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Under the shift in strategy, the teams now focus on targeting key Taliban figures rather than mainly hunting Al Qaeda leaders and have increased the number of raids they conduct, officials say. Reporting from Washington - The U.S. military command has quietly shifted and intensified the mission of clandestine special operations forces in Afghanistan, senior officials said, targeting key figures within the Taliban, rather than almost exclusively hunting Al Qaeda leaders.

President Obama has lost his 2012 bid for re-election. He has made key decisions in three areas that, unless he alters his approach (not likely), could well guarantee a Republican victory: an embarrassingly rolled-out, badly-compromised health-care reform bill; his continuing slavish subservience to those on Wall Street that took the country into the economic toilet; and his sad imitation of CheneyBush's imperial campaign in Afghanistan. (Obama's only hope for 2012 may depend on Sarah Palin getting the GOP nomination. Even better if Glenn Beck or Dick Cheney is her running mate -- been mentioned seriously. The Democrats can only hope...

An 8-year-old boy has been suspended from school and forced to undergo a psychological evaluation after he drew a picture of Jesus Christ on the cross. A teacher at Lowell Maxham Elementary School in Taunton, Mass., said the second-grade student created a violent drawing, the Taunton Daily Gazette reported. The boy's picture portrayed a crucified Jesus with Xs over his eyes to indicate that he had died on the cross. The child's father, outraged at the school's action, asked to remain anonymous to protect his son. He said his boy drew the picture after returning from a family trip to...

A battle over religion is brewing in central Indiana after a public school wanted second graders to sing a song declaring, “Allah is God.” The phrase was removed just before the performance after a national conservative group launched a protest. The principal of Lantern Road Elementary School in Fishers, IN, said they were trying to teach inclusiveness through their holiday production. It included references to Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Las Posadas and Kwanzaa. However, no other deity, other than Allah, was referenced in the show. “It went off…without a hitch,” Danielle Thompson told the Indianapolis Star. “Several families thought it was...

Islam is not a religion, nor is it a cult. In it's fullest form, it is a complete, total, 100% system of life. Islam has religious, legal, political, economic, social, and military components. The religious component is a beard for all of the other components. Islamization begins when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their religious privileges. When politically correct, tolerant, and culturally diverse societies agree to Muslim demands for their religious privileges, some of the other components tend to creep in as well. Here's how it works. As long as the Muslim population remains around...

As in Iraq, the Afghan army is having a hard time finding qualified people for technical jobs. People who have the qualifications are in short supply in Afghanistan, and most of those that do exist can either make better money in a civilian job, or have left the country. Moreover, Afghanistan has the lowest literacy rate in Eurasia (about 40 percent), and even some of those who are literate, are barely there. The skilled labor shortage that existed in Iraq, is much worse in Afghanistan. As a result of this, NATO and American trainers have to recruit and educate a...

URGENT -- HUGE BLAST ROCKS KABUL, AFGHANISTAN. MORE TO COME

FOB HASSANABAD, Afghanistan — The young Marines at this outpost could be on a camping trip to Hell. The living conditions in Helmand Province, one of the worst regions for trouble in Afghanistan, are such that most of friends and family in the United States wouldn't consider putting up with them for one day, much less the months these men will be assigned here. It's not even officially winter, yet temperatures routinely fall below freezing at night, and there's no heat in the tents. At night when standing guard in one of the security towers, the Marines put on layer...

CORRECTION + APOLOGY RFFM.org has learned the letter below, purported to be from a U.S. Marine stationed somewhere in Afghanistan, is a hoax. It was brought to RFFM.org's attention by one of its readers. Apparently, a version of this letter first surfaced in 2001, but since then it has been slightly altered to give the perception it is current by mentioning President Obama's failure to act swiftly on a call for more troops in the war on terror. When informed of this, Major John Birch who forwarded RFFM.org the letter said, "My source was the INTELIST which proves even the...

KABUL, Dec. 14, 2009 – U.S. troops need to be prepared to operate in a “complex human terrain” when they arrive in Afghanistan, the commander of International Security Assistance Force Joint Command said here today. Army Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez took over the job just two months ago. He commands U.S. troops assigned to NATO and troops of 42 other nations for daily operations throughout Afghanistan. “Now that we know where [U.S. troops] are going and when they are coming in, I think we’ll be able to make them well-prepared for what they need to do,” he said during...

