Evacuees load on to buses to be processed during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan on Aug. 22, 2021. US Marine Corps Photo
The Taliban is struggling to govern a drastically changed country in Afghanistan, the nation’s ambassador to the United States said Wednesday. Read More
Gen. Kenneth McKenzie commander, U.S. Central Command, provides testimony at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on ending the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. on Sept. 29, 2021. DoD Photo
The sprawling size of the U.S. airbase at Bagram and its isolation from Kabul meant that keeping it under American control was “untenable under the situation” once President Joe Biden ordered all U.S. forces out of Afghanistan, U.S. Central Command’s top officer told a House panel Wednesday. Read More
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander, United States Central Command appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan and plans for future counterterrorism operations on Sept. 28, 2021. DoD Photo
If Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden had chosen to ignore the dates set for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, it would have meant moving elements of the XVIII Airborne Corps into the land-locked country to hold Bagram Air Base and Kabul, and renewed fighting that would have endangered American forces, citizens and Afghans, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Congress today. Read More
A 9/11 ceremony at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sept. 9, 2021. US Army Photo
Seven injured U.S. Marines remain at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., following the attack last month in Afghanistan that killed 13 service members, according to the Marine Corps. Read More
Army Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps, boards a C-17 cargo plane at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on Aug 30, 2021.
The U.S. has completed the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan after 20 years of troops on the ground, with the last military transport plane departing the country at about 3:30 p.m. East Coast time, the commander of U.S. Central Command said on Monday. Read More
U.S. service members killed in the Aug. 26, 2021 attack outside the Kabul Airport in Afghanistan as identified by their family members. USNI News Photo Graphic
This post and headline have been updated to include a U.S. Central Command statement saying that an ISIS Khorasan planner was killed in an unmanned aerial vehicle strike on late Friday and images and biographical information for the service members killed in the Aug. 26, 2021, Kabul explosion.
In retaliation for an attack that killed 13 U.S. troops outside the Kabul airport, the U.S. killed an ISIS Khorasan planner and facilitator in an unmanned aerial vehicle strike, U.S. Central Command announced late Friday. Read More
Paratroopers assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division conduct security as they continue to help facilitate the safe evacuation of U.S. citizens, Special Immigrant Visa applicants, and other at-risk Afghans out of Afghanistan as quickly and safely as possible from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 25, 2021. US Army Photo
This story has been updated to include a statement from the U.S. Marine Corps. This post has been corrected to indicate there was only one suicide bombing attack on Aug. 26.
Ten Marines and at least one Navy hospital corpsman are among the 13 U.S. troops dead following a suicide bomb attack on crowds struggling to get into the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Thursday, USNI News has learned. Read More
Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday use the 1MC to address the crew aboard the Freedom-class littoral combat ship USS Billings (LCS 15). Gilday visited Naval Station Mayport to engage with Sailors, speak to local Navy leadership and tour a number of commands in the area. US Navy Photo
The Pentagon is rethinking what naval presence in the Middle East will look like after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan later this year – in particular, carrier strike groups, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said on Thursday. Read More
A U.S. Marine with Task Force Southwest (TFSW) provides security for Marine advisors during an advising mission with 1st Brigade, Afghan National Army (ANA) 215th Corps as the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces conduct Operation Maiwand 12 at Camp Shorserack, Afghanistan, March 12, 2018. US Marine Corps Photo
U.S. Central Command’s top officer stressed today that the military is “completely focused” on responsibly withdrawing from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of the al Qaeda attack on the United States. Read More
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Setogiri (DD 156), back, operates alongside aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) in the Arabian Sea on April 19, 2021. US Navy Photo
The Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group current stop in the Middle East could be extended to help cover the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan, two defense officials confirmed to USNI News on Thursday. Read More
