DefenceTalkThe threat of violent extremists attacking the United States or allies from Afghanistan has been greatly reduced over the past 20 years, and any remaining threat emanating from the country can be addressed without a persistent U.S. military presence there, DOD officials told the House Armed Services Committee today. President Joe Biden announced April 14 […]

DefenceTalk NATO has started the withdrawal of its mission from Afghanistan following a decision by President Joe Biden to bring US forces home, an alliance official said Thursday. Members of the US-backed alliance agreed this month to wrap up their 9,600-strong mission in Afghanistan after Biden made the call to end Washington’s longest war. The […]

DefenceTalkAn attack using an explosives-packed drone on an airport in Arbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, is the latest in a series targeting Western military or diplomatic installations on Iraqi soil since late 2019, and marks an escalation of the weapons used. A US-led international coalition has been in Iraq since 2014 to help local forces […]

DefenceTalkThe United States on Wednesday warned China against what the Philippines and Taiwan see as increasingly aggressive moves, reminding Beijing of Washington’s obligations to its partners. “An armed attack against the Philippines’ armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea, will trigger our obligations under the US-Philippines Mutual […]

DefenceTalkTaiwan blasted China’s fighter jet incursions as “self-defeating” on Wednesday as 15 more of Beijing’s planes crossed into the island’s air defence zone. Taipei’s defence ministry said it scrambled aircraft to broadcast warning messages to the latest incursion, which included 12 Chinese fighters. China has ramped up the use of such drills to record levels […]

DefenceTalkTwo Venezuelan military personnel were killed and 32 Colombian “insurgents” captured in fighting on the border between the two countries, Venezuela’s Armed Forces said on Monday. Venezuela’s military had clashed with an armed group near the border with Colombia on Sunday. The Armed Forces said there had been “clashes with irregular armed Colombian groups” in […]

DefenceTalkA US warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the American navy said Thursday, a day after a top US commander warned of the threat to Taiwan of a Chinese invasion within the next six years. The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS John Finn conducted a routine transit yesterday through the waterway separating the Chinese […]

DefenceTalkAt least 10 rockets slammed into a military base in western Iraq hosting US-led coalition troops on Wednesday, security sources said, leaving one civilian contractor dead. The attack on the sprawling Ain al-Assad base in Iraq’s western desert comes after several weeks of escalating US-Iran tensions on Iraqi soil. It also comes just two days […]

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkChina on Friday warned off a US warship sailing near contested islands in the South China Sea, Beijing said, the first such encounter made public since the inauguration of President Joe Biden. The USS John S. McCain “broke into China’s Xisha territorial waters without the permission of the Chinese government,” Beijing’s military said in a […]https://www.defencetalk.com/beijing-warns-off-us-warship-from-south-china-sea-islands-76766/

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkThe USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is departing the Central Command area of responsibility and moving into the U.S. Indo-Pacific region, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby announced today. “We want to thank all the men and women aboard the ships in that strike crew and the squadrons who supported Central Command now for more […]https://www.defencetalk.com/nimitz-carrier-group-sails-into-indo-pacific-command-76728/