The United States plans to withdraw most of its troops from Iraq by August 2010, 19 months after President Barack Obama's inauguration, according to administration officials. ...more

February 24, 2009

President Barack Obama, in a meeting with his top national security advisers Wednesday, asked the Pentagon to do whatever additional planning necessary to "execute a responsible military drawdown from Iraq." ...more

January 22, 2009

The top U.S. general in Iraq said he will make a decision about the future role of American troops in early spring, to allow enough time to address any violence that may arise from January's provincial elections. ...more

December 21, 2008

The top U.S. military officer said Saturday that the Pentagon could double the number of American forces in Afghanistan by next summer to 60,000 — the largest estimate of potential reinforcements ever publicly suggested. ...more

December 20, 2008

U.S. military helicopters launched an extremely rare attack Sunday on Syrian territory close to the border with Iraq, killing eight people in a strike the government in Damascus condemned as "serious aggression." ...more

October 26, 2008

A sophisticated bombing plot carried out against the U.S. Embassy in Yemen brings increased urgency to fears that Muslim extremists are gathering strength in that nation and could make it a headquarters for terrorism. ...more

September 18, 2008

Iraqi and U.S. negotiators have completed a draft security agreement that would see American troops leave Iraqi cities as soon as June 30, Iraqi and American officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday. ...more

August 21, 2008

Russia showed the first signs of drawing down some of its troops in Georgia on Tuesday, but its forces bound and blindfolded 21 Georgian soldiers at the Black Sea port of Poti, displaying them along with five seized American Humvees. ...more

August 20, 2008

Top Pentagon leaders are expected to recommend soon that Defense Secretary Robert Gates order hundreds of additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan over the next month or so, according to a senior military official. ...more

July 24, 2008

Insurgents armed with machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades mounted a fierce assault on a remote, relatively lightly manned U.S. outpost in northeastern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing nine American soldiers. ...more

July 14, 2008