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# Free Range International

Outside the Wire, Inside the Loop

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://freerangeinternational.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [The Netflix show “Spy Ops” Showcases the Incompetence of our CIA.](https://freerangeinternational.com/2023/10/09/the-new-netflix-show-spy-ops-showcases-the-profound-incompetence-of-our-central-intelligence-agency/) - Back when I was working for the Pentagon's Private Spy Ring, I didn’t take my boss, the legendary Dewey Clarridge, seriously when he ranted that the CIA was worthless. Dewey had been a CIA standout who had gotten into all sorts of mischief during his 33-year career. Want to know how good a spy Dewey
- [I Spy: How Human Intelligence is Supposed to Work](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/10/25/i-spy-how-human-intelligence-is-supposed-to-work/) - American intelligence agencies have no idea how to conduct meaningful Human Intelligence operations.
- [The Heat Is On](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/06/08/the-heat-is-on/) - It is 95 degrees Fahrenheit during the day in Jalalabad, making this the coolest start to summer in memory. Unfortunately, the number of security incidents in Jalalabad and across the country has begun to climb, as temperatures normally do. Yesterday, for the first time since a one-off attack in 2008, the villains struck inside Jalalabad
- [Losing Hearts and Minds](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/07/30/losing-hearts-and-minds/) - Ben Arnoldy at the Christian Science Monitor penned an excellent tale about reconstruction efforts going pear-shaped and the consequences of such folly. The report was original and focused, the result of Ben spending a couple of weeks in the remote Badakshan Province to get the details right. This article is the perfect bookend to last
- [Jalala-Not So Bad and Not So Good](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/05/29/jalala-not-so-bad-and-not-so-good/) - Security incident rates across Afghanistan are skyrocketing, and this year it appears that Jalalabad will, for the first time, receive its fair share of attention. This unfortunate reality is forcing outside-the-wire implementers to spend an inordinate amount of time drinking tea and chatting with various local officials and ISAF personnel to calibrate the threat level
- [Happy al-Faath Day](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/05/10/al-faath-day/) - The fighting season is rapidly ramping up to make this the bloodiest yet, which makes it the perfect time for President Karzai to go to Washington for a little face time with the Commander in Chief. What is to be accomplished during this meeting is easy to predict: Not one damn thing. This article
- [Unlimited OPM](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/05/15/unlimited-opm/) - OPM stands for "Other People’s Money,” and our politicians are getting so good at spending it that they are currently spending OPM that they have not even earned yet. Conventional wisdom holds that access to unlimited funds would benefit a military engaged in extended combat operations, but the opposite is true. The abundance of money
- [Turkey Shoot](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/11/08/turkey-shoot/) - I was enjoying a morning cup of coffee on the Baba Deck with a group of friends just in from the States when we saw the signature of a tanker attack just up the road. That has never happened this close to Jalalabad before, so we held a brief staff meeting: "Let's go," and headed
- [The Taliban take Dih Bala](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/09/12/lazy-friday/) - Fridays are always laid-back, as it’s the one day off we get each week. We had our usual complement of French and German aid workers visit for drinks and a dip in the pool. If you can’t tell, my French friend Pierre is in flagrant violation of the’no Speedo’ rule at the Taj. Every time
- [The Curse of Grenada](https://freerangeinternational.com/2026/01/15/the-curse-of-grenada/) - All my adult life, I have enjoyed a sense of smug superiority over the lesser military services because of the Marine Corps’ performance in Grenada. Operation Urgent Fury was a triumph for the Marine Corps, but not for the Rangers, Delta Force, or the SEALs. Four SEALs from SEAL Team Six drowned, apparently knocked unconscious
- [Return to Kabul](https://freerangeinternational.com/2012/04/01/extended-shelf-life/) - Kabul is currently a tense place. It has had periods of unrest many times in the past (the 2006 riots that erupted after American soldiers caused a multi-fatality motor vehicle accident springs instantly to mind), but Kabul isn’t experiencing unrest - it's tense like a tight spring. The endgame is near: internationals are no longer
- [The Going Is Getting Tough](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/10/17/the-going-is-getting-tough/) - The ongoing saga about banning security contractors in Afghanistan continues, while the need for them grows to the point that CNN has gotten a clue. Many big reconstruction projects are grinding to a halt, and let me tell you something - the local people are sick and tired of this. We have been in the
- [The Good Don't Always Die Young](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/08/08/the-good-dont-always-die-young/) - The Godfather of Free Range International - the man who pioneered the techniques, tactics, and procedures we use to travel in remote districts was executed last week in Badakhshan Province. Dan Terry had been living in Afghanistan with his family for decades. He was fluent in both Dari and Pashto, and despite knowing him for
- [The Antifa Clown Show Turns Deadly: for Antifa](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/07/15/the-antifa-clown-show-turns-deadly-for-antifa/) - Mosqueda’s tactics and weapon handling were the opposite of competence. Given the target density, short distances, and superior weapon platform, it was a pathetic amateur hour performance. He did not hit any of the many targets he engaged.
- [The Climate Alarmism Grift is Dying](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/07/08/the-climate-alarmism-grift-is-dying/) - Last week, the BBC reminded us that we have just three years left to drastically reduce all CO2 emissions, or we risk crossing the dreaded 1.5°C warming limit set by the Paris Agreement. A persistent feature of the degreed managerial class is their arrogant refusal to learn from their past flawed predictions. Dire warnings of climate
- [Inside the New National Defense Area](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/07/04/inside-the-new-national-defense-area/) - The Mayors don’t care about any of that. They’re from the rent-seeking class who view government office as a purely extractive enterprise.
- [The Iran Punitive Raids were a Long Time Coming](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/06/26/the-iran-punitive-raids-were-a-long-time-coming/) - Public service announcement: I don’t speak for every Marine, sailor or soldier who deployed to Beirut; just the ones who are worth a damn.
- [The Bravest Woman I Know](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/06/18/the-bravest-woman-i-know/) - Before that seminar, she had never talked about herself or the problems she endured growing up with such a debilitating, disfiguring disability. All her life, she had held the pain in; during the PTW seminar; she let it all out. I saw it as it happened and have loved her ever since because she gave me strength.
- [No Kings McAllen Protest](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/06/16/no-kings-mcallen-protest/) - As I walked through the crowd, the signs held aloft and coordinated Viva La Raza chants evoked a vibe of Mexican nationalism and reactionary Hispanic cultural revanchism.
- [Valley of Birds](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/06/12/valley-of-birds/) - Residents of the Valley of the Birds understand why so many illegals are given such high-paying jobs. It’s not about reducing project payrolls but the employer’s exposure to OSHA fines and lawsuits from injured workers.
- [Desperate Times on the Southern Border](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/06/03/desperate-times-on-the-southern-border/) - Even when the border looks empty, there are plenty of eyes watching it, and they don’t miss much.
- [The Afghan War ends in Another Bitter Defeat: Exactly as Osama bin Laden Predicted](https://freerangeinternational.com/2021/09/16/the-kabul-neo-was-a-total-failure/) - The end of our Afghanistan adventure was worse than my most pessimistic predictions. Since 2008, I have insisted there was only one way the Afghanistan conflict could end, and that would be with an accommodation of the Taliban. I never imagined that the Taliban would sweep the board and help us extricate ourselves from the
- [Apocalypse Now: They are Coming for the Tiki Bars](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/12/25/apocalypse-now-they-are-coming-for-the-tiki-bars/) - Texas historian T.R. Ferhenbach wrote that the Texans considered the United States "A country grown so great even fools cannot destroy it". That was then (back when Texas agreed to join the United States on terms most favorable to Texas). This is now, and now has serious, unsolvable, structural, problems inside our social order that
- [The Wolves of Helmand](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/08/19/the-wolves-of-helmand/) - As our two-decade involvement in Afghanistan winds down to an inevitable withdrawal, there are an increasing number of memories being published by participants. I have been looking forward to this as it is the first significant conflict without a draft. The military participants were all volunteers and professionally recruited (there is a vast difference). I’ve
- [Apocalypse Not: 15 Inside the Hot Zone](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/08/07/apocalypse-not-15-inside-the-hot-zone/) - For the first time in our history, medical treatment is a political issue. However, before I rant on that topic, I need to admit that my theory about SARS-CoV-2 has been proven wrong. My theory was based on the conviction that our government couldn't react quickly and decisively to get ahead of a virus, regardless
- [Apocalypse Not: Mask Off Mask On](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/06/20/apocalypse-not-13-mask-off-mask-on/) - A few weeks ago, a Black Lives Matter protest occurred in downtown McAllen, Texas. They did not get far before being confronted by a local man with a chainsaw. The man was screaming racial slurs, which he, uncharacteristically for these parts, helpfully translated into English for those who are a little rusty with the lingua
- [The John Paul Vann of Afghanistan Speaks](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/05/12/the-john-paul-vann-of-afghanistan-speaks/) - In the book The Operators by Michael Hastings, there is a quote from Command Sergeant Major Michael Hall comparing General Stan McChrystal to John Paul Vann. John Paul Vann was a former army officer who went to Vietnam as a soldier and stayed on working as a Provincial Aid Advisor. He was famous for his
- [Apocalypse Not: The SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic is Over](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/05/24/the-sars-cov-2-pandemic-is-over/) - As COVID Anxiety is turning into COVID rage, I am putting my streak of forecasting exactly how the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic will play out on the line with another bold prediction. As this comes to pass, remember you heard it here first (unless you listen to the No Agenda podcast). The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is over; the number
- [Apocalypse Not: Common Sense Prevails Over Low T Tyranny](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/05/20/apocalypse-not-11-the-lockdowns-are-ending-common-sense-prevails-over-low-t-tyranny/) - The lockdown is, for all intents and purposes, over. Here in Texas, the gyms are finally open, as is the rest of the local economy, and mask-wearing is optional. In states with restrictive lockdowns, people are taking matters into their own hands and opening up their businesses despite orders to remain closed. Never has the difference
- [Apocalypse Not #9 What Happened to the Models?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/04/20/apocalypse-not-9-what-happened-to-the-models/) - It is now obvious that the modeling driving the COVID-19 response was wrong. They caused the nation to overreact, and now that we realize COVID-19 is not the threat we were told it was, what do we do? What the Trump Administration just did, right in front of you, was disappear the models, switch data
- [Apocalypse Not:  South Texas Lockdown](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/04/16/apocalypse-not-8-south-texas-lockdown/) - The Rio Grande Valley consists of four counties: Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, and Willacy. The population is almost 90% Hispanic, and most people born and raised here, including whites, speak fluent Spanish. Despite the prevalence of Spanish speakers, it's still an unmistakably American place. The infrastructure is new as the population has grown significantly over the
- [Apocalypse Not: Reality is Disrupting the Legacy Media Narrative](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/03/29/apocalypse-not-6-reality-is-disrupting-the-legacy-media-narrative/) - I started the Apocalypse Not series because I do not trust computer modeling or any experts warning of apocalyptic doom based on computer modeling. As Richard Fernandez, who writes the Belmont Club blog, observed: "My dear old statistics teacher used to say that relying on any model, however good, but founded on past data was
- [Peace in Afghanistan Inshallah](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/03/01/peace-in-afghanistan/) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in Qatar’s capital city, Doha, today to sign a peace deal with the Taliban. In a rare demonstration of presenting both sides of a contentious deal, the Washington Post opinion section featured dueling pieces that capture this unique moment in time. The peace deal is a clear win for
- [Apocalypse Not #10 Something is Happening Here](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/05/03/apocalypse-not-10-something-is-happening-here/) - What it is ain't exactly clear; and that's an understatement—in the past, national emergencies brought the country together, at least for a while. From the reaction to 9/11 to the legions of people conducting water rescues after Houston flooded a few years back, we have always come together to face a threat. When the COVID-19
- [LZ Margo . . . The Dead Went Last](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/05/23/lz-margo-the-dead-went-last/) - They were typical grunts and corpsmen, normally unwashed, usually underfed, always overloaded, and, more often than not, tired. The lucky ones, those who avoided disease, wounds, or death, did not enjoy a hot meal or cold shower for weeks.
- [A Dark Spell Cast Upon the Rio Grande Valley](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/05/14/a-dark-spell-cast-upon-the-rio-grande-valley/) - Last week, I thought the Brujas Negras had struck again when I saw Grubhub had declared McAllen the most overweight and obese city in America.
