Afghan War:Army Ranger Killed in Battle with al-Qaida

A US Soldier killed in action over the weekend has been identified.On 24 November 2018,a US Army Ranger,SGT Leandro A.S. Jasso,25,of Leavenworth,Washington State,was killed as a result of a firefight with al-Qaida militants,the Pentagon said.Struck by small arms fire,he was medevaced to the neighbouring Helmand Province for advanced treatment,where he died.The battle occurred in Khash Rod District of Nimruz Province in Southwestern Afghanistan.Nimruz has desert borders with both Pakistan and Iran.The incident is under investigation.*
SGT Jasso was a team leader with Alpha Company,2nd Battalion,75th Ranger Regiment out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord,Washington.He was on his third tour in Afghanistan,serving in support of the US counterterror mission there,Operation Freedom's Sentinel.SGT Jasso had earlier received the Combat Infantryman Badge,indicating he was already a combat veteran at the time of Saturday's battle.According to 2nd Battalion commander LTCOL Rob McChrystal:
SGT Jasso was a humble professional who placed the mission first,lived the Ranger Creed and will be deeply missed.*
It was the second American death in the Afghan War this month,and the tenth of 2018.On 7 November,MAJ Brent R. Taylor,Mayor of North Ogden,Utah,was killed in a green on blue attack in the Afghan capital,Kabul,while serving with the Utah Army National Guard.

The Secret History of the CIA (2005) - Steve Coll,Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author on his book "Ghost Wars"

Afghan War Plan Unveiled - what to expect now

On 21 August 2017,President Donald Trump addressed the nation and the troops,who were represented by Soldiers at Fort Myer in Arlington,Virginia,to reveal his plan of action for the Afghan War.This strategy was long-awaited and finally delivered over a month later than promised.The President was very painstaking as he sorted through the frustrating issues,repeatedly asking questions about the options submitted to him by the Pentagon.In the end,having met with his national security team at Camp David,the presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains,he elected to follow a more forceful approach than his predecessor,Barack Obama.*
Based on his remarks and those of knowledgeable sources,we may soon observe:
1.More intense air strikes,counterterror raids and more flexible rules of engagement;
2.More NATO and partner contributions;
3.Up to 5,000 more permanent US troops,plus possible temporary deployments;
4.More pressure on Pakistan to robustly eradicate terrorist camps on its territory;
5.No pre-set time limits,but conditions-based decisions on strategy instead.
Consider some of the President's statements from the address,which was praised by leading critic Senator John McCain,R-Arizona,and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:
Today,20 US-designated foreign terrorist organisations are active in Afghanistan and Pakistan,the highest concentration in any region anywhere in the world.For its part,Pakistan often gives safe haven to agents of chaos,violence and terror.
Working alongside our allies,we will break their will;dry up their recruitment;keep them from crossing our borders;and,yes,we will defeat them,and we will defeat them handily.
We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities.Conditions on the ground,not arbitrary timetables,will guide our strategy from now on.America's enemies must never know our plans or believe they can wait us out.
I have already lifted restrictions the previous administration placed on our warfighters that prevented the Secretary of Defense and our commanders in the field from fully and swiftly waging battle against the enemy.Micromanagement from Washington,DC does not win battles.They're won in the field,drawing upon the judgement and expertise of wartime commanders and frontline Soldiers,acting in real-time and with real authority,and with a clear mission to defeat the enemy.
From now on,victory will have a clear definition:Attacking our enemies;obliterating ISIS (another word for ISIL);crushing al-Qaida;preventing the Taliban from taking over Afghanistan;and stopping mass terror attacks against America before they emerge.

Hostage Rescue by US,Afghan Special Operations Forces Draws Praise From Carter - Operation Freedom's Sentinel Success

Hostage Rescue in Afghanistan Draws Praise From Carter: Defense Secretary Ash Carter commended U.S. and Afghan special operations personnel for the professionalism and skill they demonstrated in a hostage rescue mission in Afghanistan’s Paktika province.

