Sunday, September 13, 2015

Afghan War News Snippets


DynCorp Contractors Honored. Three contractors killed in August were honored by Resolute Support Headquarters in Kabul on September 9, 2015 during a memorial ceremony. Richard McEvoy, Barry Sutton, and Corey Dodge were killed when their convoy was attacked by a car bomb in Kabul. They were working in support of the Afghan National Army / Afghan National Police Advisor and Mentor Program. (DVIDS, Sep 11, 2015).

Martyrs Week. Government officials, dignitaries, former Jihadi leaders, family and friends of Ahmad Shah Massoud marked the 14th anniversary of Massoud's assassination on Wednesday (Sep 9) at a wreath laying ceremony in Massoud Square in Kabul. Other ceremonies observed the popular Northern Alliance leader who was killed two days before 9/11. (Tolo News, Sep 10, 2015).

RS Cdr's 9/11 Commemoration Message. View General Campbell's message to the force posted on his Facebook account (Facebook, Sep 11, 2015). See also a video about a 9/11 ceremony held on the RS compound in Kabul (YouTube.com, posted by RS HQs, Sep 11, 2015).

UNAMA Report to SC on Afghanistan. The United Nations organization working in Afghanistan is required to submit a update report every three months to the United Nations Security Council. The latest report is dated September 1, 2015.
http://unama.unmissions.org/Portals/UNAMA/SG%20Reports/SG_Report_September_2015.pdf

Paper "Medical Care in Armed Conflict". The Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (PILAC) at Harvard Law School has published a paper entitled Medical Care in Armed Conflict: IHL and State Responses to Terrorism, September 8, 2015. The paper explores the many questions about medical care of insurgents and terrorists. http://pilac.law.harvard.edu/medical-care-in-armed-conflict-report

Afghan Casualty Evacs. The Afghan security forces are having trouble treating their wounded. Read more in "Afghans Struggle to Get Injured Off the Front Lines", Stars and Stripes, September 8, 2015.

Army 3 Star Says Language & Culture Important. The deputy commander of TRADOC recently toured the Defense Language Institute (DLI) and made some comments about the importance of language and culture during deployments to conflict areas. (Army.mil, Sep 3, 2015).

Marines and Women in Combat. "Over the past nine months, the Marine Corps tested a gender-integrated task force in both Twentynine Palms, Calif. and Camp Lejeune, N.C. in an attempt to gauge what the Marine Corps might look like with women in combat roles". Read more in "Marine's women in combat experiment gets mixed results", The Washington Post, September 8, 2015.

UK and Interpreters. A former head of the Army - Lord Dannatt - says that the UK government should allow Afghan interpreters into Britain. Read more in a news report in The Telegraph, September 5, 2015.

Kyrgyzstan Conflict History. Insight on Conflict provides a brief history of conflict in Kyrgyzstan - one of the Central Asian States to the north of Afghanistan. With a diverse ethnic makeup the country experiences periods of strife. Read more in "A Brief History of Conflict in Kyrgyzstan", September 9, 2015.

Afghan Refugee Crisis. The world's attention has focused on the refugee crisis in Europe; but little is mentioned in the world press about Afghanistan's long-term refugee problem. For three decades Afghanistan was the world's largest producer of refugees. Millions have returned to Afghanistan but many problems remain. Read more in "Afghanistan's 32-year Refugee Crisis", The Diplomat, September 9, 2015.

Story of an Afghan Refugee. A news report chronicles the trip of an Afghan refugee departing through Europe along an illegal human smuggling route. Read of his preparations in "Dangers Fail to Deter Afghans from Embarking on the Dangerous Journey to Europe", Gandhara Blog, September 9, 2015.

Karzai Being Karzai. The former president says he didn't know if al-Qaeda existed and if they were in Afghanistan prior to the 9/11 attacks. Sure . . . Read "Karzai: Al Qaeda never operated in Afghanistan"Politico, September 10, 2015.

Afghan Migrant - Hardship on the Road. Read the story of one Afghan migrants journey to escape his life in Afghanistan. "From Prey to Predator: An Afghan Migrant Trafficker's Story", Radio Free Europe, September 13, 2015.

Thirty Afghans Killed in Mecca. hundreds of people were killed and injured when a crane collapsed in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Among the dead are 30 Afghans. (Khaama Press, Sep 12, 2015).

Bowe Bergdahl Case. Military prosecutors have decided to proceed in its case against Bergdahl using a seldom used section of military law. He was charged with misbehavior before the enemy - which carries a potentially stiff penalty. Read more in a news report by Military Times, September 7, 2015.

Fuel Overcharge Being Investigated. NATO spent vast sums of money keeping vehicles and facilities supplied with fuel. It was very expensive to supply fuel to the many remote NATO bases located throughout Afghanistan. There is now an investigation into allegations of NATO being overcharged millions of dollars by a contractor. Read more in "MoD police called in over 460 Million Pounds fuel overcharging for Afghanistan"The Telegraph, September 7, 2015.

FM 6-22 - Leader Development. The Army has released Field Manual 6-22, Leader Development, June 2015. http://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/fm6_22.pdf

Ammo Abatement and Retrograde. There is lots of work involved the retrograde process of moving units from Afghanistan back to the United States. One important task is ammo abatement. Read more in "Ammo abatement Soldiers perform critical tasks", DVIDS, September 8, 2015.

3rd BCT, 10th Mtn enroute to Afghanistan. A color casing ceremony was held for elements of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Polk. The unit is about to deploy about 1,000 Soldiers to Afghanistan. Most of them will work in the eastern part of Afghanistan for Train, Advise, Assist Command - East or TAAC-East. Read more in "Ceremony held for deploying soldiers", Leesville Daily Leader, September 7, 2015.

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