The Islamic State terror group is recruiting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Thursday.
“We are seeing reports of some recruiting,” said Gen. John Campbell, commander of the Resolute Support mission, during an interview with Army Times. “There have been some night letter drops, there have been reports of people trying to recruit both in Afghanistan and Pakistan, quite frankly.” Continue reading
Image: Flickr/UK Ministry of Defense
In Germany, defence and military policy is rarely a subject of great interest to the general public. The pacifist mainstream view and the “friendly disinterest” in the Bundeswehr means that military matters are seldom discussed in detail by the general media.
There is one military topic, however, which has been discussed repeatedly and heatedly over the last few years: whether the German Bundeswehr should procure armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly called ‘drones’.
The Bundeswehr has been using drones – the unarmed types – since the 1970s and, until recently, had five different UAV models in use in Afghanistan. German firms produce smaller military surveillance UAVs and sell them to both the Bundeswehr as well as abroad. Until recently, however, the general public did not show a particular interest in these aircraft. Continue reading
An Iranian Sunni extremist group operating out of hideouts in southwestern Pakistan, Jaysh al-Adl (JA – Army of Justice), has started to threaten Iran’s security and darken relations between Tehran and Islamabad.
Days after JA abducted five border guards from a remote border post in southeastern Iran on February 6, Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli warned Iran could send forces into Pakistan’s Balochistan Province to free the captives: “If Pakistan doesn’t take the needed steps to fight against the terrorist groups, we will send our forces onto Pakistani soil… We will not wait” (Dawn [Karachi], February 18).
Pakistan reacted cautiously. The Foreign Ministry said Islamabad “regrets the suggestions of negligence” put forward by Iran. The statement reminded Tehran of Pakistan’s “active support against terrorist groups in the past,” but emphasized that “the Iranian forces have no authority to cross our borders in violation of the international law. We must respect each other’s borders.” [1] Continue reading
March 05, 2014 11:50 IST
Arguing that Pakistan will remain a key player in counter terrorism post-2014, the United States has proposed $280 million in military assistance to the country, although it wants to cut civilian aid in an effort to acknowledge India’s concerns about misuse of the funds.
Mrred by financial constraints, the Obama administration has proposed to substantially cut civilian aid to Pakistan to $46 million for the next fiscal year as against $703 million in 2013, which among other things the State Department argued is aimed at improving ties with India.
“The Overseas Contingency Operations resources will support critical US activities such as sustaining close cooperation with Pakistan, ensuring the safety of Pakistani
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