DefenceTalkQUETTA: Army Chief General Raheel Sharif said on Friday the nation would get rid of terrorism this year. He was addressing tribal elders of Gwadar, Talar and Turbat areas of Makran division. “The new year will be the year when terrorism will end,” he said. Gen Sharif, however, stressed the need for the entire nation […]https://www.defencetalk.com/terrorists-to-be-vanquished-this-year-says-pakistans-general-sharif-66193/

DefenceTalkFrench Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve met Friday with Apple, Facebook, Google and Twitter to discuss ways to thwart terrorists from using the platforms as stages for propaganda. “We had frank, rich, deep discussion,” Cazeneuve said during a press conference at the French consulate in San Francisco. He said his mission was to foster closer relationships […]https://www.defencetalk.com/france-seeks-silicon-valley-allies-in-war-on-terror-63273/

DefenceTalkTerrorists are using social media to plan events, recruit, share information, propaganda, and so on. “We can detect [their activities] pretty well, but I’m not sure we know what to do about it,” said a terrorism expert. Countering terrorists’ leveraging of social media is going to be a challenge, said Robert Newberry, director of the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/unprecedented-technology-poses-challenges-for-special-ops-62485/

DefenceTalkPakistan’s military said it killed 76 militants in two separate air strikes on Tuesday as part of a major offensive against the Taliban and other insurgents in a tribal region near the Afghan border. The first air strike took place near Datta Khel area of North Waziristan tribal district while the second strike was focused […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pakistan-military-says-killed-76-militants-in-air-strikes-62248/

DefenceTalkA recent report from the Congressional Research Service, which examines the cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and other global “War on Terror” operations since 9/11, calculates a cumulative (fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2014) nominal price tag of $1.6 trillion. Adding the war funding for fiscal year 2015 that was passed in December pushes the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/wars-in-the-middle-east-have-cost-taxpayers-almost-1-7-trillion-62208/

DefenceTalkLeaders from the 201st and 203rd Afghan National Army Corps, Afghan Border Police zones 301 and 402, the 11th Pakistan Army Corps, and a delegation from Resolute Support headquarters discussed border security at an event hosted by Train, Advise, Assist Command – East, or TAAC-E, at Operational Base Fenty in Afghanistan, Jan. 18, 2015. For […]https://www.defencetalk.com/afghan-pakistani-military-leaders-coordinate-border-security-62186/

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/

DefenceTalkPakistani fighter jets on Sunday launched air strikes on militant hideouts in the northwest, killing at least 38 people, according to officials, in the latest retaliation for attacks by the insurgents that have derailed peace talks. The early morning strikes made on militant hideouts in the Tirah valley of the Khyber tribal district were the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pakistan-air-force-strikes-on-militant-hideouts-kill-at-least-38-58847/

DefenceTalkPakistan army helicopters fired missiles killing three militants on Sunday, officials said, in apparent retaliation for a Taliban bomb attack that killed 20 soldiers in the restive northwest. The helicopters fired at a road in the village of Musaki situated in the same tribal region as the bombing earlier Sunday, intelligence and civil administration officials […]https://www.defencetalk.com/army-retaliates-after-20-pakistan-soldiers-killed-in-bomb-attack-50147/

DefenceTalkAll good things don’t necessarily need to come to an end; sometimes they are just replaced by something even better. Such is the case with the venerable C-130H Hercules model aircraft here. The C-130 has been around since the Vietnam War, forming the backbone of the Air Force’s tactical airlift fleet. It is especially well-suited […]https://www.defencetalk.com/c-130h-end-of-an-era-in-afghanistan-50095/