AP reports that at least 20 people were killed after a ferry sank in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar on Saturday, June 1. The unnamed vessel was transiting a river in the Mohmand Dara district of Nangarhar with 25 people on board when it sank on the morning (local time) of Saturday....
Afghanistan
US Navy’s fifth America-class amphibious ship to be named after Afghanistan’s Helmand Province
US Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro has confirmed that the US Navy’s fifth America-class amphibious assault ship (LHA) will be named USS Helmand Province. The LHA commemorates the multiple US Marine Corps operations that took place in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province as part of Operation...
SECNAV Del Toro Names Next Big Deck Amphib USS Helmand Province
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro has named the next America-class big deck amphibious warship after the Helmand province campaign in Afghanistan.
“In keeping with naval tradition of naming our Navy’s amphibious assault ships after U.S. Marine Corps battles,” he said during a keynote at the Modern Day Marine conference on Thursday.
“I am honored to announce today that the future...
https://news.usni.org/2024/05/02/secnav-del-toro-names-next-big-deck-amphib-uss-helmand-province
Report to Congress on Afghanistan and U.S. Policy
The following is the Dec. 1, 2022, Congressional Research Service report, Afghanistan: Background and U.S. Policy in Brief.
From the report
The aftershocks of Afghanistan’s watershed year of 2021 continue to reverberate within Afghanistan, throughout its region, and in the United States. In 2021, U.S. and international forces departed after nearly two decades of operations in Afghanistan; the internationally backed Afghan government and its military forces collapsed; and the Taliban, a Sunni...
https://news.usni.org/2022/12/02/report-to-congress-on-afghanistan-and-u-s-policy
From missiles to baby formula, airlines provide vital airlift for US government
The Biden administration’s emergency airlift to expedite imports of overseas baby formula amid a widespread domestic shortage is the latest example of the U.S. government employing commercial cargo and passenger airlines to help solve a logistics crisis.
Since the start of the COVID pandemic in early 2020, the Trump and Biden administrations have leaned on these air logistics providers at least five times to deliver equipment, supplies and people for public health and national security needs.
In...
EU has opportunity to harness crisis to deepen economic union, Structural reforms required to safeguard democratic future, and more
EU has opportunity to harness crisis to deepen economic union
By Ellie Groves and Taylor Pearce
The response from the European Commission after the 2008 financial crisis was slow and partial. Having learned from these missteps, the European Union’s response to Covid-19 was swift. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has posed yet another crisis. The EU has an opportunity to harness these crises to implement much-needed reform within its institutions and member states.
Essex ARG, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit Back From 7 Month Pacific, Middle East Deployment
Marines assigned to the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) board a landing craft, utility in the well deck of the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland (LPD-27) on March 2, 2022. US Navy Photo
Amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD-2) pulled into San Diego Naval Base, Calif., on Friday morning to wrap up a seven-month deployment that took the three-ship force and embarked 11th Marine Expeditionary Force to the Persian Gulf and Western Pacific regions.
“Their integrated...
CENTCOM Nominee Kurilla: Iran Largest ‘Destabilizing Factor’ in Middle East
Lt. Gen. Michael Kurilla, commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps, gives a speech at the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) change of command on March 5, 2021. US Army Photo
Iran is “the number one destabilizing factor” in the 21-nation region covered by U.S. Central Command, the nominee to head the command testified Tuesday.
Army Lt. Gen. Michael Kurilla, the current commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Tehran poses “vexing challenges” by...
CENTCOM: Iran Wants Nuclear Agreement and To Retain Ballistic Missile Capability
Iran’s Khalij Fars single-stage ballistic missile
Iran “wants some type of agreement” over its nuclear program as a way to lift sanctions on the regime, but Tehran views its ballistic missile arsenal “as their crown jewels” not to be bargained away, the senior American commander in the Middle East said Thursday.
U.S. Central Command chief Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, delivering the keynote address at a Middle East Institute conference, said Iran has “relentlessly” built several thousand...
One Explosive Device Responsible for Deaths of 13 U.S. Service Members in Kabul Attack, Pentagon Says
A Marine assigned to 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) provides over-watch during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan on Aug. 21, 2021. US Marine Corps Photo
The attack during the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan that left 13 U.S. troops dead was the result of one explosive device detonation, according to U.S. Central Command officials.
After conducting an investigation into the August attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul,...