Blog Posts

“The way the Army fights its future battles will require formations geared toward multi-domain operations and driven by real-world threats to U.S. global military superiority, according to an updated version of Army warfighting called Multi-Domain Operations 2028.”

"A fresh effort by the Trump administration this week to seek Pakistan’s help in arranging Afghan peace talks has produced no signs of progress but suggests that the chill between the longtime security allies may be starting to thaw."

"Afghanistan became the world’s deadliest terrorism hot spot in 2017, due to the escalation of the war and fewer incidents elsewhere, a new report said."

"Fifteen years after NATO took the lead on international security efforts in Afghanistan, the military alliance’s foreign ministers on Wednesday reaffirmed their commitment to stay the course despite mounting Afghan casualties and the slow pace of peace efforts."

“Now, after U.S. Special Operations Command has been entrenched in the Global War on Terror for going on two decades, Congress is calling on a Defense Department review of the entire organization, from its operational load to ― notably ― the state of its professionalism and ethics programs.”

"The United States should remember Islamic militants are playing the long game. Like three of his predecessors, U.S. President Donald Trump is now reportedly seeking Pakistan’s assistance in bringing Afghanistan’s Taliban to the negotiating table."

"The nominee to lead U.S. Special Operations Command told lawmakers Tuesday that the unrelenting pace of operations may force the elite organization to pass some missions off to conventional combat units."

Op-Ed by Steve Balestrieri at Special Operations.com - "There are certainly times when one is forced to scratch his own head. And others where you are just forced to throw up your hands and utter WTF! Today would be more of the latter than the former."

"The Pentagon’s pick for the next commander of U.S. Central Command said on Tuesday the high casualty rate of Afghan security forces would not be sustainable even with the stalemate in the fight against Taliban militants."

“A day after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Monday called for the international community to help end the war in Afghanistan, the incoming head of U.S. Central Command reluctantly acknowledged to lawmakers on Tuesday that he has no idea when U.S. troops may fully withdraw from Afghanistan.”

"Stabilization programs in Syria long outlived their original political rationale, but bureaucratic factors, analytic biases, and an imperative to deliver services kept them going."

"The insurgents reacted with the same dismissive scorn several days ago when U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told a conference in California that the Trump administration wanted to solve the conflict without agreeing to withdraw troops."

“The IDF operation, launched on Tuesday to uncover and destroy cross-border attack tunnels Hezbollah has dug into Israel, is just one of the reasons for the rise in tensions in recent weeks along Israel’s northern border.”

"Zalmay Khalilzad, the diplomat heading America’s peace efforts in Afghanistan, left Monday for an eight-country tour to discuss ways of bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table."

"In a war which has claimed the lives of over 10,000 people, Russia’s increasing maritime presence in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov has quickly transformed the region into one of the main strategic bridgeheads in the conflict."

A secret biography suggests that Abu Ali al-Anbari defined the group’s radical approach more than any other person.

U.S. President Donald Trump in a letter to Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, has sought Islamabad’s cooperation in bringing the Taliban to the table for negotiating peace in Afghanistan.

"It was the deadliest incident involving U.S. troops in Afghanistan this year: An armored U.S. military vehicle struck a roadside bomb planted by the Taliban outside the city of Ghazni on Tuesday, killing three service members."

“Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said he is focused on finding an end to the war in Afghanistan, but that doesn’t involve withdrawing U.S. military forces from the country soon.”

“Islamic extremists in Nigeria have begun using drones, the country’s president says, opening a worrying new front in the region’s nearly decade-long fight against Boko Haram and an offshoot linked to the Islamic State.”

“Our Army has a long history of combat advising, and today’s ceremony highlights another step in building capacity for this critical and enduring mission,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said in a tweet following the ceremony.

"The Trump administration on Thursday accused Iran of stepping up violations of a U.N. ban on arms exports by sending rockets and other weaponry to rebels in Afghanistan and Yemen."

A senior U.S. diplomat has called on the Taliban to seize a "moment of opportunity" to open formal peace talks with the Western-backed Afghan government and negotiate an end to the 17-year conflict.

Iran’s missiles and other weapons being exported to proxies pose a “clear and present danger” to civilians and regional stability, the special representative for Iran and senior policy advisor to the secretary of state said today.

"Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a barrage of missiles into Saudi Arabia, the armed group said, strikes that could threaten to derail the U.S.-backed peace efforts that have raised fresh hopes to end a catastrophic, nearly four-year war."