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ByLynneO'donnell The Associated Press KABUL , AFGHANISTAN American and NATO troops closed their oper- ational command in Af- ghanistan on Monday, low- ering flags in a ceremony to mark the formal end of their combat mission in a country still mired in war 13 years after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Tali- ban regime for harboring those responsible for 9/11. The closing of the com- mand, which oversaw the day-to-day operations of coalition combat forces, is one of the final steps in a transition to a support and training role that be- gins Jan. 1. But with Pres- ident Barack Obama's re- cent move authorizing U.S. forces in Afghanistan to carry out military oper- ations against Taliban and al-Qaida targets, America's longest war will in fact continue for at least an- other two years. Obama's decision to give American forces a more active role than previ- ously envisioned suggests the U.S. is still concerned about the Afghan govern- ment's ability to fight. And agreements signed by Af- ghan President Ashraf Ghani to allow U.S. and NATO troops to remain in the country are seen as a red line by the Taliban, further narrowing any hope of peace talks. Not only are the Taliban a resilient insurgency, a new generation of extrem- ists inspired by Osama bin Laden threatens the entire region. American forces are now also involved in a burgeoning military cam- paign against Islamic State group militants in Syria and Iraq, where Obama had hoped to end combat operations three years ago. As NATO's International Security Assistance Force's Joint Command lowered its flag in the capital, the Taliban carried out yet an- other bloody attack, this time killing a police offi- cer and four civilians at a police station in southern Afghanistan. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told The Associated Press that the group would continue to fight "until all foreign troops have left Afghani- stan." "The Americans want to extend their mission in Af- ghanistan, the motive be- ing to keep the war going for as long as possible," Mujahid said. "And for as long as they do, the Tali- ban will continue their fight against the foreign and (Afghan) government forces." From Jan. 1, the coali- tion will maintain a force of 13,000 troops in Afghan- istan, down from a peak of about 140,000 in 2011. As of Dec. 1, there were some 13,300 NATO troops in the country. Up to 10,800 U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan for the first three months of next year, 1,000 more than previously planned, said a NATO official who spoke on condition of ano- nymity to discuss troop de- ployments. CONFLICT US combat command ends in Afghanistan By Dina Cappiello The Associated Press GARDI SUGDUP, PANAMA Heat-trapping pollution re- leased into the atmosphere from rising exports of U.S. gasoline and diesel dwarfs the cuts made from fuel effi- ciency standards and other efforts to reduce global warming in the United States, according to a new Associated Press investiga- tion. Under President Barack Obama, the U.S. has re- duced more carbon pollu- tion from energy than any other nation, about 475 mil- lion tons between 2008 and 2013, according to U.S. En- ergy Department data. Less than one-fifth of that amount came from burn- ing less gasoline and die- sel fuel. Yet the U.S. is sending more fuel than ever to other parts of the world, where ef- forts to address resulting pollution are just getting underway, if advancing at all. U.S. exports of gasoline and diesel released roughly 1 billion tons of carbon pol- lution into the atmosphere elsewhere during the same period, according to AP's analysis. This fossil fuel trade has helped President Barack Obama meet political goals to curb carbon diox- ide at home, by taking it off America's pollution balance sheet. But that does not nec- essarily help the planet. Despite efforts by the U.S. and others, pollution linked to global warming is still rising worldwide. In Panama, imports of diesel and gasoline from the U.S. have nearly quadrupled since 2008. Panama is the largest re- cipient of diesel fuel dirt- ier and more carbon-laden than would be allowed in the U.S., in part because the fuel is used in cars and trucks that do not have the same efficiency stan- dards and are not regu- larly inspected and main- tained, the AP's investiga- tion found. Panama's requirement that drivers test emissions, including for carbon diox- ide, are almost completely ignored. "It's a false image," said Onel Masardule of the In- digenous People's Biocul- tural Climate Change As- sessment Initiative, a Peru- based environmental group. "In reality, the U.S is still contaminating." Obama has overseen a domestic boom in oil and natural gas production and ordered the biggest in- creases in fuel economy in history. That's helped the U.S. reduce oil imports, cre- ate jobs, boost exports and shrink the trade deficit. But for global warming, fuel exports mean that, at the very least, the adminis- tration is making a smaller dent than it claims. "This is their hidden suc- cess story that they would like to keep hidden," said Kevin Book, a Washington- based