Category: Terror War

Fox News reports that SEALs raided an Al Qaeda compound in Yemen yesterday.

The combined ground and air assault targeted Al Qaeda affiliate militants. The strikes targeted a compound in Marib Governorate that had known links to Al Qaeda fighters.

At least seven militants were killed in the strikes, the statement said.

“This operation was conducted with the support of the Royal Government of Yemen,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “In conjunction with our Arab allies, the U.S. will continue to support their efforts in bringing stability to the region by fighting known terrorist organizations like AQAP.”

Twenty-two were killed and 59 injured after an Ariana Grande concert when an “evil loser” detonated an explosive device he was wearing around his waist. This morning another man was arrested by UK police in connection to the attack. President Trump wasn’t pussyfooting around as he called all terrorists evil losers. From Fox News;

“So many young, beautiful, innocent people living and enjoying their lives murdered by evil losers in life,” Trump said. “I won’t call them (attackers) monsters, because they would like that term. They would think that’s a great name. I will call them, from now on, losers, because that’s what they are, they’re losers.”

Trump’s remarks came during a brief media address with Abbas. He began by saying the U.S. stands in solidarity with the people of the U.K., but then he took aim at the attacker.

“The terrorists and extremists and those who give them aid and comfort must be driven out from our society forever,” Trump said. “This wicked ideology must be obliterated.”

Fox reports that ISIS has taken responsibility for the attack.

Police say that the bomb contained nails, screws, and bits of metal and the bomb was designed to cause maximum casualties. The terorist’s name hasn’t been released yet, so we all know what that means.

Added; his name is Salman Abedi and he’s Libyan;

Greater Manchester Police on Tuesday named Abedi as the suicide bomber who struck an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena, wounding 59 people in addition to those he killed. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility, although a top U.S. security official said the claim could not be verified.

Abedi was a British citizen of Libyan descent, said a European security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about ongoing investigations.

The Washington Post frets that the Trump Administration might send 3,000 more troops to Afghanistan to reverse recent gains made by the Taliban there;

Earlier this week, after a lengthy review, top Trump administration advisers were reported to be urging an ambitious new military role in Afghanistan, led by the Pentagon, with at least 3,000 troops added to the current 8,400, to halt the country’s deteriorating security and push the Taliban back to the negotiating table. President Trump is expected to make a final decision this month.

Such a policy would dramatically ramp up American involvement in the war, which was systematically cut back under President Barack Obama. By the end of 2014, most U.S. and NATO forces had left the country, leaving ­Afghan troops struggling to hold off a determined Taliban insurgency, at a loss of life that a U.S. watchdog group recently called “shockingly high.”

Today, Afghan officials and experts agree that the defense forces are desperately in need of both short- and long-term U.S. assistance — more equipment, air support and Special Operations partnerships as the summer fighting season intensifies, and more troop training and leadership reforms so that the defense forces can become self-sufficient.

Yeah, well, tough. President Obama had an opportunity to have a real “surge”, but instead he half-assed it with a political decision, deciding in favor of his political advisors instead of his generals. Then he let the Taliban take over from gains that US troops had made with one hand tied behind their collective back.

“There is more fighting and more ground held by Taliban now than ever before, and increasing the troops can help reverse that,” said Abdul Bari Barakzai, a member of the government’s High Peace Council. “But people have lost their trust in the government. No matter how many troops you bring now, it will have no lasting impact unless there is real reform and good governance.”

Obama’s legacy in Afghanistan. If I was making the decisions at this point, instead of hoping the Afghans would reform their political problems somewhere down the road, I’d make the increase in more US troops contingent on the Afghans’ political reform right now. They’ve been making promises, and now all we get are excuses. Let’s see an investment in their future from the Afghans for a change. Otherwise, we’re gone.

Thanks to Chief Tango for the link.

The 82nd Airborne Division is scheduled to deploy about a thousand troops to Afghanistan next month. Fox News is reporting that the deployment has been expanded to include the entire 1st Brigade Combat Team.

Stars & Stripes is reporting that the increase is contingent upon NATO’s contribution to the fight;

The defense official, who briefed reporters traveling in Israel with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, said the numbers of U.S. forces to be sent had not yet been decided and would depend on the force levels NATO partners commit to.

[…]

In February, Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said he needed a “few thousand” more U.S. troops in Afghanistan to take advantage of the expanded authority granted by the Obama administration, including accompanying conventional Afghan forces and permission to conduct airstrikes against Taliban targets.

The additional manpower would allow the U.S. and NATO partners to expand what Nicholson called “expeditionary advising packages.”

“We would like to be able to advise below the corps level,” Nicholson told Congress earlier this spring. “It’s strictly a question of manning at this point.”

Since Afghanistan is, technically, a NATO operation, NATO should be willing to cough up more manpower. At least now, the US troops there are getting the support that they need from this administration – the politicians are standing aside and allowing the soldiers to do their jobs.