Blog Posts

"As far as Taliban leaders are concerned, the group has little reason to commit to a peace process: it is on a winning streak. The Taliban control key Afghan highways and are conducting targeted assassinations across the country. They have made important territorial gains and now have complete or partial control over some 250 of about 400 districts."

“The United States is fighting a war in Syria. It’s a quiet war with debatable legal standing, but it is a real war nonetheless. Estimates of the number of U.S. troops there over the past year run anywhere from about 500 into the thousands.”

"U.S. forces are establishing observation posts in Northeast Syria to further deny escape routes to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve told Pentagon reporters today."

"Insurgencies, guerrilla warfare—whatever we chose to call this type of violence, it is, by far the deadliest threat to those who serve in uniform. Since the middle of the last century, over a quarter of a million Americans were killed or wounded in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. And those are just the big ones. As tragic as these figures might be, an even deeper tragedy might be the forgotten lessons that could prevent future casualties."

“Three U.S. service members were killed and three more were wounded by an improvised explosive device Tuesday in Afghanistan, according to officials with the NATO mission to the country. One American contractor was also wounded when the IED detonated, officials said in a press release.”

"The Joint Force, and the national security community as a whole, must be ready and able to respond to numerous challenges across the full spectrum of conflict including complex operations during peacetime and war. However, this presupposes a general acceptance of a well-understood taxonomy describing the elements that constitute the “continuum of conflict.” The U.S. security community lacks this taxonomy, despite its engagement in a spate of diverse conflicts around the globe."

Via Long War Journal - "Once again, the US military has grossly underestimated the size and scope of the Taliban, despite battling the group head-on for the last 17 years. In its latest quarterly report, US Forces – Afghanistan (USFOR-A) approximated the Taliban’s strength as between 28,000 and 40,000 fighters."

“Violence escalated Monday in the Afghan capital during a second day of protests by minority ethnic Hazaras over the arrest of an anti-Taliban militia leader. Officials called him an abusive rogue, but supporters said he was a hero who had defended Hazaras from insurgent attacks.”

“Eight months ago, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis created the Close Combat Lethality Task Force to right a generational wrong. A retired Marine Corps infantryman himself, Mattis understood that America’s close combat forces, consisting of less than four percent of those in uniform, had suffered more than ninety percent of American combat deaths since the end of World War II. His intent: to make our infantry formations dominant on tomorrow’s battlefields.”

"Hundreds of ethnic Hazaras rallied in protest here Sunday over the arrest of a rogue anti-Taliban militia commander, resulting in violence that left at least 30 civilians and security forces wounded, police said."

"For the last two years, U.S. Cyber Command ran pilot programs that focused on supporting operations in Iraq and Syria. Now, the U.S. Army is taking lessons from those experiments and applying them to tactical operations."

"A secret Army study has detailed the widespread logistical problems faced by Australian forces in Iraq 15 years ago. The report, obtained by the ABC and marked "for Australian eyes only", revealed how frontline troops were often without crucial supplies for battle and military commanders struggled to get the personnel required."

"Russia and Ukraine accused each other of provoking an incident at sea on Sunday, rapidly escalating tensions between the neighbors and spurring Moscow to close a vital water route the two nations use."

"The new docuseries Terrorism Close Calls, now streaming on Netflix, chronicles some of the biggest attempted terrorist attacks that were foiled just under the wire. Its fifth episode is dedicated to the Transatlantic Liquid Bomb Plot, wherein two dozen terrorists planned to smuggle plastic bottles filled with liquid explosives (and other devices) onto seven commercial airliners departing from London’s Heathrow Airport and traveling to North America, assemble the bombs onboard, and detonate them over the Atlantic Ocean."

"Jihadists and right-wing extremists use remarkably similar social media strategies."

"One of the most famous activists in Syria was assassinated by gunmen, according to associates, underscoring the mortal threats facing a dwindling pool of dissidents who still openly oppose government and extremist forces there."

"Japan plans to step up training efforts with east African nations, as Tokyo aims to work more closely with the U.S. in a region where China’s influence is on the rise."

"American and Russian forces have clashed a dozen times in Syria - sometimes with exchanges of fire - a U.S. envoy told Russian journalists in a wide-ranging interview this week."

For counterterrorism officials, one of the most difficult counterterrorism challenges is identifying the next global struggle that, like the Syrian civil war, will energize the world’s Muslims and lead tens of thousands of foreigners to join the fray. However, as a Danish proverb (not Yogi Berra) warns, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”

"A large military convoy from an Arab country was deployed last week to the eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour, where U.S.-backed forces are fighting the Islamic State (IS) terror group, a monitor group told VOA."

"U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Thursday to shut down the U.S.-Mexican border, disrupting a $1.68 billion-a-day trading relationship, if his government cannot control the flow of undocumented migrants seeking to cross into the United States from Latin America."

"The U.S. military on Thursday announced the latest of several deadly airstrikes this week against al-Shabab extremists in Somalia as it targets a region well north of where the al-Qaida-linked fighters control large parts of the country."

“The White House late Tuesday signed a memo allowing troops stationed at the border to engage in some law enforcement roles and use lethal force, if necessary — a move that legal experts have cautioned may run afoul of the Posse Comitatus Act.”

"An increase in casualties among Afghan military and police forces has prompted the Afghan government to intensify military campaigns against the Taliban and other militant groups, Afghan security officials say."

“Hours after the White House signed a late Tuesday night directive expanding the authorities of U.S. troops at the Mexican border, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met with reporters at the Pentagon to explain what the new policies mean for the domestically deployed forces.”