Summary: A bodyguard for Afghanistan’s second highest-ranking intelligence official shot dead two U.S. troops accompanying a reconstruction team convoy north of Kabul. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on July 9, 2010, Aubrey Immelman featured Part 3 of “The Rise of the New Right: A Hardball Documentary with Chris Matthews,” titled “The Tea Party Movement.”

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Summary: The outgoing U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, who was recently confirmed as the next director of the CIA, says U.S. troops have achieved progress on the battlefield but that “much work remains” to be done in Afghanistan. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on July 4, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that Baghdad’s Green Zone was targeted in a mortar attack as Vice President Joe Biden visited Iraq on America’s Independence Day.

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Summary: Despite U.S. reports of progress on the battlefield, American troops were killed at the same pace in the first half of 2011 as in the first six months of 2010 — an indication that the war’s toll on U.S. forces has not eased, even as the Obama administration moves to shift more of the burden of war to the Afghans. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on July 2, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that Taliban suicide attackers stormed a four-story house used by the U.S. Agency for International Development in Kunduz, north Afghanistan, killing four people before succumbing in a fierce, five-hour gunbattle with Afghan security forces.

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Summary: The final bill for the post 9/11 U.S. wars in Iraq and the Afghanistan-Pakistan region will reach at least $3.7 trillion and could be as high as $4.4 trillion, according to the research project “Costs of War” by Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on June 29, 2010, Aubrey Immelman provided his weekly report of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

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Summary: Taliban attackers armed with machine guns, anti-aircraft weapons, rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, and grenade launchers stormed the heavily guarded Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, before NATO helicopters killed the remaining insurgents in a final rooftop battle that ended a siege lasting more than five hours. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on June 28, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that an independent report by the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction found that the U.S. had often overestimated the ability of Afghan military and police units to fight on their own, calling into question the strategy to win the war and bring troops home.

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Summary: America’s chapter in Afghanistan’s struggle is drawing to a close. Few experts believe Afghanistan will enjoy peace anytime soon. Optimists hope the level of violence can be reduced and the fighting limited to small areas around the country. Pessimists, including many Afghans, fear that once the foreign troops leave, the country will descend into a new civil war. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on June 27, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported allegations by Iran that Saudi Arabia was allowing Israel to use its territory in preparation for attacking Iran nuclear sites.

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Summary: President Barack Obama’s June 22, 2011 speech to the nation made it abundantly clear that the commander-in-chief is determined to end the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan, irrespective of “conditions on the ground” and without “benchmarks of success” or the other classical wartime caveats and equivocations. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on June 25, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that legislators or candidates in nearly 20 states were pushing for tougher anti-illegal immigration measures similar to Arizona’s sweeping new immigration law.

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Summary: Eight service members have been killed in a single day in Afghanistan — four in an insurgent attack and four in a vehicle accident, bringing the NATO death toll for June to 38, and 244 killed thus far in 2011. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on June 18, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann attacked President Barack Obama’s proposal for BP to arrange a $20 billion escrow account to pay for damages from the Gulf of Mexico oil gusher and aid spill victims — calling it a “redistribution-of-wealth fund,” warning BP’s chairman not to be an Obama “chump,” and predicting $9-a-gallon gasoline.

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Summary: May 2011 was the deadliest month for Afghan civilians since the war began shortly after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, with 368 civilians killed and 593 wounded, according to a U.N. midyear civilian casualty report. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on June 14, 2010, Aubrey Immelman reported that in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation establishing June 14 as Flag Day, and that President Harry Truman made it official in 1949 when he signed legislation designating June 14 of each year as National Flag Day.

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Summary: NATO says attacks on houses in Afghanistan will continue, after an alliance airstrike killed civilians and prompted harsh condemnation from President Hamid Karzai, who said the U.S.-led ISAF alliance risks becoming seen as “occupying force.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on May 31, 2010, Aubrey Immelman featured coverage of Memorial Day tributes by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and major news services.

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