Saturday, November 29, 2014

Daily News Snippets on Afghanistan


A veteran, Kyle Dykstra, speaks out about those commentators, observers, and critics who say the war in Afghanistan is lost. He argues it is too soon to determine if the war was won or lost; more time is needed to see the end result. Read more in "Don't Tell Me We Lost the War in Afghanistan", Task and Purpose, November 24, 2014.

A former rule of law advisor in Afghanistan, Jade Wu, has penned an article that says the Afghan judicial system is a glimmer of hope in the midst of a lot of bad news coming out of Afghanistan. I don't think she is looking at the same judicial system I have looked at the past four years I have been in Afghanistan. Read more in "In Afghanistan, What Counts?", Small Wars Journal, November 26, 2014.

Some news reports say that the British embassy in Kabul was bombed causing casualties. Others are reporting that a British convoy was attacked. See The Guardian for more info. See also Voice of America.

Is it possible to find good governance in Afghanistan? If you look hard enough it is there . . . occasionally. But the bottom line is the Afghans have yet to form a cabinet. Read more in The New York Times here.

The Guardian asks what will happen when the ISAF combat troops depart and the international funding levels go down.

A German newspaper writes about the expansion of the Resolute Support mission for the United States from just training to support of the Afghan National Security Forces.

The European Council on Foreign Relations posted an article entitled "China Moves Into Afghanistan".

The Institute of War & Peace Reporting has a posting entitled "Afghans See Corruption as Enduring Legacy".

The editor of the TomDispatch.com, Tom Engelhardt, writes a discouraging piece of how little we have accomplished in the past 13 years in Afghanistan and Iraq. If you haven't gotten your daily dose of "woe is us" and "did we ever screw up" then I suggest "Russians Invade Afghanistan (Again!)", The Huffington Post Blog, November 25, 2014.

Camp Bastion was attacked by the Taliban causing the deaths of 6 ANA soldiers. Read more in Military Times. The Brits just recently departed Camp Bastion.

According to the Afghanistan Analysts Network only ten "foreigners" are being detained at the U.S. run Bagram detention center. View report here.

Rula Ghani has been in the news ever since her husband was elected President. Read more in "Afghanistan's First Lady Seeks to Blaze New Trail", Gandhara Blog, November 29, 2014.

End of the fighting season? Not so much; at least somebody forgot to tell the Taliban that they should be heading over the mountain passes into Pakistan to rest up and refit in their sanctuaries (courtesy of the Pakistan intelligence service). Read more in "In Afghanistan, War Now Knows No Season", The New York Times,  November 28, 2014.

The TAPI pipeline may finally be getting some traction. Read "TAPI Pipeline Finally sees Some Momentum", The Diplomat,  November 27, 2014.

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