NATO special forces have joined Afghan forces in their attempt to retake the city of Kunduz which fell into Taliban control on Monday.
The heavily assailed airport, which sits on a hilltop a few miles outside Kunduz, is now the only place held by the Afghan army. The nearby Bala Hisar fort fell when soldiers there ran out of ammunition, deputy provincial governor Hamdullah Daneshi said. Thousands of troops have fled to the airport during the intense fighting over the last two days.
U.S. special forces had been advising Afghan troops while operating from a temporary base at the Kunduz airport for several weeks, according to a special forces commander.
Coalition spokesman Col. Brian Tribus gave few details about the foreign troops’ engagement with insurgents while supporting Afghan forces overnight, including the troops’ nationalities. Although the U.S. and NATO have officially handed over the battle against the Taliban to Afghan forces, the terms of their mission allows them to fight when they come under direct threat.
That happened early Wednesday morning when a team of U.S. special forces “encountered an insurgent threat in the vicinity of the Kunduz airport at approximately 1 am, 30 September,” Tribus told Reuters, adding that the soldier had acted in self-defense. “When they encountered the threat, they defended themselves,” he said.
According to the French government, Egypt agreed to buy two Mistral-class helicopter carriers that was originally going to be sold to Russia.
The contract between Russia and France was signed in 2011, but was suspended when violent unrest broke out in eastern Ukraine last year. After the suspension of the contract, France refunded $1 billion to Russia. The original contract was to be the biggest arms sale in history between a NATO country and Russia.
These new vessels will add powerful capabilities in Egypt’s fight against Islamist threats across Egypt’s western border in Libya and along the Sinai Peninsula. The deal was closed Tuesday after talks between French President Francois Hollande and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Egypt is expected to take possession of the ships in March of next year, officials said. In the meantime, Egypt will be sending 400 soldiers to France to learn how to man the new warships.
“France will assure delivery of these boats while losing nothing, and by doing so protecting Egypt,” Hollande said.
This isn’t the first arms deal between the two countries. Egypt has also bought 24 advanced Rafale fighter jets from France earlier this year.
A sudden build-up of Russian forces at a base in Syria is raising an alarm in the halls of power in the U.S. and Israel along with commanders at NATO.
The Russian naval base in Tartus has been flooded with new troops and units. Two tank landing ships arrived at the base along with four transport aircraft with various pieces of equipment. Russian aircraft have also been using a joint airbase in Latakia in northwestern Syria.
Officials within the Obama administration say they believe the Russian move has nothing to do with their stated goal of taking out ISIS, but keeping their ally Bashir al-Assad in power. Moshe Ya’alon, the Israeli defense minister, echoed the administration’s views.
“The Russians’ intentions are to keep Assad in power, not to fight ISIL,” one administration official told Bloomberg. “They’ve shown their cards now.”
Even the President has hinted he sees the situation the same way.
“I think they get a sense that the Assad regime is losing a grip over greater and greater swaths of territory inside of Syria [to Sunni jihadist militias] and that the prospects for a [Sunni jihadist] takeover or rout of the Syrian regime is not imminent but becomes a greater and greater threat by the day,” President Obama told the New York Times. “That offers us an opportunity to have a serious conversation with them.”
NATO’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, said Russia’s move destabilizes the situation.
“I am concerned about reports about the increased Russian military presence in Syria,” Stoltenberg told reporters during a visit to Prague. “That will not contribute to solving the conflict. I think it is important to now support all efforts to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria.”
Russian leaders are dismissing the concerns of the world. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marie Zakharova called the concern “strange hysteria.”
Sweden has for 200 years maintained a military posture of neutrality when it comes to world affairs and conflicts.
Now, government officials are seriously looking at aligning with NATO out of fears of Russian aggression.
“I think it’s the combination of the perceived threat from Russia and a discussion about the armed forces’ inability to carry out their tasks which leads to more Swedes being in favor of Swedish NATO membership,” Ulf Bjereld, a political science professor at Gothenburg University, told Swedish Radio.
Russian naval and air forces have been making more forays into Swedish territory. In October, Russian forces moved into the Stockholm archipelago to look for a “missing Russian submarine.” No missing vessel was ever found.
The Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea has had a major impact on the citizens of Sweden. The public was almost unanimous in not wanting to join NATO before the invasion and now 33% of the nation wants to join NATO.
Russia has threatened military action if Sweden joins NATO.
“I don’t think it will become relevant in the near future, even though there has been a certain swing in public opinion. But if it happens there will be counter measures,” Russia’s ambassador to Sweden, Viktor Tatarintsev, told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper in June. “Putin pointed out that there will be consequences, that Russia will have to resort to a response of the military kind and reorientate our troops and missiles. The country that joins NATO needs to be aware of the risks it is exposing itself to.”
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in China for an official state visit.
Erdogan will be meeting in Beijing with his counterpart, Xi Jinping.
The visit is the first for Erdogan since his election as president in 2014 and the first since Turkey agreed to work with the U.S. to eliminate terrorist group ISIS in parts of Syria.
Erdogan traveled to China with around 100 business owners and leaders in what’s expected to be a discussion of trade deals. The trade between the two nations has reached about $24 billion a year.
However, some believe that the current Syrian crisis will cause Erdogan to try and purchase a long-range missile system which has been a source of concern to Turkey’s fellow NATO members.
Turkey and China have also had issues regarding illegal immigration in southeast Asia of Muslims. Last month, there were protests in Turkey after a group of Muslims illegally crossed from China to Thailand and then were returned to China.
