The military is investigating what appears to be the first case of American troops killed by a missile from a U.S. drone.

A new video released by the Taliban shows Spc. Bowe Bergdahl, the only known U.S. serviceman held captive in Afghanistan, with bags under his eyes and what appears to be an abrasion on his left cheek.

"Everyone make sure their helmets and seatbelts are on," says Cpt Ryan Bumgardner, 29, of Hood River, Ore., "and the doors are locked.”

For hundreds of Oregonians, Saturday was a harsh reminder of the U.S.'s continued war in Afghanistan and the fact that this war is still taking local lives – at a rate higher now than ever before.

Hundreds packed a Eugene sanctuary to remember and to say goodbye to a local Marine killed in Afghanistan.

An honor guard welcomed the body of LCpl Joseph E. Rodewald to the Eugene airport and escorted his casket to Springfield Memorial Garden Funeral Home Wednesday morning.

Conversations start with phrases like, "if we get blown up" and "if we receive indirect fire." This is life for Oregon Marines in the war zone of Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Two memorials are being planned for Lance Cpl. Marine Joe Rodewald, who was newly arrived in Afghanistan when he was killed by a roadside bomb.

A multi-pronged militant assault on a small, remote U.S. base killed nine American soldiers and wounded 15 Sunday in the deadliest attack on U.S. forces in Afghanistan in three years, officials said.

Taliban militants have attacked two more telecom towers in southern Afghanistan after warning phone companies to shut down the towers at night.

About 150,000 people subscribe to cell phone service each month in Afghanistan and there's ''no end in sight'' to the growth, the country's communications minister said Tuesday.

The killing of the top Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah, a one-legged fighter who orchestrated suicide attacks, beheadings and an ethnic massacre, marks a major victory for the U.S. campaign at a time of flagging Afghan support over civilian killings.

Roadside bombs in southern Afghanistan on Sunday left seven NATO soldiers dead, the alliance said, as its forces continued an anti-Taliban offensive in the world's most fertile opium-producing region.