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Forty-four Afghan troops visiting the United States for military training have gone missing in less than two years, presumably in an effort to live and work illegally in America, Pentagon officials said. Although the number of disappearances is relatively small — some 2,200 Afghan troops have received military training in the United States since 2007 — the incidents raise questions about security and screening procedures for the programs. They are also potentially embarrassing for US President Barack Obama’s administration, which has spent billions of dollars training Afghan troops as Washington seeks to extricate itself from the costly, 15-year-old war. The...

The Discovery Channel has produced a program called “Taking Fire” and is the product of placing helmet cameras on several soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division, stationed in Afghanistan’s Korangal Valley. The action takes place in 2010, during Obama’s surge. It was a typical Obama disaster where he pulled out the troops too soon to have any effect. I do not know if the troops were placed in the position they were because of Obama’s Rules of Engagement or due to some of the worst military planning that I have ever seen. The platoon is stationed on the valley floor...

OTTAWA — A longtime refugee advocate says stories such as that of Liberal MP Maryam Monsef are not uncommon as families fleeing war and violence reconstruct their past in a new land. Monsef, widely touted as Canada's first Afghan-born cabinet minister, caused a stir in the capital Thursday when she issued a statement saying she only recently learned from her mother that she was in fact born in Iran. The 31-year-old minister of democratic institutions says she and her two sisters never held Iranian citizenship and were always considered Afghan citizens, but she was not born in Herat, Afghanistan, "as...

New TV series about combat in Afghanistan

George Soros to invest $500 million in help for refugees http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/20/george-soros-to-invest-500-million-in-help-for-refugees-through-his-open-society-foundations.html George Soros to invest $500 million in help for refugees Nyshka Chandran | @nyshkac 9 Hours Ago CNBC.com Soros invests $500m for refugees Billionaire investor George Soros pledged on Tuesday to invest up to $500 million in programs and companies benefiting migrants and refugees fleeing life-threatening situations. Announced against the backdrop of an ongoing United Nations (U.N.) summit in New York, Soros explained that he wished to harness the power of the private sector for public good. "We will invest in startups, established companies, social impact initiatives, and businesses...

Investigations have revealed that Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, the Afghan-born naturalised United States citizen since 2011 and New York and New Jersey bombings suspect, had married a Pakistani woman and had made at least three months-long trips to both Pakistan and Afghanistan since 2014. His Pakistani-origin wife left the US just days before the attacks and authorities are now working with Pakistani and United Arab Emirates officials to get access to her, media reports said on Tuesday. US authorities are working with his wife's home country of Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates in order to question the woman about what...

Speaking after multiple bombs either exploded or were found in the New York and New Jersey area, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says authorities are seeking Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28. Both the FBI and NYPD want to question Rahami about Saturday night's explosion on West 23rd Street in Manhattan. Rahami "should be considered armed and dangerous," according to the FBI. "The important thing is to get this individual quickly and to continue to be strong and vigilant," de Blasio said via Twitter. He urged anyone with knowledge about the case to call 1-800-577-TIPS. Saturday night's blast wounded 29...

Eight years ago, President Obama pledged to wind down the war in Iraq and redouble efforts to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan. “As president, I will make the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban the top priority that it should be,” he said during a campaign speech. “This is a war that we have to win.” Lasting peace, Mr. Obama said, would depend on not only defeating the Taliban but helping “Afghans grow their economy from the bottom up.” He added, “We cannot lose Afghanistan to a future of narco-terrorism.” Now, at the twilight of his presidency, these goals...

VIDEO: Discovery Shares First Look at 5-Part War Documentary TAKING FIRE September 13,2016 by BWW News Desk Discovery's five-part war documentary series TAKING FIRE premieres September 13th at 10/9c. Check out a first look below! TAKING FIRE is a five-part series bringing viewers into the hearts and minds of American soldiers, a captivating experience like nothing ever seen on film. The series is the story of a band of brothers deployed to defend one of the United States' farthest flung outposts at the gateway to one of the deadliest places on earth: the mouth of the Taliban-held Korengal Valley in...

A Muslim woman in Afghanistan, alongside her son-in-law and daughter-in-law, beheaded her own daughter. As we read in one Afghan report:  The girl named Raihana, from Sheikh Almand village of Ghor province, married a young man last year and moved to Jowand district of Badghis province. Abdul Hai Khatibi, the spokesman for the governor of Ghor said that the girl was killed by her brother-in-law, with help from her mother and sister in-law. Her body had been transferred to the government hospital of Ghor province.He added that security and local officials of Badghis province have been notified to find...

