Showing posts with label European-Union. Show all posts
Showing posts with label European-Union. Show all posts

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Brussels Conference: 4-5 October 2016

The European Union (EU) and Afghanistan are going to be co-hosting the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan during 4-5 October 2016. More than 70 countries and 20 international organizations and agencies are expected to participate. The aim of the conference is to endorse a program of comprehensive reforms within the Afghan government and society that will ensure the continued support of the international community (funding, military assistance, etc.). The results of the conference will likely provide additional assurance to the Afghan government and people of the support of the international community over the next several years. Whether the conference results are instrumental in the attainment of reforms by the Afghan government is very much in question.

President Ghani and CEO Abdullah will be attending as well as other Afghan governmental officials. Afghanistan will attempt to present in a positive light the achievements it has made since 2014 and also highlight its vision of peace, stability, and prosperity for Afghanistan for the next several years.

It will be interesting to see if the European nations (and others) accept Afghanistan's attempts to convince them that progress is being made in the oversight and accountability of funding, on women's issues, and on important reforms that will provide good governance and reduce the rampart corruption.

Also, an interesting aspect will be what concessions Afghanistan will make in regards to the thousands of Afghans who illegally found their way to Europe and who the European nations would like to repatriate. A news report in The Guardian (Sep 28, 2016) states that there is a secret European Union memorandum that Afghanistan will need to agree to accepting 80,000 deportees or lose aid.

Read more about the conference:
EU Statement, European Union, September 27, 2016.
EU Memo on Afghan Refugees, European Union, 3 March 2016.
"Will the World Keep Funding Afghanistan?", The Diplomat, Sep 29, 2016.

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Afghan War News Snippets


EU Providing 12 Million Euros. Afghanistan faces a critical humanitarian crisis as a result of the intensifying conflict. The European Union is upping its contribution for humanitarian aid by 12 million euros bringing the total humanitarian aid to 40 million euros for 2015. (European Commission, Dec 22, 2015).

Taliban Leadership Struggles. There seems to be three distinct groups of the Afghan Taliban emerging and the divide is going away soon. Read "Dueling Fatwas, More Dissension as Afghan Taliban Leadership Struggle Intensifies", Gandhara Blog, December 22, 2015.

Sexual Assault in Afghanistan. Danielle Moylan writes "When It Comes to Sexual Assault, Afghanistan Is All Talk and No Action", Foreign Policy, December 21, 2015.

Peace Talks? Looks like Afghanistan, Pakistan and others will make another attempt at peace talks. Reports say that another round will take place in Pakistan on/about January 11th. China and the United States may (will) also participate. (Radio Free Europe, Jan 2, 2016).

Georgian Deployment Program (GDP). The GDP is a multi-year training program with the goal to increase the interoperability between the Georgian Army and Resolute Support Mission (RSM). The training consists of six six-month rotations designed to train six Georgian infantry battalions. Read more in a contract announcement about driver training for the GDP-RMS project. (GovTribe.com, Dec 22, 2015).

Earthquake - Again. A 6.2 earthquake hit Afghanistan in late December 2015 causing about a dozen injuries. (Telegraph, Dec 25, 2015). A second earthquake was experienced in Kabul on January 2nd - measuring 5.3.

Nuristan - A Remote Region. Mujib Mashal writes about a remote and isolated province in northeastern Afghanistan in "Afghan Province Tucked in Mountains Lies Beyond Reach of Aid and Time", The New York Times, December 25, 2015.

Islamic State Radio. The IS militants based in eastern Afghanistan has launched their own radio station that features a 90-minute long program daily show entitled the "Voice of the Caliphate". It is in Pashto and reaches out to a wide audience within the province. Naturally the Afghan government is not pleased. Watch a two-minute long video by Radio Free Europe, December 22, 2015.

Nomads in Pamir Region. The Kyrgyz of the Pamir Mountains live in three different countries in a remote part of the world - Afghanistan, China, and Tajikistan. Learn more in "Modernity of Ancient Nomads in Pamir of Tajikstan", Radio Free Europe, December 21, 2015.

Former TAAC-South Cdr to 10th Mtn. BG Paul Bontrager is heading to Fort Drum, NY to be deputy commanding general for the 10th Mountain Division (Light). (Defense.gov, Dec 15, 2015).

Corruption. The country of Afghanistan is no doubt one of the most corrupt in the world. This culture of corruption is compounded with the billions of dollars that the U.S. and international community has pumped into the Afghan economy through aid and military expenditures. It is a small victory when someone actually gets charged with corruption. Read "U.S. Charges Afghan Businessman With Bribing for Contracts", Radio Free Europe, December 30, 2015.

TAPI and Peace. Barnett Rubin writes about the importance of the TAPI pipeline project and the impact it will have on peace in the region and Afghanistan's economy. While everyone applauds wildly about this seemingly important economic event some wonder how it will be built and secured in a disintegrating security situation. President Ghani's promise of protecting the pipeline's route through Afghanistan with 7,000 security personnel is ambitious but untenable. Read more in "The TAPI Pipeline and Paths to Peace in Afghanistan", The New Yorker, December 30, 2015.

Bad Year for Ghani. Afghanistan is experiencing weakness and disunity in both government and insurgent ranks. Some believe that President Ghani's first year did not go well. Read "The Guardian view on Afghanistan: a bad year for Ashraf Ghani", The Guardian, December 30, 2015.

Landai Season. Fazal Muzhary writes about this late fall / early winter traditional food feast that takes place in rural parts of Afghanistan in Landai Season: a delicacy and a feast in rural Afghanistan, Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), December 30, 2015.

