Blog Posts

"Despite the dueling accounts, one thing was certain: For the first time in almost half a century, Indian aircraft ventured beyond the Line of Control separating the two countries to hit targets on Pakistani soil. The act marked a potentially grave escalation of tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors. In a statement, the Pakistani government said on Tuesday that it would “respond at the time and place of its choosing.”"

"The United States, European Union, China, and Russia have expressed growing concerns that the worst crisis in years between bitter nuclear rivals India and Pakistan could spiral out of control."

Continue on to read the 26 February update to CRS' "Afghanistan: Background and U.S. Policy Brief".

"Tensions escalated between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan Wednesday amid claims and counter claims of shooting down each other's fighter planes. Pakistan said it downed two Indian planes after they crossed over to its side of the Line of Control, the de-facto border in the disputed Kashmir region, following Pakistan's airstrikes into an "open space" on the Indian side designed to send a message. Pakistan said it captured one Indian pilot."

"In an effort to reduce the burden of Islamic State foreign fighters, U.S.-backed Syrian forces have recently handed over more than 300 IS militants, who have been captured in Syria, to the Iraqi government, which will reportedly try them for their actions against Iraqi civilians and security forces."

"Pakistan said it shot down two Indian aircraft over its territory Wednesday and launched strikes inside Indian-controlled Kashmir, one day after Indian jets bombed targets in Pakistan for the first time since 1971 in retaliation for a recent terrorist attack in India’s portion of Kashmir."

"America’s elite special operations forces are getting new marching orders as the Pentagon moves away from its post-9/11 focus on radical terrorist groups and trains its eye on big-power rivals such as China and Russia."

"It is happening in Syria now. Iraqi forces faced it in Mosul. Russia, China, North Korea, Iran all boast complex facilities laced with reinforced command and control and the ability to deploy thousands of troops, tanks, missiles and even launch planes from underground runways."

"The possible emergence of a new era of tunnel warfare will challenge the Air Force to think of new ways to find, and defeat, a hidden enemy."

"What’s on the wish list for underground operations? Retired Army Maj. John Spencer, who served as an officer and enlisted soldier in the infantry, is now chair of Urban Warfare Studies with the Modern War Institute at West Point. He commanded troops in Baghdad during the Iraq War. Military Times asked Spencer what he would want, beyond standard kit, for an underground fight. He said most gear already in the tool bag centers around the important breaching and communicating tasks."

"The succession of setbacks left the opposition here scrambling Tuesday to sustain what has become the single biggest challenge to 20 years of socialist rule and manage inflated expectations of a rapid ouster of Madur"

"The nuclear-armed neighbors have a long history of animosity. The main, ongoing source of conflict is Kashmir, a Himalayan border region whose status has been contested ever since India gained independence and Pakistan was created in the partition of British India."

"The Taliban continue to threaten Afghanistan’s provincial capitals, particularly Ghazni and Farah cities, both of which came under siege during the 2018 fighting season, according to the Department of Defense Inspector General."

"The House voted to block the White House from redirecting federal funds toward building a border wall, and the Senate inched closer to doing the same, raising the specter of President Trump exercising his veto power for the first time."

"The U.S. military blocked Internet access to an infamous Russian entity seeking to sow discord among Americans during the 2018 midterms, several U.S. officials said, a warning that the Kremlin’s operations against the United States are not cost-free."

"The Taliban and Washington's peace envoy are close to reaching an agreement on U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, a spokesman for the Islamic insurgents said Tuesday amid a new round of talks with the United States."

"India says it has carried out pre dawn air strikes in Pakistan on a camp of the Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, which claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb that killed 40 paramilitary troops in Indian Kashmir nearly two weeks ago."

"The United States and its European allies have fixated on one of the most meaningless and truly stupid strategic debates in modern history: the extent to which given NATO countries spend 2% of their GDP on defense by 2024."

"India has launched what it called a “preemptive” air strike against Pakistan-based militants following a suicide bombing in India-administered Kashmir earlier this month."

"India says it launched air strikes against Kashmiri militants in Pakistani territory in a major escalation of tensions between the two countries."

"The question for past, present, and even future administrations is how should a great nation confront an adversary like Islamic State that is committed to fighting forever war? The answer requires a more advanced understanding of Islamic State as a strategic adversary than we generally possess."

"U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with one of the Afghan Taliban's co-founders in Qatar, in what was said to be the highest-level engagement between the two sides as part of Afghanistan's peace process."

"Hundreds of women and children boarded trucks and evacuated the final piece of land still held by Islamic State Monday, prolonging the more than week-long exodus and delaying the U.S.-led coalition's final assault on the last shred of the terror group's self-declared caliphate."

"Brig. Gen. James Glynn, commander of Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, expects a surge of post-Sept. 11 babies this summer, when a fresh crop of high-school graduates boards the bus to boot camp."

"Vast swaths of Venezuela are controlled not by President Nicolás Maduro’s government but by a baffling proliferation of armed nonstate actors that include powerful prison gangs, Colombian guerrillas from the ELN or from splinter groups of the disbanded FARC, various ideologically infused 'colectivos' — in effect, paramilitary groups subscribing to a vaguely Marxist ideology and allied with the government. These groups make a handsome living from any number of illegal activities: trafficking cocaine, illegal gold mining, extortion, human trafficking, smuggling — you name it."