U.s. Special Forces

Turkey has captured a wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, more than a week after the former ISIS chief killed himself during a raid by U.S. special forces.

The commander of a U.S. Special Operations task force in Iraq has sent home a platoon of Navy SEALs for drinking while deployed, U.S. defense officials said, the latest discipline incident that has emerged for an elite force relied upon heavily by the Pentagon.

A top commander of the Taliban has been killed in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand in a joint operation by Afghan and U.S. Special Forces, Afghan officials and Taliban members said on Sunday.

Russia said on Thursday it had warned the United States it would target areas in Syria where U.S. special forces and U.S.-backed militia were operating if its own forces came under fire from them, something it said had already happened twice.

A recurring rumble of explosions echoes off the barren, boulder-strewn slopes of the Spin Ghar mountains, each ordnance aimed wishfully at redoubts where Islamic State militants are suspected of hiding. Afghan and U.S. special forces listen in on enemy chatter, intercepting dozens of their radio channels.

Earlier this month, a small district center just south of this desolate U.S. base came under attack from Taliban militants who threatened to overrun the local police. Frantic calls arrived from Afghan officials: They needed air support.

The United States has yet to agree with Baghdad on crucial details governing the role of a new American special forces unit aimed at hunting Islamic State militants in Iraq, U.S. officials said, underlining the difficulties Washington faces dealing with Iraq's weakened leader.

A joint Afghan and U.S. special forces raid freed 40 members of Afghanistan's security forces from a Taliban jail in the volatile southern province of Helmand, the U.S. military said on Friday.

The last thing that came to Saad Khalaf Ali's mind as his Islamic State interrogators smothered him with a plastic bag was his two wives and children. Then everything went dark.

President Barack Obama said on Monday the planned deployment of dozens of U.S. special forces to Syria to advise opposition forces fighting Islamic State did not break his promise not to put "boots on the ground" in the Syrian conflict.

Militants attacked one of Iraq's largest air bases and seized control of several small oilfields on Wednesday as U.S. special forces troops and intelligence analysts arrived to help Iraqi security forces counter a mounting Sunni insurgency.

Iraq has given assurances to the United States that U.S. special operations forces that President Barack Obama has ordered into the country will be shielded from possible prosecution in Iraqi courts, U.S. officials said on Monday.

Two U.S. defense officials say the five Americans killed in Afghanistan, apparently by friendly fire, were special operations troops.

Al-Qaida-linked militants in the southern Philippines on Saturday released an emaciated-looking Australian man near a coastal town where they kidnapped him for ransom 15 months ago.

Several hundred demonstrators chanting "U.S. special operations forces out!" marched to the Afghan parliament building in Kabul Saturday, protesting the continued presence of U.S. commandos in Afghanistan's troubled Wardak province.

Turkey has captured a wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, more than a week after the former ISIS chief killed himself during a raid by U.S. special forces.

The commander of a U.S. Special Operations task force in Iraq has sent home a platoon of Navy SEALs for drinking while deployed, U.S. defense officials said, the latest discipline incident that has emerged for an elite force relied upon heavily by the Pentagon.

A top commander of the Taliban has been killed in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand in a joint operation by Afghan and U.S. Special Forces, Afghan officials and Taliban members said on Sunday.

Russia said on Thursday it had warned the United States it would target areas in Syria where U.S. special forces and U.S.-backed militia were operating if its own forces came under fire from them, something it said had already happened twice.

A recurring rumble of explosions echoes off the barren, boulder-strewn slopes of the Spin Ghar mountains, each ordnance aimed wishfully at redoubts where Islamic State militants are suspected of hiding. Afghan and U.S. special forces listen in on enemy chatter, intercepting dozens of their radio channels.

Earlier this month, a small district center just south of this desolate U.S. base came under attack from Taliban militants who threatened to overrun the local police. Frantic calls arrived from Afghan officials: They needed air support.

The United States has yet to agree with Baghdad on crucial details governing the role of a new American special forces unit aimed at hunting Islamic State militants in Iraq, U.S. officials said, underlining the difficulties Washington faces dealing with Iraq's weakened leader.

A joint Afghan and U.S. special forces raid freed 40 members of Afghanistan's security forces from a Taliban jail in the volatile southern province of Helmand, the U.S. military said on Friday.

The last thing that came to Saad Khalaf Ali's mind as his Islamic State interrogators smothered him with a plastic bag was his two wives and children. Then everything went dark.

President Barack Obama said on Monday the planned deployment of dozens of U.S. special forces to Syria to advise opposition forces fighting Islamic State did not break his promise not to put "boots on the ground" in the Syrian conflict.

Militants attacked one of Iraq's largest air bases and seized control of several small oilfields on Wednesday as U.S. special forces troops and intelligence analysts arrived to help Iraqi security forces counter a mounting Sunni insurgency.

Iraq has given assurances to the United States that U.S. special operations forces that President Barack Obama has ordered into the country will be shielded from possible prosecution in Iraqi courts, U.S. officials said on Monday.

Two U.S. defense officials say the five Americans killed in Afghanistan, apparently by friendly fire, were special operations troops.

Al-Qaida-linked militants in the southern Philippines on Saturday released an emaciated-looking Australian man near a coastal town where they kidnapped him for ransom 15 months ago.

Several hundred demonstrators chanting "U.S. special operations forces out!" marched to the Afghan parliament building in Kabul Saturday, protesting the continued presence of U.S. commandos in Afghanistan's troubled Wardak province.