Category: Afghanistan

“No new wars” carried weight when it constrained someone else. Under current conditions, it has receded. The standard changed. The consequences remain.

Three U.S. service members were killed in ongoing combat operations against Iran as drone engagements expanded into Kuwait, riots erupted at a U.S. consulate in Pakistan, a downtown Austin shooting triggered a federal terror probe, and Pakistan launched cross-border airstrikes that ignited open fighting with the Afghan Taliban.

Pakistan and Afghanistan trade airstrikes in a widening frontier clash, while Ukraine claims a 900-mile missile strike inside Russia amid one of Moscow’s largest drone barrages of the war.

President Donald Trump’s 2026 State of the Union address focused on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, border enforcement and economic policy. Meanwhile, separate reporting shows Russia assessed capable of sustaining the war in Ukraine through 2026 as global defense spending continues to rise.

U.S. Marines of India Company, building on earlier 19th Special Forces groundwork, held the knife-edge terrain of Afghanistan’s Pech Valley at FOB Blessing through relentless patrols and sustained combat, proving that small units could pressure Taliban heartland even in the war’s most unforgiving ground.

Hammerhead Six is a hard, practical lesson in how small Special Forces teams won ground in Afghanistan by mastering culture, accountability, and relationships instead of relying on firepower alone.

More than a book review, this is a portrait of David Petraeus as a great but imperfect man whose service and ideas shaped modern American warfare.

For two decades, the war in Afghanistan was fought as a coalition effort. NATO allies deployed to combat zones, took casualties, and shared the risks of a war that ultimately ended in failure.

Wake up in the dark, throw on cargo pants and boots, mainline coffee and Rip Its, live in cable traffic inside the TOC, and if you are lucky you end the night at the fire pit with a stiff drink and a short laugh before you do it all again.

Medal of Honor recipients just got their pension bumped finally putting real weight behind the nation’s highest award. Meanwhile, the Gaza ceasefire is barely holding as clashes flare around the unmarked Yellow Line, and a final Afghanistan watchdog report says the U.S. left billions of arms and equipment in the hands of the Taliban.

He stepped into the open, phone in hand and grit in his teeth, trading the last of his cover for a handful of breaths for his teammates — the kind of small, brutal choice that carves a quiet legend out of an ordinary life.

Where we lived with villagers and tied bottom up security to district and provincial governance, VSO and ALP held ground the centralized model could not, and when support was cut the Taliban wasted no time reclaiming the countryside.