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Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's guilty pleas on charges of endangering comrades in Afghanistan have set up a dramatic sentencing hearing later this month that could land him in prison for life.
Category Archives: Afghanistan
Freed Taliban hostage says captors raped his wife, authorized child’s killing
A Canadian man who was freed along with his family after five years in militant captivity in Afghanistan said his captors authorized the killing of one of his children and raped his wife. "The stupidity and the evil of the Haqqani network's kidnapping of a pilgrim and his heavily pregnant wife engaged in helping ordinary villagers in Taliban-controlled regions of Afghanistan was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorizing the murder of my infant daughter, Martyr Boyle," Joshua Boyle told reporters upon his arrival at Toronto's Pearson Airport on Friday night.
Freed Taliban hostage claims wife was raped
A Canadian man who was freed along with his family after five years in militant captivity in Pakistan claimed his captors authorized the killing of one of his children and raped his wife. "The stupidity and the evil of the Haqqani network's kidnapping of a pilgrim and his heavily pregnant wife engaged in helping ordinary villagers in Taliban-controlled regions of Afghanistan was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorizing the murder of my infant daughter, Martyr Boyle," Joshua Boyle told reporters upon his arrival at Toronto's Pearson Airport Friday night.
General Pledges ‘Tidal Wave’ Of Bombs To Rain Down In Afghanistan
Pfc. Samuel Corsolini, a gunner assigned to F Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, pulls security with other Pathfinders as a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter takes off after unloading his team and members of 2nd Afghan National Civil Order Patrol Special Weapons And Tactics Team during a vehicle interdiction as part of Operation Pranoo Verbena in order to disrupt Taliban operations in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, March 16. US Army/Flickr The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan vowed a new wave of helicopter strikes by the Afghan National Security Forces on Taliban insurgents after the delivery of dozens of UH-60 black hawk helicopters, in a joint Saturday appearance with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
Army Deserter Bowe Bergdahl to Plead Guilty
Summary : Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is expected to plead guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy for his actions in 2009.
Military assets including ships dumped at knockdown prices
British Forces' ships, planes and vehicles are going at bargain prices in the country's biggest-ever sell-off of military equipment. Experts fear the sale agreed by top brass will reduce Britain's ability to conduct military operations, but the money is desperately needed to plug an estimated A 20 billion black hole in defence finances.
News Analysis: Latest U.S. drone strike in Pakistan may further escalate bilateral tension
The latest U.S. unilateral drone attack in Pakistan would possibly enlarge the gaps between the two countries in their common course of anti-terrorism war, experts and analysts here said , expressing their concerns as the strikes are usually condemned by Pakistan as a violation of its sovereignty. The latest U.S. strike took place on Friday, killing at least three people who were reportedly the members of Afghan Taliban in Pakistan' northwestern tribal region of Kurram Agency that bordering Afghanistan.
Fingerprints on bomb central to terror trial of US citizen
A U.S. citizen accused of abandoning his birth nation to fight for al-Qaida was to be put on trial Tuesday, a day after the 16th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, in a case that hinges partly on fingerprints found on an unexploded bomb.
War Gaming a U.S. Withdrawal From Afghanistan
Ironically, Pakistan's opposition to U.S. and NATO efforts to stabilize Afghanistan through its support of the Taliban and Haqqani insurgents would lead to greater regional instability and, perhaps, create an existential threat to Pakistan itself should Western forces withdraw. In the absence of U.S. and NATO assistance, the Afghan government would fall within twelve months and Afghanistan would revert to conditions similar to those of the 1990s civil war when the country was divided along ethnic and, to some extent, religious lines.
Trump’s strategic reset
At various times during our history, American troops abroad have been targeted with special ferocity by enemies aware that the more U.S. troops they killed, the more likely our government would be to accelerate already declared timetables for withdrawal. That ends now, President Donald Trump declared in his recent speech about policy toward the war in Afghanistan.
North Korea, Afghanistan top Hill’s fall national security agenda
The Senate returns to Washington in September preparing to take up a massive defense policy bill led by Sen. John McCain as the Arizona Republican returns to Congress following his first round of treatment for brain cancer. The chairman of the Senate armed services committee, McCain will lead debate on the National Defense Authorization Act, one of the few remaining "must-pass" pieces of legislation that would authorize $700 billion in Pentagon spending and set a wide swath of military policy.
Defense secretary begins sending additional troops to Afghanistan
The Pentagon has begun sending additional troops to Afghanistan to carry out President Donald Trump's new war strategy, which will stick to his predecessor's approach of supporting the Afghans' fight against the Taliban rather than doing the fighting for them, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Thursday. "Yes, I've signed orders, but it's not complete," Mattis told reporters in an impromptu news conference at the Pentagon.
Complexity of Afghan situation warrants new plan, more troops
At various times during our history, American troops abroad have been targeted with special ferocity by enemies aware that the more U.S. troops they killed, the more likely our government would be to accelerate already declared timetables for withdrawal. That ends now, President Donald Trump declared last week in an important speech about policy toward the war in Afghanistan.
There’s no way out of Afghanistan for US
We've tried "light footprint." From the initial defeat of the Taliban in 2001 until 2007, monthly U.S. troop numbers never exceeded 25,000.
Trump announces a realistic plan
At various times during our history, American troops abroad have been targeted with special ferocity by enemies aware that the more U.S. troops they killed, the more likely our government would be to accelerate already declared timetables for withdrawal. For years while former President Barack Obama was in office, the Taliban and other terrorists in Afghanistan operated under an enormous advantage: They knew Obama planned to continue drawing down troop strength in that country for political, not military, reasons.
Trump’s Palmerstonian Policy
President Donald Trump's Afghanistan speech Monday night was disciplined, measured and sometimes verging on eloquence. It was presidential.
Miniskirt Photo Swayed Trump on Afghanistan
President Donald Trump changed his mind about sending more troops to Afghanistan after a campaign by his national security adviser H.R. McMaster which reportedly included showing the president a photograph of women in miniskirts in Kabul. The picture from 1972 was used by McMaster in an effort to demonstrate to Trump that Western culture could return to Afghanistan if he sent more troops, the Washington Post reported.
Weary U.S. has no easy path to leave Afghanistan
Vietnam is considered the original American quagmire. President John F. Kennedy sent the first large U.S. troop contingent into the country in 1961.
There is no ‘winning’ military strategy in Afghanistan
President Donald Trump speaks at Fort Myer in Arlington, Va. during a Presidential Address to the Nation about his Afghanistan strategy on Aug. 21. President Donald Trump speaks at Fort Myer in Arlington, Va.
McMaster Showed Trump Picture Of Afghan Women In Skirts To Sell Troop Increase
President Donald Trump's new Afghanistan strategy is in many ways the product of a trio of former generals who urged him to reconsider his gut feelings and recommit U.S. forces to a long-term presence in the war-ravaged country. Defense Secretary James Mattis, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster - flag officers with battlefield command experience - guided Trump away from his instinct to draw down, warning him about the national security consequences of abandoning Afghanistan to the Taliban and assorted terrorist groups there.