Operations

The president said he's taking the deaths "as seriously as if it was our own citizens ... who were murdered."

Iranian-backed terror groups are strengthening their ties to transnational criminal groups in South America and are working to expand their influence in the region, according to a top U.S. general.

“Iran is very engaged in the region,” Southern Command chief Gen. Douglas Fraser told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. Iranian terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah are involved in a number of “illicit activities” likely tied to the regional drug trade, according to Fraser.

“We do see evidence of international terrorist groups benefitting from ... illicit trafficking and money laundering” in South America, he said in a written statement to the panel. Specifically, both groups regularly look to South America to finance their operations in the Middle East through “licit avenues such as charitable donations, and illicit means, including trafficking in drugs, counterfeit and pirated goods,” according to Fraser.

“He said, ‘Go,’ knowing his presidency was on the line," the vice president said at a fundraiser in Georgetown.

Officials worked quickly to calm tensions after an American service member opened fire on Afghan civilians Sunday

U.S. and Afghan officials signed an agreement Friday to transfer prisoners to the Afghan government, an issue that had been a sticking point in talks between the two countries.

The United States will accelerate its transfer of Afghan detainees at the Parwan Detention Facility to give President Hamid Karzai’s government control in six months.

Pentagon officials said more base closures are needed because a reduction of 100,000 troops means less infrastructure is necessary.

Five U.S. troops were responsible for the burning of Qurans last week that sparked a wave of violence in Afghanistan, according to military investigators, The Washington Post reported Friday.

The burning of the Qurans was accidental, the investigation found. But when they were removed from a prison when it was discovered they had extremist messages, the books were mistaken for garbage after they were placed in an office for safekeeping, the Post reported.

The group, including the Transportation secretary's son, had been barred from leaving Egypt since January and threatened with prosecution.

"We're not out of the woods yet," President Obama said in an interview with ABC News.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) is planning to introduce a bill this week that would bar private contractors and Afghans in a new private security force from guarding U.S. bases in Afghanistan.

The bill would make it more difficult for U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan, as many bases in Afghanistan often use contractors for security.

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