DefenceTalkPakistan’s military said Thursday it had killed 21 militants in air strikes in a restive northwestern tribal area bordering Afghanistan. The strikes were carried out late Thursday in the Rajgal and Tirah areas of the lawless Khyber tribal district, where Taliban militant and local Islamist groups are active. “Twenty-one terrorists were killed in precise aerial […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pakistani-air-strikes-kill-21-militants-in-northwest-65674/

DefenceTalkWASHINGTON: America’s longest war began in Afghanistan 14 years ago, sucking in hundreds of thousands of troops and costing Washington billions of dollars and huge political capital. President Barack Obama’s announcement on Thursday he was delaying the pullout of US troops beyond 2016 marks the umpteenth change of strategy aimed at stopping the Afghan quagmire […]https://www.defencetalk.com/americas-14-years-in-the-afghan-quagmire-65640/

DefenceTalkISLAMABAD: The United States has taken Pakistan into confidence over a new US military alliance to fight the growing global presence of the self-styled Islamic State (IS), sources told DawnNews on Friday. The new alliance, called ‘Sahel to South Asia’ is expected to be announced soon by the White House. “Pakistan has been consulted by […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-takes-pakistan-into-confidence-over-anti-is-alliance-65278/

DefenceTalkPakistan Monday held its first national day military parade for seven years, a display of pageantry aimed at showing the country has the upper hand in the fight against the Taliban. Mobile phone networks in the capital were disabled to thwart potential bomb attacks, some roads were closed to the public and much of the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pakistan-holds-first-national-day-parade-in-seven-years-63624/

DefenceTalkEurope faces a different and more challenging security environment than it did just a year ago, including an increasingly aggressive Russia and a surge of violent extremism, Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove said here yesterday. Breedlove, commander of U.S. European Command, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe and Allied Command Operations for NATO, told the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/breedlove-russia-violent-extremism-challenge-europe-63291/

DefenceTalkThe US military is reviewing several incidents in which civilians may have been killed in coalition air strikes against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria, officials said Tuesday. The comments marked the first time the US military has acknowledged that the air war may have exacted a toll on civilians. US Central Command, which […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-led-strikes-may-have-killed-civilians-pentagon-61307/

DefenceTalkIsrael’s army has launched five criminal investigations into incidents involving its forces during the Gaza war, a top legal official said on Wednesday, two weeks after a truce took hold. The United Nations and international rights groups have condemned Israel for numerous attacks which resulted in heavy civilian casualties, in a conflict that killed more […]https://www.defencetalk.com/israeli-army-launches-5-criminal-probes-over-gaza-war-60568/

DefenceTalkThe United States will lead a broad coalition of nations to take the fight to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, President Barack Obama said in a nationally televised address tonight at the White House. The president vowed to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL, and added that he will not hesitate to target […]https://www.defencetalk.com/obama-announces-counterterror-campaign-against-isil-60548/

DefenceTalkSeven nations have joined the United States and the Iraqi government with pledges to provide arms to Kurdish forces in northern Iraq where they are battling terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said today. Albania, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Italy, France and the United Kingdom “have committed to […]https://www.defencetalk.com/hagel-seven-nations-pledge-arms-for-iraqi-kurds-in-fight-against-isil-60437/

DefenceTalkIn Gaza’s stifling midday heat, grieving relatives of a family killed in an Israeli air strike sit outside a mosque, weary from their Ramadan fast and nervously anticipating the next deadly blast. The mourners, most of them men, have come to bury six members of the Hammad family, including a teenager and two women, killed […]https://www.defencetalk.com/gazans-bury-family-as-israeli-bombs-fall-60098/