Afghanistan

Akhmed One-Arm was detained following a series of raids executed by Turkish Special Forces on known Daesh (ISIS) collaborators and sympathizers in what is being described as the ‘Asian and European side of the city,’ of Istanbul. To put that into perspective, Istanbul, is divided in two by the Bosphorus Strait.

NATO exercises held recently in Poland and other Eastern European nations improve the military coordination of the member nations. Could NATO stop Russia from invading the rest of the Ukraine or one of the Baltic States (Estonia, Lithuania, or Latvia)? Unlikely.

Quite a few years later I would once again encounter NORSOF – this time on my first Afghan tour in 2002-2003. I was once again favorably impressed with their capabilities in conducting strategic reconnaissance (SR) missions in austere environments. At the time NORSOF worked as part of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Afghanistan (CJSOTF-A).

General Mark Milley, the Chief of Staff for the United States Army, is bringing a revolutionary concept into being. He is moving forward with the establishment of advisory brigades within the U.S. Army. The United States military has a long history of advisory efforts but for the most part, except for the U.S. special operations […]

Critics comparing the use of U.S. airpower against ISIS in Iraq and Syria and of U.S. airpower against the Taliban have noted that there is a huge disparity. The numbers of sorties flown in Iraq and Syria far surpass those flown in Afghanistan.

The early recruits for the GROM came from a number of specialized Polish military and police units.

I look forward to my role as a contributing editor for SOFREP and welcome your suggestions and observations on my reporting, analysis, and commentary.

Clint Romesha became a legend in 2009 after he led the charge against a monstrous Taliban attack in Afghanistan, rallying his fellow soldiers to regain control of their camp after it had been overrun by more than 300 insurgents. In 2013, President Obama presented him with the Medal of Honor for his actions in that […]

For decades, Afghanistan has ranked with the very poorest African countries as one of the hardest places for infants and small children to survive. Conflict, poverty, poor health services and low levels of female education and rights combined to produce extremely high mortality rates for Afghan newborns, older infants and very young children. But finally, […]

U.S. warplanes in Afghanistan have launched airstrikes against Taliban targets in recent days under new authority granted to the top commander there to help Afghan forces achieve “catastrophic success,” Defense officials said. The expanded authorities allow Army Gen. John Nicholson to bolster Afghan offensives with U.S. combat advisers, airstrikes, surveillance aircraft and pilots to fly […]

Shortly after supporters of the Islamic State gunned down 14 people in California last year, the CIA’s deputy director assembled a group of Muslim employees to talk about Islamophobia. The Dec. 2 shootings by Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik had illustrated the United States’ vulnerability to terrorist attacks inspired by the Islamic State and […]

The bus, which was said to be carrying Nepalese security guards, was on a road to the eastern city of Jalalabad. The attacker, who was on foot, waited for the bus as it left a compound, police said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, the first since the start of the holy month […]