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By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) (NEA), section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that the situation with respect to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its illegitimate assertions of jurisdiction over personnel of the United States...

Getting lucrative government contracts is easy – if you know the right people.  And in the case of former ambassador Joe Wilson, husband of former CIA officer Valerie Plame, it was Hillary Clinton who greased the skids so that government contracts could go to business associates and friends. Is this really in the job description of the secretary of state? Daily Caller: Wilson’s requests for help — on behalf of an American engineering contractor he consulted for called Symbion Power — is a recurring theme in each monthly Clinton email dump. The latest two batches of records are no different....

A veteran State Department diplomat and longtime Pakistan expert is under federal investigation as part of a counterintelligence probe and has had her security clearances withdrawn, according to U.S. officials. The FBI searched the Northwest Washington home of Robin L. Raphel last month, and her State Department office was also examined and sealed, officials said. Raphel, a fixture in Washington’s diplomatic and think-tank circles, was placed on administrative leave last month, and her contract with the State Department was allowed to expire this week. Two U.S. officials described the investigation as a counterintelligence matter, which typically involves allegations of spying...

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has portrayed himself as a champion of a free press, but the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to charge him with conspiring to hack government computers limits his ability to mount a vigorous free speech defense, some legal experts said.The charge unsealed in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia on Thursday said that in 2010 Assange agreed to help Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst then known as Bradley Manning, crack a password to a U.S. government network. At the time, Manning had already given WikiLeaks classified information about U.S. war activities in both Afghanistan...

As of Sep 4, 2018, there have been 2416 U.S. military deaths in the War in Afghanistan.

The Taliban are on the verge of dramatically expanding their control over southern and eastern Afghanistan in a surprise offensive that has caught Afghan and U.S. forces off guard and thrown a vexing new wrench into the Trump administration’s strategy for ending the nearly 17-year-old war there. The Afghan Defense Ministry said Monday a Taliban assault on the city of Ghanzi — a key provincial capital linking other areas under the Islamic militant group’s control just 75 miles southeast of Kabul — has killed roughly 100 Afghan security forces and some 20 civilians over the past three days. While the...

“The full extent of child sexual assault committed by Afghan security forces may never be known.” After 15 years of failure and undefined missions in Afghanistan, this administration claimed to finally have discovered an innovative idea. Let’s invest even more American lives in propping up the Afghan security forces, they suggested, as if we weren’t doing that for the past 15 years. But who are the Afghan forces, and how are they really distinguishable from the Taliban, or at least enough to justify the human and capital cost of a deeper investment? A new inspector general report paints a grim...

According to a report from the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, 152 soldiers from the Afghan army who had been selected for special training in the United States have gone AWOL while on U.S. soil. Fox News: According to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, 13 of the 152 who had gone AWOL were still at large as of March 7 of this year. Seventy of the 152 had fled the United States; 39 gained legal status in the U.S.; and 27 were arrested, removed or in the process of being removed from the U.S. Three no longer...

The Taliban released a statement attributed to its emir, Hibatullah Akhundzada, earlier today. The propaganda message was clearly crafted with a Western audience in mind. Like other statements published by the jihadist group, Akhundzada’s message should be subjected to scrutiny and not taken at face value, especially given that parts of it are directly contradicted by the Taliban’s own words and deeds. Akhundzada explains that “peace” is only possible if the US and its Western allies, referred to as “occupation” forces, retreat from the country. “The main obstacle in the way of peace is the occupation,” Akhundzada’s statement reads. “Peaceful...

At least five people are dead and eight injured following an explosion near the U.S. Embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul. An explosion was set off at the entrance of a bank near Massoud Square Tuesday, which is an area that houses the U.S. Embassy and several other diplomatic buildings. The attack occurred while many people were trying to withdraw money for the upcoming Muslim holiday. While no one has yet to claim responsibility, unconfirmed reports say the explosion was set off by a suicide bomber.