- [Water Wars are Bad, Lawyers are Worse.](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/03/20/water-wars-are-bad-lawyers-are-worse/) - State Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D-McAllen) has introduced a resolution to encourage the U.S. State Department to ensure Mexico starts delivery of water to Texas as outlined in the 1944 International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC). Mexico is supposed to provide at least 350,000 acre-feet of water per year, but they are currently about five years
- [Light at the End of the Tunnel in Afghanistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/02/18/light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel-in-afghanistan/) - Last week, news broke of a possible peace deal in Afghanistan, leading to a firestorm of speculation in the media about what's going on. The reporting was not consistent, but the consensus is that the peace deal would call for negotiations between Afghans on both sides of the conflict to start next month, an eventual
- [Taliban Stakeout the Moral High Ground Announcing a Peace Deal with the United States](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/02/21/taliban-stakeout-the-moral-high-ground-announcing-a-peace-deal-with-the-united-states/) - Sirajuddin Haqqani wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times yesterday where he explained the Taliban's expectations and goals in signing a Peace Agreement with the United States. The piece was professionally written, and I do not believe Sirajudin can write so well in English, so I doubt he wrote it himself. Regardless, the
- [Brookings Institute Fires a Broadsid and Misses](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/02/24/brookings-institute-fires-a-broadside-at-haqqani-and-misses/) - General John Allen, USMC (ret), president of the Brookings Institution, lashed out at the New York Times for publishing an Op-Ed by Sirajuddin Haqqani. His article, Sirajuddin Haqqani, Terrorist, was an unfortunate response that reinforces a growing narrative regarding incompetence of the elite, ruling class. The most glaring mistake in General Allen's attack on the New York Times was
- [American Green Berets Gunned Down in Sherzad District; What's Going On?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/02/09/american-green-berets-gunned-down-during-a-kle-meeting-in-sherzad-district-what-going-on-there-part-three/) - Yesterday, two Green Berets were killed and six were wounded while (reportedly) conducting a Key Leader Engagement (KLE) meeting in Sherzad district. This isn't reassuring on several levels. First, it appears the dead and wounded (including the Afghan SF troops with the Americans) were at the hands of Afghan National Army soldiers. From the article
- [What is going on in Sherzad District? Part Two](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/11/03/what-is-going-on-in-sherzad-district-part-2/) - I had no interest in pointing out to the Makiks that Obama has zero experience in executive leadership and will make a terrible president. They have the time and will insist on hashing things out until they understand clearly. I have a wristwatch and a short attention span; this was not a good start.
- [Travelling West: Ghazni, Herat, Ghor, Chaghcharan, Jam Minaret, Badghis, Qala-i-Naw](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/10/13/traveling-in-the-west-of-afghanistan/) - The security situation in the western provinces of Afghanistan has deteriorated significantly over the last year. The first five years after the Allied invasion were a time of peace and hope for the people in the West. The Western city of Herat has 24/7 electricity from nearby Iran, functioning modern infrastructure, and has shown much
- [Heros: Medical Professionals Working Miracles On Their Own Dime](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/10/11/heros/) - International hospitals in Kabul do not allow cameras because of cultural sensitivities. The treatment of female patients by male doctors is not universally accepted in this corner of the world. Educated families in Kabul have no problem with male doctors treating their women; in the south, men will fight to the death to avenge the
- [Travelling South: Wardak, Ghazni, Zabul, Khandahar](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/10/10/traveling-in-the-south-of-afghanistan/) - The southern region of Afghanistan is unstable, dangerous, and a hazardous place to travel by road these days. This is a new development that started about one year ago. Before that, we would routinely make trips down to Kandahar, tracing the same route made famous in James Michener's excellent book Caravans. Back in 2005 and
- [Kala Jangi Fighter Fortress](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/10/06/kala-jangi-fighter-fortress/) - Mazar-i-Shariff is home to the Kala Jangi Fighter Fortress, the scene of a famous battle in November 2001. Unfortunately, I only have one picture of the fort's exterior, which does not do it justice. My good friend CC (code-name Cautious Citizen) and I were in the area on a site visit. He is one of
- [Travelling North: Salang Pass to Mazar-i-Sharif](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/10/04/traveling-in-the-north-of-afghanistan/) - The northern regions of Afghanistan are the safest areas in the country. A majority of the population in these provinces is Tajik or Hazara and was not known for supporting the Taliban. We routinely travel in the north without body armor or rifles and occasionally leave the side arms at home out of respect for
- [The Afghanistan Travel Series](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/10/03/afghanistan-travel-series/) - One of the advantages of working outside the wire is the ability to travel. Internationals can move freely through most of Afghanistan without taking elaborate or expensive security measures. Due to the extent of armed criminality, being armed is always a good idea. One reason criminals rarely target internationals is the universal belief among Afghans
- [What is going on in Sherzad District? Part One](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/10/31/what-is-going-on-in-sherzad-district/) - Afghanistan is slipping rapidly towards a state of anarchy. The security situation has degraded to the point where the lavish force protection measures adopted by the Department of State Regional Security Officers and the U.S. Military seven years ago now seem prudent. Media reports attribute the decline to a resurgent Taliban movement in Pakistan, combined
- [The Taliban has Destroyed ISIS-K in Nangarhar Province: Now They Plan to Focus on US](https://freerangeinternational.com/2019/12/24/the-taliban-has-destroyed-isis-k-in-nangarhar-province-now-they-plan-to-focus-on-us/) - I have no idea why the destruction of ISIS-K by the Taliban in Nangarhar Province has remained virtually uncovered in the legacy media. That changed with an excellent interview with the Taliban leadership in Nangarhar Province by The Washington Post. The Taliban were celebrating their recent crushing of ISIS-K (or the F'ing Daesh in local lingo).
- [FRI Reviews Trust-Based Leadership](https://freerangeinternational.com/2019/11/25/fri-reviews-trust-based-leadership/) - I opened a large package that arrived in the mail last week, and out fell an encyclopedia-sized book on leadership. On the cover, larger than life, was Mike Ettore, with whom I served in the Marines 20 years ago. He was staring off in the distance with a sense of purpose and the moral rectitude that one
- [It's Groundhog Day for Afghansitan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2019/09/18/its-groundhog-day-for-afghansitan/) - Fellow Afghanistan Free Ranger Dr. Keith Rose released a podcast the other day describing our current situation in Afghanistan as Groundhog Day. The people of Afghanistan are suffering with no end in sight, which is 180 degrees out from where I thought they would be when I flew into Kabul in 2005. Using Keith's analysis
- [The Afghan Endgame Emerges and it is Not Going to Work](https://freerangeinternational.com/2019/09/24/the-afghan-endgame-emerges-and-it-is-not-going-to-work/) - There is one point that I have hammered home on blogs and podcast interviews concerning Afghanistan: the next round of funding is a game changer. I thought we would see some serious budget slashing in 2020, but it has already started. Over the weekend, the State Department cut 100 million dollars designated for Afghanistan energy
- [America's New Hero](https://freerangeinternational.com/2019/07/04/americas-new-hero/) - July 4th is the perfect day to launch a campaign aimed at uniting Americans behind a national hero of whom we can all be proud. In prior posts, I have nominated the RQ-4N BAMS-D (Broad Area Maritime Surveillance-Demonstrator) drone that arrived in the Persian Gulf on June 15th and was shot down by Iran five days later.
- [Digging for Truth in the Age of Fake News](https://freerangeinternational.com/2019/07/15/digging-for-truth-in-the-age-of-fake-news/) - I have articulated a theory based on two known facts concerning the loss of our newest national hero, Droney McDroneface, to Iran last month. I based my theory on two known facts: the drone shot down was a demonstration model for a program that had been completed. It was, to the Pentagon, an expendable asset,
- [We Are Being Oppressed](https://freerangeinternational.com/2019/07/22/we-are-being-oppressed/) - I was finishing up a post for the Freq about riot control and migrants when I suddenly discovered I was being oppressed, endnote, just a little, but on all four recognized levels of oppression. This insight jumped out when I looked for information on a topic I know something about. When I first saw it,
- [Dealing With Moral Trauma By Doing The Impossible](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/04/22/dealing-with-moral-trauma-by-doing-the-impossible/) - Moral Trauma is a new term for an old phenomenon. A good definition of the term (from the VA) is: In the context of war, moral injuries may stem from direct participation in acts of combat, such as killing or harming others, or indirect acts, such as witnessing death or dying, failing to prevent immoral
- [MOAB'ing ISIS in Afghanistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/04/14/moabing-isis-in-afghanistan/) - Last Sunday (April 9th) CNN published a report of another American soldier killed in action while fighting in Afghanistan. The operator; Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar, 37 from Edgewood, Maryland, a member of the 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne); was killed in while battling with Khorashan in the Nangarhar province. Today the pentagon announced
- [MOAB Madness; The Media Gets It Wrong Again](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/04/14/moab-madness-the-media-gets-it-wrong-again/) - If I needed a sign to confirm my plan to return to Afghanistan was a sound one, I need look no further than the coverage of yesterday's MOAB bombing. It is clear that the usual 'experts' who comment on these types of events are clueless, and that makes me wonder (yet again) how much of
- [Full Mission Rehearsal](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/04/10/full-mission-rehearsal/) - Task Force Southwest (the 300-man Marine Corps unit deploying to the Helmand province this spring) had a Full Mission Rehearsal exercise at Camp Lejeune, N.C., from February 27th to March 3rd. I attended the first two days of the exercise (as an embedded reporter) with the Afghanistan National Police (ANP) training team, who will be
- [Washington, D.C.](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/04/03/washington-d-c/) - I was in the nations capitol to see my good friend Eric Mellinger retire after a distinguished 30 year career as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps. I wasn't the only one making a long trip for a short ceremony; men who had served with Eric came from all over the country
- [The Afghans](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/03/23/the-afghans/) - The American military was welcomed by a vast majority of the Afghan population when it entered the country in 2001. We helped rid the country of an unpopular, dysfunctional government and seemed to have set the conditions for sustained peace in a country that has known war for a generation. We should have finished our
- [Dawn Dreams About an Impending Nightmare](https://freerangeinternational.com/2016/08/29/dawn-dreams-about-an-impending-nightmare/) - I’m sitting on my deck drinking coffee as the sun comes up. The sky is softening, and all the variations of reddish yellow (I can’t see them all with my red/green colorblindness, but can sense they are there) start creeping up from the dark horizon. A song is stuck in my head, and I hear
- [A War](https://freerangeinternational.com/2016/02/14/free-range-international-reviews-the-new-film-a-war/) - He was not afraid of dying at the hands of the Taliban, but terrified, given the stringent rules of engagement (ROE) of being prosecuted by the government when he returned.
- [Gandamak](https://freerangeinternational.com/2015/02/16/gandamak/) - Last week I received a polite email from Professor Richard Macrory of the Centre for Law and the Environment, University College London, asking me for permission to use some of my photos of the Gandamak battlefield in his upcoming book on the First Afghan War. I said it would be an honor, and I believe the book
- [Four down -- how many more to go?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/09/02/four-down-how-many-more-to-go/) - The bad guys hit a home run today by whacking the number 2 at NDS. The NDS is the National Directorate of Security and is the best currently available in the Afghan Security Forces. The number 2, Dr. Abdullah is an old Jihadi Commander from Laghman Province who fought the Soviets as Masooud's
- [Afghan Security Forces adopt a potential Game Changer](https://freerangeinternational.com/2019/06/24/afghan-security-forces-adopt-a-potential-game-changer/) - In the news last month was a story announcing the most significant tactical adaptation in the history of the Afghan Security Forces. The international media company AFP broke the story with this article: Under US pressure, Afghan army starts closing checkpoints. The article was reprinted in various legacy media outlets. Stars and Stripes ran their reporting more in-depth,
- [U.S. Navy Suckers Iran into Shooting Down Surplus Drone: Scores Big Intelligence Coup](https://freerangeinternational.com/2019/06/29/u-s-navy-suckers-iran-into-shooting-down-surplus-drone-scores-big-intelligence-coup/) - Editors Note: The title of this post was changed at the suggestion of a long time fan of FRI, LtCol Robert Brown, the publisher of Soldier of Fortune magazine. Intentionally or not, in the current contest of wills with Iran, the United States is now in a dominant geo -political and military position. Intentionally or not,
- [Some Positive News Out of Afghanistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2019/11/20/some-positive-news-out-of-afghanistan/) - Two news items popped up yesterday that are certainly good, possibly great. The first was the release of two American University professors, one American, the other Australian; who were kidnapped in 2016. The other is the apparent mass surrender of Daesh (ISIS-K) fighters to the Afghanistan Security Forces. The always reliable Mohammad Jawad (a.k.a. JD)
- [The FRI Guide to Dangerous Places: The United States of America](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/07/31/the-fri-guide-to-dangerous-places-the-united-states-of-america/) - The United States has never been weaker or more vulnerable in my lifetime. The President is clearly incapacitated, yet he refuses to step down; our DEI-centric military lacks the manpower, weapons, or leadership to be a credible deterrent. I enlisted in the Navy in 1978, during the days of low morale, high drug use, and the
- [Approaching the Tipping Point](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/01/22/approaching-the-tipping-point/) - The Fab Folk continue to work like demons to maximize their time on the ground. Yesterday they had successful test shots with their fabricated internet antennas to a local NGO and the Nangarhar Public Hospital. They work every evening setting up the XO laptops they have sent in, and early each morning, they meet for
- [Counter-Bureaucracy](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/12/29/counterbureaucracy/) - I'm back after a month off to learn that things have changed very little on Afghan street. Everyone I talk to thinks the international military effort is entering its final stage. I have been on the road for over a week and have spoken with all sorts of folks from the military, USAID, and local
- [Dubious News Reports from Afghanistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/12/30/dubious-news-reports-from-afghanistan/) - An interesting article in the news about Afghanistan today illustrated (to me) the dire straits we now face. A senior USAID officer gave a mildly negative critique of the USAID reconstruction efforts. The story represents a total lack of situational awareness as 2008 draws close. When you have lived in a poorly understood, distant country
- [The Rio Grande Valley panics after another Trump win](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/05/05/the-rio-grande-valley-panics-after-another-trump-win/) - We have the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle, where you can get holy water by the gallon 24/7. Fill a humidifier with it and create an invisible fog that will repel demons, vampires, and (theoretically) flood waters sent by Brujas Negras.
- [Save the Whales: From the Deep State](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/10/23/save-the-whales-from-the-deep-state/) - The Deep State hates whales when they interfere with their wind farm boondoggle.
