Afghanistan

United States Counterinsurgency Operations (COIN) in Afghanistan and Iraq were significantly hampered by the haphazard manner in which the United States military deploys units to combat zones. Replacement in Place/Transfer of Authority (RIP/TOA) is the process of the outgoing military unit in a respective Area of Operations (AO) transferring the …

Succeeding administrations have a chronic habit of blaming their predecessors. The Biden administration has been most particular on the issue, taking every chance to attack former President Donald Trump for the ills of his tenure. But the effort to almost exclusively lay blame at Trump’s door for the US fiasco …

Two large attacks on police installations have rocked Pakistan, compelling the authorities to rethink their approach to countering militancy. Their dilemma is that the insurgents’ main supporters – the new authorities in Afghanistan – are also their long-time allies. Security agencies in Pakistan are on high alert following two major …

The new Republican-controlled House of Representatives has begun its investigation into America’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Mike McCaul, best summed up the logic behind the investigation: “What happened in Afghanistan was a systemic breakdown of the federal government at …

New reports of US-trained Afghan special forces joining the fight in Ukraine, but on the Russian side, are emerging. The Wagner Group, a Russian private military contractor firm that has played a vital role in the battle for the town of Bakhmut in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, is …

Qari Fateh, the regional Daesh intelligence and operations chief, was killed during a raid in Kabul over the weekend, while senior leader Ijaz Amin Ahingar was killed earlier this month, according to a senior Taliban spokesman. Two senior regional members of Daesh have been killed in Afghanistan in recent weeks …

More than one million Iraqis were killed as the result of the US-led invasion, and subsequent occupation of the country Christopher C. Miller, a former acting head of the Pentagon, said on 9 February that senior military figures in the US should be held accountable for the failed wars in …

While not analogous to Ukraine, recent American combat experiences can be informative as we consider sending advanced systems to Kyiv. There are a host of reasons, backed by historical examples, why sending more and more advanced weapons into Ukraine will not be a panacea. In fact, sending them might boomerang …

According to multiple reports, Russia is recruiting Afghan security personnel, who were previously trained by the United States, for its war effort against Ukraine. The former Afghan elite commandos and soldiers are reportedly joining the Russian private military company known as the Wagner Group, a private mercenary force playing a …

Following the withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban-led schismatic government in Kabul appears to have reached a diplomatic impasse. It seems like its neighbors, who had previously been eager to restore normalcy to the turbulent region, have given up on the Islamic …