A state of security chaos persists in southern Syria, with the latest attack killing three at a checkpoint in Quneitra reports Alsouria Net. Three members of the Military Security branch of the Assad regime were killed, after an attack by unknown gunmen on a checkpoint in the countryside of Quneitra in southern Syria.

Troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan have dropped, acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller announced today. There are now 2,500 U.S. service members in Iraq and 2,500 in Afghanistan. It is the lowest number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan since operations started there in 2001.

Iran’s foreign minister says it is willing to reposition an Iran-led Afghan militia in Syria to fight Islamic State forces in Afghanistan. The Fatemiyoun Brigade, a militia of Afghan refugees created by Iran to fight in Syria, held a public symposium in the Iranian city of Mashhad in August 2020. According to online promotional material, […]

The war in Afghanistan — the world’s deadliest ongoing conflict — enters a crucial phase in 2021. The United States is set to withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by May as part of a deal with the Taliban aimed at ending the 19-year war.

As the U.S. military scrambles to meet a mid-January deadline to draw down to 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, a milestone in the conflict has passed almost unremarked: The combined NATO force on the ground now outnumbers the U.S. contingent. About 13,000 U.S. troops were deployed to Afghanistan as of the end of February, when the […]

Lawmaker Khan Mohammad Wardak survived the blast but is among 20 injured including women and children, Afghan Interior Minister Massoud Andarabi said. A car bombing in Kabul targeting an Afghan lawmaker killed at least nine people, officials said.

After more than a month of negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government, progress toward a peace agreement remains slow.

From drug revenue to extortion to charitable donations, the Taliban has plenty of avenues to fill their coffers. The Taliban militants of Afghanistan have grown richer and more powerful since their fundamentalist Islamic regime was toppled by U.S. forces in 2001.

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has died of natural causes in Afghanistan, according Afghanistan and Pakistan media on Friday.

Australia has been rocked by the release of a heavily redacted report about the killing of 39 unarmed Afghan civilians or prisoners by some 25 elite Australian Special Air Services (SAS) soldiers. Any prosecutions will take years and will violate the scientific principle of truth and systemic change rather than knee-jerk blame and shame. There […]

At least 10 US military bases in Afghanistan have been closed since the United States committed to decreasing military presence under the deal with the Taliban in February, the Washington Post newspaper reported on Friday, citing sources.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that the United States would “sit on the side and help where we can” as he met in Qatar with Afghan government negotiators amid signs of progress to reach a peace agreement with the Taliban.

Statement from the Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Rick Burr, AO, DSC, MVO, on actions following the IGADF Afghanistan Inquiry findings Today I have been in Perth, Western Australia, at the Australian Army’s Special Air Service Regiment.

Some of the Romanian men and women who have served under NATO in Afghanistan tell BIRN why they went and what it was like.It began with 265 soldiers and 15 medics. Almost 19 years later, Romania’s participation in NATO’s mission in Afghanistan has grown to 693 troops, making the former communist country the fifth largest […]

No longer the supreme jihadist group, al-Qaeda has seen other outfits grow and has sometimes clashed with them on the ground. The reported deaths of al-Qaeda’s top two leaders in recent months have raised questions about the future strategy and strength of the terror network, already a shadow of the global force it was two […]

Key U.S. officials are not backing down from their assessment that core al-Qaida, while still a threat, is in decline, brushing aside intelligence suggesting the terror organization remains entrenched in Afghanistan and may be growing stronger.

The head of NATO on Tuesday warned that the military alliance could face serious consequences from a force reduction in Afghanistan, a day after multiple reports indicated that the Pentagon is preparing an order from President Trump to withdraw thousands of U.S. troops from the Middle East.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), and U.S. Navy sailors aboard the USS John Finn (DDG-113), an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) System-equipped destroyer, intercepted and destroyed a threat-representative Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) target with a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA missile during a flight test demonstration in the broad ocean area northeast of Hawaii, […]

Following to removal of US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, the Pentagon and acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller have announced a withdrawal of thousands of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, leaving around 2,500 residual personnel in both countries.

Speech As prepared for delivery by Acting Defense Secretary Christopher C. Miller Good afternoon. I’m Chris Miller, Acting Secretary of Defense, and I am here today to update you on President Trump’s plan to bring the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to a successful and responsible conclusion, and to bring our brave Service members home.

President Donald Trump is expected to cut a significant number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and a smaller number in Iraq by the final days of his presidency, U.S. officials said Monday. The plan would run counter to military commanders’ advice over the past year, while still falling short of Trump’s much-touted goal to end […]

A surge of targeted killings and assassinations has swept Afghanistan, where violence has soared despite peace efforts aimed at ending the war. Many of those being targeted are civilians — journalists, rights activists, cultural figures, moderate religious leaders, and women in public roles.

The Taliban say they expect President-elect Joe Biden to stick to a peace agreement the insurgent group sealed with the United States earlier this year to end the war in Afghanistan, America’s longest.

American drones and U.S. allies killed several Qaeda leaders and operatives in the past week. But the organization has “ingrained itself in local communities and conflicts,” according to the U.N.

egotiations between the Taliban and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan have opened in Doha, Qatar, but violence continues and even appears to be escalating. Some of the worst attacks, such as the Oct. 24 strike on an educational center in Kabul that killed at least 30 students, have been claimed by the so-called Islamic State. […]

Based on the current conditions in Afghanistan, the Defense Department expects there will be fewer than 5,000 U.S. military service members in that country by the end of November, said David F. Helvey, who is currently performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs.

Afghanistan’s warring sides started negotiations for the first time, bringing together the Taliban and delegates appointed by the Afghan government Saturday for historic meetings aimed at ending decades of war.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Qatar Saturday for the opening of peace talks there between the Taliban and the Afghan government. Hopefully, the Taliban have figured out by now that these talks are not simply a face-saving exercise for the U.S. to exit South Asia. If they haven’t, Pompeo ought to make that […]

Toward the end of August, a delegation from the Afghan Taliban led by the group’s deputy, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, travelled to Islamabad. There, they met with Pakistan’s foreign minister and head of its Inter-Services Intelligence, the military’s intelligence wing. The first gathering, held at Pakistan’s Foreign Office, was meant to give boost to an […]

In the 19 years that have passed since I watched the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapse, not a single moment of that day has faded from memory.

Islamic State built upon on the increased operational tempo initiated late last month during Eid al-Adha, claiming more attacks in all but three of their regions of operation during August 2020. Despite concerted counter-terror operations undertaken by the differing branches of the Iraqi security establishment, Islamic State cells claimed 100 attacks across the country, particularly […]

France objects to release of three men jailed for the murders of French nationals in Afghanistan.

Can the Afghan government and the Taliban agree to a political settlement to end decades of conflict? Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday said that his government would release the last batch of Taliban prisoners, ostensibly removing the final hurdle to direct negotiations with the insurgent group. Intra-Afghan negotiations were originally slated for March 10 […]

Afghan Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Sadiq Siddiqui called on Iran Monday to prevent Taliban activities in Tehran, in the first comment after some Afghans were seen in pictures waving the Taliban flag at a park in Iran’s capital.

Taliban commanders have confirmed that Russia has offered financial and material support to its members in exchange for attacking US forces in Afghanistan.