A new American intelligence assessment on the Afghan war predicts that the gains the United States and its allies have made during the past three years are likely to have been significantly eroded by 2017, even if Washington leaves behind a few thousand troops and continues bankrolling the impoverished nation, according to officials familiar with […]
An offshoot of the Middle East's Islamic State insurgency has begun operating on southern Afghanistan, less than three months after British combat troops withdrew from the region. A man identified as Mullah Abdul Rauf was actively recruiting fighters for the groups, flying black flags and, according to some sources, even battling Taliban militants. Local sources said […]
WASHINGTON — Despite all of the talk in the Pentagon and among the defense intelligentsia in Washington about the "new normal"— the present era of battling Islamic extremists while putting out security and humanitarian brushfires across the globe — there has really never been a "normal" year when it comes to national security. And 2015 […]
BACKGROUND: This report updates DoD contractor personnel numbers in theater and outlines DoD efforts to improve management of contractors accompanying U.S. forces. It covers DoD contractor personnel deployed in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)) and the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR). KEY POINTS: In 1st quarter FY 2015, USCENTCOM reported approximately 54,700 contractor personnel working for the […]
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — An Afghan-international security force detained several suspected militants in northern Kandahar province Wednesday while pursuing a senior Taliban commander. A newly established NATO command was activated in Camp Eggers in Kabul, as the Combined Security Transition Command -Afghanistan merged with the new NATO Training Mission - Afghanistan to create a unified command for […]