- [Shakedown](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/11/19/shakedown/) - Although we cannot replace the body armor, we were fortunate to get off lightly; it would be difficult for a small company like ours to raise the funds needed to secure the release of an international prisoner from Pul-e-Charkhi prison.
- [Change you can believe in](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/11/26/change-you-can-believe-in/) - A country doesn't lose a war against insurgents by being out-fought; they lose by being out-governed, which is exactly what is happening all over this country
- [The Skipper Moves the Boom](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/04/28/the-skipper-moves-the-boom/) - This fictional short story first appeared in the Wrath Burning Tree in 2023 It was a typical Thursday night at the Taj Tiki Bar, tucked away off the Jalalabad–Kabul road in the Bagrami hamlet just outside the Jalalabad city limits. The Taj Guesthouse Tiki Bar was established by a UN road-building crew from Australia in
- [Seven Years Since 9/11, the View from Afghanistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/09/11/911/) - It has been seven years since the events of 9/11. The war on terror, or the Long War, which is a better term, is the reason I am here. I'm in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, where I've been living for the past year. I spent a few years living in Kabul and free-ranging the country, having found
- [Kabul Re-up Run](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/09/13/kabul-re-up-run/) - Today, the Bot and I had to run to Kabul for a re-up. We started our journey by striking a pose for our sponsor. Well, not a real sponsor, but they sent us some hats, bumper stickers, steak rub, and a generous assortment of candy, so we feel sponsored. Here is Shem (a.k.a. Shem Bot
- [The Caves of Little Barabad](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/09/20/the-caves-of-little-barabad/) - We recently took a trip across the river into Beshud District to the village of Little Barabad to photograph the old caves that line the northern shore of the Kabul River. The people of Little Barabad are Kuchi tribesmen who are dirt poor and from a different tribe than the Shinwari's who live up the
- [What are Neutral Intermediaries?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/12/20/you-cant-handle-the-truth/) - The international community has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in Africa over the years, with no discernible success. They are enriching vile, oppressive dictators while sentencing the average African to a life of misery, poverty, and squalor.
- [Rules of Engagement](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/11/21/rules-of-engagement/) - I have written in the past about night raids and aggressive ISAF convoy tactics causing unnecessary civilian casualties. I have also written on the importance of not allowing enemy fighters who attack ISAF units to live and fight another day. Counterinsurgency requires adaptation and my annoyance at night raids or shooting car loads of locals
- [Healing Ulcer](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/11/14/healing-ulcer/) - After only 90 days of fighting to root out the Taliban from a place they have owned for over a decade, Gen McChrystal called Marjah a bleeding ulcer. That was a harsh assessment given the tenacity of the enemy, the tight rules of engagement, and the limited amount of time the Marines have invested in
- [The Foot Sergeant](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/04/20/the-foot-sergeant/) - *Although based on actual events, this is a fictional story of love and forgiveness that seems timely on Easter Sunday. But this is a man's story, so there is no actual love or formal forgiveness, because that is not how men love each other. When the 1MC (ship loudspeakers) erupted with “Mass Casualties Inbound,” I
- [Fitness Standards for the Combat Arms](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/04/14/fitness-standards-for-the-combat-arms/) - How can the senior flag officers insist it is imperative to put females into every combat formation when they would never force women onto the football teams of West Point or Annapolis?
- [The Water War Goes Supernatural](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/03/29/the-water-war-goes-supernatural/) - Chuy Hinojosa bitches to the press about not having enough water in the Valley, and suddenly, a scattered line of thunderstorms forecasted to sporadically drop an inch or two of rain somewhere in the Valley turned into a Training Thunderstorm.
- [President Trump Responds to the Water War . . . But](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/03/25/president-trump-responds-to-the-water-war-but/) - I'm amazed that the President acted on something that the federal government has studiously ignored for 78 years. It’s morning in America again! What could possibly go wrong now that we have an awesome president getting things done? And then I saw this:
- [Suddenly the CIA is Competent?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/03/07/suddenly-the-cia-is-competent/) - This morning America awoke to the news that the CIA had run down and arrested the man responsible for the Abbey Gate bombing. The new CIA director said he called Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and told them a man named Mohammad Sharifullah (aka Jabar) was inside the Northwest Frontier or the Federally Administered Tribal
- [The  Valley of Miracles](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/03/04/the-valley-of-miracles/) - President Trump easily won all four counties of the RGV, but the local political and business leaders are hard-core democrats who are poorly positioned to work with the federal government in its current configuration. They operate under the assumption that the HSI gravy train will continue unimpeded and that the cartels will be able to continue investing laundered money in the Valley.
- [A Protest too Pharr](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/02/13/a-protest-too-pharr/) - February started with a number of anti-immigration protests breaking out across the country. "People are feeling galvanized," gushed USA Today as they tried to paint the anti-Trump protests as organic, spontaneous demonstrations of popular outrage. The protests in Los Angeles, Seattle, Austin, and Washington D.C. were supported by open-border NGOs like the Party for Socialism
- [USAID Was a Racket: It Deserves to DEI](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/02/05/usaid-was-a-rackett-it-deserves-to-dei/) - The United States spent 54 Billion dollars on economic development and reconstruction in Afghanistan. The reconstruction effort was a comprehensive, across-the-board failure characterized by shoddy workmanship from shady contractors invariably connected to powerful national or provincial government leaders. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was the lead agency in these efforts, and they
- [Charity is a Racket](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/01/31/charity-is-a-racket/) - Using the poor to make well-heeled, connected democrats and their cronies rich is not something the American taxpayer should tolerate, let alone fund.
- [Catholic Church and NFWA Hit Hard by Closed Border](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/01/25/catholic-church-and-nfwa-hit-hard-by-closed-border/) - The Catholic church has gone from sending missionaries to care for the poor to aiding and abetting the exploitation of the poor by supporting the human and sex trafficking of Mexican Narcos.
- [All Quiet on the Southern Front](https://freerangeinternational.com/2025/01/08/all-quiet-on-the-southern-front/) - With our national nightmare drawing to a close, I thought it a good time to check on our bad border. On the last Sunday of 2024, I took a drive along the Military Highway to check on the known rally points the Border Patrol uses to consolidate illegal border jumpers for transport to their processing
- [A Bittersweet Veterans Day](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/11/12/a-bittersweet-veterans-day/) - Today's military is broken, but the talent to right that sinking ship remains in the wings, ready to serve again.
- [Here Comes the Judge](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/10/31/here-comes-the-judge/) - As I’ve grown older and wiser, I still haven’t wised up about joking with dated material. Last year, when physical therapists were torturing me after shoulder surgery, I would start to sing Roxanne, hoping they would stop the torture for some red light therapy. The PT techs had no idea what I was talking about.
- [The IDF: Modeling Competence over Equity](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/10/19/the-idf-modeling-competence-over-equity/) - The Pentagon takes Service Academy football seriously, but not our combat arms.
- [Let Me Tell You About Martha Raddatz](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/10/15/let-me-tell-you-about-martha-raddatz/) - Ever since our ignominious retreat from Afghanistan, I wake up every morning angry. I habitually read the regime media over morning coffee, and my anger is magnified. I should ignore the media, but I can’t. My Dad and I sat together reading the morning paper daily when I was young, and I can’t seem to
- [Remembering  Baba Ken Kraushaar](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/09/30/remembering-baba-ken-kraushaar/) - Baba Ken Kraushaar passed away in the Washington, D.C. Veterans Administration Hospital this past weekend. He was one of the founders of the Free Range International Blog and a good friend who stayed in touch after our return home. He and his partner Ginny frequently hosted me at their waterfront home in Nanjemoy Creek, Maryland.
- [Targeted: Beirut](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/09/29/targeted-beirut/) - I wrote my last post about Beirut the day before Jack Carr released his book on Targeted: Beirut. I had pre-ordered the book, so I immediately read it for his opinion on the debacle. My assessment that: “Nobody in that operation knew what we were supposed to do on the ground in Beirut” was spot
- [Back to Beirut?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/09/24/back-to-beirut/) - Forty one years ago, the 1st Battalion 8th Marines were attacked by the first modern suicide bomber at the Beirut International Airport. A dump truck packed with 12,000 pounds of explosives crashed through a flimsy gate and into a building being used as barracks for the Marines, killing 241 Marines and sailors. At the time,
- [The FRI Guide to Dangerous Places: The Junk Yard Bar Granjeno, Texas](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/02/13/the-fri-guide-to-dangerous-places-the-junk-yard-bar-granjeno-texas/) - Super Bowl Sunday is a big day for dive bars across the land, but none are closer to the crisis at our southern border than the Junk Yard Bar in Granjeno, Texas. The hamlet of Granjeno is located south of the Military Highway just east of the Anzalduas Bridge, outside Mission in the Rio Grande
- [The Deep State Wants Trump Dead](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/09/19/the-deep-state-wants-trump-dead/) - Trump assassination attempt: Deep State desperation exposed. Uncover the truth behind the botched hit and media spin.
- [Orange Tigers, Yellow Generals and Daryl Cooper](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/09/12/orange-tigers-yellow-generals-and-daryl-cooper/) - The Reynosa tiger has, unfortunately, been captured on our side of the Rio Grande. I thought that it had most likely been stolen by one of the cartels but I was wrong. Although it entered the river opposite the Junk Yard Bar in Granjeno it was driven west by the border walls (not hard to
- [Eye of the Tiger](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/09/07/eye-of-the-tiger/) - Yesterday an adult tiger escaped from the Quinta La Fauna zoo, which is outside of Reynosa and on the banks of the Rio Grande River. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OCED) ranks Mexico number three in the world for animal abuse so the poor cat may be in no condition to swim
- [The Approaching Tidal Wave](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/08/31/the-approaching-tidal-wave/) - Watching the politico- media complex attempts at gaslighting their consumers about Kamala is no longer amusing. She appears, according to polling, to be gaining traction with American voters. Polling on a presidential election requires a significant degree of trust in pollsters to be taken seriously, but we know better than to trust the media which
- [The FRI Guide to Dangerous Places: President Trump Rallies  ](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/07/18/the-fri-guide-to-dangerous-places-president-trump-rallies/) - All my life I assumed that one of the safest places in the world would be anywhere near an American President. I remember being mere feet away from President Regan once and felt totally intimidated by his secret service detail because of their size and demeanor. I've attended high speed shooting schools with FBI, DEA
- [FRI Guide to Dangerous Places: South Padre Island](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/07/07/fri-guide-to-dangerous-places-south-padre-island/) - South Texas has been under a heat dome that is now moving out of the way as hurricane Beryl bears down us. In anticipation of heavy weather the sharks started attacking beach goers yesterday biting four people in under two hours of coastal mayhem. The weather may or may not be affecting the local shark
- [Operation Moshtarak](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/04/06/operation-moshtarak/) - I want to thank Amy Sun, the Fab Folk, and my kids Megan, Kalie and Logan for drumming up so much support for FRI's run at this years Milbloggies award. I also need to thank America's First Sergeant at Castra Praetoria and Kanani Fong at The Kitchen Dispatch for their support for FRI's first
- [The Prince Plan: Strengths, Weaknesses and Probability](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/08/11/the-prince-plan-strengths-weaknesses-and-probability/) - The privatization of the Afghanistan War is still generating headlines and the majority of the coverage is hostile, uninformed, inaccurate and basically ad hominem attacks on Mr. Prince. Did you know that Betsy Devos, the current Secretary of Education is his sister? Can anyone explain what that has to do with Afghanistan or why it is
- [America’s Monster in Afghanistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/05/27/americas-monster-in-afghanistan/) - The New York Times Introduces Agitprop as History just in time for Memorial Day Last week New York Times foreign correspondent Matthieu Aikins released a two part series that examined the career of Afghan Lieutenant General Abdul Raziq. The Times spent over a year tracking down hundreds of Afghans who had family members “disappeared under
- [Afghanistan as Vietnam](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/02/21/afghanistan-as-vietnam/) - I am wrapping up my time in Kabul and getting ready to press embed with the Marines down south in early March. I am currently working on something I cannot blog about and it is boring. Inshallah I'll have a story to tell soon in the meantime I have been catching up on some reading
- [Dan the Reconstruction Man](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/12/02/the-reconstruction-man/) - A story about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in the reconstruction of Afghanistan
- [Apocalypse Not:  The Fear of COVID-19 is Unwarranted](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/05/18/apocalypse-not-the-fear-of-covid-19-is-unwarranted/) - I started the Apocalypse Not series with this post on March 18, 2020 because I suspected the COVID 19 pandemic was total bullshit. The lack of bodies was the clue. If the disease had the IFR (infection fatality rate) that our "experts" said it had then our number one problem would have been the disposal
- [Fab Lab Surge and ABC News](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/01/14/fab-lab-surge-and-abc-news/) - The Fab Lab team has arrived and is now hard at work. They are blogging daily and you can monitor their progress here. They're doing cool stuff like fabricating antenna's to share our fatpipe internet with the local schools and NGO's. They're raising money to buy XO Laptops for every 6th grader in the local
- [Irregular Warfare](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/12/10/irregular-warfare/) - The Pentagon recently released a directive on Irregular Warfare that has generated speculation among the various players in Afghanistan. When you see documents that say "The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff shall" it is a powerful piece of paper from on high. There are a finite number of people in the world who can
- [Talking with the AOG](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/09/26/talking-with-the-taliban/) - There are many names used in Afghanistan to describe the groups hostile to the central government. Taliban, insurgents, Anti Government Elements (AGE) and Armed Opposition Groups (AOG) are the most common descriptors. AOG can be Taliban, criminal gangs who cooperate with the Taliban, rent-a-Taliban (mostly teenage boys who need money and want adventure) or militias controlled
- [Life Behind the Lines in America's New Culture War](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/04/29/life-behind-the-lines-in-americas-new-culture-war/) - This morning I saw an X from Tucker Carlson about an interview with my good friend Michael Yon. The first sentence stated "America is being invaded and destroyed with the help of our leaders". That sounded ominous and with Michael being a friend I went to the Tucker website to watch the interview. Only I
- [The Sorry Story of the Delaram DAC](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/04/10/the-sorry-story-of-the-delaram-dac/) - The FRI Guide to Dangerous Places: Delaram District, Afghanistan During the summer of 2011 a unique opportunity presented itself to Abdul Karim Brahui, the governor of Afghanistan’s Nimroz Province, during a meeting with the new Marine Corps RCT commander in Delaram II, Colonel Eric Smith, USMC. Colonel Smith had replaced my good friend Paul Kennedy