Data Book on Gender. The World Bank has published a handy pocket guide for users interested in gender statistics. This country by country reference could be helpful to those working gender issues in Afghanistan. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/23436

UN Security Council Debate. The Afghan ambassador to the United Nations, H.E. Mahmoud Saikal, addressed the UN Security Council in December about the situation in Afghanistan. You can listen (and watch) his 18-minute long address at the following link on YouTube.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywV6Iv-Yl18

USAID and CVE. Where does the fight against violent extremism fit within the broad spectrum of development? USAID tells you in a recent report dated September 28th, 2015.

New TAAC-North Cdr. The Train, Advise, Assist Command - North based at Camp Marmal near Mazer-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan has a new commander. A quick look at his bio indicates that this is his first deployment to Afghanistan. Hmmmm. Perhaps it was just an oversight and he has completed five six-month tours to the Graveyard of Empires? Or are the Germans falling into the American practice of selecting officers to command in Afghanistan for their career development rather than selecting officers for their vast knowledge and experience of Afghanistan's politics, culture, tribes, ethnic groups, language, history, and many years of conflict.

Turkish Labs & Afghan Opium. The director of Russia's Federal Narcotics Control Service has said that Turkish laboratories are processing Afghan opium for deliveries to Europe. According to Russia's Sputnik news (real dependable source there) the drug cargo sometimes travels along northern Afghanistan into Iran and then on to Turkey. Once processed it finds its way into Europe through the Balkans. (Khaama Press, Dec 22, 2015).

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Islamic State in Afghanistan

EU Rep: Defeating ISIS in Afghanistan. Ambassador Franz-Michael Mellbin, the Special Representative of the European Union in Afghanistan, spells out his views on how we need to defeat the Islamic State in Afghanistan. The ISIS threat has been upgraded from 'nascent' to 'operationally emergent'. Early efforts to stem the ISIS movement (using drones, Afghan SOF, and tribal engagement) worked very effectively; however, the group has proven that it is resilient. An immediate counter-strategy is needed to counter the continued growth and development of ISIS in Afghanistan. Read more in "We got ISIS wrong in Syria, let's get it right in Afghanistan", Times Live, September 29, 2015.

IS Making Inroads. A senior State Department official said that the U.S. is concerned about the Islamic State group's efforts to establish a stronghold in Afghanistan. This follows a United Nations report stating the same. Read "Islamic State Inroads in Afghanistan Concern US"Voice of American, September 26, 2015.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Video - EU in Afghanistan

The European Union in Afghanistan has published a short video entitled "This is How Afghanistan Can Become Peaceful and Prosperous" (March 19, 2015, 2 minutes long). The narrator says that "When we think of Afghanistan, we think of war, conflict and its violent past. But what about the future?" The video sends the message that Afghanistan sits at the centre of a natural corridor for trade and transit but in order to take advantage of this geographic advantage cooperation with other regional countries like China, Pakistan, Iran, India, and the Central Asian states is crucial. This video explains how regional cooperation would benefit Afghanistan and what the EU Delegation in Kabul is doing to help. https://youtu.be/5oQ3vMLyrc4

Sunday, December 21, 2014

European Union and Terrorism

Since 9/11 the European Union has worked hard to strengthen anti-terrorist laws and increase cooperation among member nations in the counter-terrorist fight. Read more in "US-EU Cooperation Against Terrorism - Analysis", Eurasia Review, December 19, 2014.

Friday, December 19, 2014

EU Extends Police Mission

The Council of the European Union has extended the mandate of the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan until December 31, 2016 - for two more years. It also approved a budget of 58 million Euros for the mission for the year 2015. EUPOL Afghanistan will support the efforts of the Government of Afghanistan to strengthen its civilian police service, improve the rule of law framework, and uphold human rights. Read more in a  news report by Khaama Press, December 18, 2014.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Report - EU Election Assessment Team

The European Union Election Assessment Team (EUEAT) has issued its final report on the presidential election held on 5 April 2014 and the run-off election held on 14 June 2014. The report covers a number of topics to include the legal framework, election administration, voter registration, registration of political entities and candidates, electoral campaign, voter information and civic education, media, participation of women, civil society organizations and election observation, complaints and appeals, election days, audits of the results, election results, and recommendations. The report is an Adobe Acrobat PDF and is 51 pages long. You can download the report at the link below.

www.eueom.eu/files/dmfile/FINAL-REPORT-EUEAT-AFGHANISTAN-2014-c_en.pdf

Sunday, November 9, 2014

European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan

A major part of the professionalization of the Afghan National Police (ANP) is due in part to the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan or EUPOL Afghanistan.

"The aim of the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan (EUPOL Afghanistan), launched in summer 2007, is to contribute to the establishment of a sustainable and effective civilian police, which works together with the Afghan justice system to improve the local population's safety. The mission monitors, mentors, advises and trains at the level of senior management of the Afghan Ministry of Interior, Afghan Ministry of Justice, Afghan Attorney General's Office, in Kabul and in several regions." 

Learn more about EUPOL Afghanistan at this link:
www.eupol-afg.eu

Sunday, October 19, 2014

EU and the Multiannual Indicative Programme (MIP)

The European Union (EU) and the government of Afghanistan have signed the basic document for the Multiannual Indicative Programme (MIP). This document outlines the EU development and aid policy for the next 7 years. The total EU commitment will be 1400 million pounds or 200 million pounds per year. Most of the money will go toward Afghan health care programs. Read more in "EU policy for development cooperation in Afghanistan 2014-2020", European Network of NGO's in Afghanistan, October 17, 2014.