Once again U.S. special operations forces attempted to rescue two American University professors kidnapped in Kabul last month. The Mission was unsuccessful because the White House withheld its approval despite Intelligence reports pinpointing the location at which the hostages were being held. The Two professors – one American, the other Australian were kidnapped during the Taliban attack on the American University. Disguised as police, the attackers killed twelve people and likely kidnaped the educators for ransom. After the release of Bergdahl and the ransom payment to Iran, the Taliban or the Haqqani network seized on the opportunity to grab a...

There are now 361 children under the age of 14 living in Germany, interior ministry figures show. Most of these children are from countries in the Middle East and eastern Europe. The influx of refugees in 2015 has led to an increase in the number of child marriages, according to the figures. The data collected up to the date of July 31st 2016 shows that 1,475 minors were registered in the government migration office as married, Der Westen (WAZ) reports. […] The largest number of married minors come from Syria, at 664, with 157 coming from Afghanistan, 100 coming from...

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. special operations forces mounted an unsuccessful mission to rescue two American University of Afghanistan professors kidnapped in Kabul last month -- after an earlier mission was aborted when the White House withheld its approval -- defense officials with knowledge of the incident told Fox News. Fox News is told the operation, which took place a few days after their Aug. 7 kidnapping, killed seven enemy fighters. But when the firefight ended, there was no sign of the hostages. One of the hostages is American; the other is Australian. It was not the first attempt by the U.S. military...

The Air Force is considering upgrading the valor award won by TSgt. John Chapman from an Air Force Cross to a Medal of Honor. A recent review of a drone surveillance video of a 2002 firefight between a US special ops team and Al Qaeda fighters in the mountains of Afghanistan that killed seven Americans is now a focus of controversy. The newly discovered video shows that a Navy SEAL team left the area because its members believed Chapman to have been killed. The video, however, suggests that Chapman was still alive, that he killed two more insurgents and provided...

Last fall, the Navy Department had a controversial disciplinary case before it: Maj. Jason C. Brezler had been asked by Marine colleagues to submit all the information he had about an influential Afghan police chief suspected of abusing children. Brezler sent a classified document in response over an unclassified Yahoo email server, and he self-reported the mistake soon after. But the Marine Corps recommended that he be discharged for mishandling classified material. The Navy Department, which oversees the Marine Corps, had the ability to uphold or overturn the decision. However, rather than just looking at the merits of the case,...

The US investigation has found that the Facebook groups accessed by the friends of JeM handler Kashif Jaan were related to jihad and JeM. Two months after asking Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of the 2016 Pathankot terrorist attack to justice, the US has now handed over evidence confirming that the attack on Pathankot airbase did in fact come from Pakistan. On January 2, 2016, a heavily armed group attacked the Pathankot Air Force Station, part of the India's Western Air Command, killing six Indian security personnel. India blamed Pakistan-based jihadi group Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) for orchestrating the brutal assault. According...

Back in April 2016, the New York Times published an article highlighting a number of Facebook pages in the Middle East being used to sell U.S. military equipment. A terrorist hoping to buy an antiaircraft weapon in recent years needed to look no further than Facebook, which has been hosting sprawling online arms bazaars, offering weapons ranging from handguns and grenades to heavy machine guns and guided missiles. The Facebook posts suggest evidence of large-scale efforts to sell military weapons coveted by terrorists and militants. The weapons include many distributed by the United States to security forces and their proxies...

The Holsteinischer Courier reports that a 4-year-old boy was raped by a 22-year-old Afghani asylum seeker in a bathroom at a migrant camp in the town of Boostedt, in the nothern German Schleswig-Holsten region. The is the latest in a what has become a long and unending pattern of migrants sexual assaulting women and children throughout Germany and Europe. The Afghani man didn’t even try to hide the abuse, as he put his and the boy’s shoes outside the bathroom door. When the father saw the two pairs of shoes he opened the door and found his son, with his...

The American University of Afghanistan in Kabul is under assault, while security forces exchange gunfire with the attackers. The number of students and professors inside are unknown, as is the identity of the attackers. The U.S. State Department this morning acknowledged reports of the attack on an official Twitter account. "Reports of attack on American University in Kabul. Exercise caution, avoid unnecessary movement in the area & monitor news for updates," the agency said. Massoud Hossaini, a photographer for The Associated Press, tweeted that he is trapped inside. “Help we are stuck inside AUAF and shooting flollowed [sic] by Explo...

Gunmen have stormed American University of Afghanistan in Kabul on Wednesday night as witnesses said they heard gunfire and explosions ringing out. According to media reports, the attackers have infiltrated the educational institution. Teachers and hundreds of students are said to be sheltering inside the building.