Missouri Agribusiness Development Team (ADT) Leaves for Afghanistan Deployment

The sixth Agribusiness Development Team from the Missouri National Guard is departing for Afghanistan. The first ADT left for Missouri in 2007 and deployed to Nangarhar Province. 

"The Agribusiness Development Team has agriculture specialists including project managers, engineers, instructors, legal advisors and security forces personnel. More than a dozen states—including Texas, Indiana, Iowa and Kansas—now have teams in Afghanistan to provide help to the Afghan people. The ADTs work closely with Afghan farmers and government and industry leaders."

This sixth team has a mix of Soldiers and Airmen and will also deploy to Nangarhar Province. You can learn more about agriculture in Afghanistan here.

"Missouri Agribusiness Development Team VI will focus on energy, education, resource management, irrigation and water issues, value-added enterprises and food safety. The team, composed of specialists in agricultural animals, agronomy, hydrology, pest management, soil science, security and marketing, will relieve the fifth Missouri Agribusiness Development Team."

 Read more about the 6th ADT from Missouri here - "Missouri Agribusiness Development Team Departs for Afghanistan", National Guard, March 12, 2012.

The Wisconsin Army National Guard is conducting preparations to deploy an Agribusiness Development Team in late 2012. See a contract solicitation for ADT agricultural training to take place in July 2012 for the ADT.

Village Stability Operations (VSO) Program Under Scrutiny

One of the unfortunate (among many) effects of the Panjwai massacre is the high-lighting of the Village Stability Operations or VSO program. The SSG who committed the killings was a conventional Soldier attached to a special operations team conducting VSO at a small compound called Belandai Base (named for a nearby village) in Panjwai district, Kandahar province.  As the correspondents and commentators filter through the news reports they are learning more about the VSO program. Many will make the leap that the VSO program is somehow at fault - which would be a huge mistake. For instance, see "Massacre by U.S. Soldier clouds NATO's Afghan strategy", AlertNet, March 14, 2012. Learn more about the Village Stability Operations program.

US Army SSG Who Committed Panjwai Massacre Flown Out of Afghanistan

The Pentagon has confirmed that the Soldier who allegedly committed the murder of 16 Afghan villagers in Panjwai district, Kandahar province has been flown out of Afghanistan. He departed on Wednesday evening - 13 March.  His destination is unknown but he may likely end up in the prison at Fort Leavenworth. Learn more about the Panjwai massacre here.  See a news article about the departure of the Soldier from Afghanistan - "Accused US soldier flown out of Afghanistan", Stars and Stripes, March 14, 2012.

Afghan Local Police (ALP) to Have Key Role in Afghanistan's Future After Drawdown

ALP candidates at shura in Nawbahar
 district, Zabul province.
 (Photo: PO2C David Brandenburg)

With the anticipated draw down of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan by mid-2013 the fight will be carried on by the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). The two main components of the ANSF are the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Police (ANP). The Afghan National Police (ALP) are a key component in this fight. Currently there are about 12,000 ALP members (as of February 2012) with a growth projected to almost triple that number in the next few years. These Afghan Local Police, who are part of the Ministry of Interior, will be an important element in gaining and sustaining local support for the district, provincial, and national government. The Afghan Local Police are recruited from the local area - so there are ties to this police force at the local community level. The local community holds a shura with village elders, district officials, and the district chief of police to validate the Afghan Local Police recruits. This relationship is different than an ANA or ANP unit from a different part of the country being stationed in the local Afghan community - with the linguistic, cultural, and ethnic differences. The ALP are advised and trained by special operations teams of the Combined Special Operations Task Force - Afghanistan or CJSOTF-A as a part of the Village Stability Operations (VSO) program. Learn more about the Afghan Local Police of Afghanistan.

Natural Gas in Afghanistan: Promise for the Future?

If the conflict in Afghanistan can ever be settled there is some hope for the future in Afghanistan - at least in the realm of its energy needs. A recent news report on the significant amounts of recoverable natural gas in northern Afghanistan points to the possibility that the country's energy needs could be met for many years to come. Read more in "Afghanistan: Does War-Battered Country Have Energy Wealth?", by Pierre Bertrand, International Business Times, March 14, 2012.

UK PM Cameron's View of Afghanistan

On a recent trip to the United States the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom provided his insight on the Afghan War. He believes that there is a desire on the part of NATO to end the conflict in Afghanistan and an acceptance that Afghanistan will not have a "perfect democracy". He believes a suitable goal is an Afghanistan that can provide for its own security, that won't be a haven for terror, and that does not need the involvement of foreign troops. The UK currently has 9,500 troops in Afghanistan. Read a news articles on his comments about Afghanistan in "Cameron Says Afghans Won't Have Perfect Democracy When NATO Goes", Bloomberg Business Week, March 13, 2012 and "Britain wants endgame in Afghanistan, says David Cameron", The Telegraph, March 14, 2012.

What the Polls Say About American Support for Afghan War

The latest polls find dwindling support for the war in Afghanistan. 60 percent of Americans see the war as not worth its costs. Read more on the poll numbers in "Poll: Few in U.S. sense Afghan support for war", The Washington Post, March 11, 2012.

