The 11th and final Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) comprehensive lessons learned report reveals telltale signs over the 10-year U.S. drawdown that the Afghan government could not sustain progress made nor provide for its own security. The scathing report, released Aug. 16, also ...
Airpower rapidly achieved America’s goals in the Afghanistan War 20 years ago, but a change in the mission led inexorably to this week’s chaotic exit, Air Force Association leaders said Aug. 17. The situation should teach lessons about how best to use American power in ...
Nine C-17s flowed into Kabul overnight after the international airport opened, carrying in more U.S. troops for security and conducting evacuations of American, Afghan, and other third-country people following a chaotic day at the last U.S.-controlled position in Afghanistan. Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby said ...
The Defense and State Departments are planning to fly thousands more Afghans out of the country in the coming days, even as disturbing images of Afghans desperately attempting to board U.S. aircraft and flee the Taliban spread across social media Aug. 16. The Defense Department ...
As C-17s and C-130s lofted thousands of Americans and Afghan nationals fleeing from Kabul International Airport, Air Force Special Operations Command chief Lt. Gen. James C. "Jim" Slife articulated many of the mixed reactions of the tens of thousands of American service men and women ...
With Afghan provincial capitals falling like dominoes in recent days, the Pentagon is still resisting pressure to promise air support to Afghanistan after the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline. Countries in the region, however, may be key to providing the over-the-horizon support needed to turn the ...
The Pentagon on Aug. 12 detailed a massive plan to protect American diplomats and Afghan special immigrant visa applicants in Kabul, ordering 3,000 Marines and Soldiers to Kabul within days, with an additional 1,000 Soldiers and Airmen deploying to Qatar to facilitate visa processing and ...
The effectiveness of the Afghan Air Force is already dropping even before U.S. and coalition forces complete their withdrawal from the country, with the majority of its airframes losing readiness last month. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction on July 28 released its latest ...
U.S. aircraft are increasing the pace of airstrikes targeting the Taliban in Afghanistan after nearly all American troops have left the country, as the level of violence continues to rise. More than 95 percent of the U.S. withdrawal process is complete—a number that has stayed ...
The Afghan military’s future is in question because of the lack of a reliable source of fuel as the U.S. withdraws. About half of the fuel provided to the country’s fighting forces reportedly is being stolen, and the U.S. military, which has poured billions of ...
The Taliban controls approximately half of all district centers in Afghanistan, but the Afghan military is consolidating its forces to protect population centers and the “endgame” is not yet written, the U.S. military’s top general said July 21. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ...
The Pentagon will honor a request from the State Department to initially house at least 2,500 Afghan interpreters and their families at Fort Lee, Va., to escape possible retribution from the Taliban. President Joe Biden has said the interpreters, and others who helped U.S. forces ...