Chairman of the Joint Chiefs ADM Mike Mullen spoke to officers at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Thursday. He said the military alone can’t solve the world’s conflicts.

Admiral Michael Mullen says U.S. and NATO troops will shift their focus to southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province following their current offensive against the Taliban in Marjah.

Commander of U.S. Central Command GEN David Petraeus says it is vital for coalition troops to avoid civilian deaths whenever possible.

As more soldiers head from Iraq to Afghanistan, proper training for different circumstances becomes vital for their success.

Iran remains a focus of concern for the U.S. military’s Central Command and for neighboring countries as well.

General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, predicts a long, hard year in Afghanistan.

Pentagon officials say they took a calculated risk when they warned people in Marjah, Afghanistan, about their planned offensive to eliminate the Taliban.

The Commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan says policies on fighting terrorism have evolved since the military began fighting al Qaeda.

GEN David Petraeus, CENTCOM commander, says the situation in Afghanistan is likely to get worse before it gets better.

On the ground in Afghanistan, Marines routinely patrol the area around their outposts in an effort to further secure the region and win the trust of Afghans.

The Naval Academy is gearing up for this weekend’s Army/Navy game.

GEN McChrystal praises the accomplishments of National Guardsmen in Afghanistan.

Troops and the equipment to support them are already on the way to Afghanistan as part of President Obama’s new war strategy.

Achieving success against extremists in Afghanistan is a challenging, yet attainable mission, the commander of U.S. Central Command said at a Capitol Hill hearing in Washington, D.C. today, reports AFPS’ Gerry J. Gilmore.

Success in Afghanistan “is of enormous importance, and it is attainable,” Army Gen. David H. Petraeus told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“But achieving our objectives will not be easy,” the four-star general told senators, noting “the challenges are great.”

Petraeus said he supports President Barack Obama’s revised Afghanistan strategy, part of which involves the deployment of 30,000 extra U.S. troops there over the next several months.

“I do believe that the policy the president announced last week and the additional resources being committed will, over the next 18 months, enable us to make important progress in several critical tasks” in Afghanistan, said Petraeus, the architect of the Iraq surge.

Those tasks, he said, include reversing the Taliban’s momentum, increasing the capabilities and numbers of Afghan security forces, helping to improve Afghan governance and setting conditions for the start of the reduction in U.S. combat forces in July 2011 in a way that does not jeopardize the progress that has been achieved.

Though achieving these tasks will be difficult, Petraeus said, Afghanistan presents a no more hopeless situation than that which existed in Iraq prior to the start of the surge of forces there in 2007. Indeed, he noted, the level of violence and numbers of civilian deaths in Iraq during the height of the insurgency there were much higher than what has been experienced in Afghanistan.

“But, achieving progress in Afghanistan will be hard, and the progress there likely will be slower in developing than was the progress achieved in Iraq,” Petraeus said.

Achieving success in Afghanistan is vital to U.S. national security, Petraeus said, pointing to the close relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists.

“Reversing the Taliban’s momentum is essential to the effort to degrade and defeat al-Qaida,” Petraeus said. “The Taliban we are fighting in Afghanistan today is the same organization that sheltered and supported Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida as they planned the 9/11 attacks. The relationship between these groups remains strong.”

The Afghan Taliban’s leadership, he said, is organized, ideologically motivated and serves as an inspiration for other extremists. In recent years, he added, the Taliban have expanded their numbers and influence in Afghanistan, though they have little support among the majority of the Afghan people.

Nonetheless, Petraeus said, U.S. and coalition forces will have to fight their way into enemy strongholds as the surge of forces into Afghanistan continues through spring and into summer. He said he also anticipates possible turmoil in the Afghan government, as news reports cite the identification and replacement of corrupt or disloyal Afghan officials.

“Like Iraq, the situation is likely to get harder before it gets easier,” said Petraeus, who predicts an increase in security incidents in Afghanistan this summer. “It will be important, therefore, to withhold judgment on the success or failure of the strategy in Afghanistan until next December, as the president has counseled.”

That will be the right time, Petraeus said, “to evaluate progress, consider the way forward, and begin discussing the nature and pace of the transition of security tasks to Afghan forces and initial reductions of U.S. forces in Afghanistan that will begin in July 2011.”

Any changes in U.S. troop strength at that time, Petraeus said, would be based upon conditions on the ground.

The United States is at a critical juncture regarding the mission in Afghanistan, said U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry, who accompanied Petraeus at the hearing.

Eikenberry also declared his support of Obama’s revised Afghanistan strategy, which he said “offers the best path to stabilize Afghanistan and to ensure al-Qaida cannot regain a foothold to plan new attacks against us.”

The additional U.S. military forces to be deployed to Afghanistan, Eikenberry said, will be employed to break the insurgency’s momentum, hasten and improve training of Afghan security forces, and establish security in key parts of the country.

Concurrently, Eikenberry said, a civilian surge of U.S. and international experts in government, agriculture, infrastructure and other areas of expertise will deploy to Afghanistan.

“We aim to increase employment and provide essential services in areas of greatest insecurity, while improving critical ministries and the economy at the national level,” Eikenberry said. “These steps taken together, we believe, will help remove the insurgents from the battlefield and build support for the Afghan government.”

The Commander of U.S. Central Command was in Washington D.C. Friday night to accept an award on behalf of CentCom’s men and women.

Army Secretary John McHugh orders an investigation into procedures at Arlington National Cemetery.

A ceremony was held on Sunday to celebrate the delivery of the first of twenty C-27 military transport planes from the U.S. to Afghanistan.

The U.S. military unveiled a new detention facility at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan over the weekend.

President Barack Obama comments on Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

The Army has released suicide numbers for Oct 09. Among active duty soldiers, there were 16 potential cases. U.S. Centcom Commander, GEN David Petraeus defends the use of unmanned drones.

The Air Force announced Saturday that the pilot involved in a recent accident is presumed dead.

For the first time in Colorado Army National Guard history, a woman will lead the ranks.

Health officials are seeing unprecedented levels of influenza cases this year, and most of them are confirmed H1N1.

Officials say Defense Secretary Robert Gates will be pushing for increased international support for the war in Afghanistan.

A look at what the Defense Department is doing to help military families deal with the challenges of deployment.

Commander of U.S. Central Command, General David Petraeus, visited Pakistan on Monday.