KABUL, Dec. 14, 2009 – The insurgency in Afghanistan has become more pervasive, more sophisticated and more violent, said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff here today. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said during a news conference with Afghan and American reporters that the insurgents “have a dominant influence in 11 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.” The insurgents are becoming more effective at using improvised explosive devices and small-unit tactics, Mullen said. “I remain deeply concerned by the growing level of collusion between the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida and other extremist groups taking refuge across the border in Pakistan,” he...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2009 – A combined Afghan and international security force killed five enemy militants and detained another in Afghanistan’s Laghman province yesterday while pursuing a Taliban bomb maker linked to several attacks in the area. The force targeted a compound near Tingawar village where intelligence sources reported militant activity. During the operation, several militants threatened the force with assault rifles and shotguns and were killed. The force then searched the compound without incident. In a Dec. 12 operation, a combined force killed an enemy militant and detained another in Paktia province while pursuing a Taliban commander responsible for...

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Dec. 14, 2009 – When the Marines and sailors of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, came to the Now Zad region in Afghanistan, the message they received from outgoing units was simple: Beware of the village of Changwalak. Marines patrol an orchard in Changwalok, Afghanistan, during Operation Cobra's Anger, Dec. 6, 2009. The patrol was tasked with removing Taliban presence from the village and supporting the presence of Afghan national security forces. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Zachary Nola   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “[The outgoing units] wouldn't ever go to Changwalak,"...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Dec. 14, 2009 – The holidays are a special time of year when family and friends get together and celebrate the season in various ways, but many servicemembers serving Afghanistan cannot go home for the holidays due to their military obligations. Army Sgt. Carletha Woods places a bag of letter mail on a skid of packages at the Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, post office, Dec. 11, 2009. U.S. photo by Army Spc. William E. Henry  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Fortunately, the post office here excels at bringing a bit of home to America’s troops on the...

I was just watching O'reilly, and he and his guest confirmed that while the US (and European countries) are contributing millions to humanitarian aid in Afghanistan their Moslem brother countries have given them nothing.

by Airman 1st Class Jessica Green 129th Rescue Wing Public Affairs 12/11/2009 - MOFFETT FEDERAL AIRFIELD, Calif. (AFNS) -- An Air National Guard member from the 129th Rescue Squadron here recently returned home from her deployment to Afghanistan after being wounded by enemy forces while rescuing three injured American Soldiers July 29. Capt. Mary Jennings, an HH-60G Pave Hawk pilot, launched her rescue helicopter, call sign Pedro 15, from Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, en route to a convoy that had fallen under attack after a vehicle struck an improvised explosive device. "We couldn't see any enemy fire as we arrived on...

I wondered where she was and if she would speak out against Obama. She's resurfacing. I have to give her props for consistency, though: Dear Mr. Obama, I hear that you were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize recently in Oslo, Norway and that, in addition to that spiffy medal, it comes with 1.4 million tax-free dollars that you are going to "donate to charity." I just want to let you know that there are still some of us in the US who oppose the wars, even though you are president, and its nothing personal, but I vehemently oppose your wars...

Barack Obama has admitted that the decision to send another 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan was the most difficult and emotional of his young presidency. Mr Obama, who received the Nobel Peace Prize last week, told CBS television that it would be clear within a year if the surge was working but he said he would change his strategy if necessary. Appearing on the CBS programme '60 Minutes' on Sunday evening, the US President said attending ceremonies for fallen soldiers returning home in flag-draped coffins and visiting veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had deeply marked him. "There...

On This Week with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, December 13, during the show’s Roundtable segment, liberal blogger Arianna Huffington argued that the war in Afghanistan is "the gold standard of a dumb war, immoral and unnecessary," during a discussion of President Obama’s recent speech at West Point announcing that he would send more troops to Afghanistan, and his speech in Oslo accepting the Nobel Peace Prize. Huffington also criticized fellow liberal panel member John Podesta -- a former Clinton administration member who is now president of the Center for American Progress -- charging that, "You now sound like George Bush,"...

Faced with numerous obstacles, U.S. trainers try to get Afghan air force off KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — Rocket-propelled grenades began whizzing by the rickety, Soviet-era M-17 chopper. Flying 50 feet above a canyon floor in Kandahar province, the Afghan pilot suddenly began to climb, lurching dangerously close to another Mi-17. Sitting in the co-pilot seat, U.S. Air Force Capt. Tyler Rennell abruptly seized control of the chopper and narrowly averted a mid-air collision. Then the Afghan pilot started pouting, Rennell recalled. "He gets so upset about me taking the controls that he takes his helmet off," Rennell said. "If...

