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"Some analysts warn that emphasizing development of elite Afghan units to the detriment of common soldiers and police officers may repeat mistakes made by Western forces throughout the war. Afghanistan currently has three NMUs taking on high-risk missions, such as arresting terrorists and responding to attacks."

"U.S. and Turkish forces have completed their second joint patrol in the area of Manbij, Syria, where Kurdish militia have been critical to defeating Islamic State fighters. Two U.S. military officials confirmed the patrols in northern Syria to VOA on Thursday. The first joint patrol was last week."

"The Trump administration is considering designating Yemen’s Houthi rebels a terrorist organization, people familiar with the discussions said, as part of a campaign to end that country’s civil war and put pressure on the Houthis’ ally Iran."

“Despite President Trump’s repeated claims that the Islamic State has been defeated, the militant group remains a deadly threat to minority populations in Syria, causing concern among U.S. lawmakers that recent atrocities are being overlooked.”

"The battle for the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah has intensified, as government forces backed by Saudi-led coalition air strikes advance on rebel positions."

"The record of this seventeen-year war speaks for itself. External actors will not be able to rebuild Afghanistan."

Video: General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. - The U.S. Military in a Time of Geopolitical Strain - The Duke Program in American Grand Strategy – 5 November 2018.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff laid out the process for military support to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security during a discussion with students in Duke University’s Program in American Grand Strategy Monday.

"NATO’s reinforced mission will continue training Afghan forces, the alliance’s top official said Tuesday, even as government troops sustain higher numbers of casualties in a war now in its 18th year."

"Dozens of soldiers and police officers were killed or captured in nine Taliban attacks that overran security bases and outposts in different parts of Afghanistan during a 24-hour period that ended on Tuesday, officials said."

"An American-backed military offensive has stalled against the Islamic State’s last vestige in eastern Syria — in part because of the enemy that the allied fighting force had expected, and other threats that it very much had not."

"Nearly 8,000 U.S. troops will be sent to three border states in anticipation of a caravan of migrants and would-be asylum seekers now traveling through Mexico, a U.S. official said, marking another increase in the planned deployment."

Afghanistan is sending a delegation to attend international peace talks in Russia this month, officials have said. Moscow is hosting the event on November 9 at a sensitive time, as the United States has been seeking to engage the Taliban in talks with Kabul to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan.

"As it pushes to jump-start an Afghan peace process, the U.S. faces a Taliban stronger than any time since an American-led military coalition deposed them 17 years ago, U.S. and Afghan officials, current and former militants and experts say."

Continue on for an update on the U.S. military deployment to the southern border.

Despite reports that the Islamic State terrorist group has lost 99 percent of its territory and shifted to insurgent tactics in Iraq and Syria, a recent report said an enduring defeat of the organization could take “years, if not decades.”

Continue on for a 2017 U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center Video Presentation - Cassandra in Oz: Counterinsurgency and Future War by Dr. Conrad Crane and General David Petraeus.

Continue on for a 2001 CNN Documentary on Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT).

“U.S. and Israeli officials have expressed concern that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman may have less leeway to pursue the gradual warming of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors amid the political fallout from the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”

"In 18 countries, the White House has yet to designate a U.S. ambassador. That includes Australia, a close ally to America that is beginning to look to China instead."

Continue on for the full video of a conversation with John Nagl on 16 April 2015.

Those wondering how the Taliban persist as an insurgency can look to Johnson’s recent book, “Taliban Narratives: The Use and Power of Stories in the Afghanistan Conflict,” which is soon to be translated into Dari and Pashto.

"Officials and religious leaders from across the ideological spectrum in Pakistan and Afghanistan joined students from the renowned seminary in Akora Khattak where Haq taught and mentored two generations of Afghan Islamist fighters."

“Military officials are expressing alarm that a shrinking U.S. military presence in the Middle East has undermined their ability to respond to Iranian threats just as the Trump administration’s imposition of oil sanctions increases the potential for confrontation.”

Russia says the Afghan government and the Taliban have agreed to take part in international talks in Moscow next week on the Afghan peace process. The United States, India, Iran, China, Pakistan, and five former Soviet republics in Central Asia have been invited.