- [On The Border](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/10/30/on-the-border/) - The military campaign in Afghanistan is apparently going well. I read that last Monday here in the Washington Post so it must be true. But two days ago the military effort in Afghanistan took a turn for the worst. I know that to be a fact too because I read it here in the Washington
- [The FRI Guide to Dangerous Places – Los Ebanos, Texas](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/03/19/the-fri-guide-to-dangerous-places-los-ebanos-texas/) - When you have spent a good bit of your adult life living near international boundaries you develop a sense for dangerous places along a border. History, geography, and population distribution are key indicators so finding a remote bend in the Rio Grande River, that was apparently an ancient ford . . . Apparently? The Spanish
- [The FRI Guide to Dangerous Places – Nimroz Province](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/03/14/the-fri-guide-to-dangerous-places-nimroz-province/) - As mentioned in the last post I spent much of 2011 - 2012 in Zaranj, the Capitol of Nimroz Province. Nimroz is in southwestern Afghanistan bordersing Iran to the west, Baluchistan in the south, Helmand province in the east, and Farah province in the north. The province is divided geographically and demographically with the four southwestern
- [The FRI Guide to Dangerous Places – The Helmand Province](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/03/02/the-fri-guide-to-dangerous-places-the-helmand-province/) - The Helmand Province was the scene of the heaviest fighting of the Afghanistan war for both the United States Marine Corps and British Army. Yet my experience in the Helmand was different, in fact the first time I was there the Helmand was quiet. In 2005 Sher Muhammad Akhundzada was the governor and his vast militia
- [Attention To Detail](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/08/18/attention-to-detail/) - Last week I got a treat that was too good not to share; a chance to link up with my friend Col Dave Furness, USMC, the commanding officer of Regimental Combat Team 1 currently deployed to the southern Helmand. Col Furness was heading out to look over the positions of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines
- [Violence of Action](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/03/12/violence-of-action/) - My latest trip included a quick stop in a dusty, sparsely populated corner of Afghanistan where I found my best friend Colonel Paul Kennedy USMC. Paul and I were instructors at the Infantry Officer Course (IOC) 20 years ago, after IOC we were both pulled out of the last quarter of the Amphibious Warfare School
- [The FRI Guide to Dangerous Places - Route 1 The Torkham Border to Jalalabad Highway](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/02/19/the-fri-guide-to-dangerous-places-route-1-the-torkham-border-to-jalalabad-highway/) - Early in the 2010 fighting season the vital Torkham – Jalalabad road corridor was suddenly beset with frequent rioting that closed it for days at a time. The Provincial government blamed insurgent attacks for the instability which seemed dubious as insurgent attacks don't generate large scale rioting. JSOC night raids could cause a few days
- [The FRI Guide to Dangerous Places  -  The Salang Pass](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/02/09/the-fri-guide-to-dangerous-places-the-salang-pass/) - In May of 2012 my team of Afghan cut throats and I were dispatched to investigate persistent rumors concerning ISAF vehicle convoys transiting the Salang Pass. The complaint was that ISAF units would close the pass causing Afghans to wait up to 24 hours in the freezing cold before they could get through. The international
- [Free Ranging the Khyber Pass](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/01/07/free-ranging-the-khyber-pass/) - There are three ways to tour the Khyber Pass; you can apply for permit and if granted then pay for a soldier to escort you through the pass, If you're a VIP there are no fees and you get lots of escorts, special presentations at the forts, and lunch at the Khyber Rifles Officer Club,
- [The Secret Gate: A True Story of Courage and Sacrifice During the Collapse of Afghanistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2024/01/03/the-secret-gate-a-true-story-of-courage-and-sacrifice-during-the-collapse-of-afghanistan/) - The Secret Gate is one of the best books of the year which is easily confirmed by noting its absence on any of the New York Times bestseller lists. I heard about this book from my father who was told about it by the wife of a friend, and she heard about it from one
- [Traveling in the East of Afghanistan; Jalalabad, The Khyber Pass, Peshawar, with a Small Rant on Reconstruction](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/10/20/traveling-in-the-east-of-afghanistan-jalalabad-the-khyber-pass-peshawar-with-a-small-rant-on-reconstruction/) - There are two main routes heading through the mountains to the east out of Kabul. The Latabad Pass, which is a poorly maintained dirt track road, and the Mahipar Pass which is a newly paved road and in excellent condition. Both passes funnel traffic into the village of Surobi and from there all traffic heading
- [Burn Notice](https://freerangeinternational.com/2023/12/24/burn-notice/) - This is one in a series of fictional short stories that I'll be posting in the ensuing weeks. Like all good fiction there is enough truth in the stories to include pictures, which I believe is an interesting modification of the fictional short story genre. The heavily armed American bumped along the Lashkary Canal road
- [The Start of a Long Year](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/01/15/the-start-of-a-long-year/) - While I was back home for a few weeks rest some articles caught my attention and they serve as a useful point of departure to evaluate where we are at the start of 2011. The American military is under significant strain after almost a decade of fighting. This is common knowledge yet it remains difficult
- [Observations on Kabul and the private security market](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/02/11/observations-on-kabul-and-the-private-security-market/) - Private security contractors have been in news lately mostly due to the ongoing Blackwater saga from Iraq. I cannot comment on Blackwater's operations in Iraq but do know a few of their contractors working Afghanistan. They seem to be above average in the quality department and better yet (the ones I know) are on interesting
- [What To Do? Part Two](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/09/25/what-to-do-part-two/) - There are no easy answers for Afghanistan. Take the recent elections; are there palatable options to fixing that mess? You can accept the results which are unpalatable, you can hold a run off which would probably be an even bigger farce; you could hold an emergency Loya Jirga and start over (could you imagine
- [The Afghans Want To Solve Their Problems The Old Fashioned Way](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/11/17/the-afghans-want-to-solve-their-problems-the-old-fashioned-way/) - This is the favorite FRI post of Afghans who stills read through this blog. It has aged well. Panjwayi Tim sent an article the other day worthy of serious consideration at the State Department if it were capable of serious consideration. It outlines a way forward in Afghanistan that has the following advantages: It would
- [Rainy Day in a White City](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/01/28/rainy-day-in-a-white-city/) - Jalalabad finally has some winter weather with much needed rain. The Hindu Kush has sparse snow on their peaks; the weather has been unseasonably mild and dry so far this winter. A dry winter is a disaster in a parched country that relies heavily on small scale farms to feed its people. So the rain
- [Permissive Environment](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/10/27/permissive-environment/) - Gunfire rippled across the morning calm of Jalalabad today. From what we have learned there were up to four gunmen who attacked the Nangarhar Hotel. Two were detected when they walking into the Hotel armed with AK 47's and pistols. There was a Provincial Directors workshop in progress which was probably the intended target. As
- [Pay to Play](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/10/19/pay-to-play/) - As the cool weather finally moves into Afghanistan I have to tell you that from my perspective not much is happening. I am not talking about security incidents - they almost doubled last week from a near all time high the week before. There is lots of villianary going on - the weather is perfect
- [A New Strategy!](https://freerangeinternational.com/2012/01/07/back-in-the-ussa/) - President Obama has released his new plan for the military which I agree with but not for his stated reasons for developing a new strategy. First allow me to present ten years of NATO in Afghanistan in three pictures: There it is; Afghanistan is toast, and what the last 10 years has taught
- [Assessing Trust in The Afghan Peace Deal](https://freerangeinternational.com/2020/03/04/assessing-trust-in-the-afghan-peace-deal/) - Editor's Note: Chim Chim is back with a post on FRI. It has been over a decade since we last heard from him He is a friend of mine with years of experience in Afghanistan at the higher levels of the U.S. Intelligence community. It is fitting that he once again reaches out to Free Range
- [The Real Reason to Stay in Afghanistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2019/06/20/the-real-reason-to-stay-in-afghanistan/) - Editors Note: This is cross-posted from The Freq media where I currently write a weekly Afghanistan Update. Last week Military.com published an Associated Press article under the headline “Islamic State Expands Reach in Afghanistan, Threatens West”. I have read it three times now, and consider it fake news. Here is an example: “The area comprising the
- [A look at Task Force Southwest and the American effort to cripple the Taliban drug trade](https://freerangeinternational.com/2019/06/20/a-look-at-task-force-southwest-and-the-american-effort-to-cripple-the-taliban-drug-trade/) - Editors Note: This is cross-posted from The Freq media where I currently write a weekly Afghanistan Update. Last month the commanding general of Task Force Southwest, Brig. Gen. Dale Alford, USMC, spent an hour talking with Macon All Marine Radio explaining his mission, his impression on the improved security in the Helmand province, and his take on the
- [Free Range International Does the Force for Hire Podcast](https://freerangeinternational.com/2019/06/20/free-range-international-does-the-force-for-hire-podcast/) - Michelle Harven, from the new Stars and Stripes Force for Hire podcast interviewed me for this weeks edition. They compressed a lot of material into a tight half hour and although I got to mention both of my current gigs, the weekly column at The Freq and the weekly appearance with Jeff Kenny on All
- [Lara Does the Special Forces](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/02/01/lara-does-the-special-forces/) - My morning email contained a heads up from Mullah John who is home on R&R. 60 Minutes had broadcast a show on the American Special Forces last night and the segment was "disheartening" to quote the good Mullah. After watching it I was left speechless - it was worse then "disheartening," it was awful. It
- [The Jalalabad Fab Fi Network Continues to Grow With a Little Help from Their Friends](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/02/05/the-jalalabad-fab-fi-network-continues-to-grow-with-a-little-help-from-their-friends/) - Editors Note: In this post Keith Berkoben and Amy Sun from the Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT report on the Fab Fi network in Jalalabad. These are cross posted on the Jalalabad Fab Lab blog. Keith is first up with great news on the continued growth of the fab fi mesh
- [Fab Surge Summary Part 1 : Value = (Cost)^-1](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/02/05/fab-surge-summary-part-1-cost-value/) - Tim's been bugging me to write a summary post for all you readers wondering what became of us. (Most of us are all the way home now and struggling to catch up on sleep while making an appearance at our "day jobs".) In short, we accomplished an awful lot and collectively recorded about
- [Collateral Damage](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/05/08/collateral-damage/) - It is time to turn the ole gimlet eye onto the news starting with this article about the killing of a little girl by the Italian army ISAF contingent in Herat. which I want to compare to the current civilian casualty flap in Farah Province where over 100 people are reported to have been killed
- [Reality Interferes With The Narrative In Afghanistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2018/10/21/reality-interferes-with-the-narrative-in-afghanistan/) - The war in Afghanistan took a catastrophic turn for the worse when General Abdul Raziq was assassinated last Thursday (18th of October). He was killed after attending a regional security meeting with the commanding general for the NATO forces in Afghanistan General Scott Miller. The Kandahar provincial intelligence chief, Gen. Abdul Momin Hussain Khel was also
- [Hacking The Afghanistan War](https://freerangeinternational.com/2018/05/15/hacking-the-afghanistan-war/) - My second podcast is up and as a reminder once I get a few more done I'll be using a service to get these out as listening podcasts on iTunes and Goggle Play. Links from the material used for the show are below. The Merry Pranksters Who Hacked the Afghan War from Pacific Standard The
- [Stop Making Sense](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/01/07/stop-making-sense/) - It is proving impossible to get a read on "the Afghan street" since our Commander in Chief articulated the new set of tactics for Afghanistan at his speech at West Point. It is clear the dynamics on the ground have changed and that this change is being driven by the fact that our great
- [Actions Speak Louder That Words](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/08/29/actions-speak-louder-that-words/) - There is no shortage of news flowing out of Afghanistan concerning election mischief and general mayhem. Just tonight we received a report about a BBIED who walked into the Pakistani Khasadar (Tribal) Guard mess and detonated his rig killing 22 and wounding another 15. That was probably revenge for the recent killing of Baitullah Meshud
- [Proof of Concept](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/06/03/proof-of-concept/) - I took up the pen last fall out of frustration at seeing our efforts in Afghanistan result in continuous negative trend line. Although I have tried to point out some positives like night platoon ambushes or the admirable performance of other developmental programs run by countries such as Germany and Japan the overall trend of
- [Killology](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/05/03/killology/) - There were a series of news stories which aroused more than a little interest amongst the circle of professional infantrymen I correspond with. One of those stories concerned young lieutenant leading a nighttime ambush patrol with his platoon from the 1st battalion of the 26th infantry.And what a story it is they patrol onto the
- [Mattis is No Good? A Look Into Task Force Violent](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/09/01/mattis-is-no-good-a-look-into-task-force-violent/) - The morning news brought an article critical of Secretary Mattis that immediately caught my eye. There are aspects of his tenure I'm finding troubling; the slow walking of the Presidents decree on transgender service persons being one of them. It is hard for me to imagine Secretary Mattis needs a formal study to determine if
- [Asking the Hard Questions About Afghanistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2018/02/10/asking-the-hard-questions-about-afghanistan/) - Editors Note: This post is worth investing some time to digest. The author, Jake Allen, has an excellent, thought provoking, response to my latest post on Afghanistan. Jake, a former Marine infantry officer and a good friend asks the hard questions on our current efforts in Afghanistan. A mini bio for Jake is located at
- [Baghdad Back In The Day](https://freerangeinternational.com/2018/02/07/baghdad-back-in-the-day/) - Editors Note: This is there first of a series of reflections that may become a book. I could use some help with this project; if I made a decent start and have hooked you into wanting more, that would be helpful to know. It would also be helpful to know if the hook doesn't have
- [Will Security Sector Assistance Work in Afghanistan?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2018/01/30/will-security-sector-assistance-work-in-afghanistan/) - The Taliban has been busy reminding the United States and her allies in Afghanistan that the moral is to the physical as three is to one. They have done this by side stepping our Security Sector Assistance (SSA) efforts in the Helmand and Nangarhar provinces by hitting the Afghan state where it is weak. Launching
- [Kill Shot - The Narrative Takes Two to the Chest](https://freerangeinternational.com/2018/01/24/kill-shot-the-narrative-takes-two-to-the-chest-women-in-the-infantry-myth-firmly-debunked/) - Last week Professor Jordan Peterson sat for a 30 minute live interview with journalist Cathy Newman on the BBC's Chanel 4. The results were a stunning unmasking of the liberal narrative that dominates western culture today. It was the most important debate of my generation unmasking the hubris and fallacy of the left by a
- [Is Kabul Safe for Foreigners? Hard Man Vs Grey Man](https://freerangeinternational.com/2018/01/22/is-kabul-safe-for-foreigners-hard-man-vs-grey-man/) - Last week an article popped up from Swedish journalist Franz J. Marty titled What Living in Kabul is Really Like. Franz tells us Kabul is perfectly safe which is in stark contrast from the recent Laura Logan report on 60 minutes. From his article: I don’t live in a highly secured compound. When I move around town, I usually walk.
