Questions at the Santa Clarita Valley telephone townhall hosted by Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, Friday afternoon covered a variety of issues, including Afghanistan, COVID-19, elections, domestic terrorism, homelessness, domestic violence funding and rental assistance. Garcia responded to...

More than 100 people have departed Afghanistan in the last three weeks with the support of Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, whose office has helped or is in the process of helping nearly 300 people evacuate the country. The United States Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital city, ceased all operations...

Jonathan E. Sherin, M.D., Ph.D., director of Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. Dear Department of Mental family, The recent events in Afghanistan and their mental health ramifications for our military community remind us that there are challenges beyond the pandemic. The painful emotions...

WASHINGTON — U.S. forces killed Abu Sayed, the head of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-Khorasan, in a strike on the group’s headquarters in Kunar province, Afghanistan on July 11, Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Dana W. White said in a statement. “The raid also killed other ISIS-K members and...

By Hans Petersen, Veterans Health Administration Were you exposed to burn pits while deployed? Did you serve in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn, Djibouti, Africa, Operations Desert Shield or Desert Storm or the Southeast Asia theater of operations after August, 1990? Do...

Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, delivered the following speech on the U.S. mission in Afghanistan to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Monday.   “For nearly 13 years now, the United States has been at war...

Operation Thank Our Troops Help SCV-based Prayer Angels for the Military to send care packages to U.S. troops in Afghanistan.   Needed: Granola bars, beef jerky, white and black cotton sport socks, canned ravioli with   pop tops, three-blade razors, international phone cards (AT&T only), AA/AAA...

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Santa Clarita,  sent the following letter to President Obama regarding news reports that indicate he is considering a “zero option” of U.S. forces in Afghanistan post-2014:   Dear President Obama, I write with great surprise...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. As the United States prepares to wind down military operations in Afghanistan, we must not withdraw support for one of the most critical efforts to ensure security and stability in the region: the decade-long effort to curtail the Afghan drug trade. Very little product...

President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and International Security Assistance Force leaders all condemned a shooting incident in Southern Afghanistan, and pledged to work with Afghan authorities in fully investigating...