Blog Posts

"The U.S. military announced Tuesday it had handed over a strategic outpost near the Iraq-Syria border to Iraqi forces in a region known to host an Iran-backed militia responsible for more than a dozen rocket attacks targeting coalition troops."

"The demise of Future Forward, the country’s second-biggest opposition party, removes a challenge in the parliament for the military-backed government and armed forces, and has a knock-on effect to the U.S.-Thai relationship. It tests the ability of the U.S. to thread a delicate line between strengthening military ties with its oldest ally in Asia and advocating for democracy in a region where strongman rulers including Cambodia’s Hun Sen and Thailand’s General Prayut Chan-o-cha emerged triumphant from elections regarded as flawed by international observers."

"Cyber attacks on Defense Department networks increased over the weekend as teleworking employees put 'unprecedented' loads on the military’s computer networks."

"For the last five years, President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan’s former chief executive officer, had teamed up as uneasy allies in an unity government presiding over a fractured country. Now they operate out of adjacent palaces, vying for influence and international legitimacy in a power struggle that threatens to torpedo the U.S.’s efforts to extricate itself from a long and costly-war in Afghanistan."

"The US army is pulling out of al-Qaim and two other key military bases in Iraq in the coming weeks. The decision to leave three of its eight bases in Iraq is a sign the US is looking to dramatically reduce its footprint in the country."

"The U.S. military says its re-positioning some troops from a few smaller bases following a deadly rocket attack in Iraq that claimed the lives of two U.S. troops and a U.K. service member."

"A joint exercise launched March 8 and 9 in the Persian Gulf involving the Cyclone-class Monsoon and the two aircraft was designed to see how well a surface patrol ship and a long-range spy plane could select targets in the Persian Gulf for a Special Operations Command Central gunship to blast to bits."

"U.S. allies are increasingly worried that America’s commitment may be wavering when wide swaths of Africa face a surging threat from militants affiliated with al Qaeda and Islamic State."

"Afghan authorities say they have delayed the release of 1,500 Taliban prisoners, throwing a precarious peace process into deeper crisis."

"Three U.S. service members were injured in a Katuyusha rocket attack on U.S., coalition and Iraqi forces at Camp Taji, Iraq, March 13, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Rath Hoffman said in a briefing."

"A lingering dispute over Afghanistan’s presidential election and an outbreak of coronavirus in the country appear to have complicated further an already troubled effort the United States is making to help find a negotiated end to nearly 19 years of war."

"Syria's bloody civil war enters its 10th year with the government of President Bashar al-Assad appearing to be consolidating his hold on power, backed by crucial military and political support from Russia and Iran."

"Three U.S. troops were injured in a barrage of rockets that hit a base housing U.S. and other coalition troops north of Baghdad on Saturday according to the Pentagon. At least two Iraqis were also injured, Iraqi officials say."

When you ask children of Islamic State militants what they remember about their fathers, they don’t talk about crimes or extremism. Usually they remember things like outings for ice cream, or when their dads played with them. Now, their fathers are all in hiding, in jail or dead. Tens of thousands of children in Iraq and Syria are growing up in desolate camps, often stigmatized as the children of terrorists.

"A U.S. military spokesman said a fresh round of rockets hit an Iraqi base Saturday where U.S.-led coalition forces were located, wounding three members of the coalition and two Iraqi troops. The nationalities of the wounded coalition members were not immediately disclosed."

This case study offers lessons for future proxy engagements in establishing mechanisms that facilitate proper proxy selection, mitigate deviation from sponsor goals, and optimize proxy capabilities.

"The Afghan government Saturday postponed the release of 1,500 Taliban prisoners, an Afghan official said, a decision that could sabotage a peace deal signed last month between the Taliban and the United States."

"As Syria’s war enters its 10th year, the United Nations reports that alarming conditions of extreme deprivation and danger continue to engulf millions of people in the country."

"Rockets struck an Iraqi base housing American troops on Saturday, lowering any expectations of de-escalation after U.S. strikes on an Iran-backed militia in response to the killing of two of its troops at the same base this week."

"The world doesn’t end because there’s a viral pandemic. In what would have been far bigger news without the virus spread, an Iran-backed militia group on Wednesday launched an attack on a Iraqi training base that left two American troops and one British soldier dead and some 14 wounded."

"China is pushing a new theory about the origins of the coronavirus: It is an American disease that might have been introduced by members of the United States Army who visited Wuhan in October."

"U.S. retaliatory strikes late Thursday and early Friday hit five weapons depots of the Iranian-backed group Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, and the commander who oversees U.S. operations in the Middle East warned that the threat from Iran and its proxies 'remains high.'"

"Just days after Wednesday's rocket attack on Camp Taji, Iraq, killed two U.S. service members and a military medic from the U.K., the United States struck back by attacking five weapons sites, the commander of U.S. Central Command said during a Pentagon briefing today."

"The US has launched retaliatory air strikes against a pro-Iranian militia group in Iraq after a rocket attack killed two of its soldiers. The strikes targeted five weapons storage facilities across the country, the US defense department said."

"The urgent need to protect troops against air and missile threats was highlighted once again this week after two Americans and one Briton were killed by a volley of Katyusha rockets at Camp Taji, Iraq. Although a capability exists to curtail such attacks, the Army has concerns about using it, a stance that’s frustrating lawmakers."