Tom Bowman

Vice President Joe Biden is in Turkey for meetings with the country's president. It's the highest level U.S. visit to Turkey since a failed coup attempt there that led to a crisis in U.S. relations.

Rear Adm. Mustafa Zeki Ugurlu, who had just finished a NATO job in Norfolk, Va., is among the "pro coup fugitives" being pursued by Turkey following last month's failed coup attempt.

American warplanes have begun attacking Islamic State fighters in Libya. It's the first step in what the U.S. and its allies hope is a new international campaign to stabilize a nation that's been in chaos since the 2011 NATO military intervention decapitated its government but did not establish a viable successor — creating conditions that ISIS found inviting.

The most critical question in Afghanistan today is whether the Afghan military can keep the country safe from the Taliban. An NPR team went looking for the answer, and two of the group were killed.

Fifteen years into the Afghan war, locals continue to grow, harvest and sell poppy, notwithstanding attempts to eradicate it, replace it with something else, or use it for constructive means.

A permanent academy is in the works to help Afghan troops improve their artillery and mortar skills. NPR visited a base where the Afghans are learning to wield what's called the "King of Battle."

U.S. forces continue to help Afghan troops battle back the Taliban, but the security situation remains uncertain at best. Our team has just returned from a fateful reporting trip to Afghanistan.

Seventy-one years later, the Marine Corps acknowledged it misidentified one of the Marines in Joe Rosenthal's ironic flag raising image from Iwo Jima. The previously unknown Pfc. Harold Schultz of Detroit is the sixth man in the picture, service leaders confirm.

Afghan commandos, supported by U.S. special operations forces, launched a raid into a village contested by the Taliban. The raid permitted an aid convoy to make progress after nearly a month.

Over the past 15 years, 1,832 American servicemen and -women have been killed in action in Afghanistan. How do the U.S. forces posted there mark Memorial Day, and how is the conflict going overall?

With fewer U.S. troops, there's less need to treat combat trauma at the Bagram Airfield hospital. But civilian casualties continue. A surgeon at Bagram has been trying to save an injured girl's leg.

U.S. drones killed Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour in a remote area of Pakistan over the weekend. The death that was confirmed by President Obama and Afghan intelligence.

An American service member was killed on Tuesday after an ISIS attack broke through Iraqi Kurdish defensive lines north of the city of Mosul. Kurdish Peshmerga troops also were killed and wounded. The U.S. responded with air support to beat back the attack, but fighting continued in an offensive the U.S. says was an attempt by ISIS to "show its teeth."

The Pentagon released its final report into what it called the accidental destruction of a hospital in Afghanistan last year that killed more than 40 people. More than a dozen troops were disciplined, but none are facing courts-martial or other punishment beyond reprimands expected to end their careers.

President Obama announced he will send additional U.S. special operations forces to Syria. The announcement comes at a time when ISIS's foothold on the region is, reportedly, weakening.

The Pentagon has authorized more than 200 additional troops for duty in Iraq to fight ISIS, specifically focused on retaking Mosul. They will be trainers, attack helicopter crews and artillery crews.

For decades, U.S. and international troops have deployed to the Sinai Peninsula as part of a peace deal between Egypt and Israel. The Pentagon wonders whether these deployments make sense anymore.

The U.S. Navy charged an officer who was involved with the surveillance of China with espionage, alleging he divulged secret information that could hurt the security of the U.S. Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin is being held in pre-trail confinement as the Navy and FBI investigate the case.

Donald Trump called for the U.S. to pull back its support of NATO, complaining the allies are not pulling their weight. Trump has raised an issue that has been bubbling for sometime. Defense Secretaries Robert Gates, Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel all complained about NATO. NPR talks with analysts about this issue and explores whether NATO is still relevant.

Women can now apply for ground combat positions in the Marines, and training female recruits for those jobs will begin in June. But so far, no women have signed up.