Marine Master Sgt. Robert Allen sings a song he wrote for his wife for Christmas. Allen is deployed in Afghanistan, and we’re proud to share this video with you today. Our thoughts and prayers are with our armed forces stationed around the world this holiday season. We thank them for their sacrifice in defending our freedoms and keeping us safe.
Tensions are still high in Pakistan after a tragic NATO strike on Pakistani troops two weeks ago. Where is the U.S.-Pakistan relationship headed? What are U.S. policy options vis a vis Pakistan? How does the situation in Pakistan affect U.S. forces in Afghanistan? Click here to join us right now for our “Lunch with Heritage” online chat where we are joined by Heritage’s Senior Research Fellow for South Asia, Lisa Curtis. Lisa is taking your questions about the way forward for the U.S. with Pakistan and Afghanistan. Lunch with Heritage …
Russia is trying to exploit U.S. vulnerability in Afghanistan by squeezing concessions on European missile defense. This is a disturbing development, potentially threatening security of the U.S. logistical operations. The campaign of anti-Americanism led by Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s Ambassador to NATO, culminated in his remarks before the Duma that Russia may link its opposition to the NATO missile defense in Europe to the future of the NATO supply line to Afghanistan. This complex logistics operation, known as the Northern Distribution Network (NDN), is responsible for 40 percent of NATO supplies, …
A NATO airstrike along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border on Saturday that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers has once again inflamed U.S.–Pakistan tensions and called into question the future of the partnership. The circumstances surrounding the strike are still unclear, and both NATO and U.S. Central Command have vowed to investigate the incident. Afghan and Western officials have said the airstrike was launched in response to firing from the vicinity of two Pakistani border posts. Pakistani military officials have denied those claims and said the NATO attack was unprovoked. Islamabad responded swiftly to …
Tonight at 8 p.m. ET, eight Republican presidential candidates will take the stage at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., to tell America where they stand on foreign policy and national security in a special debate hosted by The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute, broadcast on CNN and moderated by Wolf Blitzer. The debate marks the first time that either Heritage or AEI — both nonprofit, nonpartisan research institutes — has sponsored a presidential debate. Businessman Herman Cain, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Speaker …
The killing of Osama bin Laden was a hard-won victory for the United States, but the gains made in pursuit of that day of justice and in waging the war in Afghanistan–including putting al-Qaeda on its heels–could be squandered if the Obama Administration continues its plotted course. When Republican presidential candidates lay out their foreign policy agendas in next Tuesday’s debate hosted by The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute on CNN, they should pay significant attention to this seminal war that is so crucial to America’s struggle against terrorism. In …
With the 2014 Afghan troop withdrawal quickly approaching, a recent House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia hearing stressed the need to press Pakistan to fight terrorists who find sanctuary on its soil. In this most recent hearing, the four witnesses, including former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalizad, presented a united stance on the need to hold Pakistan accountable for its actions in the region. Lisa Curtis, a senior fellow for South Asia in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation, has been encouraging the U.S. …
Vague platitudes, rather than meaningful solutions, dominated last week’s international conference on Afghanistan held in Turkey’s capital, Istanbul. Conference participants, including Pakistan, Iran, India, China, and Russia, broadly affirmed their support for the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Afghanistan. But for countries like Pakistan that continue to support Afghan insurgents at the expense of stability in the country, the declarations seem empty. And in Iran’s case, the real objective is to minimize Western involvement for the advancement of its own regional agenda. Despite the 2014 deadline for U.S. and …
The Obama Administration is quickly trying to contain the damage in another potential foreign policy debacle, this time with nuclear-armed Pakistan. Last week, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, dropped a bombshell that rocked U.S.-Pakistani relations. In testimony before Congress, Mullen declared that the military intelligence service of this supposed U.S. partner is directing the Haqqani network, a militant group responsible for attacks on Americans, including the 20-hour assault on the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, that left 27 dead. The revelation causes immediate concern …
Sometimes the writing on the wall is 10 feet tall, and you have to be willfully blind not to see it. The September attack on the U.S. embassy in Kabul on September 13, which has now been linked to Pakistani secret service officials, is surely such an instance. Getting attacked by terrorists backed by someone who is supposedly your ally is a new low. As Heritage’s Lisa Curtis correctly remarks, the Obama Administration has to make it absolutely clear that this is a game changer in the Pakistani–U.S. relationship. If …
