Afghanistan

TRENTON - A Marine from Bergen County, N.J., was killed in combat operations in Afghanistan last week, the Pentagon said Monday. Lance Cpl. Osbrany Montes De Oca, 20, of North Arlington, died Friday in Helmand province, the Department of Defense said. Further details on his death were not immediately disclosed. Montes De Oca was assigned to the Second Battalion, Sixth Marine Regiment, Second Marine Division, Second Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

A Gloucester County Marine was killed Wednesday during combat operations in Afghanistan, the Defense Department said. First Lt. Ryan K. Iannelli, 27, died in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. The cause of death was under investigation, the Defense Department said Thursday. Iannelli, from Clarksboro in East Greenwich Township, was assigned to a Marine helicopter squadron stationed in North Carolina. He graduated in 2002 from Kingsway Regional High School as class president, his mother, Donna Iannelli, 55, said.

After the fruitless search for weapons of mass destruction, the last thing that Americans want to repeat is to go to war for one specified purpose, only to find out the fight is actually about something else. More than seven years since the 9/11 attack on America, most people realize that the U.S. goal in Afghanistan is no longer simply to capture or kill its creator - al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. But, beyond the hunt for bin Laden, former President George W. Bush never articulated clearly the specific mission of our troops there.

THE TERRORIST attacks on Washington and New York shocked me. The entire world has been convinced that it is essential to stand against this evil together, uniting the efforts of many countries. Our country is committed to taking this path, as President Vladimir Putin has declared many times already. Russia's sympathy for the American people is real. The telegrams of condolence sent to the United States from Russia, by me and other residents of the Moscow region and elsewhere, represent not only our deep pain at this human suffering, but also our outstretched hand ready to help.

WASHINGTON - President Obama welcomed new French President Francois Hollande to the White House on Friday, an initial meeting that came as world leaders feel a renewed sense of urgency to contain the European debt crisis. The two leaders spoke for about 20 minutes in the Oval Office, covering such issues as Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria - including Hollande's pledge to draw down French combat troops in Afghanistan by the end of the year. Obama was scheduled to head to Camp David on Friday evening to welcome the leaders of eight of the world's richest countries, including Hollande, for the Group of Eight summit this weekend.

Should the United States leave any troops in Afghanistan after 2014? Would that prevent the return of militant jihadis who could threaten nuclear-armed Pakistan next door? With most or all U.S. forces set to leave Afghanistan by 2014, President Obama is considering a "zero option," which would mean relying on drone strikes and special forces to counter militants, while leaving overall security to shaky Afghan forces. Is this the best approach, I asked Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who, as U.S. commander in Afghanistan, presided over the U.S. troop "surge," but also led the Joint Special Operations Command in its fight against al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI)

KABUL, Afghanistan - Nine NATO service members were killed yesterday in Afghanistan, including seven U.S. troops among eight who died when a powerful bomb exploded in a field where they were patrolling on foot, officials said. Two Afghan policemen also died and two others were wounded in the explosion in the mountainous Shorabak district of Kandahar province, 12 miles from the Pakistan border, said Gen. Abdul Raziq, chief of the Afghan border police in the province. "Two months ago, we cleared this area of terrorists, but still they are active there," Raziq said.

While arguments continue over which presidential contender can win the "war on terror," not enough is being said about another "war" on one of its battlefields. In Afghanistan, long a focal point and problem spot of the "war on drugs," the situation has gotten worse. The U.S. State Department reports that Afghanistan is on pace to produce a record opium poppy crop this year. Afghanistan is already estimated by the United Nations to produce three-quarters of the world's opium.