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Hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico delay deployment of US troops to Afghanistan

Deployment of U.S. troops to Afghanistan has been delayed due to ongoing hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico, Joint Staff Director Lieutenant General Kenneth F. McKenzie said on Thursday. “Forces are flowing to Afghanistan. They have been slightly delayed by ongoing hurricane relief efforts,” McKenzie told reporters. “There is a finite number of transport aircraft the U.S. Transportation Command has.” The general added that the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan is currently “in the vicinity of 11,000.” Washington has pledged some 3,000 additional servicemen. U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said on Tuesday the troops would provide advisory and fire support to the Afghan military. Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello said during a press conference in San Juan on Thursday that more than 11,000 Defense Department personnel are helping the territory to recover from devastating conscequences of Hurricane Maria.

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Iraqi forces recapture Hawija from ISIS

Iraqi forces recaptured the town of Hawija from Islamic State militants, less than two weeks after the offensive began, the army reported on Thursday.

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NATO official says alliance faces ‘hybrid challenges’ after reports of Russian smartphone attack

NATO troops in the Baltic states and Poland face hybrid challenges and sophisticated attacks to undermine them, a NATO official told The Defense Post

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Dutch defense minister resigns over deaths of Mali peacekeepers

Both the Dutch defence minister and the chief of its military resigned over the deaths of two soldiers on a UN peacekeeping mission in Mali in 2016

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Mattis details new ‘R4+S’ strategy for Afghanistan

U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis provided some details on Tuesday on the new American strategy in Afghanistan, unveiling the Pentagon's newest acronym, "R4+S."

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US detects no change in posture of N. Korean military, top US general says

The U.S. military has not detected any change in posture of North Korean forces despite the politically charged rhetoric coming from Pyongyang, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said on Tuesday. “We haven’t seen a change in the posture of North Korean forces. We watch that very carefully,” Mr. Dunford said in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. On Monday, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said the U.S. had declared war on his country. The remarks came after U.S. President Donald J. Trump tweeted that North Korea “won’t be around much longer,” if Mr. Ri echoed the views of the country’s leader Kim Jong–un. The White House later dismissed the notion that Washington was at war with Pyongyang. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said earlier on Monday that the U.S. is going to continue to pursue diplomatic efforts to resolve the North Korean crisis. “Hope that’s the way we’ll solve this,” he said.

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