Afghanistan

The U.S. military conducted an airstrike in Afghanistan in the past week that likely killed at least one senior al Qaeda leader, the first such strike targeting leadership of the militant group in Afghanistan in several years, according to military and defense officials. The operation, which took place over the weekend but hasn’t been previously […]

ISIS militants have kidnapped and killed 30 people in Afghanistan’s Ghor province, according to a provincial spokesman. The group was abducted as they entered the mountains of Ghor to collect wood for winter, Abdul Hai Khatibi, the spokesman for the governor of the province, told CNN. The kidnapped people were all shot and killed during […]

Responding to increasing attacks, Afghan special forces so far this year have conducted more than 3,000 operations against the Taliban and terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State group, government officials said. But they say it will take much more effort to defeat the militants. “We have carried out these operations according to the capacity […]

A gunman in an Afghan army uniform on Wednesday shot dead at least two American advisors and wounded three more near a base in the Afghan capital before being killed himself, officials said. The American deaths included one soldier and one civilian, while one soldier and two civilians were injured and in stable condition, the […]

The United States military failed America in Afghanistan. It wasn’t a tactical failure. It was a failure of leadership. The ascent of David Petraeus and the Army’s rediscovery of counterinsurgency doctrine led many to believe that the military had dramatically adapted itself for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately the transformation was only skin deep. Petraeus […]

Editors note: the following open letter was penned by a current member of 5th Special Forces Group who wanted to speak out against the current toxic command climate that exists in his unit. Toxic leadership is something that many soldiers and civilians accuse their command of, but rarely is it ever as bad as it […]

The violence in Aleppo and around the world might be fueling a generation of psychopaths who can turn violent, recreating some of the problems in Aleppo elsewhere in the world. The picture is heartbreaking but also consider what that child has been exposed to? What kind of life might he lead? The “X-men” comic book’s […]

A military helicopter has crashed in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province, killing all eight people on board, officials have told Al Jazeera. The crash took place on Sunday in Dand-e-Ghori district while the helicopter was supplying a military base. Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the Afghan defense ministry, said that five crew members and three army soldiers were […]

Staff Sgt. Adam S. Thomas, 31 was killed on October 4, from an IED during dismounted operations with Afghan forces in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. According to the DoD press release, Thomas was assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Carson, Colorado. Yesterday, Peter Cook, the Pentagon spokesman, stated that an investigation was being conducted and […]

Afghanistan’s two key political leaders – President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah – today meet European Union representatives, 70 donor nations and 20 international organisations in Brussels, to review progress and agree on future assistance. As the Brussels conference gets under way, Afghanistan is increasingly fragile. Ghani and Abdullah jointly head the National […]

The Taliban launched a large-scale assault Monday on Kunduz, a northern Afghan city that briefly fell to the insurgents a year ago and was only fully liberated weeks later with the help of U.S. airstrikes. The insurgents reached a central roundabout and hoisted their flag, residents said on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution. But Amruddin […]

Heavy fighting between Afghan security forces and Taliban militants is taking its toll, as large numbers of casualties across the country are pushing recently trained Afghan air medical evacuation crews to their limits. During one week in August alone, between Aug. 22 and 29, Afghan crews recovered 125 Afghan troops killed and more than 280 wounded, […]