Historically speaking has any Empire won a war of counter insurgency? I'm hearing this talk about Afghanistan, and do not know the answer? I think the odds are not good when you think of the American Revolution, Vietnam, Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc.. and an added bonus the "rules of engagement". For the record, I am very strong President Trump supporter. Love the guy and will support him 100%. Just looking for good answers. Thanks!

President Trump’s “America First” base was the biggest loser of Trump’s speech on Afghanistan Monday night, and many quickly expressed their disappointment at the business-as-usual address from the president who had once promised to limit American intervention abroad and focus on nation-building at home. Trump’s speech, in which he pledged to increase the number of troops in the 16-year-war, was the first since the departure of Chief Strategist Steve Bannon and confirmed the fears of many on the right that without a strong nationalist voice in the West Wing, the President would revert to the same old fare that Americans...

President Donald Trump’s commitment to an indefinite war in Afghanistan Monday night received praise from rivals such as Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, but left conservatives like Ann Coulter disappointed. Trump criticized the Afghanistan war before entering office. However, in his nation-wide address he said he will not give an end date for the conflict and wouldn’t talk about potential troop deployments. There are roughly 8,400 American service members in Afghanistan and it was widely reported Trump will deploy an additional 4,000 troops. Shortly after the speech, Sen. Graham said on Fox News, “I am very pleased with this...

National ​security adviser HR McMaster used a 1972 photo of Afghan women wearing miniskirts to help convince President Trump to stay the course in Afghanistan, according to a report on Tuesday. ​McMaster showed the president a black-and-white photograph of three women walking down a Kabul street in miniskirts to ​convince him that Western culture had once thrived in Afghanistan and could again, the Washington Post reported. The photo was among the arguments the president’s staff used to make the case that he should not pull troops from Afghanistan – the site of America’s longest war, the newspaper said. In a...

I have not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire," said Winston Churchill to cheers at the Lord Mayor's luncheon in London in November 1942. True to his word, the great man did not begin the liquidation. When his countrymen threw him out in July 1945, that role fell to Clement Attlee, who began the liquidation. Churchill, during his second premiership from 1951-1955, would continue the process, as would his successor, Harold Macmillan, until the greatest empire the world had ever seen had vanished. While its demise was inevitable, the death...

Monday, August 21, 2017: WATCH LIVE: PRESIDENT TRUMP ADDRESSES THE NATION ON AFGHANISTAN at 9:00 PM EASTERN

Mark R. Levin‏Verified account @marklevinshow President Trump's speech was very solid 8:07 PM - 21 Aug 2017 803 Retweets 3,607 Likes

Vice President Pence, Secretary of State Tillerson, members of the Cabinet, General Dunford, Deputy Secretary Shanahan, and Colonel Duggan. Most especially, thank you to the men and women of Fort Myer and every member of the United States military at home and abroad. We send our thoughts and prayers to the families of our brave sailors who were injured and lost after a tragic collision at sea, as well as to those conducting the search and recovery efforts. I am here tonight to lay out our path forward in Afghanistan and South Asia. But before I provide the details of...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has spent months bashing President Trump for delaying a new Afghanistan strategy, on Monday night praised him for “taking a big step in the right direction” after his address on the path forward. “I commend President Trump for taking a big step in the right direction with the new strategy for Afghanistan,” the Senate Armed Services chairman said in a statement. “The unfortunate truth is that this strategy is long overdue, and in the interim, the Taliban have made dangerous inroads. Nevertheless, I believe the President is now moving us well beyond the prior administration's...

In outlining his vision for applying “principled realism” to the war in Afghanistan, President Trump Monday night insisted there will be no precipitous American withdrawal. Though he didn’t specify the number, Trump will be sending additional troops — likely up to 4,000 — to Afghanistan. That would boost our commitment to just above 12,000 men and women in uniform. And they’ll be expected to accomplish what 140,000 US and allied troops couldn’t achieve at the peak of our engagement, when the Taliban was considerably weaker. We all must hope that, by a miracle, the new strategy of enhanced training for...