Just days before President Obama released his fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget request, the Air Force reported that it will have to ground one-third of its aircraft due to budget constraints. Operations and maintenance accounts will be hit particularly hard, causing the Air Force to severely restrict which of its …
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently made comments that have fueled speculation about the looming confrontation with Iran over its nuclear weapons program. In an interview published by the Daily Beast on Friday, Barak was asked if there was any way that Israel could launch a military strike at Iran’s …
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 …
Despite serious setbacks for the U.S. in Afghanistan over the last three months, the two countries were able to conclude a Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) over the weekend that lays a broad framework for U.S.–Afghan relations following the end of U.S. and NATO combat operations in 2014. The agreement will …
The mixed messages coming from the Obama Administration last week on the future of combat operations in Afghanistan have left our allies confused, the Afghan people anxious, and the insurgency stronger. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told his press entourage on his way to the NATO ministerial meeting in …
In a secret NATO report recently leaked to the British media, Taliban insurgents told their interrogators that they are increasingly confident that the Taliban will retake power once NATO forces depart Afghanistan, and that Pakistan is positioning itself for such an outcome. NATO officials have sought to downplay the report’s …
