Afghanistan

A Maryland soldier is in Army custody and classified as a deserter - unfairly, relatives say - after he extended a two-week mid-tour leave to take care of his sick wife and their new baby. Republican Rep. Roscoe Bartlett of Frederick has asked the Secretary of the Army to investigate whether the Army mistreated Pfc. Christopher Pfeiffer, 20, of Westminster. Army officials would not comment on whether he faces charges or has received nonjudicial punishment. Lisa Wright, a spokeswoman for Bartlett, said Pfeiffer's case has been brought to the Army secretary's attention, the highest level for such appeals.

First, a bunch of dimwits destroy our credibility with the Iraqi people in particular and the Islamic world in general by their actions at Abu Ghraib and now another group of idiots does the same in Afghanistan by burning the Quran ("Qurans burned, so have bridges," March 2). Didn't they get the memo that in asymmetrical warfare the idea is to win the hearts and minds of the indigenous people, not to antagonize them? I'm quite certain that the family and friends of the late Major Robert J. Marchant II wishes they had. Marc Raim, Baltimore

It is quite obvious that the U.S. and NATO are being outsmarted by the Taliban, who are wearing fake Afghan soldiers' uniforms to kill our soldiers and sow discord among the alliance. Moreover, the restrictions placed on our peace keeping forces prevent them from fighting a more aggressive conflict, which is absolutely a hindrance to our assisting the weak Afghan government and military. Quinton D. Thompson, Towson

I found the recent headline regarding to Maryland National Guard ("Maryland Guard fights on in hope of Afghan peace," Jan. 29) to be Orwellian. It is a simple dictum that you can't wage war for peace. There are no winners in a war, only losers. One side may kill more than the other or capture more territory, but a cessation of warfare is not peace. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana helping to set up small business. It would have been ludicrous for me to use force on the entrepreneurs to get them to do what I wanted.

President Obama is right to commit more troops to Afghanistan ("'Our security at stake,' Obama declares, ordering 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan," Dec. 1). Now is no time for half-measures if we want to succeed in routing the Taliban and denying the terrorists there a safe training ground. But sending more troops is not enough; we also need to provide them with the next-generation technology that will help them find the insurgents and beat them on their home turf. Today, most troops are still using legacy radios, vehicles and technology that are holdovers from the Cold War, which can't give soldiers a birds-eye view of the battlefield and can't share information.

The Books For Kids Day event has a touching twist this year: It's being dedicated to Anne Smedinghoff, the 25-year-old Johns Hopkins University alum who was killed in a bombing while delivering textbooks to school children in Afghanistan. Smedinghoff, who worked in the public diplomacy section of the State Department, was killed along with three U.S. soldiers and a civilian employee of the Defense Department, according to reports in The Baltimore Sun. Those who knew her said the work illustrated her drive to help others.

It is very sad and disturbing to continue reading and hearing about the skirmishes still transpiring in and around Afghanistan in order for the U.S. and NATO to maintain control of the terrorist forces, including al-Qaida and the Taliban, which is an absolute necessity. In my opinion, the most frightening aspect of this continual conflict is President Barack Obama's recent declaration that our troops would be withdrawn from this area in 2014 - a date which appears to be nothing more than a political ploy in order to please the American public, when the announcement of a more comprehensive statement by Mr. Obama to the effect that the troops would remain there until the problems were resolved, and our troops were no longer needed, would have been more practical.

A 25-year-old Marine from Frederick who was mortally wounded in Afghanistan will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The Pentagon says Sgt. David Smith died Jan. 26 of wounds suffered Jan. 23 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He died at a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. A funeral service will be conducted Feb. 9 at 9 a.m. at the Frederick Christian Fellowship Church Complex. Burial at Arlington will start at 3 p.m. - Associated Press div.talkforum #creditfooter { display: none; }

A 22-year-old Marine from Towson was killed Saturday in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Lance Cpl. Jeremy M. Kane was assigned to the 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, based in Camp Pendleton, Calif. Kane died in combat in the Helmand province. He was the first armed-services member from the Baltimore area killed in combat this year. Kane joined the Marines in May 2007. He was serving his first tour in Afghanistan.

The hulking old tanks, left to rust when Soviet forces pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989, still packed a threat when Albert Whittington arrived. Whittington, an ordnance and explosives specialist with the Baltimore district of the Army Corps of Engineers, clambered through dozens of Red Army tanks, trench-digging vehicles, bridge-laying equipment and other derelict machinery at the Pul-e-Charki military base east of Kabul. His mission: Find any unexploded ordnance, unused ammunition and other materials still capable of maiming or killing.