Blog Posts

U.S. envoy Nikki Haley rebuked the General Assembly for using its time to criticize Israel, instead of addressing other situations. "Instead, today the General Assembly is devoting its valuable time to the situation in Gaza," Haley said. "Gaza is an important international matter, but what makes it different and more urgent than conflicts in Nicaragua, Iran, Yemen, Burma or many other desperate places?" She said the assembly was meeting because "attacking Israel" is the "favorite political sport" of some U.N. member states.

“Even soldiers who fight wars from a safe distance have found themselves traumatized. Could their injuries be moral ones?”

"A top Afghan general said Monday that more than 77,000 Taliban and other militants are now fighting against the government – more than double earlier U.S. and Afghan estimates despite a large increase in U.S. airstrikes over the past year."

“Despite the recent attacks that have killed and wounded U.S. troops operating in Africa, the role of forces there remains in advising partners, not in direct combat, according to the Pentagon.”

“In recent weeks coalition forces have more than tripled the number of strikes they made against ISIS elements in Iraq and Syria. But more ground operations in pockets of those countries are needed to flush out the remaining fighters, officials said.”

In this WSJ video, Donald Bolduc, the former commander of special operations in Africa, and Jack Murphy, an eight-year army special forces veteran, speak about the report. Some of their assessments differ from the findings laid out by the Pentagon about what went wrong.

"The Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan overran a district and threatened another Tuesday after a unilateral government ceasefire went into effect. Officials confirmed that a pre-dawn assault by insurgents on Kohistan in northern Faryab province killed at least 12 members of the Afghan forces and wounded 13 others before the Taliban captured the district."

In an agreement signed Tuesday in Singapore, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” while U.S. President Donald Trump “committed to provide security guarantees” to North Korea.

"The civil war racking Yemen pits U.S.-backed forces against Iranian-backed elements in an all-out shooting war, and the United States, which has for years conducted counterterrorism operations in Yemen, is expanding its role there."

“The U.S. will intensify combat against the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan during the Kabul government’s temporary halt to attacks on the Taliban, senior U.S. officials said Friday.”

"Critics of long-term military aid to Lebanon from the U.S. have been bolstered by the May 6 parliamentary elections that have given Hezbollah and its allies a majority in the legislature. Opponents to the aid are specifically concerned about an apparent warming of relations between the U.S.-equipped Lebanese Armed Forces and the political party/militant group Hezbollah."

“Hopes for direct peace talks are high in Afghanistan after the Taliban agreed to a unilateral cease-fire from the Afghan government. A former high-ranking Taliban official said the temporary peace deal could be extended and efforts for direct peace talks could be made.”

“The Somali rebels knew where the U.S. Special Operators and their allied troops would have to deploy. By flooding terrain, they left them little choice.”

Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan have killed as many as 65 government soldiers and police officers in three attacks. Afghan officials said Saturday the overnight violence in the southern Kandahar, northern Kunduz and western Herat provinces also injured more than 17 security personnel.

"While Iraq has liberated all of its territory once captured and held by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the U.S.-led military campaign against the rogue organization continues in Syria, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said at a meeting of the defeat-ISIS coalition at NATO headquarters in Brussels today."

"In a move that could inject life into a long-struggling Afghan peace process, the Taliban announced Saturday that they would halt operations against Afghan forces for the three days of the Muslim festival of Eid."

"One U.S. special operations soldier is dead and four are wounded after al-Qaida-linked militants attacked an outpost under construction Friday in southwestern Somalia. Friday’s attack, about 50 kilometers north of the port city of Kismayo, came as U.S. forces were helping Somali and Kenyan troops construct the outpost, part of a multiday mission to help clear the area of militants with the al-Shabab terror group, according to U.S. military officials."

"Germany’s chief prosecutor has issued an international arrest warrant for one of Syria’s most senior military officials, lawyers said Friday, in a landmark step for legal efforts against members of President Bashar al-Assad’s security apparatus."

"Afghan security forces are providing the power, NATO is providing support and training, and the Afghan people are providing the will in the fight against the Taliban and other extremist groups, Army Gen. John W. Nicholson said during a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels."

"U.S. and Afghan special-operations troops are carrying out a major air and ground offensive to clear Islamic State fighters from a district where the militant group aspires to make its local capital."

“Earlier this year, working with its partners on the ground, the U.S. military disrupted an alleged ISIS-inspired attack that would have targeted a festival — in Trinidad and Tobago. The raid grabbed headlines immediately afterward. But it — and U.S. Southern Command’s ongoing efforts to help the Trinidad security forces develop counter-extremism capabilities — offer lessons about how to confront radicalism at home and abroad.”

Tentative plans to draw down the number of U.S. special operations commandos deployed in Africa are drawing mixed reactions from American military experts.

"In the coming decades, the Army will have to prepare for high intensity conflict against enemies with similar weapons, in urban environments, facing the possibility of long periods without communication or helicopter support. But how will they get there?"

"The growing territorial reach exercised by the Taliban poses a notable threat to the stability of the Afghan government. The insurgents’ persistence and adaptability points to an underappreciated trend."

Today, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released an audit, requested by Congress in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017, of the Afghan government's efforts to develop and implement a national anti-corruption strategy.