Afghanistan War News Updates -- May 19, 2010

MARGAH PRESENCE - U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Mark Bartosch, right, and Staff Sgt. Bradley Watts pull security on the outskirts of the village of Margah, on a presence patrol, Paktika province, Afghanistan, May 6, 2010. Bartosch and Watts are assigned to Company ABU, 1-187th Infantry, Air Assault, Combat Outpost Margah. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Derec Pierson

Grim Milestone: 1,000 Americans Dead -- New York Times

He was an irreverent teenager with a pregnant girlfriend when the idea first crossed his mind: Join the Army, raise a family. She had an abortion, but the idea remained. Patrick S. Fitzgibbon, Saint Paddy to his friends, became Private Fitzgibbon. Three months out of basic training, he went to war.

From his outpost in the Kandahar Province of Afghanistan, he complained to his father about shortages of cigarettes, Skittles and Mountain Dew. But he took pride in his work and volunteered for patrols. On Aug. 1, 2009, while on one of those missions, Private Fitzgibbon stepped on a metal plate wired to a bomb buried in the sunbaked earth. The blue sky turned brown with dust.

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More News On Afghanistan

U.S. casualties in Afghanistan hit 1,000 with massive Taliban suicide bombing in Kabul -- New York Daily News
One Thousand Dead Americans in Afghanistan -- Reuters
NATO death toll hits 202 in Afghanistan this year -- Yahoo News/AFP
The Counting Behind a Grim Milestone -- New York Times

UPDATE: Nearly a dozen insurgents killed during attack against Bagram this morning -- Combined Joint Task Force
Taliban attack biggest NATO base in Afghanistan -- Yahoo News/AFP
Afghan insurgents attack Bagram base -- BBC
Contractor killed in insurgent attack at U.S. base in Afghanistan -- Washington Post
Taliban Attack American Base Outside Kabul -- New York Times
Nato troops wounded in Taleban suicide bombing of Bagram airbase -- Times Online
Bagram military base attack by Afghanistan Taliban wounds nine NATO troops -- Christian Science Monitor
Taliban Attack Key US Base in Afghanistan -- New York Times/AP
Afghan Taliban launch brazen attack on NATO base -- Montreal Gazette/Reuters
Militants attack Bagram Air Base -- CNN
Afghan Insurgents Attack Major NATO Base -- Wall Street Journal
Afghanistan: Taliban militants attack Bagram air base -- The Telegraph

2 US-led forces killed in Afghanistan -- Press TV
Colonel's death marks new turn in Afghan war -- National Post
Canadian colonel killed in bombing -- Vancouver Sun

Disease 'to cut Afghan opium by up to 70%' -- AFP
Attack raises Afghan policing questions -- CNN
Pay Raises, Training Combat Afghan Corruption -- U.S. Department of Defense
Karzai's Brother Accused of Influence-Peddling -- New York Times/AP
Afghanistan president's brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, under investigation -- Christian Science Monitor
Afghan criminals may go free -- Washington Times
U.S. should engage more Afghan actors -- Michael O'Hanlon, Politico