China is seeking deeper military ties with Afghanistan

China wants to have deeper military ties with Afghanistan, including counter-terrorism intelligence cooperation and joint drills, a senior Chinese officer told a visiting Afghan envoy. China is working with Pakistan and the United States to broker peace talks to end a Taliban insurgency that has raged for 15 years in Afghanistan, but last month the […]

How a pilot’s NVG case brought down a USAF C-130J in Afghanistan

According to the air force’s newly released accident investigation report, the C-130J pilot used the night vision goggle (NVG) case to keep the aircraft’s elevator up as tall cargo was loaded on the ramp. However, over the next 50min and during the final preflight check, the pilot and copilot seemingly forgot to remove the hard […]

CIA Remembers SFC Nate Chapman as one of its own

Army Ranger, Green Beret, and now recently released, a member of the CIAs paramilitary force sent into Afghanistan in the weeks right after the 9/11 attacks. SFC Nate Chapman was the first U.S. service member killed in action in Afghanistan on January 4th, 2002. I still remember seeing him featured on national news channels at […]

Story behind first US combat death in Afghanistan finally revealed

Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Ross Chapman was the first member of the military killed by enemy fire during the Afghanistan war, but many details his mission had never been revealed – until now. Working as a communication specialist for a CIA paramilitary team, Chapman was gunned down when his convoy was ambushed en route to […]

In Kabul, the Taliban Don’t Care Who They Kill

Maryam Jan’s voice was shaking almost uncontrollably as we spoke on the phone. The truck bomb that hit the center of Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Tuesday morning was “huge, very huge,” said the 27-year-old journalist. “I haven’t seen and felt such a huge blast in my whole life in Kabul,” she said. “I was […]

Taliban: ‘We Could Keep Fighting Forever’

The snows are melting in Afghanistan, flowers (including opium poppies) will soon be blooming, and, in what has become an annual ritual, the Taliban have announced their plan for a spring offensive. They have given this one the name “Mullah Omar,” after the leader whose death they admitted only last year. The Interior Ministry of he U.S.-backed […]

At least 12 killed in joint US-Afghan raid targeting suspected Al Qaeda member

Twelve people, including three children, were killed when Afghan and U.S. forces conducted a raid on the house of a suspected Al Qaeda member in east Afghanistan, according to a confidential report and people familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal reviewed an Afghan interior ministry incident report that detailed the early Friday operation […]

Taliban destroys Afghan army helicopter in IED attack at military base

The Taliban destroyed an Afghan National Army helicopter as it landed on a remote Army base in the northeastern province of Kunar late last month. The Afghan government previously claimed the helicopter was damaged in an “emergency landing,” but the Taliban recorded the attack on video. The dramatic video was produced by Al Emera, an […]

Watch: A Chinook Take an RPG Hit but Keeps on Keeping on

A Chinook helicopter was hit by an RPG in Afghanistan during a night vision raid on an enemy location. Fortunately, the RPG only hit the ramp, doing minimal damage. Some crew sustained minor injuries. https://youtu.be/S7mXk-ldxlw The Chinook helicopter has been a mainstay of US military operations since the Vietnam era, and combat footage from a […]

Al Qaeda re-emerges as challenge for U.S., NATO in Afghanistan

Leadership turmoil within the Taliban since the death of the militant group’s founder has fueled closer links with foreign groups like al Qaeda, the new commander of international forces in Afghanistan said, complicating counter-terrorism efforts. In an interview with Reuters, General John Nicholson pointed to what U.S. officials saw as a shift in the Taliban’s […]

Cables tie Pakistan to 2009 hit on CIA; official says not so

Recently declassified U.S. government cables suggest Pakistan’s intelligence service paid a U.S.-designated terrorist organization $200,000 to carry out one of the deadliest attacks against the CIA in the spy agency’s history. But a U.S. intelligence official said the information was uncorroborated and inconsistent with what is known about the 2009 suicide bombing at Camp Chapman […]