In a week when North Korea posted a homemade video showing the U.S. Capitol building being destroyed by a missile, what more logical response could Hollywood offer than a macho thriller about a Secret Service agent who takes on North Korean terrorists who attack the White House? The first of two similarly themed action dramas set for this year ("White House Down" arrives in June), "Olympus Has Fallen" will put to the test the question of whether American audiences are ready, 12 years after 9-11, to watch, strictly as disposable popcorn entertainment, a film in which the United States and some of its most prominent landmarks are devastated by foreign terrorists.

“I’ll always have part of my heart there,” director Sam French says, discussing his move back to Los Angeles after working for nearly five years in Kabul, Afghanistan. It’s a Wednesday afternoon and French is swamped with interviews following the recent Oscar nomination for his live-action short film “Buzkashi Boys,” a portrait of two young teenagers living in modern-day Afghanistan who dream of playing the dangerous blood sport “buzkashi.”

Don Benjamin never thought he would start a charity effort during his retirement, or ever for that matter.

"A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” — The Second Amendment

"A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." — The Second Amendment

Susan Stamper Brown, guest commentary

A U.S. Army soldier who grew up in Mesa and was readying to go on a mission near Kabul, Afghanistan, was among four soldiers injured and two others killed in an incident involving a privately hired “rogue security guard” who opened fire inside their barracks with an AK-47 on Saturday.

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan, to spend New Year's Eve with U.S. troops and the Homeland Security officers who have been working with the Afghan government to try to secure that country's porous borders from militants, as well as weapons and drug smugglers.

I never thought I would say or write the words “Impeach Obama,” but I’m doing it. I supported Obama’s bid for the presidency, but he has taken a terrible situation created by Bush and the Republicans, and made it far worse. To add insult to injury, he now seems incapable of getting us out of the complete mess that is Afghanistan. Given today’s headlines that we may be in Afghanistan until 2014 or later, it is time for radical change.

KABUL -- President Hamid Karzai's spokesman gave assurances Wednesday that the Afghanistan's government is committed to the fight against the Taliban, denying published reports the Afghan leader threatened to join the insurgents unless the U.S. and its allies ease up on pressure to reform.

KABUL -- President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Sunday for a firsthand look at the 8-year-old war he inherited and dramatically escalated.

KABUL — Thirteen Afghan civilians died in violence Sunday as the nation's hard-line vice president expressed hopes for reconciliation and representatives of a militant group with ties to the Taliban brought their own draft of a peace deal to the capital.

KABUL — The Afghan government was holding secret talks with the Taliban's No. 2 when he was captured in Pakistan, and the arrest infuriated President Hamid Karzai, according to one of Karzai's advisers.

KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Monday that an action plan to reintegrate low- to mid-level insurgent fighters into society and negotiate with the Taliban's top echelon will be crafted at a springtime peace conference aimed at ending the war.

KABUL — Afghan government officials are not rushing to oust the man they chose to bring fresh and credible governance to a town just seized from the Taliban, but his newly disclosed violent criminal record in Germany will be investigated further, officials said Saturday.

KABUL — Afghanistan's president has taken control of a formerly independent body that monitors election fraud, raising concern Tuesday that he's reneging on promises to clean up corruption and cronyism - a pillar of the Obama administration's plan to erode support for the Taliban.

KABUL — The Afghan government is involved in talks with extremist groups on multiple levels, but there is no comprehensive negotiation under way, the Afghan official in charge of reconciliation efforts with the Taliban said Monday.

KABUL — Taliban militants wearing explosive vests launched a brazen daylight assault Monday on the center of Kabul, with suicide bombings and gunbattles near the presidential palace and other government buildings that paralyzed the city for hours.

KABUL — The Afghan government is crafting a plan to offer jobs, vocational training and other economic incentives to tens of thousands of Taliban foot soldiers willing to switch sides after eight years of war.

KABUL — In a video broadcast after his death, the Jordanian suicide bomber who killed seven CIA employees sits cross-legged on the floor next to the new chief of the Pakistani Taliban, confirming the group was behind the brazen attack in eastern Afghanistan.

KABUL - A suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest at a military base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing eight American civilians, U.S. officials said. The explosion occurred at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province near the Afghan border with Pakistan.