OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM

White Taliban flags waved near the now-empty U.S. Embassy in Kabul and members of the group strolled throughout the capital city on Saturday.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin traveled to Afghanistan on Sunday to meet with the nation's leader, as Washington considers a potential end to America's longest war. The trip, which makes Austin the first Biden Cabinet-level official to visit the war-torn country, comes 40 days ahead of a U.S. troop withdrawal deadline. The collective wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have cost U.S. taxpayers more than $1.57 trillion since Sept. 11, 2001, according to a Defense Department report. Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, which began in October 2001 and formally ended in December 2014, cost taxpayers $578.7 billion. Of the three current operations, Freedom's Sentinel takes the lion's share of costs at $197.3 billion, followed by Inherent Resolve at $40.5 billion and Noble Eagle at $27.9 billion.

ANN ARBOR – Former Ann Arbor resident Captain Moeen Javed assumed command of the Mt. Clemens Army Recruiting Company in September that has locations in Mt. Under the command of the Great Lakes Army Recruiting Battalion in Lansing, Javed is overseeing recruitment in the greater Metro Detroit area. Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Javed immigrated to Ann Arbor with his family in pursuit of the American dream. “A lot of young men and women are misinformed about the Army," Javed said in a statement.

Afghanistan CEO on Operation Enduring Freedom Afghanistan CEO Abdullah Abdullah: “The threat to the United States and to the world peace would have been 10 times bigger without the engagement.”