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (AFP) – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed a renewed effort to defeat the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan as he made an unannounced visit to troops in the field Sunday. Brown made the visit two weeks after ordering the deployment of 500 extra British troops to Afghanistan alongside a surge of 30,000 US forces, part of a sweeping new strategy to turn around the eight-year war. He held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a military base in Kandahar, the southern province where the Taliban first emerged and one of the deadliest battlefields for Western troops...

The Republican Party, the Party of Reagan has been nearly smothered and suffocated by the RINO-virus which has spread more rapidly than any swine flu pandemic, the GOP has been infected from the top down, and IF it is to avoid the fate of the Bull Moose Party, the principles of Reagan conservatism must be re-established, the fair weather collaborators and Quislings (that means YOU Juan McCain and your butt buddy Lindsey 'Goober' Graham!) MUST be driven out and banished and if they join up with the traitorous 'Rats, so be it. Force them to show their true colors. The...

WASHINGTON — The plan President Obama unveiled last week for Years 9 and 10 of the war in Afghanistan left a basic question begging for an answer: If Al Qaeda is the threat, and Al Qaeda is in Pakistan, why send another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan? In his address Tuesday night, the president mentioned Pakistan and the Pakistanis some 25 times... --snip-- That land is not on any map, but it’s where leaders of Al Qaeda and the Taliban both hide. It straddles 1,000 miles of the 1,600-mile Afghan-Pakistani border. It is inhabited by the ethnic Pashtuns, a fiercely independent...

How Osama bin Laden Escaped

Current TV, the independent cable network led by former VP Al Gore aired this cartoon parody of Obama's acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize. The cartoon character Thorbjorn Jagland is just a tad reluctant to hand over the medal to Obama in light of the decision to send additional troops to Afghanistan. The decision "feels very Bushy." Evidently Al and libs have a hard time with the decision despite Obama's repeated campaign promise to focus on finishing the job in Afghanistan. Is it me or did everyone who voted for Obama just hear what they wanted to hear during that...

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following was sent to RFFM.org by Major John Birch, a retired U.S. Army Intelligence officer. It was written by a U.S. Marine currently serving in Afghanistan. For obvious reasons, the Marine's name has been redacted. RFFM.org has not edited the Marine's comments in any way. It is not politically correct and it contains language not meant for children. It is an account of life on the front lines from a member of America's military who is telling it "like it is." Letter From A U.S. Marine On The Front Line!!! From a Recon Marine in Afghanistan From...

Gen. Stanley McChrystal's long-awaited testimony before Congress on the Afghanistan "surge" was, according to one account, "uneventful." The general himself, another story noted, was "a study in circumspection." And questioning from lawmakers was, said a third, "gentle." That's a nice word for it. "Ineffectual" is more like it. Throw in "callous," too, given House members' obligations to constituents in the war zone, operating under what are surely the most restrictive rules of engagement (ROE) in U.S. history. But not a single lawmaker appears to have ventured one question about these dangerously disarming ROEs, which, in Gen. McChrystal's controversial view, are...

SNIPPET - quote: YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report Warden Message: Baku Increased Security Awareness CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS Europe - Azerbaijan 11 Dec 2009 U.S. Embassy Baku issued the following Warden Message on December 11: The Azerbaijani press is reporting that an Azerbaijani citizen, Azer Misirkhanov, was killed in a U.S. missile strike in Afghanistan. Misirkhanov was said to be the commander of a paramilitary group in Afghanistan that was engaged in fighting U.S. and Afghan forces, and was also alleged to be a leader of a radical religious group in Azerbaijan. In addition,...

USSR red army tanks graveyard— few km east of Kabul, Afghanistan When Russia left Afghanistan after the war, a lot of their equipment was left behind.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2009 – A battalion of Marines in southern Afghanistan now has the upper hand in a city they believed to be a Taliban stronghold, a senior Marine Corps officer in Helmand province said today. Marines with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, conduct combat operations in Now Zad, Afghanistan, during Operation Cobra's Anger, Dec.4, 2009. Cobra's Anger disrupted enemy supply lines and communication in Now Zad, once a safe haven for Taliban forces in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Walter Marino   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. For many months, Now Zad,...