Afghan War:General Recommends Against President's Plan

General John F. Campbell,US Army,commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan,testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee today in one of his periodic briefings on the war to US lawmakers.Soon the Obama administration must decide whether to stick to the President's current plan of a drastically reduced US military presence after 2016 or not.
Based on conditions on the ground,I do believe we have to provide our senior leadership with options different from the current plan-absolutely,GEN Campbell said.The courses of action I have provided provide options to adjust that.We're not going to put options forward that wouldn't lead to success.Presence means influence.*
The Afghans and coalition were surprised when the Taliban were able to take Kunduz.They were able to come in and take over from within the city.Mostly police were defending Kunduz when the Taliban attacked.There are small isolated pockets that continue to fight.I don't think the Taliban intended to stay.They melted away when the Afghan National Army arrived.*
Logistics and sustainment are hard for the Afghan National Army-they are hard even for the US Army.As for their air force,they have two functioning Mi-35 attack helicopters.They have several Mi-17 helicopters.Close air support helicopters are a key gap.We got a late start on their air force.*
To conduct counterterrorism effectively,it would have to be outside of Kabul,not from the US embassy.The current plan reduces the US military presence to 1,000 troops based at the embassy in Kabul by the end of 2016.*
I do not see the same ethnic infighting I saw in Iraq.In Northern Helmand Province,the ANDSF had some issues,but they took Musa Qala and Kunduz back.Afghans are fighters,and,sir,they're warriors.Without a doubt,they deserve US and NATO support.*
We knew this fighting season was going to be tough because this was going to be the first year the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces were on their own.The ADNSF actually started the fighting season in February.There was no lull.The ANDSF didn't have time to regroup over the winter as they previously had.*
Up in Nangarhar Province,we've see the rise of Daesh (the Arab term for ISIL).They want to expand into Khorasan Province and set up Jalalabad as their capital.You see a lot of the TTP,the Pakistani Taliban,go over to Daesh,as well as disaffected Afghan Taliban members.It's a change of tee shirt.Iran is providing money and weapons to the Taliban-mostly in the West and Herat area-to fight Daesh.*
I am comfortable with the resources I have to provide force protection for the US and NATO forces I have.*
The Haqqani Network faction of the Taliban in Pakistan is responsible for the VBIEDs,or vehicle-borne IEDs-as well as the suicide vests and attacks on civilians.We've got to continue to keep the pressure on Pakistan to stop them,GEN Campbell told the senators.*

Afghan War:Provincial Capital Falls To Taliban - US air support sent in

In the pre-dawn hours of Monday,hundreds of Taliban militants and foreign fighters from as far afield as China and Central Asia streamed into the provincial capital of Kunduz in the far north of Afghanistan,apparently facing little resistance from the NATO-trained Afghan National Defence and Security Forces.Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said the ANDSF were being restrained to avoid civilian casualties.The Taliban have been using civilians as human shields,Mr.Ghani explained.The assault came from all directions,taking the ANDSF and local officials by surprise.
President Ghani said the ANDSF mounted a counterattack,retakng some government buildings including the new police headquarters and the prison.
Initially,the militants had liberated as many as 6oo prisoners from the Kunduz prison,several of them Taliban fighters.They also captured a TV station and took the central square of the capital of Kunduz Province,raising their flag,and setting up checkpoints to seal the city off.It was an unprecedented victory for the Islamist extremists in their nearly 14 year-long war with Afghan and NATO forces,the first provincial capital they have managed to seize,and is a statement by their new leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour,who replaced Mullah Omar following the latter's death in a Pakistan hospital two years ago.*
There are no US troops in the area,but German soldiers control a major base in nearby Mazar-i-Sharif.The Taliban have made the north a focus of this fighting season,and control large swaths of it.The ANDSF have been stretched to the limit trying to resist the Taliban,largely without NATO ground forces to help them since December 2014.The US does provide some counterterrorist troops and occasional air support,as they provided for the ANDSF on Tuesday.Colonel Brian Tribus,spokesman for US and NATO forces in Afghanistan,said the US airstrike was to eliminate a threat to coalition and Afghan forces in the area.US F-16 aircraft struck Taliban positions on the outskirts of the city.The militants had carried out an ambush on ANDSF,placed IEDs and cut power lines.They also destroyed parts of a key artery from Kabul,the Baghlan-Kunduz highway,blocking ANDSF reinforcements from arriving.On Tuesday evening,heavy fighting erupted when they attacked the airport that ANDSF and officials had fallen back to.*
Speaking at the UN in New York,Afghan Chief Executive Dr.Abdullah Abdullah said the presence of terrorist sanctuaries and support networks in neighbouring Pakistan continue to cause trouble in Afghanistan.Militants cross into Afghanistan and indiscriminately victimise our citizens.*
Kunduz Province borders the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan.
Update:Tuesday night,the US conducted a second airstrike in Kunduz.Taliban positions near the airport were struck.

