Page 4 - Combat Phase News Today

The syrian civil war is back atop the agenda even though u.s.-backed forces may be close to liberating raqqa, the syrian capital. its what isis calls its capital, in fact. i want to bring in cnn correspondent barbara starr. ending the battle winning the war not the same case, barbara. >> reporter: not at all, brianna. the u.s. could win the combat phase of the war but its going to open up a whole new set of challenges. u.s. marines in syria firing artillery at isis positions. unprecedented vid...

The obama administration is ending our combat phase but keeping troops in afghanistan. these are countries linked right next to each other. what is interesting is that this pakistan taliban which is separate from afghan tab ban -- taliban. zblrz what about the role of isis? where does isis figure into all of that? has it injected a new more viral strain of terrorism to the pakistan taliban? >> it may have. the first point to say is this is not about the religion of islam. it sounds like politica...

The president held his first meeting with the new french president, francois hollande this morning in advance of their camp david summit. meeting this weekend. ahead, of course, of the nato summit meeting on monday in chicago. hollande promised in his campaign to get french troops out of afghanistan and hes recommitted to that today. a top issue for the leaders as they also grapple with economic turmoil in europe. >> we agreed that even as we transition out of a combat phase in afghanistan that ...

huge deal. set the scene. >> reporter: this is a big deal, wolf. a trip by the president of the united states to a war zone like afghanistan is extraordinary and this is only the third time that president obama has made this trip. its been over a year. the last time he was there was in december 2010 and furthermore, at the presidential palace which is where he is right now for brief remarks with president hamid karzai and to sign the strategic partnership agreement with afghanistan to ...

>> always a pleasure. >> the last time we had you on we were talking about the deadly shooting rampage at presumably the hands of a u.s. soldier. the general public sentiment weve got to do something about afghanistan and our presence there. do you think that general john allen can sell the idea of more troops or maintaining the same amount of troops to the president who can sell it to the american public? >> i dont think any one is talking about more kroops. once we get down toward the end of t...

south carolina. where robbers attack two people who were leaving a walmart. in kissimmee, florida, a fight breaks out at a big box jewelry counter. turning to l.a., a woman actually used pepper spray to fend off her fellow shoppers. and in north carolina, an off-duty police officer pepper sprays an unruly crowd. happy shopping season, folks. these of course are just the exceptions. the one thing mostly the shoppers are out there trying to fight is just maybe some fatigue. the only ...

Combat phase of the war over, the race is on to make sure iraqi security forces are as ready as possible for the day towards the end of next year when the americans will be gone. >> what weve got right here is how properly to run a checkpoint. within that, there are things, as well. how to search people properly. there is evidence found, how to exploit it properly. >> reporter: the training runs the gamut from what tactics to employ when under attack to lessons in battlefield medical treatments....

Valuable. and while this is the new phase of the war for the americans, the old face, the combat phase, may have ended in name, but not in reality. this is still a front line, in a very dangerous place. >> it is still dangerous. my unit has tragically had two soldiers killed within the last month. and i do not believe that it will be the last casualty that we see here. >> yeah, so there is daily risk for ied, small arms fire. >> reporter: and those risks will be part of the job over the coming y...

They are still learning how to secure their country the way they need to, and theyve made enormous strides thanks to the training that theyve already received. but there is still more work to do there. we will have to protect our civilians, aid workers and diplomats who are over there who are trying to expand and help what is going to be a long road ahead for the iraqi people in terms of rebuilding their country. we are still going to be going after terrorists in those areas, and so our countert...

Getting the care and honor that they have earned. so thats part of my message to the country, and one of the great things about the last several years has been to see how unified the country is around support of our veterans and of our men and women who are currently serving. now, i know that as ive said at the beginning, our task in iraq is not yet completed. our combat phase is over, but weve worked too hard to neglect the continuing work that has to be done by our civilians, and by those tran...