More Afghan War News Snippets

The Marines of the Heavy Helicopter Squadron 366 have left Camp Bastion, Afghanistan and are now at home in Cherry Point, Virginia. The wing provided tactical combat support in Helmand province. Read more in "Closeout, HMH-366 Marines return, end Afghan mission", DVIDS, November 17, 2014.

President Ashraf Ghani recently completed a trip to Pakistan. He was warmly received by Pakistan (Central Asia Online, November 17, 2014). Perhaps the Pakistan intelligence service will cease its support of the Haqqani Network? (Probably not).

A two-week long Border Management Awareness Course was held at an OSCE security training event in November 2014 in Dushanbe. The Afghan policemen studied information collection techniques, reconnaissance, tactical patrolling, resource deployment and assessment, interview and interrogation, crime scene management, and more. (Central Asia Online, November 17, 2014).

An editorial on the Opinion Pages of The New York Times by Theodore L. Eliot, Jr. and Karl F. Inderfurth entitled "Afghan Aren't Giving Up" (November 17, 2014) states that most Afghans are impressed with the newly elected President Ashraf Ghani. They argue that Afghans have not given up on their country and that the international community should not give up on Afghanistan. Eliot is a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan (1973-1978) and dean emeritus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Inderfurth was an assistant U.S. Secretary of State for South Asian affairs from 1997 to 2001 and is now a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

2014 was a year of great anxiety for Afghans. A new survey by The Asia Foundation found that 40 % feel the country is moving in the wrong direction. See a news report by DW.de (Nov 18, 2014).

UNESCO is teaming up with the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture (using funding from Japan) for the establishment of a Bamiyan Cultural Centre (Architecture News Daily, November 18, 2014).

Germany has pledged $21 million in aid to improve infrastructure and capacity building in northern Afghanistan. (Central Asia Online, November 17, 2014).

The Los Angeles Daily News provides us with a report (November 17, 2014) on Afghan journalists who are touring the United States on a educational tour to learn more about journalism.