Brazen Attacks Rock Kabul,Afghanistan - Green Beret killed

Taliban militants penetrated the outer perimeter of Camp Integrity,a NATO base in Kabul,Afghanistan and HQ for the US Army Green Berets.The intruders detonated a bomb and engaged in a firefight with security forces,killing a decorated Green Beret,Master Sergeant Peter Andrew McKenna,35,of the 1st Battalion,7th Special Forces Group,with small arms fire.MSGT McKenna,of Bristol,Rhode Island,was a 17-year Army veteran who had served in Iraq as well,receiving a Bronze Star with V device for heroism in combat operations,as well as the Meritorious Service Medal and Army Commendation Medal.On Independence Day,he was presented with a flag that had flown over the US Capitol by Senator Jack Reed,D-Rhode Island.*
The Taliban assault was part of a wave of terrorist attacks last Friday through Monday in the Afghan capital Kabul.Two other US troops were wounded in the Camp Integrity attack.Eight Afghan contractors and four militants also died in the battle,which was within hours of an attack on the police academy in Kabul,in which 20 cadets were killed and 24 others wounded at he academy gates.
In yet another incident Friday,a truck bomb devastated an entire city block of the Kabul residential neighbourhood Shah Shaheed,killing 15 and wounding 240 more.On Monday,a vehicle-borne IED hit a crowded entrance to Kabul International Airport,killing at least 5 and wounding 16 others.Over the four-day period,almost 70 were killed and hundreds wounded by the Islamist extremists.*
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani complained that the Pakistanis failed to prevent the Taliban from congregating and planning the attacks in Quetta,Pakistan.They elected and installed their new leader there,Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour,whose predecessor,Mullah Omar,had died in a Pakistani hospital 2 years ago.
The current fighting has seen heavy clashes between the Afghan National Security Forces,supported by their NATO trainers,advisors and US counter-terrorist forces,and the Taliban.

US Marines Leave Afghanistan;Pakistanis Battle Militants

The US Marines have completed their mission in Afghanistan,withdrawing from Camp Leatherneck along with their British allies.Their numbers have declined from 20,000 Marines in Southwest Afghanistan to zero today.In 2009,the Marines were sent into Helmand Province to assist the British.More than 350 Marines died in Helmand alone.Now the Afghans are bearing the brunt of the fatalities.The Marines lowered the American flag and departed in C-130 Hercules transports and helicopters.They had turned over the watchtowers and perimeter patrols to Afghans just before their departure.
By the end of the year,only about 10,000 US troops will remain in Afghanistan to provide advice and assistance for at least the next two years.*
Meanwhile,the Pakistani miltary is waging its own war on the Taliban militants in Northwest Waziristan,which borders Afghanistan.They have killed more than 1100 militants,laying waste camps and hideouts.Alarmingly,some of the Taliban are switching allegiance to the more ruthless Islamic State,which has been recruiting Pakistanis online and scrawling graffiti in Pakistan.

Special Intelligence Briefing:DNI

Iran has not decided to build a nuclear weapon,said Lieutenant General James R. Clapper,Jr.,US Air Force retired,Director of National Intelligence.That would be decided solely by the Supreme Leader,Ayatollah Khamenei.We would only have a brief forewarning,General Clapper told the Senate Armed Forces Committee April 18.
Pakistan views India as their preeminent threat.They have lost thousands of troops in pursuit of militants,whose presence in Pakistan hasn't changed basically.
The Defense Intelligence Agency has a higher degree of confidence that North Korea can weaponise a missile than the rest of the intelligence community.We do not know if that would work.
I saw how little the DIA was devoting to terrorism when I was its director in the 1990s.I fear I've seen this movie before.
The Iranians are developing two systems that could have intercontinental capability.The sanctions on Iran are having a huge impact on their economy,but have not yet changed their policy.
In Sudan,a very high proportion of the population is young,unemployed males,susceptible to jihadism.This is also true in other African countries.
The sequestration is certainly consuming us,the capability.We collectively are gonna have to correct what people expect of the intelligence community,because it is not gonna be the same.
We won't know what we've missed until something blows up,as Senator Angus King(I-Maine) put it.
We are facing more threats now than at any time in the past fifty years,General Clapper believes.
General Clapper,72,served in the US Air Force from 1963-95 in various military intelligence capacities.The Vietnam veteran went on to head the Defense Intelligence Agency from 1992-95;and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency from 2001-05.He was Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence from 2007-10,when President Barack Obama appointed him Director of National Intelligence,the nation's senior intelligence official.
General Clapper was decorated with the Legion of Merit(3);the Bronze Star(2);the Air Medal(2);and the National Intelligence Defense Service Medal.He is also an Officer of the Order of Australia(Honorary).

