Blog Posts

"A series of alleged Israeli strikes on Iran-linked targets in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq have sent shockwaves across the region and beyond. The attacks on Iraq in particular are unprecedented, with long-term effects yet to be revealed."

"This city’s subway system — spotless, efficient, cheap to ride — has been a source of civic pride since it began operating four decades ago, and it is often held up as a benchmark for public transportation everywhere."

"ISIS might have lost control of its last territorial stronghold in March, but the retired Marine Corps general who led American efforts to defeat the terrorist organization five years ago says the group remains much alive."

U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to hit the Taliban "harder" than ever, as the United States marked the 18th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that ushered in the war in Afghanistan.

The renewed tension with India has pushed Pakistan to move some of its troops from the border region with Afghanistan to the Indian Line of Control (LOC), leaving fewer resources to contain the cross-border infiltration of militants along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, a senior Pakistani army official tells VOA.

"Terror group produces bloody images of police and digitally-faked threatening messages in subways."

As negotiations between the U.S. and Taliban collapsed this week, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan called Tuesday for direct intra-Afghan talks to resolve the country’s nearly two-decade old conflict.

"Nigeria has denied allegations it has detained thousands of children for suspected links to Islamist militant group Boko Haram. A report released by US-based group Human Rights Watch says children have been held for years in 'horrific conditions'."

"The U.S.-led coalition countering ISIS in Iraq and Syria dumped 80,000 pounds of bombs on Qanus Island in Iraq on Tuesday to prevent the Islamic State from using the island as a refuge."

The latest issue of the Combatting Terrorism Center's 'Sentinel' is now online. Continue on for links to all of the articles.

"President Trump announced Tuesday that he has fired National Security Adviser John Bolton, saying he 'disagreed strongly' with his suggestions on a range of issues."

"The U.S. military is likely to accelerate the pace of its operations in Afghanistan to counter an increase in Taliban attacks, a senior U.S. general said on Monday following Washington’s suspension of peace talks with the insurgents."

"Using the Houthis as its proxy, the Iranian regime has established a strategic outpost in war-torn Yemen."

"U.S. peace talks with the Taliban are now 'dead,' President Donald Trump declared Monday, two days after he abruptly canceled a secret meeting he had arranged with Taliban and Afghan leaders aimed at ending America’s longest war."

U.S. President Donald Trump is denying he overruled Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials about hosting the Taliban at Camp David for peace talks.

"A federal judge on Thursday greatly reduced the sentences of three former Blackwater security contractors, in the latest development from a complex case dating back to the 2007 shootings of unarmed civilians in Baghdad."

"U.S. flags fluttered on the back of coalition armored vehicles as they whizzed past tiny hamlets in northeastern Syria. Once part of the sprawling territories controlled by the Islamic State group, the areas are now under threat of an attack from Turkey, which considers these villages’ liberators, the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish-led forces, to be terrorists."

"President Trump’s decision to break off peace talks with the Taliban, at least for now, left Afghanistan bracing for a bloody prelude to national elections this month, while the administration declined on Sunday to rule out a withdrawal of American troops without a peace accord."

"The move stemmed from opposing views within his administration and bipartisan criticism of an emerging deal to withdraw U.S. troops."

"Even as President Trump blamed a recent Taliban attack for his decision to call off nearly yearlong negotiations with the insurgents, officials suggested on Sunday it had more to do with the Taliban’s resistance to the American terms for a peace deal, and a rushed plan for a Camp David summit meeting."

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that President Donald Trump "made the right decision" to call off peace talks with Taliban leaders at his presidential retreat because of the terrorist group's on-going attacks in Afghanistan.

"Days after Sudanese soldiers massacred pro-democracy demonstrators in Khartoum in June, an obscure digital marketing company in Cairo began deploying keyboard warriors to a second front: a covert operation to praise Sudan’s military on social media."

"President Trump said Saturday he called off a planned Camp David summit with Taliban leaders and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani after a Taliban bomb attack in Kabul killed an American soldier."

Officials in Afghanistan Saturday announced that security forces have recaptured a key northeastern district from the Taliban after five years, as heavy clashes raged in provinces elsewhere in Afghanistan.

"Prospective trip by President Ghani represents government’s latest effort to shape the draft withdrawal agreement."