- [Laura Does Kabul and Rocks It](https://freerangeinternational.com/2018/01/17/laura-does-kabul-and-rocks-it/) - One of the most popular posts I wrote while in Afghanistan was Laura Does The Special Forces and it was not a flattering review of Ms Logan or the Special Forces. It's time for another review of Ms. Logan's work on 60 minutes and this time she hit the ball out of the park. It
- [Atrocity in Afghanistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2018/01/13/atrocity-in-afghanistan/) - Yesterday news broke of what appears to be a cold blooded shooting by a US soldier of an Afghan truck driver. The story was first reported by politico and the short segment featured below was apparently part of a 3 minute video titled “Happy Few Ordnance Symphony,” that was briefly posted to Youtube this week.
- [Armed and Dangerous: Should a Principal Carry in Afghanistan?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2018/01/06/armed-and-dangerous-should-a-principal-carry-in-afghanistan/) - The new Secretary of the Navy caused a minor kerfuffle last week by carrying a sidearm while touring Afghanistan. Richard Spencer is a former Marine aviator, finance executive, and vice chairman of the nonprofit Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. He is a welcomed relief to the naval services after the hyper political reign of Ray Maybus. While on
- [A Reason for Optimism with Our Afghanistan Effort (Not What You Think Addition)](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/12/28/a-reason-for-optimism-with-our-afghanistan-effort-not-what-you-think-addition/) - There have been several news items on Afghanistan that call for some optimism. Task and Purpose published this long piece by former Ranger and current journalist Marty Skovlund and it's a great read. Marty also has done the War College Podcast and other media where he anticipates our continued involvement with the Afghans for decades
- [Do We Still Drug Test General Officers?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/12/15/do-we-still-drug-test-general-officers/) - Yesterday an article showed up in the press consisting of an interview with one of the general officers stationed in Afghanistan. He made a series of statements that were so delusional that were he a junior enlisted man he'd be subject to mandatory drug abuse screening. The article can be found here and is titled
- [Rare Earth Elements, Private Spies and Renditions.....More Fake News?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/12/11/rare-earth-elements-private-spies-and-renditions-more-fake-news/) - Last week was terrible for the legacy media. Glen Greenwald at the Intercept started his article on recent news room debacles this way: FRIDAY WAS ONE of the most embarrassing days for the U.S. media in quite a long time. The humiliation orgy was kicked off by CNN, with MSNBC and CBS close behind, with countless pundits, commentators and operatives joining
- [The Plot Thickens in Africa](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/11/13/the-plot-thickens-in-africa/) - In my last post I speculated about the demise of Sgt Johnson, the SF support team member killed in Niger last month. Unfortunately, I was correct but, in all honesty, it was not hard for to see how this story was going to unfold. From my last post: Read between the lines and you’ll conclude
- [And It's One, Two, Three, What Are We Fighting For?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/11/08/why-are-we-fighting-in-africa/) - ABC news published a story today titled American troops caught in deadly ambush told to proceed despite mission concerns. As is typical with the legacy media the article talks about conflicting mission statements by the Americans and Nigerians which may or may be true. What is true is the article provides lots of innuendo, the
- [Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/11/07/everybody-was-kung-fu-fighting/) - The closing of our FY 2011 Zaranj City Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project was completed with the opening of their brand new sports complex. We built this along with a bunch of other infrastructure for the municipal authorities for (in the big scheme of USAID things) peanuts.
- [Saving Afghanistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/10/31/saving-afghanistan/) - Something interesting popped up on the cover of Politico this week concerning Afghanistan. The Man who Thought He Could Fix Afghanistan is about Scott Guggenheim, the most influential development expert that you’ve never heard of. Apparently Mr. Guggenheim is famous for "pioneering the kind of bottom-up approach that rejects the older, headquarters-oriented style of proffering aid" in
- [G-Men](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/10/24/g-men/) - One of the distinct pleasures of football free Sundays is reading good books. I just finished another classic from Stephen Hunter about Bobby Lee Swaggart's grandfather and the FBI which is apropos as the FBI is currently the subject of many different story lines in the 24 hour news cycle. There is the inconvenient story about
- [We're Winning.....Why Does It Feel Like We're Losing?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/10/17/were-winning-why-does-it-feel-like-were-losing/) - I had a chance to visit with Mac on All Marine Radio last week. We touched on many topics and as we got to the end our visit we hit on something that really bothers us both. That something is winning battles only to lose wars. Although the legacy media is not focused on the
- [Heroes: The Legacy of The Vietnam War Series](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/10/03/heroes-the-legacy-of-vietnam/) - The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet not withstanding, go out and meet it. THUCYDIDES Jeff Shaara uses this quote at the beginning of his trilogy on WW II, The Raising Tide, setting the tone for his examination of the men who fought
- [What Are We Fighting For?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/09/28/what-are-we-fighting-for/) - Don't ask me I don't give a damn, next stop is Vietnam. I loved that song when I was a kid. I didn't agree with the sentiment but it was easy to sing, simple to remember, witty and had a fun beat to it. It expressed the dominant narrative of young Americans from the Woodstock
- [The Walking Dead](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/09/25/the-walking-dead/) - The Ken Burns Vietnam series wrapped up it's first week featuring a story I know well, the destruction of Bravo company 1st Battalion 9th Marines (1/9) in the Leatherneck square on July 2nd 1967. 1/9 (pronounced one nine in Marine speak) was known as The Walking Dead back then as it was in 1987 when
- [Getting Offended - The Ken Burns Vietnam Documentary](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/09/21/getting-offended-the-ken-burns-vietnam-documentary/) - My good friend Mac (Mike McNamara) at All Marine Radio had me on a couple of days ago to talk about the Ken Burns Vietnam War series and the President's UN speech. Mac is great at providing perspective and I'm pretty good at ferreting out obscure facts that I find offensive and using those to
- [The River Styx](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/09/21/the-river-styx/) - The third episode of The Vietnam War aired last night and it was a good one. We were introduced to a Special Forces legend (and the founder of Delta Force) Charles Beckworth. He was interviewed just after preventing his small detachment of Green Berets from being over run in the battle of Plei Me. Then Major
- [Riding the Tiger](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/09/20/riding-the-tiger/) - I found this quote from Ken Burns about his Vietnam series in a Washington Times article: “What we call fake news now are things that we don’t agree with but which happen to be true,” he said. “We’re not suggesting we’re going to the change the date of the Tet Offensive; that [would be] ‘fake
- [Déjà Vu](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/09/19/deja-vu/) - Last night the first episode of the Ken Burns Vietnam documentary titled Deja Vu aired and it was pretty good. It was visually stimulating, had an excellent musical score and told a sweeping (yet selective) narrative of history leading up to the American involvement in Vietnam. The back story on how we became entangled in
- [Whitewashing The Vietnam War](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/09/13/whitewashing-the-vietnam-war/) - The popular fiction writer Dan Brown wrote: History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books - books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napoleon once said, 'What is history, but a fable agreed upon?' That quote
- [Self Inflicted Wounds: Dogs and Hurricanes](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/09/08/self-inflicted-wounds-dogs-and-hurricanes/) - In a blunder too stupid to contemplate let alone explain the US Special Forces Information Operation (IO) team in Afghanistan designed leaflets that contained the Shahada "There is no God but God, and Muhammad is his prophet" printed on the side of a dog. Dogs are considered unclean to adherents of the Islamic faith; placing
- [The Manning's: Chelsea and Optimal](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/09/06/the-mannings-chelsea-and-optimal/) - Yesterday morning there was another article in the American Thinker website that went after Secretary of Defense Mattis. Titled Mattis Attempts To Normalize A Severe Mental Disorder. It was written by the same author as last weeks hit piece, David Archibald and the article dinged Mattis for establishing a panel of experts to examine the issue
- [“We are Killing Terrorists.” That's Half a Plan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/08/30/we-are-killing-terrorists-thats-half-a-plan/) - Last week in one of the stronger passages of a solid speech President Trump said “We are not nation-building again. We are killing terrorists.” Most Americans, to include myself normally like bold, unambiguous statements like that. Our nation building efforts in Afghanistan have not born much fruit, Americans don't, as a general rule, like terrorists. Killing
- [Big Army Tribal Engagement](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/02/19/tribal-engagement/) - Last month Chief Ajmal Khan Zazai returned to the Zazi valley. As I wrote about here his first attempt to return home had to be postponed after the local American army commander declared him an AOG (Armed Opposition Group) leader. The reason for this label is that Ajmal and his tribal police ran off the
- [FRI - All Marine Radio with Michael McNamara](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/08/25/fri-rss-test-all-marine-radio-with-michael-mcnamara/) - Just Listen .... ! http://allmarineradio.com/2017/08/24/afghanistan-big-taliban-little-taliban-and-a-new-direction-tim-lynch/
- [Bellum Romanum](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/08/25/bellum-romanum/) - Bellum Romanum is all-out war without restraint as Romans practiced it against groups they considered to be barbarians. I came upon the term a few days ago listening to a Dan Carlin Hard Corps History podcast about my ancestors titled the Celtic Holocaust. He starts the podcast by asking "what are you willing to die for"? He
- [The Trump Plan: The Devil is in the Details](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/08/22/the-trump-plan-the-devil-is-in-the-details/) - FRI now has a news letter widget! Sign up to avoid missing the most informed, insightful commentary on our efforts in Afghanistan available in the Free World today. Last night President Trump gave a solid speech about why he is committing American power and prestige to continue fighting in Afghanistan. It was a good speech
- [The McCain Plan: Dead On Arrival](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/08/13/the-mccain-plan-dead-on-arrival/) - The plan put forth by Senator John McCain is the perfect example of big government incompetence. The Prince plan is, in contrast, a perfect example of free market competence. Eric Prince and his team have done the hard work of mission analysis by developing tasks from which to build a table of organization and equipment
- [The Raven 23 Ruling: A Blow Against Politically Correct Tyranny](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/08/05/a-blow-against-politically-correct-tyranny/) - I remember the day everything started to go downhill for Americans in Afghanistan. It was Monday, the 29th of May 2006 when an American army truck had a brake failure and plowed into a bunch of cars at the bottom of a long hill at the northern entrance to Kabul. The accident caused fatalities which
- [The Axis Of Adults Focus On Afghanistan And May Be Entertaining A Solid Original Plan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/08/09/the-axis-of-adults-focus-on-afghanistan-and-entertain-a-solid-original-plan/) - It is immensely gratifying to see men you knew when they were junior officers ascend to such high levels in our government. The two Marines in what is now being called The Axis of Adults I trust implicitly as I do any man who can successfully lead an international oil company. It now appears the Axis
- [Europe's Afghan Crime Wave; What's Going On?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/07/18/eurpoes-afghan-crime-wave-whats-going-on/) - Last week I read an article about a topic that, like many current counter narrative trends, has been covered extensively in the alt media while mostly ignored in the legacy media. That topic is the epidemic of rapes and sexual assault committed in Europe by Islamic migrants. The author, Dr Cheryl Benard, revealed something I
- [Escalation of Force](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/03/28/escalation-of-force/) - The New York Times just printed an interesting story: Tighter Rules Fail to Stem Deaths of Innocent Afghans at Checkpoints. Here are the first two paragraphs: American and NATO troops firing from passing convoys and military checkpoints have killed 30 Afghans and wounded 80 others since last summer, but in no instance did the
- [Big Army Incompetence Has Left A Potential Viceroy In Play](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/07/15/big-army-incompetence-has-left-a-potential-viceroy-in-play/) - Demonstrating the unique human trait of hope over experience Chief Ajmal Khan Zaizi recently made a heart felt appeal to the international press to not forget Afghanistan. It was a moving speech that (experience would say) was wasted on a group of international elites who know little about history but a lot about the legacy media
- [The Storm Clouds Are Building; Time To Talk About Realistic Solutions](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/06/22/the-storm-clouds-are-building-time-to-talk-about-realistic-solutions/) - Last Friday night I was invited for a short segment on Tipping Point with Liz Wheeler . She is on the One America Network and wanted to talk about the situation in Afghanistan. I was asked to speculate on the 4,000 additional troops that the legacy media has been discussing for the past few weeks. I responded
- [Vultures Descend On Kabul As The Plan Takes Form](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/07/05/vultures-descend-on-kabul-as-the-plan-takes-form/) - A group of senators engaged on a 'fact finding' holiday stopped into Kabul to glad hand troops on July 4th and demand a "coherent plan" from the Trump administration. I do not like congressional junkets because they are prohibitively expensive, make the forces in the fight focus on hosting VIP's instead of maintaining an external