“It’s quite obvious that the current Turkish government is supporting illegal immigration of Uighurs by giving them passports and working with Southeast Asian countries,” said Yin Gang an expert on the Middle East with the government-supported Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. “It would be hard for the relationship between China and Turkey to improve significantly unless Turkey makes serious promises on that issue.”
NATO is refocusing their efforts toward Russia in light of Vladimir Putin’s invasion and takeover of Crimea last year.
NATO wants to prevent Russia from doing the same thing to other former Soviet Republics.
“We have reasons to believe that Russia views the Baltic region as one of NATO’s most vulnerable areas, a place where NATO’s resolve can be tested,” said Sven Mikser, Estonia’s defense minister.
“If the Russians sense a window of opportunity, they will use it to their advantage,” said Estonia’s chief of defense, Lt. Gen. Riho Terras. “We must make sure there’s no room for miscalculation.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has been traveling to the capitals of NATO member nations to talk about the refocus on Russia. He has pledged the U.S. to give weapons and loan commandos to a new NATO rapid reaction force.
The U.S. will also place heavy weapons and tanks in the Baltics and Eastern Europe for the first time.
NATO is facing issues with member nations such as Germany, Italy and France not being in favor of going to war with Russia should an invasion of Estonia or other former Soviet republics take place.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday that the U.S. will send weapons, aircraft and troops as needed to NATO’s new rapid reaction force. The force will defend Europe in the event of an aggressive move by Russia or ISIS.
President Obama made the commitment last year during a NATO summit but Carter is revealing the details of the plan.
“We do not seek a cold, let alone a hot war with Russia,” Carter said at Atlantik Brucke, a Berlin think tank that focuses on the German-U.S. relationship. “We do not seek to make Russia an enemy. But make no mistake: we will defend our allies, the rules-based international order, and the positive future it affords us. We will stand up to Russia’s actions and their attempts to re-establish a Soviet-era sphere of influence.”
The U.S. will provide intelligence and surveillance capabilities, special operations forces, transport aircraft and a range of weapons from bombers and fighters to ship-based missiles. A large ground force is not part of the U.S. commitment.
Carter is attending his first NATO meeting as Defense Secretary and plans to bring a two-pronged approach to NATO’s needs: the first is a strong defense against Russia in an attempt to stop them from establishing a Soviet-era influence on the region while partnering with Russia to fight Islamic terrorism.
U.S. officials are watching the economic situation in Greece with concern that it might lead to a situation where Russia could gain influence over a NATO member.
Greece, on the verge of bankruptcy, has been struggling with members of the European Union regarding debts and loans to cover costs. If Greece defaults, Russia could swoop in with economic help and turn that nation against the West.
“You can easily see how geopolitically this would be a gift to Russia,” says Sebastian Mallaby at the Council on Foreign Relations. “You do not want Europe to have to deal with a Greece that is a member of NATO but which all of a sudden hates the West and is cozying up to Russia.”
President Obama and his administration have been quietly talking with German leaders about getting the EU to resolve the standoff with Greece. Apparently the EU’s issues with Ukraine have factored into the Greece discussions.
The Greek prime minister traveled to Russia last week to meet with Russian president Putin.
Russia has been working to weaken the EU’s support for sanctions which require all 28 member nations to approve before going into effect. If Greece remains in the EU but receives major support from Russia, they could block further sanctions.
“We still believe that Europe remains united against Russia and what they’re doing,” says John Kirby, state department spokesman, when asked about the potential impact of a Greek default.
“I think coming out of the G7 you saw a lot of unity in Europe for continued sanctions against Russia and the possibility for increased sanctions to further isolate Russia.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that his nation would be adding more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) to their nuclear arsenal.
“More than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defense systems will be added to the make-up of the nuclear arsenal this year,” Putin, flanked by army officers, said in a speech at an arms fair west of Moscow.
The announcement comes a day after NATO members along the Russian border agreed to place U.S. tanks and heavy weapons in their countries. The move is being called “the most aggressive act since the cold war” by analysts.
The actions are seen in response to the current tension in Ukraine and Russia’s unwillingness to back down from their efforts to destabilize that nation.
ICBMs have a maximum range of 3,400 miles. Putin did not state what kind of ICBMs would be placed into the Russia arsenal.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia was “saber rattling” and attempting to further degrade an already dangerous situation.
A former ISIS member has testified that a member of NATO is considered an ally of the terrorist organization by ISIS leadership.
Turkey, which has been dragging its feet in joining the world coalition to stop the terrorist group, is reportedly allowing the terrorists to freely cross their border and move supplies and weapons into Iraq and Syria.
The terrorist, calling himself “Sherko Omer”, is a former communications tech for ISIS. He said that Turkey is working with ISIS because of a common hatred for the Kurds.
“ISIS saw the Turkish army as its ally especially when it came to attacking the Kurds in Syria,” Omer said. “The Kurds were the common enemy for both ISIS and Turkey. Also, ISIS had to be a Turkish ally because only through Turkey they were able to deploy ISIS fighters to northern parts of the Kurdish cities and towns in Syria.”
Omer also said he has seen first hand the connection between the Turkish army and the terrorists.
“I have connected ISIS field captains and commanders from Syria with people in Turkey on innumerable occasions,” Omer said. “I rarely heard them speak in Arabic, and that was only when they talked to their own recruiters, otherwise, they mostly spoke in Turkish because the people they talked to were Turkish officials of some sorts because ISIS guys used to be very serious when they talked to them.”
