Blog Posts

"An uneasy truce took hold in Aden on Sunday after four days of fighting over control of the southern Yemeni city, as the unrest threatens to unravel international attempts to stabilize the country and further splits a U.S.-backed anti-Iran coalition there."

"The ugly truth is that the Taliban have a legitimate claim of representing a part of Afghan society."

In the 4½ months since U.S.-backed forces declared victory over the Islamic State terror group’s last shred of territory in Syria, there has been a steady drumbeat of doubt. One by one, military leaders, diplomats and experts began raising concerns, aiming to convince policymakers that for all of the success in rolling back IS’s self-declared caliphate, the group was far from dead.

"John Bolton’s threats to scuttle tiny U.N. peacekeeping mission stirs fears over regional stability."

"Islamabad faces international pressure to crack down on extremist groups focused on the disputed territory and domestic pressure to counter India’s new strategy there."

"Cities matter. They matter for fighting climate change, for fighting pandemics, and, as the Urban Warfare Project continues to demonstrate, they matter for the future of fighting itself. The heightened importance of urban spaces results from demographic developments, with the global population advancing toward 70 percent living in urban areas by 2050, and from recent trends in terrorism, counterinsurgency and stabilization efforts."

"The Taliban’s waiting game is finally about to pay off."

"The Taliban have left no doubt that they’ll try to overthrow the government if American forces leave."

The Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham is not defeated despite the loss of the territory it claimed as its so-called ‘Caliphate’ in Iraq and Syria. It is stronger today than its predecessor Al Qaeda in Iraq was in 2011, when the U.S. withdrew from Iraq.

Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, the country’s intelligence agency, released a new video showing its special forces attacking Islamic State sleeper cells in rural areas of Kabul Wednesday. The agency also said it arrested this week a key member of the terror group accused of coordinating suicide attacks and managing suicide bombers in the capital.

The WFP says partial food aid to 850,000 people in Sana'a will resume next week, but the relief is not coming soon enough for many struggling to survive as the war heads into its sixth year. As the war rages, 13 million Yemeni civilians on the ground face starvation. U.N. officials say Yemen is suffering the world’s current largest humanitarian crisis and one of the largest man-induced famines in history.

"Six days into negotiations that many expect will deliver a preliminary deal to end nearly two decades of United States military presence in Afghanistan, the last stretch is proving to be a difficult balancing act."

Continue on for links to all the new articles in the latest issue of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point's "Sentinel".

Australian Strategic Policy Institute - "The insurgents’ seizure of Marawi was accompanied by a systematic IS propaganda campaign (online and offline) aimed at projecting an image of triumph and strength. The AFP engaged in active counter-messaging to undermine militants’ narratives, encompassing the online space as well as more traditional methods of messaging, such as leaflet drops, banners, and radio and loudspeaker broadcasts."

"A huge bomb outside a police station in the Afghan capital Kabul has killed at least 14 people and injured nearly 150."

"Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, the new commander of U.S. Africa Command, visited Somalia on Wednesday and pledged to continue pressuring violent extremists such as al-Shabab."

"The row between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir has deepened with Pakistan's announcement that it was expelling India's top diplomat and suspending trade."

U.S. plans to keep just a residual force in Syria to ensure the enduring defeat of the Islamic State may be on the verge of backfiring, with some military officials warning the strategy is giving the terror group new life.

Afghan troops besieged by the Taliban for more than a week in a remote district of central Afghanistan are desperate for reinforcements and help.

"Since about half of 2,000 special operations and other train-advise-assist forces returned to the U.S. in the spring, ISIS has been staging a comeback, according to an inspector general report from DoD, the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development released Tuesday."

"Turkey’s combative president is threatening to launch a military operation in northeastern Syria that is designed to push back U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish forces — an invasion that carries major risks for a highly combustible region in war-devastated Syria."

"The United States and the Taliban have resolved differences in peace talks over the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and guarantees from the insurgents that they will cut ties with other extremist groups, a Taliban official said Tuesday."

Turkey’s National Security Council said in a statement last week that a cross-border military crackdown on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Hakurk region of northern Iraq was “continuing successfully.” The statement stressed that operations Claw-1 and Claw-2, which began in late May and mid-July, respectively, would continue until Hakurk is “fully cleansed” of the PKK.

India's BJP-led government is hailing its decision to strip the state of Jammu and Kashmir of autonomy after seven decades, characterising it as the correction of a "historical blunder". The BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi explains why this has happened and why it's important.

"Diplomatic efforts to broker a cease-fire in Yemen between Saudi Arabia and Iran-aligned forces have faltered, say people briefed on the talks, setting back United Nations attempts to prevent the four-year-old war from fueling broader regional conflict with Tehran."