Today, President Obama acknowledged the myriad terrorist threats around the world during his remarks at the National Defense University. Yet his description was much rosier than reality: “Today, the core of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan is on a path to defeat.” That point is debatable by itself, but it …
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John F. Sopko, who took over on July 2, 2012, has made significant progress in the short period of time he has been in charge. In October, a SIGAR investigation found that an Afghan contractor had “failed to install metal grates to prevent …
Yesterday marked the 11-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, which was launched just three and a half weeks after the 9/11 attacks. Recently, U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan reached the 2,000 mark. These markers—combined with the horror of “insider attacks” by Afghan soldiers against allied fighters—beg an accounting …
Eleven years ago today, terrorists shattered America’s sense of safety. Generations who did not remember Pearl Harbor suddenly knew the shock of an attack on U.S. soil. Brothers, fathers, cousins, wives, and daughters were lost. And more sisters, mothers, husbands and sons would give their lives in the years that …
In a long-overdue step that will facilitate U.S. objectives in Afghanistan, the Obama Administration formally designated the Haqqani network—based in Pakistan and responsible for some of the most vicious attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan—a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). Heritage Foundation analysts have been urging the Administration to make this …
Pakistan’s military has lost more than 3,000 security personnel in the fight against terrorism. Such sacrifices are often overshadowed in the U.S., where the media (rightly) focus on Pakistan’s lack of action against groups like the Haqqani network that targets U.S. forces in Afghanistan and the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, responsible for the …
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 …
