Retired Gen. Burwell “BB” Bell said the date-specific Afghanistan plan announcement by President Barack Obama was “the crucial ingredient that’s been missing in our Afghan strategy.”

Gen. Bell, a Chattanooga resident, who oversaw training for all NATO and U.S. ground forces deploying from Europe to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2005.

A total of 929 American military personnel have been confirmed dead since the Afghanistan war began in October 2001. Of those, records show at least 5 have ties to this region:

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