- [Weaponized Hate](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/06/19/weaponized-hate/) - As I said in my last post the Green on Blue attacks will continue and they have with the wounding of four make that seven (the count keeps increasing) more soldiers. This time the attack was in Mazar-e Sharif, the capitol of the once peaceful province of Balk. There are several factors driving these Green on Blue
- [Green on Blue Is Back And The Perfect Storm Is On The Horizon](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/06/12/green-on-blue-is-back-the-perfect-storm-is-on-the-horizon/) - Three US soldiers, from the 101st Airborne were killed and another wounded Saturday on a Green on Blue attack in Nangarhar province. This latest attacked occurred in Achin district, the same district where two Rangers were killed in action last April. Yesterday a joint American/Afghan patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in the Shergar
- [April Fools](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/04/16/april-fools/) - The ever alert FRI regular commentators picked up on this tragedy in near real time. Last Tuesday morning an Army patrol opened fire on a bus on the main road between Kandahar and the large ISAF base just outside the city. They killed four Afghans which sparked protests inside Kandahar City. The NATO statement is
- [D-Day In Afghanistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/06/07/d-day-in-afghanistan/) - The 73rd commemoration of the Allied invasion a of Normandy on D-Day (operation Neptune) is a fitting place to start an examination of what is happening in Afghanistan. One reason for that are the iconic photographs from that invasion of the firepower the Allied forces were using that day. Battleships were part of the prep
- [The Graveyard Of Hope](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/06/02/the-graveyard-of-hope/) - As the recent horrific bombing in Kabul is driven out of the news cycle it is time to interject some honesty into the Afghan story. The day of the latest attack Afghans took to twitter in droves asking how can a truck bomb get into the most secure part of the city or when will
- [Kabul Rocks; This Time It's Not The Taliban - It's Foreigners: IMPORTANT UPDATE](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/05/31/kabul-rocks-this-is-worse-than-you-think/) - *UPDATE: One of my friends from the intel world has alerted me that the you tube video below (the point of this post) is bogus. It is not from the attack on Kabul yesterday but a 2013 car bomb in Homs, Syria. That explains the Arabic making this post moot but my recommendations on a
- [Memorial Day Blues: Don't Thank Me - I Thank You](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/05/29/thanks-for-nothing/) - I never attend public observances of military holidays because they make me uncomfortable. My reluctance starts with the knowledge that many of the men who participate at these ceremonies are frauds. It ends with the knowledge that to date, we have failed to protect our fellow citizens from a dire threat emanating from abroad. In 1998
- [Carry On - The New Normal](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/05/25/carry-on-the-new-normal/) - Last night England experienced another terrorist attack; this time a suicide bomber who targeted a large crowd of young concert goers in Manchester. The media has focused on the targets being children which is curious. There have been thousands of children beaten, raped and brutalized by Muslim (mainly Pakistani) grooming gangs for years in England
- [Kharejee](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/05/22/kharejee/) - Kharejee is a word used in both Pashto and Dari for foreigners. Afghanistan has a long history of welcoming Kharejee to their lands as long as they weren't members of invading armies. When westerners arrived in force back in 2002 they weren't, initially, considered invaders are were welcomed in most places by most people. Unfortunately
- [Special Forces Are Not The Answer](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/05/15/special-forces-are-not-the-answer/) - The Trump administration is casting about Europe in an, as of yet, un-successful attempt to find more troops to deploy in Afghanistan. As they ponder future force levels in that country the one idea that never dies is adding more special forces to the mix. That will not work; in fact what they should do
- [Discipline](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/05/10/discipline/) - I have repeatedly written that in order for the Resolute Support Train and Assist mission to work the trainers will have to get out and fight with the trainees. The reason I'm adamant about that is not the traditional reason American combat advisers are normally effective. When my uncle Chad spent a year as an
- [ISIS-K Strikes Again And Heckmatyar Comes In From The Cold](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/05/05/isis-k-strikes-again-and-heckmatyar-comes-in-from-the-cold/) - Yesterday I was talking with one of the unsung hero's of the Afghanistan reconstruction battle Jeff "Raybo" Radan. I've known Jeff since we were instructors back at the Marine Corps Basic School and we worked together again when I replaced him (at the end of his tour) in Lashkar Gah as the regional manager for
- [Friendly Fire](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/05/02/friendly-fire/) - As reported in the update to my last post the Army has started a friendly fire investigation into the two most recent deaths in Afghanistan. Why would the they start a friendly fire investigation when the soldiers who were there are adamant that enemy fire killed sergeants Rogers and Thomas? That's a question with two
- [Three In A Row And A Look At What Could Have Been](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/04/27/three-in-a-row-and-a-look-at-what-could-have-been/) - This morning the main stream media caught up with FRI by reporting how the terrorists who attacked the Afghanistan National Army (ANA) in Mazar-i Sharif got onto the base. They also reported on the relief of the 209th Corps commanding general. To be fair the news report (linked here) contained details I didn't know so
- [What Did I Tell You Part II](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/04/26/what-did-i-tell-you-part-ii/) - Yesterday I posted the following breaking news on FRI: The Afghan defense minister, the army chief of staff and (although not in the press and maybe an inaccurate tip) four Afghan army corps commanders have been sacked. My sources for this kind of information have never failed me but the media and Resolute Support staff
- [The Momentum Is Not With Us](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/04/23/the-momentum-is-not-with-us/) - The 300 Marines of Task Force Southwest (TF Southwest) are on their way back to the Helmand province of Afghanistan to help stabilize the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in that part of the country. Based on the mornings news from the front it would appear they will be too little, to late. Last night
- [Crickets](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/03/08/crickets/) - Crickets as in "I hear nothing but crickets" is the word of the day for Regimental Combat Team 1 (RCT 1) based in Camp Dwyer and controlling the southern districts of Helmand Province. I needed to do a little district level coordination last weekend and was able to catch a ride to Marjah with my
- [Victory Day](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/04/22/victory-day/) - Well here we are, a week away from Victory Day, the third annual national holiday celebrating the martial history of Afghanistan. There is Independence Day in August, which celebrates running the Brits out of the country in the 1800's. Then, there is Liberation Day in February, which marks the end of direct Soviet Army involvement.
- [Mo MOAB Madness](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/04/17/mo-moab-madness/) - This weekend I read a Macedonian paper to get a read on what India had to say about Pakistan's involvement in the MOAB strike. An Indian paper to get a read on what Afghans not associated with the government thought about the attack and a Qatar-based Arab news network for the most even handed and comprehensive
- [All Clear](https://freerangeinternational.com/2012/04/16/all-clear/) - At 0630 this morning, Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in the form of the Kabul Critical Response Unit (CRU) finished off a crew of villains who had been fighting for the past 16 hours. These guys, most likely HIG militants, had barricaded themselves in a building under construction next to the Azizi Bank located on
- [A Trip to Gardez and a Visit with the Marines](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/06/09/a-trip-to-gardez-and-a-visit-with-the-marines/) - Gardez is the capitol of Paktya Province which is located in the southeast of Afghanistan. It is one of the provinces which border Pakistan, the terrain and vegetation is almost identical to the high deserts of the American west. Paktya looks similar to Marine Corps training base in 29 Palms California and exactly like the
- [In The Graveyard of Fuel Tankers](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/08/08/in-the-graveyard-of-fuel-tankers/) - It appears that Taliban fighters are moving out of the "Southern Triangle" of Nangarhar Province and attempting to interdict the road to Kabul. The latest attack (August 6th) occurred closer to Jalalabad then attacks targeting fuel tankers last summer. The talented RPG gunner we nicknamed "The Mechanic" was working the Tangi valley closer to Surobi
- [Push Back](https://freerangeinternational.com/2017/03/19/push-back/) - Since launching my campaign to embed in Afghanistan I've received a lot of push back from my American friends who spent time outside the wire in Jalalabad with me. They are concerned that I'm placing myself in grave danger to cover a story that will end in dismal failure. They have little confidence in the Government of the
- [Counterinsurgency 101](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/04/04/counterinsurgency-101/) - I do not think we have the will to really "win" a counterinsurgency fight in Afghanistan. Winning means destroying the Taliban's ability to excerpt control over the population. There are two ways to do that; by Annihilation of the fighting leadership (and most the rank and file) thus destroying their ability to resist or by Exhaustion
- [Kandahar Rocks](https://freerangeinternational.com/2015/12/10/kandahar-rocks/) - This is a post from March 2010 re-posted now as a reminder of how unstable most of Afghanistan has become in the past five years. There was a Taliban attack outside of the Kandahar Airport that killed over 50 people (Cartman says 61 in his reporting) two days ago. For those of us who spent
- [Getting After It](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/08/04/getting-after-it/) - One of the Chim Chim's dropped in for a visit last month. He was on some sort of ISAF inspection team which I didn't ask too much about and told us that every-time he asked officers from the unit he was looking at what they were doing the reply was "getting after it." They were
- [The Dog Days of Summer](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/08/22/the-dog-days-of-summer/) - I am overdue on updating all of you on local atmospherics in the rapidly destabilizing Nangarhar Province. I also recently did another episode of The Aloyna Show where I took a SWAG at who I think is responsible for the murders of the international medical team headed by Dan Terry and Tom Little - the
- [Inchon](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/10/20/inchon/) - Inchon is the call sign for the 1st Marine Regiment - currently deployed in southern region of the Helmand Province as Regimental Combat Team 1 (RCT 1). They are operating out of a large FOB in the middle of the Dasht-e Margo (Deseret of Death) about 50 kilometers from the Provincial capitol of Lashkar Gah,
- [Operation Magistral](https://freerangeinternational.com/2012/04/09/operation-magistral/) - There was an article on Afghanistan last week that got my immediate attention. The article had a one day life cycle and I have not seen any follow ups which, given the content, is surprising. I am not referring to the change in night raid policy - I couldn't care less about night raids
- [Storm Warning](https://freerangeinternational.com/2012/04/15/storm-warning/) - America is currently experiencing some monster tornadoes deep in the heartland. As dawn breaks across my homeland the scenes of devastation are dramatic but the casualties so far remarkably low. When a sudden serious storm breaks in Kabul it's a tornado of steal and there is one unwinding now in Kabul right down the street
- [Riding with Ghosts](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/07/19/riding-with-ghosts/) - Editors Note: This article is too good not to share in its entirety. The reporter, Mitch Potter, was kind enough to give me permission to do so. Mitch contacted me through the blog and Panjwaii Tim told me he was a great guy with lots of experience and knowledge who he was happy to host.
- [Restrepo](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/07/25/restrepo/) - Last week, Kanani Fong of the blog The Kitchen Dispatch, arranged an interview for me with Tim Hetherington, who along with Sebastian Junger produced the award-winning documentary called "Restrepo". Kanani signed onto the Restrepo team to spearhead a public relations effort, in conjunction with National Geographic, to get the film released nationwide in theaters. This is
- [Rocky Road](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/09/03/rocky-road/) - As the summer started I was optimistic that we would see indications that we are gaining ground in Afghanistan but that has not happened. Incident rates are skyrocketing which is not a bad thing if it is our side initiating the incidents but this too is not the case. While ISAF is conducting more raids
- [A New Way Forward?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/09/14/a-new-way-forward/) - We were under UN restricted movement routine last week (for the first time in five years) which provided the opportunity to digest a report from The Afghanistan Study Group entitled A New Way Forward. This report was great news for me because if think tanks are paying big bucks to people who write so poorly
- [Five Hundred Meter War](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/09/27/five-hundred-meter-war/) - Herschel Smith at the Captains Journal has put up a great post which addresses a topic near and dear to my heart; infantry tactics. The post is The Five Hundred Meter War and I want to reinforce Herschel's point with some observations. The tactical argument being raised by Herschel is the alarming trend of engaging in
- [Meet a Couple of Heroes](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/10/06/meet-a-couple-of-heros/) - Hero is one of those terms which comes up often in reporting about the military. Not every service member is a hero nor is every hero we encounter in our lives associated with the military. I point this out because the label "hero" is at risk of becoming a meaningless cliche as we approach the
- [What A Mess](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/10/11/what-a-mess/) - I'm not referring to the controversy surrounding the attempted rescue of Linda Norgrove which is currently consuming the news cycle. My experience is that Special Operations folks do not attempt rescue operations without solid intelligence and a well rehearsed plan. I don't know what happened in Kunar Province last weekend and therefore have no comment.
