Related Content: military
Hostage Rescued in Somalia RaidOn The Radar Navy SEALs parachuted into one of the world's most dangerous places. |
French Troop Deaths Spark Worry over Afghan Training MissionOn The Radar The killings of four French troops Friday by an Afghan soldier they were training has renewed concerns — a decade into the training mission — that Afghans are growing increasingly disdainful of the U.S.-led coalition forces ostensibly there to help them and are striking back. |
Insiders Detail Obama Administration's Tough Choice About IranOn The Radar The Obama administration is locked in a fierce internal debate about whether to order military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, a move that would represent a high-stakes gamble that Iran’s nuclear program could be destroyed without triggering a new Mideast war. High-level deliberations about issues as important as Iran are held behind closed doors in secure facilities at the White House and the Pentagon, rarely giving outsiders a view of various options under discussion. |
Some Worry 'New' U.S. Military Focus on Asia is a MuddleOn The Radar The Obama administration pledge to shift American military strategy toward Asia overlooks a key fact: The United States never really dropped its focus on the region. But the current budget proposal that might flow from that pledge contains a potentially crippling contradiction: The plan might cut the big-ticket items the United States needs to increase its presence in Asia and counter China's growing military capability. |
U.S., Iran Play Economic KnockdownOn The Radar Tensions with Iran these days are as high as they've been in years, and managing them will be one of the top challenges facing the Obama administration this year. With Iran threatening to block U.S. ships from entering the Persian Gulf, and the United States vowing not to back down, the stage seems to be set for war. And yet, what's happening with Iran right now may be more of an economic confrontation than a military standoff. |
Obama's Modest Proposal on DefenseOn The Radar As he unveiled his administration's new blueprint for U.S. defense strategy last week, President Obama sought to vaccinate himself against charges that he was gutting the nation's military. Even after the strategy is fully implemented, he said, "the defense budget will still be larger than it was at the end of the Bush administration." |
Iran Trumpets Nuclear Ability at a Second LocationOn The Radar Iran’s top nuclear official announced this weekend that the country was on the verge of starting production at its second major uranium enrichment site, in a defiant declaration that its nuclear program would continue despite new international sanctions restricting its oil revenue. The announcement, made through official news media reports, came after a week of escalating confrontations between Washington and Tehran, including a threat that Iran would respond with military force if the United States tried to send an aircraft carrier strike group back into the Strait of Hormuz. |
Shifts at Pentagon Reflect Dual Realities of Different Threats, Tighter BudgetsOn The Radar The Obama administration's high-profile rollout of its new military blueprint for the years ahead was designed to do two very different things: mark a decisive shift away from manpower-heavy counterinsurgencies like Afghanistan and shield the White House from Republican criticism over its plans for significant cuts to the Pentagon budget. |
President Cuts Defense SpendingOn The Radar New strategy relies less on ground troops and more on naval forces, air power. |
A Long Goodbye to AfghanistanOn The Radar This week, the last convoy of U.S. troops in Iraq drove noisily across the border into Kuwait and shut the gate behind them. The next drawdown comes in Afghanistan, where American forces are scheduled to disengage from most combat by the end of 2014. But the Afghanistan withdrawal won't be anywhere near as final as the one we just saw. U.S. military leaders are working on a new slimmed-down strategy that would keep some American troops in combat against the Taliban for years to come, long after 2014. |
