WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama pledged on Monday to forge ahead with his Afghan war strategy and the Pentagon sought to dispel fears of a Taliban resurgence after militants shot down a helicopter killing 30 U.S. troops, mainly elite Navy SEALs.

Saturday’s crash was the deadliest incident for U.S. forces since the war in Afghanistan began nearly a decade ago and followed a series of high-profile assassinations and attacks by the insurgents over the past several months.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama pledged Monday to forge ahead with his Afghan war strategy and the Pentagon sought to dispel fears of a Taliban resurgence after militants shot down a helicopter killing 30 U.S. troops, mainly elite Navy SEALs.

Saturday’s crash was the deadliest incident for U.S. forces since the war in Afghanistan began nearly a decade ago and followed a series of high-profile assassinations and attacks by the insurgents over the past several months.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon sought to dispel concerns about a Taliban resurgence on Monday after Afghan militants shot down a helicopter over the weekend killing 30 U.S. troops, most of them elite Navy SEALs.

Saturday’s crash was the deadliest incident for U.S. forces since the war in Afghanistan began nearly a decade ago and followed a series of high-profile assassinations and attacks by the insurgents over the past several months.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Any agreement for U.S. troops to stay in Iraq beyond a year-end deadline for their withdrawal would require the Iraqi parliament to agree to grant American soldiers legal immunity, the top U.S. military officer said on Tuesday.

Immunity for American troops staying on in Iraq could complicate the already difficult wrangling for Iraq’s fragile, multi-sectarian government, whose leaders are under pressure to decide whether some U.S. soldiers should stay in the country.

MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) – Attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq by Iran-backed militia have fallen sharply thanks to U.S. and Iraqi military operations and political engagement by Baghdad, the top U.S. military officer said on Monday.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not elaborate on the specific steps taken in response to a wave of attacks that made June the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Iraq since 2008.

KABUL (Reuters) – The top U.S. military officer said Sunday Afghan militants of the anti-American Haqqani network were finding it harder to move into Afghanistan but warned that their safe havens in Pakistan still posed a risk to the decade-old war effort.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, travelled earlier in the day to eastern Afghanistan where Haqqani militants are attacking U.S. forces.

KABUL (Reuters) – The U.S. military is waiting to see whether some Taliban leaders take a break during August for Ramadan, crossing over the border into Pakistan after several weeks of high profile attacks.

“There’s an awful lot of discussion about the Taliban leadership leaving their fighters here, and particularly to go back across the border for Ramadan,” Admiral Mike Mullen, the top U.S. military officer, referring to talks he had with U.S. commanders in Kandahar and Helmand provinces.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 30 (Reuters) – It is unclear if
the United States will be able to pay troops on time in the
event of a debt default, the top U.S. military officer told
troops in Afghanistan on Saturday.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military’s Joint
Chiefs of Staff, said Pentagon officials were working hard to
plan for a potential default but cautioned that the
circumstances were extraordinary.

KANDAHAR (Reuters) – The top U.S. military officer made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan on Friday, aiming to reassure a country rattled by a wave of high-profile attacks and assassinations.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. officials had long predicted the kind of attacks that have shaken southern Afghanistan and Kandahar province in recent weeks.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The nominee to become the top U.S. military officer warned on Tuesday it would be “extraordinarily difficult and very high risk” to cut $800 billion from defense spending as part of efforts to reduce the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt.

Army General Martin Dempsey appeared to push back hard in his Senate nomination hearing against proposals gaining momentum in Congress to at least double President Barack Obama’s slated defense cuts of $400 billion over the next dozen years.