Afghanistan war

Trump fires CQ Brown, nominates retired Air Force 3-star as replacement

Trump announced he would nominate retired three-star Air Force general Dan Caine as his chairman of the joint chiefs.

Poll: Trust in US military declines as worry over China rises

WASHINGTON: A majority of Americans view China has the biggest national security threat to the United States, while trust in the American military continues to erode, according the Reagan Institute’s annual National Defense Survey. The poll found that 52% of Americans see China as a top threat, up from just under 40% in the February […]

The Afghanistan Debacle: 5G And China

With Washington demonstrating little competency or reliability, Beijing is likely to press countries to include Huawei and other Chinese telecommunications corporations in their 5G networks, lest they alienate Beijing.

Afghanistan Has Been ‘Gut-Wrenching,’ ‘Deeply Personal’ For IC: DNI

"There's no question that as you pull out... our intelligence collection is diminished," Haines said. "In Afghanistan, we will want to monitor any reconstitution of terrorist groups."

JADC2 Implementation Plan ‘Weeks Away’: J6’s Parker

"Joint always seems fun until we get into decisions about who governs this," joked Army CIO Raj Iyer.

Hasty US Pullout from Afghanistan Invokes Regional Talk of Post Pax Americana

America’s allies in the Middle East are weighing options to avoid meeting the fate of the Afghani government, as regional scholars talk of the post Pax Americana era.

Afghanistan’s Precarious Networks: Will The Taliban, Once Again, Go Dark?

The Taliban now faces a decision: Ban the internet as the group did during its first rule, while hindering its propaganda windfall and other online activities, or leave the country's networks intact, allowing an avenue for continued US electronic surveillance.

Biden Holds Afghanistan Line: ‘I’m Clear On My Answer’

A Chicago Council survey conducted in July found that 70 percent of Americans backed exiting Afghanistan, a belief that crosses the deep partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans.

As America Moves Air Defenses From Middle East, Will Local Partners Step Up?

It is more of a repositioning rather than a withdrawal and "does not reflect any political orientation similar to the one to withdraw troops from Afghanistan,” strategic expert and political researcher Abdullah Al Jenaid tells Breaking Defense.

Help The Afghan Air Force To Blunt Taliban Attacks

At the NATO Summit in Brussels, the United States should finalize a plan with its allies to ensure the Afghan air force has the maintenance and logistical support it requires to remain combat effective. The United States and our international partners have worked for years to build an Afghan air force capable of providing effective […]

DoD Readies Counterterror Plan For Post Afghanistan Withdrawal

"Our budget accounts for 'over the horizon' requirements -- it creates some space there as we determine what that will look like," DepSec Kathleen Hicks said. 

NATO SecGen Defends Afghan Withdrawal

While training in-country will end, “we are looking at how we can provide training outside Afghanistan,” said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “We can train Afghan forces in other countries.”

Afghanistan: The Long, Painful Retreat

“I think the countries to the north of Afghanistan such as Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are also going to be worried about the flows of refugees and perhaps fighters to the north. All of them will see what happens after we leave, how the United States postures itself, and then they’ll decide what to do," Gen. McKenzie said this week.

Hard Lessons from America’s Longest Wars

This is one of two pieces by our contributor James Kitfield, who’s won more Gerald Ford Defense Reporting awards than anyone else (3), on the challenges and mistakes America has made in grappling with the complex threat of global terrorism. As James puts it in his summary sentence: U.S. counterterrorism forces continue to learn and adapt […]