Security Assistance
Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - 07:23
Important but overlooked news this week: the U.S. command in Afghanistan has asked India to step up military aid to Afghan forces. India provided four attack helicopters to the Afghan military in Dec. 2015; the U.S. and the Afghans want more, as well as spare parts for Russian-made military equipment, to be used in part against the Islamist network built up by Pakistan called the Haqqanis.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - 07:47
A House Democrat is urging the Obama administration to stop assisting Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen following reports that its forces bombed a school.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - 07:40
The governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras will launch a new regional task force assigned to combat organized crime, with a special target on gangs, following an agreement signed Saturday in the Salvadoran capital by defense and security authorities.
Monday, August 15, 2016 - 07:16
The leader of the Islamic State branch that operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan was killed in an American airstrike on July 26 in eastern Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Friday. It was the United States military’s second killing of an anti-American Islamist militant leader in the region in the past three months.
Monday, August 15, 2016 - 07:04
US-backed forces in Libya are about to declare victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) in Sirte. ISIS losing its main stronghold in North Africa is good, of course, but unfortunately this news is not as good as it seems. Here’s why.
Monday, August 15, 2016 - 07:01
In the next few months, a mixed force of Iraqi Arab and Kurdish security forces — including various Sunni and perhaps some Shiite militia elements — will enter Mosul, clear the city of Islamic State extremists and then work to bring governance, stability and reconstruction to one of Iraq’s most complex cities and its province.
Monday, August 15, 2016 - 06:42
The United States Special Forces have killed more than 30 Al-Shabab militants including senior commanders during two separate security operations in southern Somalia in the past four days.
Friday, August 12, 2016 - 07:00
Former secretary of state Henry Kissinger jeopardized US efforts to stop mass killings by Argentina’s 1976-83 military dictatorship by congratulating the country’s military leaders for “wiping out” terrorism, according to a large trove of newly declassified state department files.
Friday, August 12, 2016 - 06:54
A $750 million U.S. economic aid package for Central America was touted last year as a way to slow migration into the U.S. by making one of the world’s most violent regions more prosperous. But the March assassination of indigenous land-rights activist Berta Cáceres has shined an international spotlight on the Honduran government’s abysmal human rights record, casting doubt on whether it can meet conditions for claiming a large chunk of the aid money.
Friday, August 12, 2016 - 06:39
Citing concerns over Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, Republican Senator Rand Paul says he’s looking for ways to stop a $1.15 billion weapons deal with Riyadh that would include the sale of 130 Abrams battle tanks, 20 armored vehicles, and other military equipment.