Author Archives: Thomas Joscelyn & Bill Roggio

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal. Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal.















Analysis: The Taliban’s ‘momentum’ has not been broken

President Obama claims that the Taliban’s “momentum” has been broken in Afghanistan. Other officials have made similar claims. The Long War Journal has examined several sources that measure the insurgency’s capacity for violence and finds that the Taliban’s momentum has not been broken. The overall level of violence in Afghanistan today remains worse than prior to the surge.













Al Qaeda’s #3 misidentified again

An al Qaeda leader named Sheikh Younis al Mauritani has been identified as al Qaeda’s external operations chief and number three in the organization. According to US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal, he is neither.