energy analyst and a member of the National Pe- troleum Council, a federal advisory group in the U.S. "It has done a lot to im- prove our balance of trade standing, but it is not the most climate-friendly way to do it. There is no way to avoid that there is a big- ger emissions impact when you have more to combust," Book said. There is no clear ac- counting of what Amer- ica's growth as a fossil- fuel powerhouse is doing to the global-warming pic- ture. U.S. projects that in- crease energy exports could be considered, such as huge terminals planned for the West Coast to send more coal abroad for power plants. Trade agreements could factor in the impli- cations of energy trade on global warming. But no trade pacts negotiated by the White House mention it. The White House said it is working to strengthen en- vironmental provisions in trade agreements and lower tariffs on technologies that ultimately will reduce emis- sions abroad. It also says that exports do not add more carbon to the atmosphere because they replace fuel that would come from someplace else. Other experts dispute that. They note that when energy is plentiful and rea- sonably priced, as is the case with American oil, it tends to increase demand. ENVIRONMENT Amid cleanup, US exports more pollution ARNULFOFRANCO—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Cargo ships billow smoke from their engines while passing through the Pedro Miguel locks at the Panama Canal near Panama City. By Christopher Torchia The Associated Press JOHANNESBURG The gov- ernment in Yemen, a U.S. ally, was kept informed about a South African aid group's efforts to negotiate the release of a South Afri- can hostage before he died in a U.S. raid on al-Qaida militants, the head of the aid group said Monday. The comments by Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers, came amid ques- tions about what officials of various governments knew, if anything, about efforts to release South African Pierre Korkie, who was said to be close to being freed even as another hostage with him, American Luke Somers, ap- peared to face imminent ex- ecution. The two men were killed Saturday during a U.S.-led rescue attempt. The U.S. ambassador in South Af- rica said the United States did not know that Sooli- man and his organization believed the South African hostage was to be released Sunday under a deal struck with al-Qaida. "At all times, the Yemeni government was informed about our actions on the ground," Sooliman said in an interview with The Asso- ciated Press. "We didn't do anything in isolation from them." Sooliman said he had considered the possibil- ity that Yemeni authori- ties were talking to Amer- ican allies about the case, but said he did not want to "delve" into speculation and took the Americans at their word. "If they say they didn't know, they didn't know," he said. Yemeni authorities knew about negotiations to se- cure Korkie's release and an "exchange of informa- tion" about the hostage took place two weeks ago in the presence of American offi- cials in Sanaa, Yemen's cap- ital, a senior Yemeni intelli- gence official. He spoke on condition of anonymity be- cause he was not authorized to speak to the media. The Americans, how- ever, did not "officially" ask for information about the South African hostage, the official said. White House press secre- tary Josh Earnest declined to comment on that meet- ing, but reiterated that the U.S. didn't have informa- tion about the private ne- gotiations the aid group says were underway to se- cure Korkie's release. "We obviously mourn the death of Mr. Korkie in the same way that we mourn the death of Mr. Somers," he told reporters in Wash- ington. He said the raid in Ye- men, although unsuccess- ful, should be seen by mil- itants "as a clear sign of these president's resolve to do everything possible to rescue Americans who are being held hostage any- where around the globe." Korkie, a teacher, was abducted with his wife Yolande in the Yemeni city of Taiz in May 2013. She was released in January af- ter negotiations by Gift of the Givers, which has an office in Yemen. The group has provided disaster relief in Somalia and other coun- tries. Pierre Korkie's captors lowered a ransom demand of $3 million to $700,000 after realizing Korkie's family and friends could not raise the money, ac- cording to Sooliman. Even- tually, a deal was reached under which tribal leaders would get a $200,000 "fa- cilitation fee" in exchange for Korkie's release, he said. U.S. Ambassador Patrick Gaspard said in South Af- rica that it was "not alto- gether clear" to him that the South African gov- ernment was aware of the talks. "We were just completely unaware of those develop- ments and had to act hast- ily," the ambassador said in a telephone interview with the AP. He said it ap- peared that the negotia- tions for Korkie's release were "pretty far down the track." The U.S. decided to carry out the raid because the militants had threatened to kill Somers, Gaspard said. YEMEN South African aid group describes hostage talks in ill-fated raid on militants Chris' HerbShop (530)528-2930 333 So. 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