Rolling Stone has a special report on the U.S. Army's self-proclaimed "kill team"—whose members are currently on trial for murdering Afghan civilians—and with it, new photos from the cache that was partially leaked to Der Spiegel last week.

Remember Specialist Jeremy Morlock, the 22-year-old Alaskan who took horrifying photos of his own war crimes? He's now pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and has been sentenced to 24 years in jail; in exchange, essentially, for not getting a life sentence, he'll testify against the four other soldiers also accused of murdering Afghan civilians "for sport." He apologized in court to his victims' families and "the people of Afghanistan themselves." [NYT]

This is Cpl. Jeremy Morlock, posing next to an Afghan civilian he killed in cold blood in January 2010. Morlock is one of five soldiers accused of forming a drug-addled "kill team" to murder Afghan civilians for kicks.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is on a trip to Afghanistan, landing in Kabul this morning. Gen. David Petraeus greeted him at the airport and the two immediately engaged in the sort of lighthearted banter you'd expect from two of the country's top military men.

Rolling Stone is trying to add another general to its head count: Michael Hastings, the reporter who dispatched Gen. Stanley McChrystal last year, is reporting that Gen. William Caldwell, who is in charge of training Afghan forces, used Army psychological operations troops to try to influence VIP visitors, including U.S. senators.

The Times of London is reporting that Gen. David Petraeus will leave his spot as the head of the U.S. Afghan Command at the end of the year, not that anyone blames him. Petraeus replaced Gen. Stanley McChrystal in the difficult, thankless job in July of 2010 after McChrystal was fired over a Rolling Stone article; a search is apparently already on for a replacement, who would theoretically be overseeing the withdrawal of American troops and thinking a lot about how great it will be when he can retire and maybe play a little golf. [Times via The Daily Beast]

The 90-second message ends: ""Don't ever forget I love you, I love you so much, I love you with all my heart and I was going to ask you, don't answer, obviously you can't answer, but will you marry me?""

Gen. Petraeus' team has responded to the story of destroyed Afghan town Tarok Kolache.

Martin Luther King Jr. hated the Vietnam War and spent the last year of his life vociferously arguing against it. But according to the Pentagon's top lawyer, King would've liked America's current wars! How does he know? Well, he doesn't.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, has declared that the Taliban are losing in Afghanistan. No word on whether that means we're winning, or when the war will end. Oh, and he wants more troops.

In your vacationmongering Monday media column: Americans just can't get interested in Afghanistan, a systematic approach to the NYT's "Most Emailed" list, Groupon is the future of shitty "journalism" jobs, and a look at the newspaper industry's year.

Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, the Army doctor who refused to deploy to Afghanistan over doubts that commander-in-chief Barack Obama was born in the United States, was sentenced to six months in military prison today. Martyr! But no, not really.

The Washington Post may have added some literary flair to its account of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke's last words, according to the State Department. Did he ominously whisper, "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan," or was it just banter?

Diplomat Richard Holbrooke's last words: "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan." (via)

Richard Holbrooke, the longtime U.S. diplomat and current special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, has died at age 69, apparently of a torn aorta. He had been admitted to the hospital over the weekend, and underwent surgery on Saturday.

Of the Wikileaks cache of diplomatic cables, one of the most potentially salacious is about the entertainment at a party thrown by DynCorp, a U.S. contractor training Afghan police, in April 2009. A 17-year-old boy was hired to dance.

Barack Obama decided to head to Afghanistan for a pre-Christmas visit to the troops and to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. But due to bad weather and "technical difficulties," the meeting was downgraded to a lousy phone call.

Apparently Barack Obama flew to Afghanistan last night, to say "hi" to the troops! Beats staying in Washington.

Did you hear about the secret talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban aimed at ending the War in Afghanistan? Well, it turns out the "senior commander" the Afghan government was meeting with... wasn't.

NATO's senior civilian in Afghanistan, Mark Sedwill says kids in Kabul have little to worry about: "The children are probably safer here than they would be in London, New York or Glasgow." Meanwhile, civilian deaths are "soaring" across the country.