KIRKUK, Iraq, Dec. 11, 2009 – Gather about 300 deployed soldiers and airmen, give them the opportunity to ask the defense secretary about what matters to them, and you might expect to hear questions about military pay and benefits, or complaints about spending too much time away from home. That wasn’t the case today at Forward Operating Base Warrior here. Instead, the troops peppered Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates with high-level, strategic questions about issues ranging from operations in Afghanistan to the Iranian threat to the health of an over-stressed force and the future of the Air Force in light...

NANGARHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Dec. 11, 2009 – Task Force Mountain Warrior servicemembers and Afghan contractors are working to replace a bridge across the Saracha River here. International Security Assistance Force servicemembers assemble the new Saracha Bridge in Afghanistan’s Nangahar province, Dec. 7, 2009. The Afghan government, along with Afghan and international servicemembers, are working together to complete the bridge. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. After flash flooding destroyed the bridge along Highway 1 Aug. 31, Afghan contractors immediately built dirt bypasses and moved concrete to support the footers and piers of the bridge. In September, a...

A sense of unreality overshadows our debate on Afghan war policy across the spectrum of opinions. The unreality derives from the simple fact that we do not have enough troops to rationally implement an adequate defense of our national interests. So every argument for Afghanistan policy tends to seem unserious, perhaps pointless. For example, Gen. Stanley McChrystal's proposal calls for a counterinsurgency, or COIN, war modeled on the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, developed by Gen. David Petraeus with strong input from Gen. McChrystal. Pursuant to that standard, to fully man a COIN strategy, we would need 20 to...

SNIPPET: "The NEFA Foundation has obtained a video recording released by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) paying tribute to a German national "Abu Safiyya" (a.k.a. Javaid Siddiqi) who was "martyred" in late October during fighting alongside mujahideen forces in Afghanistan. The video shows Siddiqi on the frontline along the Afghan-Pakistani border accompanied by other German recruits--and at a terrorist training camp that was organized last May."

WASHINGTON -- When I was a young Marine, we were encouraged to read Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" as a primer on conflict. Our mentors were officers and senior noncommissioned officers who had served in World War II, Korea and the early days of the conflict in Indochina. These were serious men for whom the profession of arms was no trivial matter. They taught us that Sun Tzu's tome, from the sixth century B.C., was relevant to the fight we were headed for in Vietnam and would serve us well in the future. According to Sun Tzu, "The art...

12/10/2009 - KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (AFNS) -- The Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team is on a nine-month tour assisting the Afghan government in bringing about stability through governance, reconstruction and development. Although the Zabul PRT has been in country for several years has completed approximately 40 projects this year and is scheduled for more than 30 more. In the end, approximately 350,000 Afghans and their future generations will reap the benefits of the Zabul PRT's labor. The Zabul PRT, a diverse organization with joint, interagency and international components, is one of the principle counter-insurgency units in the region part of a...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – President Barack Obama’s decision to send in an additional 30,000 U.S. troops and further contributions from NATO allies will give the commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan “all the forces he needs in 2010 to reverse the momentum of a growing and increasingly lethal insurgency,” the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here today. At a Pentagon news conference, Mullen said 2009 has been the third year of significant security deterioration in Afghanistan, noting that levels of violence this year are up 60 percent from 2008. “Certainly from that standpoint, we’re...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – As the U.S. military answers President Barack Obama’s order to reinforce efforts in Afghanistan, the Army and Marine Corps are adjusting their plans to redeploy working and serviceable equipment, top military officers told Congress today. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff, and Gen. James F. Amos, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, testified on their services’ “reset” requirements before subcommittees of the House Armed Services Committee. The proceedings were a continuation of a July hearing that was interrupted because of a prolonged series of House votes. The initial hearing focused on Iraq...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – The commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan today wrapped up a round of hearings on Capitol Hill regarding the new U.S. approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The themes Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal touched on in appearances before members of both chambers of Congress this week were consistent: he embraced the plan that sends 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and sets a flexible date for beginning a withdrawal, and expressed measured optimism in its potential to reverse insurgents’ momentum. “The president's decision rapidly resources our strategy, recognizing that the next 18 months will...

