Sunday, September 20, 2020, was a red letter day in Afghanistan. That date marked a record-breaking 232 days without a U.S. combat-related death in Afghanistan, the longest stretch since 2016. The last American combat death was in February 2018, shortly before all sides agreed to a cease-fire while peace talks continued. However, the lack of combat deaths does not mean …

These seemingly diverse African nations are all dealing with Salafi-jihadi insurgencies, a new wrinkle in the ongoing Global War on Terror. Recent unrest in Mali has focused attention on the nation’s capital. Islamic militants, who now work in the shadows, often face little opposition. Some observers fear that these groups could expand into other parts of west Africa. If that …

The sprawling Baiji Refinery in central Iraq should be refining about 300,000 barrels of oil a day while employing hundreds of people in this war-torn country. But instead, it is almost completely idle. In 2015, an ISIS attack significantly damaged this facility. A subsequent military operation drove ISIS forces away, but caused even more damage. Of the plant’s three major …

A conflict which seemed to be winding down may have instead entered another and more dangerous phase, after Israeli warplanes reportedly struck Syrian army positions near Damascus. The attack targeted Syrian Defense Forces and some supporting Hezbollah fighters in the southern province of Daraa, which is near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The Syrian news agency SANA reported that “the Zionist …

Seventy-five years ago, representatives of the dying Japanese Empire signed surrender documents in Tokyo Bay, officially ending World War II. On September 2, 1945, representatives of the Empire of Japan and ten Allied nations assembled on board the USS Missouri. During the ceremony, part of the U.S. First Cavalry Division was preparing to enter Tokyo. Roughly 1.5 million American soldiers …