Afghan War Update:Marjah Still A Battleground

Although Operation Moshtarak,the move to take back the Marjah region of Afghanistan from Taliban militants,began back in February,the area remains unsettled.This was emphasized on Sunday,when militants launched a three-pronged ambush on U.S. Marines and Afghan forces in Marjah.A vigorous firefight ensued.
At one point,Cobra helicopter gunships were called in for air support.The Cobras pursued militants all the way across the border into Pakistan.The militants fought back with roadside bombs and more ambushes,but were eventually forced to retreat.No U.S. casualties were reported.
In February,Operation Moshtarak was launched by 15,000U.S.,British,Canadian,Danish,Estonian and Afghan troops.Marjah had long been a militant stronghold,a linchpin in the opium trade that funds the enemy.The militants had gone so far as to set up a shadow government there.Retaking Marjah was a formidable challenge;holding it is no less so.As U.S. special representative Richard Holbrooke observed,as a general rule in Afghanistan,things go slower than are expected.

Pakistan Relief Ops Begin

Two helicopters from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit departed from the USS Peleilu(LHA 5)to participate in relief operations for victims of monsoon flooding in Pakistan.They were the first of 19 Marine and Navy helicopters that have been detailed to the mission.
The Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group will deploy to Pakistan in late August with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit.Its sailors and Marines will provide supplies,transportation and support to the flooded areas along with the Pakistan military.This group is based on the USS Kearsarge(LHD 3).
The Peleilu and the Kearsarge are amphibious assault ships.Besides landing craft,each can carry dozens of aircraft,from helicopters to AV-8B Harrier II jump jets.With a ship's company of about 1,000,they can transport around 2,000 Marines and their gear anywhere in the world.Northrop Grumman builds them,and is working on the first of the new America class of amphibious assault ship,scheduled for delivery in 2013.
The situation in Pakistan is grave,being described as worse than the Haiti earthquake and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami combined.Thousands were killed,but millions are homeless.Disease is spreading.The Pakistani people have welcomed aid from U.S. servicemembers,but militants are discouraging it.

Afghan War Surge Begins

Admiral Michael Mullen,Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,traveled to Southwest Asia this week to prepare the way for thousands more U.S. troops.A battalion of U.S. Marines was close behind him,initiating the surge President Barack Obama ordered recently.Admiral Mullen said he is concerned about the growing level of collusion between the Taliban,al-Qaida and other extremist groups in Pakistan.The Taliban are dominant in one third of the 34 Afghan provinces.
Some 16,000 U.S. troops have received deployment orders so far,part of a 30,000 troop surge that will be complemented by at least 7,000 troops from 25 other countries.Among them will be 1200 British,1140 Italian,120 Australian and 920 Georgian soldiers.France and Germany will decide on their contribution at a summit in January.Some of the surge forces could be tasked with finding Osama bin Laden.
Admiral Mullen warned that tough fighting lay ahead for the U.S. forces.Many more casualties are to be expected.The admiral was accompanied by USO entertainers for the morale of the soldiers already in the region.

Clearing Militants Not Enough

Helmand Province,Afghanistan is bordered by Pakistan to the south,a base for militant operations.Brigadier General Lawrence D. Nicholson,Assistant Division Commander,2d Marine Division,says speed is of the essence in Helmand.Soon after clearing Taliban militants from the villages,the Marines will have have to improve the villagers' lives.They will offer work such as cleaning the irrigation canals that water the Afghani farms.A U.S. program to provide seed and equipment to 125,000 farmers is also part of the plan.
General Nicholson had served in Anbar province,Iraq,which he regards as similar to Helmand.As in Iraq,there is a great need to involve as many locals as possible in the Helmand security effort.They know the lay of the land better,and the Afghan people are less likely to be offended by their own.So far,though,General Nicholson is having trouble finding enough Afghan troops to help him.He would like to have Afghans serving alongside Marines on every patrol,and at every checkpoint.It looks like another long slog in the desert for the general,a survivor of a rocket attack on his former base near Fallujah,Iraq.

Big Op Underway

At U.S. urging,the Pakistani army has launched a major attack on the 4,000 Taliban extremists in the Swat Valley of Pakistan.Operation Black Thunder is an all-out assault on the militants,with U.S. troops fighting on the Afghan side of the border.The Pakistanis have killed at least 700 Taliban,and hundreds of thopusands of refugees are fleeing the battlefield.The operation is an air-ground assault.
The U.S. commander in Afghanistan,U.S. Army General David McKiernan,is being replaced by Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal,U.S. Army.Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Michael Mullen,Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,made the announcement.General McKiernan will stay on until Lt.General McChrystal is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.The U.S. authorities wanted a fresh set of eyes for the new AfPak strategy,which is similar to the Iraq tactics of General David Petraeus.Lt.General McChrystal is a special operations expert,having served as Commander,Special Operations Command.He is said to understand all aspects of the operation:diplomacy and aid,as well as unconventional warfare.General McKiernan has a more conventional background.Former Vice-President Dick Cheney praised the choice of McChrystal,saying you couldn't find a better replacement.

