Friday, January 9, 2015

Daily News Snippets (Jan 8, 2015)


Candace Karp and Michael O'Hanlon have penned an article about the future of Afghanistan. They believe that the mission is on the verge of being successful. But it could easily fail if the international community proceeds on its current plan of complete withdrawal by the end of 2016. Read their article entitled "Protecting the Gains in Afghanistan", The Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2015.

A story in a German newspaper examines the past year in Afghanistan and looks at what can be accomplished over the next two years in the newly started Resolute Support mission. Read "What can NATO's new Afghanistan mission achieve?", Deutsche Welle (DW), January 6, 2015.

The new Army Operating Concept (AOC) rolled out this year helps the Army to assess the current threat climate and then to help the Army plan for the future. The commanding general for Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), General David G. Perkins, has an article in Army AL&T Magazine (January-March 2015) explaining the AOC. Read "Win in a Complex World - But How?", pages 106 to 115.

Michael Kugelman writes for Foreign Policy that four big items will need to be addressed in Afghanistan in 2015. They are the Kabul Bank scandal, Uzbek militancy, abandoned U.S. military hardware, and unexploded devices. Read his article published on January 7, 2015.

Jim Fallows recently wrote a long article in The Atlantic about the U.S. military and it was well-received by some and raised eyebrows with others. Read one critique in "Not so Chickenhawk: Pushing Back Against Fallows", War on the Rocks, January 7, 2015.

A roadside bomb killed a Uruzgan policeman on January 8, 2015.

General Philip Breedlove, Supreme Allied Commander - Europe, says that the U.S. must be prepared for more casualties in the new Resolute Support mission. (Stars and Stripes, Jan 8, 2015).

The government of Afghanistan has approved special military operations in and effort to tackle the terrorist activities of insurgents. The approval came during a meeting of the Afghan National Security Council (NSC) chaired by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani. (Khaama Press, Jan 8, 2015).

The Institute of Land Warfare has published an article entitled "Terrorists, Insurgents and the Lessons of History" by Richard Lee dated 22 Dec 2014. Available here.

An argument against a military draft of U.S. citizens is made by Harvey Sapolsky - a Professor of Public Policy and Administration at MIT. He says that our current military is better than a draft military. What the U.S. needs to do - he says - is to start paying a higher percentage of its GNP for the military. Read more in "The One Percent Problem", E-International Relations, January 5, 2015.

The 455th Expeditionary Aerial Port Squadron was inactivated on January 1, 2015 on Bagram Airfield. The men and women of the 455th EAPS were charged with the responsibility of coordinating the bi-directional movement of assets from the U.S. to Bagram and Bagram to nearby forward operating bases. It also, most recently, assisted in the huge retrograde operation over the past 18 months. Read more in a news release by the U.S. Air Force (Jan 7, 2015).

Soldiers of the Oklahoma Army National Guard's Battery B, 1st Battalion, 158th Field Artillery, 45th Field Artillery Brigade has returned home after duty in Afghanistan. Read more in a news release (Edmonsun.com, Jan 7, 2015).

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