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National Security
9:01 pm
Wed February 29, 2012

In Mock Village, A New Afghan Mission Takes Shape

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Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Lt. Col. Mark Schmitt, who will be among a group of U.S. military trainers heading to Afghanistan soon, calls out orders during a mock attack on the model Afghan village at the U.S. military base in Fort Polk, La.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Afghan police role-players (in blue shirts) gather in a mock village. The scenarios are staged to help prepare U.S. soldiers for training the Afghan forces.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Afghan police role-players, equipped with AK-47 assault rifles, walk the streets of the mock village during a security patrol.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Dressed in traditional clothing, an Afghan role-player waits for a shura — meeting — to end.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Role-players dressed as Afghan policemen clear a mosque in the mock village where a sniper had been firing at them.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
The Afghan policemen successfully secure the mosque.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
U.S. Capt. Donnell Mann greets female Afghan role-players.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
U.S. and Afghan security officers meet with civilian Afghan role-players.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A terrorist role-player detonates his suicide vest in front of Afghan security forces.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Capt. Marquay Edmondson runs for cover while trying to keep an eye on his Afghan counterparts during a gunfight.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Afghan role-players cover their ears and hide behind a wall during a gun battle.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A mock suicide bomber plays dead in the middle of a shootout.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A U.S. soldier carries a wounded Afghan policeman from the battlefield after he was shot during a mock gun battle.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Role-players from the Afghan National Army, in tan, and Afghan National Police, in blue, help an injured American soldier.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A U.S. soldier puts a wounded Afghan policeman in to the back of a truck after he was shot during a mock gun battle.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
U.S. troops wait for the signal to bring a injured Afghan soldier out to a waiting helicopter.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Col. Michael Kasales stands outside a mock Afghan village at Fort Polk, La., where U.S. Army soldiers are learning how to train Afghan security forces.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
Role players from the Afghan National Army, in tan, and Afghan National Police, in blue, take up positions during a training exercise in a mock Afghan village in Fort Polk, La.
Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A U.S. Army trainer examines the scene after a mock battle. The man on the ground was playing the role of an Afghan policeman.
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Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 7:59 am

At the Fort Polk military base in the pine forests of central Louisiana, the Army has created a miniature version of Afghanistan — with mock villages and American soldiers working alongside Afghan role-players.

This is the training ground for a new American approach in Afghanistan as the U.S. begins to look ahead to the goal of bringing home the U.S. forces by the end of 2014. The idea is that Afghan forces have to be good enough to defend their country against the Taliban, and to make that happen, the U.S. Army is creating small U.S. training teams at Fort Polk.

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The Picture Show
9:01 pm
Wed February 29, 2012

Shoot Now, Focus Later: A Little Camera To Change The Game

Credit Claire O'Neill / NPR
The Lytro we received to demo is about four inches long.
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By editor

Originally published on Thu March 1, 2012 9:18 am

Just when you thought you had the latest in camera technology, along comes something new and shiny and ... rectangular.

It's called the Lytro, and it uses something called "light field technology." In short: You shoot now and focus later.

NPR's resident photo expert, Keith Jenkins, explains: In a nutshell, he says, this camera captures not only the color and the intensity of light — which is what normal cameras do — but also the direction of that light — from every possible angle.

Still confused? We are, too.

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Asia
9:01 pm
Wed February 29, 2012

For India's Undocumented Citizens, An ID At Last

Credit Harish Tyagi / EPA
An Indian boy gets his eyes scanned for enrollment in a nationwide ID project in 2011. Many Indians, especially the poor, lack identification documents, which restricts their access to many government services.
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By Elliot Hannon

Some 75,000 babies are born every day in India. The total population is 1.2 billion and climbing. That's a lot of people to keep track of, and the Indian government has struggled to keep up.

Many Indians, especially the poor, don't have any ID, which makes it increasingly difficult for them to be full participants in a society that is rapidly modernizing. But a new project aims to fix that.

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It's All Politics
3:08 pm
Wed February 29, 2012

Romney Says He Opposes Contraceptive Bill, But His Campaign Says Otherwise

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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a reporter Wednesday that he opposes a measure being considered by the Senate that would allow employers to decline to provide contraception coverage to women.

"I'm not for the bill," Romney said during an interview with Ohio News Network reporter Jim Heath. "But, look, the idea of presidential candidates getting into questions about contraception within a relationship between a man and a woman, husband and wife, I'm not going there."

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It's All Politics
3:08 pm
Wed February 29, 2012

Evangelicals Still Cool On Romney, Exit Poll Analysis Shows

Credit Charles Krupa / ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney pauses during a visit to St. Paul's Lutheran Church while campaigning in Berlin, N.H. Dec. 22, 2011.
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A next-day analysis of the Republican presidential primaries in Michigan and Arizona won by Mitt Romney underscores one of his weaknesses with his party's base, especially with the ascent of his now-chief rival Rick Santorum: he fares more poorly with born-again and evangelical voters than with non-evangelicals.

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