Blog Posts

"The United States came up with 'maximum pressure'—but the Israeli government is the only one carrying it out."

"The U.S. is closing in on a deal with the Taliban that is designed to wind down America’s 18-year war in Afghanistan, but the best indication of how risky the pact may be is this: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is declining to sign it, according to senior U.S., Afghan and European officials."

"Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is not talking about President Donald Trump in his new memoir "Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead," written with military author Bing West and released Monday."

"The creation of a so-called “safe zone” in northeastern Syria has gotten off to good start, with U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces pulling back from a small, initial area along the Turkish border, a Syrian Kurdish official said — but calm can only prevail if Turkey also removes its troops."

Since the beginning of 2018, more than 5,000 bodies have been uncovered in and around Raqqa, all believed to be dumped in mass graves by Islamic State militants. But without the resources for DNA or forensic testing, most remains have not yet been identified.

"U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday he’s not ready to publicly discuss how a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan would begin under a peace deal with the Taliban."

Pakistan warned Wednesday that India was "sowing the seeds" of another war in the region through its controversial actions in Kashmir, a disputed territory that has long been a flashpoint between the nuclear-armed rivals.

A U.S. citizen who allegedly joined the Islamic State terror group as a sniper and eventually rose to the rank of emir is facing new charges and the possibility of life behind bars.

"The more personal data people voluntarily broadcast on the internet, the easier it becomes to track and analyze it. That’s the premise behind a line of research of interest to U.S. Special Operations Command."

"The Afghan government has concerns about the draft peace agreement reached between U.S. and Taliban negotiators and wants further clarification, President Ashraf Ghani’s main spokesman said on Wednesday."

"Former Defense Secretary James Mattis, in stark terms, lambasts Barack Obama and Joe Biden for faulty leadership in his new book, and suggests their naivete and ignorance of reality contributed to the rise of ISIS in Iraq, according to excerpts reviewed by The Washington Examiner."

"The Taliban on Tuesday defended their suicide bombing against an international compound in the Afghan capital that killed at least 16 people and wounded 119, almost all local civilians, just hours after a U.S. envoy said he and the militant group had reached a deal “in principle” to end America’s longest war."

Thousands of jihadis are set to seek sanctuary in Turkey with Damascus' forces laying siege to Idlib, the last Syrian rebel enclave. With Damascus determined to take control of all of Syria, analysts warn it's only a matter of time before Turkey faces an exodus of not only refugees, but also the arrival of extremist fighters, posing a significant security threat to the country.

"The UK, US, France and Iran may be complicit in possible war crimes in Yemen over their support for parties to the conflict there, UN experts say. A new report warns the countries they could be held responsible for aiding or assisting the commission of violations."

"The U.S., its European allies, and its Strategic Partners in the Middle East achieved a significant victory in breaking up the ISIS protostate – or “caliphate” – in Syria and Iraq. This break up has sharply reduced the fighting against ISIS in Iraq, and in Eastern Syria."

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the Western security alliance "fully supports" U.S. efforts to clinch a peace deal in Afghanistan.

"A fragile cease-fire in northwest Syria held Monday, months after the United Nations warned of a humanitarian crisis developing in the last rebel stronghold fighting against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad."

"The most recent clash between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon may or may not be over, but the signs still point to a potentially catastrophic conflict ahead."

Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said he was “right up front” in frank policy discussions with President Trump, but never blocked or delayed actions the president wanted him to take.

The United States has reached a draft framework agreement with the Taliban that will require American troops to vacate five military bases in Afghanistan within 135 days of the signing of the document.

"The United States will pull 5,400 troops from Afghanistan and leave five military bases in 20 weeks, the American special envoy told Afghan leaders on Monday, to initiate a gradual withdrawal from the country as part of an agreement being finalized with the Taliban."

"India believes that the accession of Jammu and Kashmir is final, and any unfinished business regarding partition of the greater Kashmir region only concerns areas occupied by Pakistan. Reorganizing Jammu and Kashmir made no territorial changes, but sought to more closely integrate the state with the rest of India."

"A military judge on Friday set a date in early 2021 for the start of the long-stalled war crimes trial of five men being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison on charges of planning and aiding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks."

Afghan officials say U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Monday in Kabul to share details of a draft U.S.-Taliban peace agreement, but did not hand a copy of the deal to the president.

"New details have emerged about information warfare tactics and battlefield secrets used in the effort to defeat the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group."