- [Jalalabad Rocks](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/07/02/jalalabad-rocks/) - Last Wednesday morning the local Taliban sent eight guys to attack the US Army base at Jalalabad Airfield known as FOB Fenty. They initiated the attack with a car bomb in a rarely used entry point on the southeastern side of the airfield which is well away from the Torkham to Jalalabad road. The remaining
- [N2KL](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/07/11/east-afghanistan/) - Spencer Ackerman wrote a post last week at Danger Room with the disturbing title of East Afghanistan Sees Taliban as "Morally Superior" to Karzai. This assessment came from the after action slides of Col Randy George who commanded Task Force Warrior this past year. There is nothing in the article or Col George's slides which
- [Naw Zad](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/02/15/naw-zad/) - I just did something today which would have been suicidal 10 months ago. My colleague Little Mac and I, in the company of a Marine tank officer and Naval surface warfare officer (he's a fires guy by trade) just strolled around the town of Naw Zad with no body armor, no helmets, no riflemen escorting
- [Ride For The Brand](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/02/11/ride-for-the-brand/) - When I first started this blog I used to hammer away on a couple of themes which really bothered me. The first were Provincial Reconstruction Teams which I maintain are, by design, unable to accomplish their assigned mission. The second theme had to do with the reason we remain in Afghanistan. Our current mission is
- [Shifting Sands](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/02/02/shifting-sands/) - With most of the world's attention focused unfolding events in the Mideast now is a good time to shed some light on the current ground-truth in Afghanistan. Sami the Finn is always a good place to start and he provides interesting perspective on the suicide bombing at the Finest supermarket in Kabul this past Friday
- [Afghanistan's Forgotten Province](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/12/06/afghanistans-forgotten-province/) - There are a couple of recent articles in the flood of coverage about Afghanistan which caught my eye last week. The first is factually wrong but I understand what the author was saying and he is, in a sense correct. The second is factually correct, I understand what that reporter was saying too and think
- [EFP's](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/11/20/efps/) - After the ceremonies described in the last three posts we had one more task to complete before we went home. In the ANSF after action report on the ambush of Haji Nematullah, they reported seizing three large buckets of Home Made Explosives (HME) and three "milled metal devices with explosives inside". We had no idea
- [Spiking The Ball](https://freerangeinternational.com/2012/05/02/one-year-later/) - Last night I was coming back from the La Taverna du Liban, Kabul's best Lebanese Restaurant, located in the Wazar Akbar Khan section of Kabul. Back in the day it had a full bar and open patio and was packed with expat customers. Most of the expats back then had at least a pistol on them
- [Stuck in Kabul](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/09/25/stuck-in-kabul/) - We are finishing up our projects and preparing to call it a war. This year we have been operating in 20 Provinces, all of them kinetic and getting every project we started finished on schedule and on budget. I now routinely move in Ghost Team mode throughout the Southwest using a few tricks of the
- [Masters of the Obvious](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/08/28/masters-of-the-obvious/) - Well, the day after E2 posted the droid post, a new report by Afghan "experts" was released. It is a complete crock, which couples blindingly obvious facts to a set of BS recommendations that are so wrong they can easily be dismissed an reasonably intelligent eight year old child (but not our betters in DC).
- [Arbaki](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/07/17/arbaki/) - President Karzai to reverse his position on using tribal militias. The new name for these soon to be created Arbaki is Local Police Forces (LPF.) This is a plan which has been tried before without success. In Kandahar the Local Defense Initiative (LDI) forces (the original Arbaki program from a few years back) were quickly
- [Running the Table](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/09/02/four-down-how-many-more-to-go-2/) - The bad guys hit a home run today by whacking the number the deputy commander of the Nangarhar NDS. The NDS is the National Directorate of Security and they are the best of what is currently available in the Afghan Security Forces. The number 2, Dr. Abdullah is an old Jihadi Commander from Laghman Province
- [The Apostle](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/07/01/the-apostle/) - Today a new book by my good friend and New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor hits the book stores and man is it a good read. I was sent a draft last month and loved it. In fact I couldn't put it down; there is a reason he is one of the best thriller
- [Heavy Weather](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/07/11/heavy-weather/) - This past Thursday (9 July) the three things which popped up on our local radar. There was an ANP (Afghan National Police) ambush which killed four police and dozens of civilians in Logar Province. Nuristan lost the Bargi Matal district when the Taliban flag went up over the District Administrative Center (DAC). And at 1412
- [Tainted Love](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/07/18/tainted-love/) - Last week the auntie of a local girl came from London to assist in her arranged wedding. The bride had little interest in the cousin to whom she had been engaged for the last 15 years but lots of interest in the boy next door so the English Auntie provided the age old remedy for
- [Contact](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/07/22/contact/) - Yesterday was one of those days which cause friends and family concern but which have little to no impact on myself, my workers, or the conflict in Afghanistan. There were multiple attacks in Gardez and Jalalabad which are the two cities in which I currently head work for cash projects. The suicide bomber who
- [Questionable Conduct](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/07/24/corrections/) - Shem Bot and I rolled out to recon another tanker attack last Thursday. Atmospheric collection is continuous; to get a sense of the 5 W's (who, what, when, where and why) we often do our own BDA (battle damage assessment.) I am most pleased to report that we do not believe the RPG mechanic had
- [The Cost of Risk Aversion](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/11/28/the-cost-of-risk-aversion/) - The Boss has a serious case of wanderlust and our collective success at running cash for work programs in Taliban controlled urban areas motivated him to go to the next level. For months all he talked about was Zarang - the capitol of Nimroz Province which is located on the border with Iran. Zarang attracted
- [High Noon in the Forgotten Province](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/10/10/high-noon-in-the-forgotten-province/) - Yesterday morning there was a running gunfight spanning 100 kilometers on the Nimroz Province side of the Dasht-e Margo (Desert of Death.) It started just outside the little hamlet of Qala Fath, which is home to the only reliable source of drinking water near Zaranj and also houses this spectacular walled city which once guarded
- [Diplomacy 101](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/10/14/diplomacy-101/) - I am in the middle of an interesting few days as we finish up our larger projectsvwith official ceremonies. Those of you who follow Michael Yon on facebook know where I am and what we have been up to. What is interesting to watch is Michael, myself and our friend (and co-worker) Chadd Nyerges, trying
- [Sanctuary Denied?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/10/27/sanctuary-denied/) - Last week I received and heads up from Mullah John that General Allen and Ambassador Crocker were on 60 Minutes and was able to watch the show on AFN. The one thing I noticed when watching General Allen was the emotion clearly evident as he discussed the truck bomb has had asked the Pakistani military
- [A Little Positive News](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/10/24/a-little-positive-news/) - Michael Yon was kind enough to give the blog a plug in his latest post on the National Reviews blog the corner. The problems currently being experienced by the expat community renewing visa's our obtaining work permits are irksome and expensive but in the big scheme of things minor. The government in Kabul is not
- [The State of Play](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/11/02/the-state-of-play/) - The best way to view the current state of play in Afghanistan is to start at the top of food chain and work down to what is important. The presidential election remains undecided and now Abdullah Abdullah has pulled out of the run-off election. Our Secretary of State says that means nothing. I agree
- [The Tribes](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/11/22/the-tribes/) - More interesting news is coming out of Kabul as the drive-by media continues its impressive efforts trying to explain our Commander in Chief's continuing dithering on what to do about Afghanistan. His obvious attempt at moving President Karzai out of the way has ended in abject failure straining relations with the Kabul government to the point
- [A Trillion Dollars](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/06/17/a-trillion-dollars/) - Yesterday the New York Times reported a stunner which was that the United States has discovered 1 Trillion dollars in untapped mineral wealth in Afghanistan. That news would seem to be a potential game changer and I went out this afternoon to downtown Jalalabad to conduct a couple man on the street interviews with local
- [Thugs, Mobs And Education](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/02/18/thugs-mobs-and-education/) - The news this week has been dominated by the Lara Logan story. Ms. Logan was the subject of the most popular post in FRI history which can be found here. Reactions to the news that Lara was subjected to "a brutal and sustained assault and beating" have cost at least one knucklehead his job
- [The Battle for Marjah](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/02/12/the-battle-for-marjah/) - Operation Moshtarak, the assault on the Marjah District in the Helmand Province started today. The press has been looking at it for months from various angles with stories stressing that secrecy has been lost or that civilians will be killed or with speculation on why the military is publicizing Operation Moshtarak in the first place. These
- [The Tribes - A Bottom Up Approach](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/11/07/the-tribes-a-bottom-up-approach/) - The last post generated quite a few interesting comments about the Steven Pressfield Blog, Chief Ajmal Khan Zazai, and the prospect of using specialized troops to embed with the tribes. With the election now decided this is an excellent time to talk about the tribes and more importantly a bottom up approach. The government in Kabul
- [One Step Forward Two Steps Back](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/04/19/one-step-forward-two-steps-back/) - Every now and then one stumbles across a story which illustrates deeply held convictions so well that you just have to share. Here is one of those and it is a sad tale of incompetence, risk aversion and just plain clown like silliness. It is amusing (I guess) but it is also so typical of why
- [Is Obama's plan a Surge or the same thing done better approach?](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/03/29/are-we-going-to-see-a-surge-or-the-“same-thing-done-better”-approach-2/) - When a large bureaucracy like the Pentagon is faced with making a major decision regarding an issue as complex as Afghanistan experienced observers know they will see one of two approaches. The first (and by far rarest) option is a radical departure from current operational methods representing a new way forward. The way soldiers from
- [There's Fire](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/05/25/theres-fire/) - Fighting season is now on. This year the villains strategy appears to involve deliberate attacks on aid projects and let me tell you something we (the outside the wire aid community) are getting hammered. In the last week a majority of us have had to deal with murders, intimidation, shootings, IED's, kidnappings and attacks on
- [Ground Truth](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/08/16/ground-truth/) - As the elections approach there has been much in the news on Afghanistan and most of it is not terribly accurate. Yesterday's VBIED in Kabul is a good example. Most news outlets are connecting this attack to a countrywide effort by Taliban groups to interfere with the Presidential election scheduled for Thursday. I'm not
- [Election Day](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/08/20/election-day/) - It is hot, humid and sunny this morning in Jalalabad with a pleasant light wind blowing out of the Northeast. The traffic is light, people calm and as we sit here on the Baba deck monitoring the election we are receiving a report about every 10 minutes of mischief and mayhem. I bet less than
- [Where There Is Smoke](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/05/13/where-there-is-smoke/) - This year's fighting season has started off with a whimper in Helmand Province. On May Day (as predicted) the only action was in Paktika Province where a child suicide bomber violated the latest Taliban public announcement by blowing himself up in a police station. The Taliban had just announced they would no longer allow beardless
- [Leadership 101](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/05/07/leadership-101/) - Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is never pleasant to observe, especially when it is an American President doing the snatching. President Obama was running strong: 1. He just announced The Dream Team taking over the Afghan campaign, 2. He launched a unilateral direct action mission deep into Pakistan to kill bin Laden. This
- [What To Do? Part One](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/09/21/what-to-do-part-one/) - The sun is setting over the Hindu Kush and tonight we finally end Ramadan and start the four day "Big" Eid holidays. The kids behind the Taj didn't have any fire crackers so they dug up their Dad's AK and shot off a magazine. By the time the guards and I got there in response
- [Poppy Time](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/04/10/poppy-time/) - It is Saturday, the 9th of April here in the sunny paradise of Afghanistan and both Kandahar and Kabul are in a UN declared "White City" status as the locals brace for another round of anti-American protests in response to the Koran burning in Florida. I'm in Kandahar where all is quiet after Thursday's spectacular
- [Fab Lab Jalalabad](https://freerangeinternational.com/2008/12/17/fab-lab-jalalabad/) - Editors Note: This post is written by Amy Sun the MIT team leader for the Jalalabad FabLab. A lot is going on in the Taj Fab Lab and it's pretty exciting. The lab was deployed quite recently - equipment and I hit the ground in June 2008 - so expectations from all of our supporters
- [Hotel California Naw Zad Edition](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/03/28/hotel-california-naw-zad-addition/) - Facebook sent me a reminder about a post that went up 5 years ago and asked it I wanted to re-post it. I did then went to read and realized it was probably one of the better more prescient posts I ever wrote so here it is....back on the front page of FRI exactly 5
- [Tribal Militias](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/05/22/tribal-militias/) - A few days ago I was invited back to The Alyona Show to talk about tribal militias. You can see Alyona now during these interviews, but I still ended up looking all over the place like Stevie Wonder. No idea why I do that... Alyona and I ended up talking about two different aspects of
- [Kandahar Rocks](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/03/13/khandahar-rocks/) - I'm still on the road trying to make my way back to Jalalabad from a big implementation work group meeting in Lashkar Gah. Step one of the journey back was to hitch a ride to Kandahar where Panjawaii Tim promised to pick me up and take me out to his project HQ in the city.
