Small Wars Journal

Blog Posts

SWJ Blog is a multi-author blog publishing news and commentary on the various goings on across the broad community of practice.  We gladly accept guest posts from serious voices in the community.

by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | Mon, 06/25/2018 - 7:13am | 0 comments
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says he sees encouraging signs for substantive talks between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban after 17 years of war.
by Associated Press | Sun, 06/24/2018 - 4:46pm | 0 comments
"Syrian government troops advanced on rebel-held areas in the country's southwestern region amid intense clashes Saturday, state media and opposition activists said, in a widening offensive that has shattered a U.S.-backed truce."
by Military.com | Sun, 06/24/2018 - 11:15am | 0 comments
“U.S. Army leaders say the next war will be fought in mega-cities, but the service has embarked on an ambitious effort to prepare most of its combat brigades to fight, not inside, but beneath them.”
by Reuters | Sun, 06/24/2018 - 11:11am | 0 comments
"The US has warned Syrian rebels in the south-west of the country they should not expect military support to help them resist a major government offensive."
by The Washington Post | Sun, 06/24/2018 - 8:29am | 0 comments
"For three extraordinary days this month, the 17-year Afghan conflict took its first formal break, generating a spontaneous outpouring of emotion on all sides and leaving indelible images of Taliban fighters eating at ice cream stands, hugging tearful Afghan soldiers and praying alongside their longtime enemies."
by Army Times | Fri, 06/22/2018 - 6:45pm | 0 comments
"On month four of their first deployment, the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade’s soldiers are sitting down with the Army’s top civilian to tell the top brass how it’s going."
by Center for Strategic & International Studies | Fri, 06/22/2018 - 12:38pm | 1 comment
"The recent fighting in Afghanistan has shown all too clearly that the Taliban was sincere in announcing in late April that it was rejecting participation in a peace progress and starting a new spring offensive. It has only had limited success so far, but has taken more districts. In spite of a brief Ramadan ceasefire, peace seems no closer now than it has at any point in the past."
by Stars & Stripes | Fri, 06/22/2018 - 12:29pm | 0 comments
"Taliban gunmen killed seven as they stormed an election registration site in Nimroz province Thursday, in a new round of attacks on Afghanistan’s hopes for safe elections this October following the end of a short cease-fire."
by The Wall Street Journal | Fri, 06/22/2018 - 12:37am | 0 comments
"U.S. and Afghan special-operations troops pushed Islamic State fighters out of the district that the militants had aspired to make the capital of their local territory, the military said."
by The Washington Post | Fri, 06/22/2018 - 12:19am | 0 comments
"The kingdom of Saudi Arabia threw its weight behind the Afghan government’s attempts to kindle a peace process with the Taliban this week, reflecting growing international pressure to bring Afghanistan’s long war to a negotiated end."
by The Wall Street Journal | Wed, 06/20/2018 - 2:11pm | 0 comments
“Taliban fighters killed dozens of government soldiers in overnight attacks on two security checkpoints in northwestern Afghanistan, authorities and medical personnel said Wednesday, in the insurgent group’s first major assault since refusing to extend an unprecedented three-day cease-fire.”
by Voice of America | Wed, 06/20/2018 - 11:51am | 0 comments
Somalia’s most dangerous terror group is likely not getting any stronger despite a series of deadly attacks, including one that claimed the life of a U.S. special operations soldier earlier this month.
by Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction | Wed, 06/20/2018 - 10:33am | 1 comment
Today, SIGAR released a review of the construction of a 233-kilometer segment of Afghanistan's Ring Road between Qeysar and Laman. Since 2006, the project has been funded by five separate grants from the Asian Development Bank totaling $721 million.
by Morgan Smiley | Wed, 06/20/2018 - 10:17am | 0 comments
Our Air Force allowed us to go from air superiority to air dominance. In order to maintain it, we need to go higher. From that higher level, we can protect the vital assets that allow our modern high-tech society to function.
by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | Wed, 06/20/2018 - 1:23am | 0 comments
The U.S. Army general nominated to head U.S. military operations in Afghanistan says Washington must be careful not to withdraw too quickly, otherwise terror groups will regroup and plunge the country into deeper conflict.
by DoD News | Wed, 06/20/2018 - 12:12am | 0 comments
Air Force Gen. Paul J. Selva told the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition that DoD has learned lessons from past disasters such as the earthquake in Pakistan, the tsunami in South Asia, the Haitian earthquake, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the earthquake/tsunami that hit Japan. In humanitarian crises occurring today, with most caused by war, 66 million people are displaced in the Middle East, Asia, South and Central America and the Arabian Peninsula.
by The Washington Post | Tue, 06/19/2018 - 4:15pm | 0 comments
"The statement by Army Lt. Gen. Austin 'Scott' Miller during his confirmation hearing was an acknowledgment that the war has dragged on nearly 17 years and of how past U.S. commanders often proclaimed that conditions were set for forces to make significant progress soon."
by Military Times | Tue, 06/19/2018 - 12:53pm | 0 comments
“While acknowledging that 17 years of war “is a very long time,” the incoming head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan told lawmakers he sees progress in the ongoing fight thanks to recent changes in military strategy there.”
by Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments | Tue, 06/19/2018 - 12:10pm | 0 comments
A Center for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments Study - "By the middle of the 21st century, ground forces will employ tens of thousands of robots, and the decisions of human commanders will be shaped by artificial intelligence; trends in technology and warfare make this a near certainty."
by The Washington Post | Tue, 06/19/2018 - 9:23am | 0 comments
"And then they come, bus after bus, wheelchair after wheelchair, battalions of his bent brothers, stooped with years but steeped in pride, veterans coming to see their country’s monument to their sacrifice and to be welcomed by of one of their country’s icons."
by The New York Times | Tue, 06/19/2018 - 12:05am | 0 comments
"Raiding among cattle-herding tribes is a traditional part of life in South Sudan, but in the past five years, the skirmishes have become more violent and unrestrained. Small armed bands that traditionally guarded their communities’ livestock have been drawn into bitter proxy battles."
by Association of the United States Army | Mon, 06/18/2018 - 9:05pm | 0 comments
John Nagl and Paul Yingling - "We are old men who spent the better part of two decades fighting on the battlefields of the Middle East and in the halls of the Pentagon. In the Middle East, our enemies were insurgents. In the Pentagon, we were the insurgents: pushing the Army to adapt to the challenges of irregular warfare. Our goal here is not to refight those old battles. Instead, in the great tradition of Kenny Rogers, we’d like to offer some advice to young leaders who are considering fighting the battle for defense reform."
by The Washington Post | Sun, 06/17/2018 - 4:21pm | 0 comments
“After two days of rising hopes across the country, Taliban leaders Sunday brusquely rejected the government’s proposal to extend a three-day ceasefire and said they were ordering all insurgent fighters to resume operations against ‘the foreign invaders and their internal supporters.’”
by SWJ Editors | Sun, 06/17/2018 - 2:01pm | 0 comments
Via the United Nations University's Centre for Policy Research - "There is a clear case to be made that the sustainable development fight may be won or lost in cities. Urban areas, especially in conflict-affected contexts, are emerging as epicentres of multi-layered violence and extreme vulnerability."
by Voice of America | Sun, 06/17/2018 - 12:25pm | 0 comments
"A suicide bomb attack has killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 50 others in eastern Afghanistan, a day after a deadly attack in the same area targeted government soldiers and Taliban insurgents celebrating a temporary cease-fire during the Muslim festival Eid al-Fitr."