Earlier today, Pres. Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in a ceremony in Oslo. Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton tells NRO that President Obama’s address in the Norwegian capital was “pedestrian, turgid, and uninspired.” “It followed the standard international leftist line,” says Bolton. “He played to the crowd and filled the speech with clichés from the American and international left by saying ‘America cannot act alone’ and that he ‘prohibited torture.’ The speech was also typical of Obama in its self-centeredness and ‘something for everybody’ approach.” “It was so diffuse that though I wouldn’t...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – Among the many factors White House and Pentagon officials say will drive success in Afghanistan, developing a credible government there may be the most challenging, the commander of U.S. and international forces there said yesterday. For sustained progress in Afghanistan, the country’s government must be seen as credible and legitimate among its people, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal said in an interview with National Public Radio. The general compared the fight in Afghanistan to a political campaign. “All insurgencies and counterinsurgencies struggle for the support of the people,” he said. “It’s really winning credibility and...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2009 – The military component that coordinates the forces that fight America’s wars has allocated almost all of the troops that will take part in the Afghanistan surge. U.S. Joint Forces Command, a support beam in the Defense Department’s policymaking structure, is formulating plans to carry out the influx of 30,000 U.S. forces that President Barack Obama has ordered into Afghanistan over roughly the next six months. “We know the magnitude of the efforts,” said Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Yates, director of operations, plans, logistics and engineering at Joint Forces Command, said yesterday. “We are getting...

KABUL, Dec. 10, 2009 – Senior Afghan military and national police leaders gathered today at Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates’ departure to thank him for his support for President Barack Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan and a strong military team to support it. The leaders, along with Army Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, commander of the new International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, were waiting for the weather to clear so they could fly to Kandahar. There, they planned to discuss details about where the incoming U.S. troops will go and what resources they will need. Gates’ arrival at Kabul...

A year is too long to spend at a crime scene with people shooting at you. Attorney General Eric Holder made an "unannounced" visit with Assistant U.S. Attorneys in Manhattan yesterday about the planned prosecution there of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four additional 9/11 conspirators. Also yesterday, NBC New York spot polling indicated that 82% became furious when word leaked "a federal grand jury in New York is [secretly] now hearing evidence and testimony" as prosecutors seek a federal indictment of the five. Perhaps coincidentally, one 9/11 family member's commentary appeared and offered, "In four years, America can hold Obama...

December 10, 2009, 0:00 a.m. Through Our Enemies’ EyesEnough about you; what did Mullah Omar think of Obama’s West Point speech? By Clifford D. May We’ve heard a lot in recent days about how conservatives and liberals are responding to President Obama’s plans for Afghanistan. But what does the enemy think? Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Afghan Taliban leader, clearly would have been happier had Obama taken Michael Moore’s advice and begun to withdraw, rather than increase troop levels in Afghanistan. Just before the president took the stage at West Point, Mullah Omar issued a message calling upon his fighters...

The Norwegians weren't applauding the peace-prize acceptance speech President Obama just gave in Oslo and I know why. The speech in many ways could have been written for, and delivered by, a man they loathe: George W. Bush. Sure the speech had the pleasant stuff about banning torture and the value of negotiations, and Obama gave a nod to Martin Luther King, whose own Nobel speech in 1964 was a paean to pacifism. But Obama wanted to make it clear that he was NOT Martin Luther King. He was a commander in chief leading two wars, confronting an implacable terrorist...

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon's top military officer says 16,000 troops have received their orders for Afghanistan since President Barack Obama announced his new war strategy. Adm. Mike Mullen said at a news conference Thursday that the first to go — a battalion of Marines — will arrive in southern Afghanistan next week. The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said tens of thousands of tons of construction materials, winter gear and other equipment also are in the pipeline. Officials are moving to get the bulk of the 30,000 additional troops into the war zone by summer.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama had a golden opportunity to become a peacemaker compared to his hawkish predecessor. But he has let that opening evaporate by escalating the war in Afghanistan. Now he is called a "war president" -- a dubious title that former President George W. Bush personally embraced after starting two devastating wars, one in Afghanistan, the other in Iraq. In both cases, the U.S. is touting its exit plans. In Iraq, Obama has declared a victory and plans to pull out many troops next year, though leaving thousands behind to secure the Baghdad government. In Afghanistan, Obama...

President Obama really laid it on thick in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize. He went from war to the economy to global warming. Here's part 1 of the speech. And here's part 2. So, what do you think of his speech?

In recent weeks, a renewed epidemic of suicide bombings has swept Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, climaxing in huge blasts in Baghdad that killed 130 innocents on Tuesday. The Obama administration says these bombings have nothing to do with religion. It's purely coincidental that the perps preach severe Islam. The attacks are merely meant to destabilize governments. Once again, we grasp at a comforting explanation, deceiving ourselves. Yes, Islamist fanatics want to disrupt Pakistani society and Iraq's upcoming elections. But they're not butchering thousands of Muslims just over ward politics.