After 11 years of war, the time is right for U.S. forces to let Afghans do their own fighting. U.S. and coalition forces will take a battlefield back seat by spring and, by implication, […]
Afghanistan
Posted inFranklin
Wounded Livermore Falls soldier hopes to return to military career
LIVERMORE FALLS — In June, Army Sgt. Helaina Lake was lying on the ground in Afghanistan after a suicide bomb blast, trying to figure out how she was going to get up. She could see bones sticking out of her right leg and a finger that was barely attached. She felt bleeding near her shoulder […]
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Posted inOp-Eds
Marshall Wilde: U.S. abandons loyal Afghans
By Marshall Wilde Special to The Washington Post The United States has abandoned our most effective and loyal friends in Afghanistan by deliberately failing to implement the Afghan Allies Protection Act. In 2011, I served as the chief adviser on rule of law for the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul (ISAF). I witnessed the […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Kabul Bank sent millions of dollars abroad
KABUL, Afghanistan — Hundreds of millions of dollars from Kabul Bank were spirited out of Afghanistan — some smuggled in airline food trays — to bank accounts in more than two dozen countries, according to an independent review released on Wednesday about massive fraud that led to the collapse of the nation’s largest financial institution. […]
Posted inFranklin
Wounded soldier given hero’s welcome in Jay
JAY — Schoolchildren lined the banking along Route 4 near the middle school holding signs as they waited for the motorcade bringing Army policewoman Sgt. Helaina Lake home Tuesday. Lake, 24, formerly of Livermore Falls, was severely injured on June 20 in a suicide-bombing in Afghanistan. Among her injuries was a shattered right leg. She […]
Posted inFranklin
Injured soldier to get hero’s welcome home
LIVERMORE FALLS — When recovering Army policewoman Sgt. Helaina Lake gets off the plane at the Portland International Jetport on Tuesday, it will be with some fanfare. An escort of police, firefighters from several departments and others will be there to lead Lake, formerly of Livermore Falls, north. Motorcade organizers are trying to get as […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Afghani Barakzai: U.S. disengagement puts rights of Afghan women at risk
By Afghani Barakzai Special to The Washington Post A full withdrawal of U.S. and coalition forces from Afghanistan appears inevitable. Reading and watching news here in Washington, I can appreciate the intense focus on the military mission and on the men and women who have sacrificed to help my country. I worry, however, what will […]
Posted inEncore
Travel film offers glimpse of Pakistan and Afghanistan
GREENE — Afghanistan and Pakistan have been thrown onto the world stage given the war on terrorism and have become important to Americans with loved ones in the military. But beyond the headline news, what do we know about these distant countries? “Pakistan and Afghanistan — A Photographer’s Journey from Kabul to the Khyber Pass & the Tribal […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Funeral scheduled for Maine soldier
HOULTON (AP) — Maine is paying its final respects to a Special Forces soldier from Houlton killed in Afghanistan. Military Street Baptist Church announced that the funeral for Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Henderson is scheduled for Wednesday inside the gymnasium at Houlton High School. The Bangor Daily News reports that visiting hours begin at noon […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine-born soldier dies in Afghanistan
HOULTON (AP) — U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud says a Special Forces soldier from Maine has died from injuries sustained in a blast in Afghanistan. A spokesman for Michaud says Army Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Henderson was wounded on Sept. 30 and died Monday at the hospital at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. Henderson was born […]