More Marines Ship Out

President Obama has just ordered 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan.They include a frontline force of 8,000 U.S. Marines and 4,000 Army,as well as 5,000 support troops.The President hopes this will inspire other NATO countries to send more troops as well.He is visiting Canada this week and will no doubt discuss the matter with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.Canadian forces have served with distinction in Afghanistan,despite their limited combat experience since World War II.Meanwhile,Pakistan has reached the latest in a series of agreements with militants in its Northwest frontier.All of the previous ones have been violated.The militants have continued to use the region as a base for attacking NATO and Afghan forces,as well as Pakistan itself.U.S. commanders in Afghanistan had requested 30,000 more troops,on top of the 33,000 who are already there.

Possible Militant Drugs Stopped

The U.S. Navy and U.K. forces have seized more than 20 tons of drugs on a hashish highway through the Indian Ocean.Since October,100 million dollars' worth of drugs have been halted.These could have funded Afghan militants.The drugs were seized in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden,where there have been many Somali pirate attacks.U.S. Fifth Fleet spokesman Lt.Nathan Christensen declined to say where the drugs came from,but noted that many of the narcotics stopped along the route are going to and from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Commandant's Voice

One of those supporting sending more U.S. Marines to Afghanistan is General James T. Conway,Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.He said that 25,000 Marines in Anbar province,Iraq are probably in excess of the need.Attacks in Anbar are down markedly from two years ago.On the other hand,the general noted,the Taliban are growing bolder in their tactics in Afghanistan,and clearly doing their best to exploit security gaps where they exist.As well,al Qaida is shifting its focus to Pakistan and Afghanistan,having been largely defeated in Iraq.The economy of force,General Conway believes,is not necessarily working in Afghanistan.Without more Marines,militants may retake captured territory and subjugate the Afghan people.We need to maintain the momentum.Accordingly,Marines have been intensifying their mountain warfare training in the U.S. in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan.It is the Marine Corps view,the Commandant stated,that if there is a stiffer fight going someplace else in a more expeditionary environment,that's where we need to be.Indeed,President George W. Bush has ordered a battalion of Marines to Afghanistan before the year's end,to replace a battalion-or 3200 Marines-that is coming off its extended deployment in November.

Rice Speaks Out

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has taken note of Islamic militant activity along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.Dr.Rice said there's an uptick of terrorism against both people and troops.Militants cannot be allowed to do this.More needs to be done to stop them.Admiral Michael Mullen,Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,has visited Pakistan four times recently.He says we need Pakistan to put more pressure on that border.The admiral has been trying to forge a common border security strategy by NATO,Pakistan and Afghanistan.NATO forces cannot cross into Pakistan without its permission,although they have responded to militant activity with air strikes and artillery on numerous occasions.Militant incursions into Afghanistan will likely go on until winter closes the Hindu Kush mountains and foothills.

NATO Strikes Taliban Militants

On 20 July in Helmand Province,Afghanistan,NATO troops killed an important Taliban commander,Mullah Sheikh,and two of his followers,near Musa Qala.On the same day,NATO airstrikes killed about 20 Taliban militants in Khost Province.Admiral Michael Mullen,Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,analyzed the situation along the Pakistani frontier with Afghanistan.He sees a joining,a syndication of various terrorist groups,both within Pakistan,and in the ability to flow troops across that porous border.This intensifies the threat.As for an arbitrary timetable for withdrawing from Iraq,Admiral Mullen said the consequences of that could be very dangerous.Conditions on the ground are an extremely important consideration,the Chairman noted.

Border Region Flares Up

According to the government of Helmand Province,Afghanistan,there has been a spike in mortar fire from Islamic militants in Pakistan.NATO troops have returned fire,resulting in more than 400 militants being killed since late April.Admiral Mike Mullen,Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,says the Pakistani frontier is a safe haven that's got to be eliminated.U.S. commanders in Afghanistan want 1,000 more Mine Resistant Armor Protected Vehicles and 10,000 more troops.There are 36,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan now.British,Canadian and Dutch troops have also seen combat.More than 400 American soldiers and more than 80 Canadian soldiers have been killed in the war.U.S. outposts are being set up near the Pakistani border to counter the flow of militants.Afghan troops serve alongside the NATO forces.