- [Technology Development Stemming from 9/11 and the Wars In Afghanistan and Iraq](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/04/09/technology-development-stemming-from-911-and-the-wars-in-afghanistan-and-iraq/) - The title above will be the basis for a series of articles I will write over the coming weeks outlining some cutting-edge technologies that are just being placed in the field, or will soon debut in the next few years. The events surrounding September 11th 2001 and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have
- [FabFi on the front page of New York Times](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/06/12/fabfi-in-the-new-york-times/) - Here's an update in an attempt to counteract the thoroughly depressing news of Tim going silent. (Anyone who knows Tim in person knows that you can't actually silence him; he's still ranting but we've turned off the blog-mike). With Kanani's help, I've put this post in Babatim format. This weekend's New York Times has several
- [May Day](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/05/01/may-day/) - The ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) has taken an unusual step by issuing a warning to all internationals, alerting of coordinated "spectacular attacks", kidnapping of internationals, suicide bombings, and all manner of general mayhem to kick off Sunday, 1 May. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time ISAF has ever
- [Afghanistan Gone Wild](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/04/04/afghanistan-gone-wild/) - The killings in Mazar-i Sharif followed by rioting in Kandahar, Jalalabad and towns across the country are more than a little troubling. Joshua Foust posted on the topic expressing concern about the viability of internationals remaining outside the wire which makes me concerned too because Joshua isn't one to cry wolf.. Registan.net then added a
- [It Takes A Clue](https://freerangeinternational.com/2011/02/28/it-takes-a-clue/) - Nothing will sour the morale of combat troops faster then the realization that the commander at the top receives frequent visits from the Good Idea Fairy. Which is a good start point for explaining why General Stanley A McChrystal took to the pages of Foreign Policy last week to explain the unexplainable. The story
- [Some Good News from Southeast Afghanistan (after another unfortunate event)](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/04/13/1514/) - There has been a flood of RFPs (request for proposal's) hitting the street of Kabul concerning FOB Sharana. Sharana (spelled Sharan on UN AIMS maps) is the capitol of Paktika Province and a relatively small city of some 2,200 people. Here is an assessment done in the not too distant past on Sharana: The dominate
- [Status quo ante bellum](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/05/16/status-quo-ante-bellum/) - My last post has generated considerable interest from all over the blogsphere, providing me a great opportunity to restate a few of my firmly help beliefs about Afghanistan. One of the first and most contentious of my views is that al Qaeda and their Taliban allies will never again run Afghanistan no matter what happens
- [The Dutch Boy Dilemma](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/05/25/the-dutch-boy-dilemma/) - I have been victimized this week by a crashed internet system and one false start on this post. In addition when I do get a little net time I am engaged in several email conversations with FRI readers some of these are so good I may post them as standalone articles. Chris Chivers of the
- [Christian Major](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/06/14/christian-major/) - Last February I wrote this post about the Afghan Security Market. I was in Kabul for a month as a favor to a friend when I wrote the post filling in for a guy I had not met before named Christian Major. Christian and I spent two days conducting a turn over before he went
- [The Elections are Coming](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/08/02/1863/) - The pending Afghanistan election is heating up. The main challenger Abdullah Abdullah has suffered three attacks in three days on different offices around the country and one of his senior aides claimed that if Karzai won they would take up their rifles and fight in the streets of Kabul. The other serious challenger, Ashraf
- [flash flood](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/09/02/flash-flood/) - I'm cross-posting this here at FRI because there seem to be more interest in the Saracha Bridge collapse than my little server at MIT can handle. You can find the original post at amy.fablab.af. Update: Download an extended set of photos from the collapsed Saracha Bridge (49 photos, 13.4MB). Early in the morning of
- [mudistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/09/03/mudistan/) - It's now two days after the storm and the water level has dropped amazingly. I don't know where it all went, Pakistan, I'd guess. The brick and concrete structures still standing have marks from the high water level - dried mud and flotsam on the walls about waist high. Now the unpaved side roads are
- [Animal House: The Real Story (Updated)](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/09/05/animal-house-the-real-story-2/) - You have to admit that the current guard force at the U.S. Embassy Kabul know how to get attention. The rash of stories which broke last Wednesday were amusing to say the least. The story broke with a news release from a group called "Project on Government Oversight" (POGO) who had received pictures
- [You buy the Ticket You Get the Full Ride](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/09/10/you-buy-the-ticket-you-get-the-full-ride/) - A few days back I was reminiscing with my good friend LtCol Jeff Kenny, USMC who is leading the Embedded Training Team (ETT) efforts here in the eastern region. We were talking about Gunny Donvito who developed the close combat training that has ultimately become the Marine Corps Combative program. The Gunny -
- [The Internal Focus of ISAF](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/10/02/the-internal-focus-of-isaf/) - Earlier in the week I had one of those trips from hell which make being in Afghanistan such a drag. The drive between Jalalabad and Kabul takes less than 2 hours on a good day. Last Sunday the drive took over 12 hours - 9 of them spent sitting in a traffic jam
- [Reading Tea Leaves](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/10/06/reading-tea-leaves/) - I have been in Dubai on a business trip for the past week. The boss is spoiling his talented group of Canadians and I in preparation for expanding out efforts into the most contested districts in the country. He didn't have to spend the money as my colleagues and I are motivated by the challenge
- [Combat Operator Podcast and the Civilian Surge for Afghanistan](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/03/21/combat-operator-podcast-and-the-civilian-surge-for-afghanistan/) - I had a great interview with Jake Allen from the Combat Operator Ezine. He is just as talented on the radio as he is with the pen and it turns out we had met each other several years ago when his former rifle company commander Dave Furness and I dropped by his home in Salt
- [Adventures Outside the Wire](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/04/01/adventures-outside-the-wire/) - This blog post is a bit of a departure from FRI's normal topics no embed reporting, no strategies on how to win the Global War on Terror (GWOT), no great empowerment projects (aka the Fablab) to talk of, but I hope you'll find it interesting none the less. Tim and I go back about
- [Petraeus Comes East](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/06/26/petraeus-comes-east/) - The coverage of the impending arrival of General Petraeus to take charge of the Afghan Campaign has been intense. Pundits both big and small have been offering anaysis almost non-stop - I'm getting Petraeus fatigue reading all this junk. But for those of you who haven't reached that point yet here is my contribution on
- [Unprecedented](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/06/23/unprecedented/) - General McChrystal is in hot water over this article in Rolling Stone magazine . Last night news reports indicated remarks from "aides" to the reporter seem to be blunt, confidential assessments from the General about the President, Vice President, NSC head Gen Jim Jones (USMC Ret) and the American ambassador among others. Later in the
- [Dahla Dam](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/06/12/dahla-dam/) - A few days ago an excellent investigative report by Mitch Potter of the Toronto Star was published informing the citizens of Canada that their signature project in Afghanistan, the Dahla Dam irrigation project, appears to be failing. It is a story well told and yet another example of the insanity of doing the same thing
- [Necessary Secrets](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/05/17/necessary-secrets/) - The Powerline Blog has a post this morning on a surprising honest review in the Washington Post of the new book Necessary Secrets. From the Powerline post: "The review is by Leonard Downie, Jr., who was the Post's executive editor until 2008. Downie is obviously uneasy with Schoenfeld's view that editors and reporters at the
- [Crazy Contractors](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/05/03/crazy-contractors/) - It has been a long time since we have seen a crazy contractor story from Afghanistan. This story, about reckless security contractors, popped up in the news yesterday, saying "...Private Afghan security guards protecting NATO supply convoys in southern Kandahar province regularly fire wildly into villages they pass, hindering coalition efforts to build local
- [Happy Mujahedin Victory Day](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/04/29/happy-mujahedin-victory-day/) - Yesterday was the 18th anniversary of the Mujahedin expulsion of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan and was marked by a military parade in Kabul. Vice president, Marshal Fahim in his inaugural speech emphasized on the fight against government corruption and reinforcement of the Afghan Army. He also suggested from the anti-government groups to return to
- [Security For Me But Not For Thee ](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/04/24/security-for-me-but-not-for-thee/) - ISAF continues to reposition forces closer to the civilian population centers as part of their "population centric" strategy. They've set off a flurry of activity putting up blast walls, T barriers, concertina wire and Hesco counter mobility obstacles. Only none of this frantic building of security barriers is happening anywhere near Afghan population centers
- [Death in the Morning](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/04/09/death-in-the-morning/) - Yesterday morning started with an event so senseless and evil that it is hard to describe. An American army patrol was moving through downtown Jalalabad when the villains detonated a bicycle mounted IED. This IED had no chance of even denting the paint job on an MRAP, but it did throw out a
- [Out Come the Long Knives](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/03/19/out-come-the-long-knives/) - I have been waiting for this; At Afghan outpost, Marines gone rogue or leading the fight against counterinsurgency. It was a matter of time before the losers in Washington DC and Kabul took their bureaucratic infighting public by leaking to the press. You send in the Marines, ask them to do a job
- [On Intelligence](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/03/22/on-intelligence/) - Editors Note: Chim Chim wanted to provide his perspective on the recent CIA versus contractor story which exploded in the main stream media last week. He knows of what he speaks: The World has changed. I hear that a lot. As a matter of fact, I have heard it since I was in grade
- [Amateur Hour](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/01/19/amateur-hour/) - The attack on Kabul yesterday was yet another demonstration of how inept the Taliban are at the planning and execution of a simple raid. The attack has been described in the press as "audacious" and "brazen" which is true. All their attacks in downtown Kabul are conceptually bold military moves; but they accomplish
- [White Information](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/01/16/white-information/) - Friday started with a disturbing report - a fuel tanker attack on the Jalalabad side of the Duranta Dam tunnel. Ambush teams operating less than a mile from the Taj! Not good news, so after the incident scene cleared out we went for a look-see. A trucker had hit an old leaky fuel
- [Adapt, Decentralize, and Harden.](https://freerangeinternational.com/2010/01/14/adapt-decentralize-and-harden/) - The string of failures starting with the Jihadi attack on Fort Hood by an American Army Major, followed by the fiasco of incompetence demonstrated by multiple agencies in the Christmas Day undie bomber attempt, followed by the CIA FOB Chapman attack were huge strikes. Three strikes, but nobody is out because that is the
- [Fear Factor](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/11/18/fear-factor/) - I have been on the road for the past fortnight sorting things out for a prolonged leave back in the U.S. In this post our good friend Chim Chim gets a load off his chest about the military and our various intelligence agencies. Chim Chim knows what he is talking about having embedded
- [A Fat Chicken Does Not Lay Eggs](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/09/05/a-fat-chicken-does-not-lay-eggs/) - The place I've been calling Mudville, vaguely in the eastern part of Jalalabad, is known as Base Eckmunblahblah. It means "military logistics area" and is owned by the Department of Defense. I've forgotten the word exactly - today's new vocabulary includes reshwat (bribe), tofa (gift), bakshish (tip, alms, gift-for-something-you-did-or-'cause-you're-poor) - but just like the name
- [Want A "Digital" Silk Road in Afghanistan? Let Them Build It](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/04/11/want-a-virtual-silk-road-in-afghaistan-let-them-build-it/) - Editors Note: One of the topics frequently mentioned by ISAF, NATO, and US AID is the need to get Internet and computers into educational facilities, schools, and ultimately homes in Afghanistan. There is a NATO Virtual Silk Road program which is the closest to actually installing hardware and internet - they have been
- [Want A "Digital" Silk Road in Afghanistan? Let Them Build It](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/04/11/want-a-virtual-silk-road-in-afghaistan-let-them-build-it-2/) - Editors Note: One of the topics frequently mentioned by ISAF, NATO, and US AID is the need to get Internet and computers into educational facilities, schools, and ultimately homes in Afghanistan. There is a NATO Virtual Silk Road program which is the closest to actually installing hardware and internet - they have been
- [Women's Resource Center / Work For Cash](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/04/08/womens-resource-center-work-for-cash/) - Tim invited me to submit some ideas for ways to spend the Work For Cash program he's administering this spring. There is a focus on getting the money into the hands of women. Many of the traditional WFC programs are things like digging out the sewers or sweeping the streets, and those are inappropriate for
- [Women's Resource Center / Work For Cash](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/04/08/womens-resource-center-work-for-cash-2/) - Tim invited me to submit some ideas for ways to spend the Work For Cash program he's administering this spring. There is a focus on getting the money into the hands of women. Many of the traditional WFC programs are things like digging out the sewers or sweeping the streets, and those are inappropriate for
- [Fab Surge Summary Part 2: Projects](https://freerangeinternational.com/2009/02/24/fab-surge-summary-part-2-projects/) - Tim san really really wanted me to post our project descriptions for you readers even though I haven't had enough time to them justice. (I've just returned from a very intense install / training / opening week in East Cleveland, Ohio where there was a more tense security presence than much of Afghanistan.) One ton

## Pages

- [Tim Lynch](https://freerangeinternational.com/about/) - I am a retired Marine who spent over seven years in Afghanistan doing security and reconstruction projects. I traveled to every province in the country, rarely used armored vehicles, never lived inside a base or secure compound, and made many great friends during my time in Afghanistan. For the last four years of my adventure
- [Contact](https://freerangeinternational.com/contact/) - Email me at: tim@freerangeinternational.com [whohit]https://freerangeinternational.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1657&action=edit[/whohit]

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