Obama Faces Criticism on Afghan Policy

A columnist, Michael Cohen, reviews President Obama's record on Afghanistan and finds it weak. He says that Obama began looking for a political settlement much too late, did not do a comprehensive review of the war until later in his presidency, ordered a surge of 30,000 troops with "a fuzzy set of objectives", and based the wars strategy on "assumptions about Afghanistan and Pakistan that turned out to be quite faulty". He concludes that Obama faces some criticism this fall as he prepares for the election when more attention focuses on Afghanistan. Read the rest of his article in "Kicking the Afghan Can", Foreign Policy, March 13, 2012.

Things Get Tougher for Special Operations in Afghanistan

Things are going to get tougher for the Special Operations Forces (SOF) that will inherit the mess that is now Afghanistan in 2014. The recent events that have taken place (urinating on bodies, Koran burning, Panjwai killings, etc.) are testing the limits of trust between ISAF and Afghan security forces and the Afghan population's acceptance of an occupation force. Read one man's assessment of the situation - Dan Cox is an associate professor of political science for the U.S. Army School of Advanced Studies (SAMS). See "The Test Case in Afghanistan for Special Operating Forces", Small Wars Journal, March 12, 2012.

One Small Anti-Corruption Victory in Afghanistan by U.S. Special Forces

Corruption is everywhere in Afghanistan.  So it is refreshing to read about an anti-corruption victory from time to time. Read about one anti-corruption operation that recently took place in Laghman Province conducted by U.S. Special Forces (USSF) and the Provincial Response Company (PRC) in February 2012.  See "U.S. Special Forces Take Down Corrupt Afghan Officials, One At A Time", AOL Defense, March 13, 2012.

Time to Wind Down in Afghanistan?

An editorial looks at what we have accomplished in Afghanistan and what the future will likely bring us. It's conclusion is that the right strategy is to wind down our involvement in Afghanistan. Read more in "Afghanistan on edge", LA Times, March 13, 2012.

Afghanistan: Time to Go? One Columnist Says Yes.

Many leading officials in government, the military, and in Congress are conducting a reassessment of what we have accomplished in ten years and what we could hope to accomplish by 2014. That reassessment is not optimistic. Some are advocating cutting our losses. Some sources say we have lost 1,800 U.S. military with 15,000 wounded. The war has cost us about $400 billion and much of it unaccounted for due to Afghan government corruption. Read Michael Hirsh's column where he says administration officials and members of Congress are thinking "It is time to go". See "The Coming Upheaval in U.S. Afghanistan Strategy", National Journal, March 12, 2012.

One Viewpoint: U.S. Leaders Not Setting Achievable Objectives for Afghanistan

Jeremi Suri, a professor of history and public affairs at the University of Texas, provides his viewpoint on the situation in Afghanistan. He tells us that the last month has been very difficult for U.S. forces in Afghanistan (Quran burning, Panjwai massacre, etc.), that there are parallels to Vietnam in 1968 (My Lai), and that it is difficult to do nation-building at the same time that you are drawing down troop levels and implementing an exit strategy. Read his column in "America's self-defeating cycle in Afghanistan", CNN Opinion, March 12, 2012.

Call for New U.S. Strategy - By Anthony Cordesman

The recent events of the Quran burning and killing spree in Panjwai have caused many observers to comment on the current strategy we have for Afghanistan - and changes to that strategy we should consider. Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) provides us the Afghan perspective and the U.S. perspective of the situation in Afghanistan and with three strategy options. The first strategy he calls "exit by denial", the second is "honest exit", and the third is "real transition". Read more on his thoughts on strategy in "New U.S. strategy needed in Afghanistan", CNN World, March 13, 2012.

Billions of Dollars Leave Afghanistan Every Year for Foreign Banks

Billions of dollars leave Afghanistan every year for foreign bank accounts. The uncertain future and insecurity in the country has been a deciding factor in the movement of large amounts of money from Afghanistan to places like Dubai where the Afghan elite have purchased expensive villas. With its weak financial institutions, rampant corruption, and poor oversight of aid money provided to the Afghan government it is very easy to move money out of the country. Read more in "Insecurity threatens Afghanistan with economic crisis", Chicago Tribune, March 12, 2012.

Book - "No Way Out" by Mitch Weiss and Kevin Maurer

A new book has been published about a Special Forces team caught in an ambush in Shok Valley in 2008. The book is titled "No Way Out: A Story of Valor in the Mountains of Afghanistan". The authors are Kevin Maurer and Mitch Weiss; Maurer and Weiss are journalists who have experience in Afghanistan. Ten members of the Special Forces team earned Silver Stars during the day-long fire fight in the Shok Valley in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan. Learn more about the book and purchase it online a Amazon.com No Way Out: A Story of Valor in the Mountains of Afghanistan.  Read more about the Battle of Shok Valley and the book.

Ten Years Later: Are Women Better Off in Afghanistan?

With the war in Afghanistan now lasting over ten years many observers (and critics) are looking back at the accomplishments (and failures) of the coalition involvement to judge the progress in many areas. An important area is the advancement of women's rights, status, and well-being.  A recent news article by CNN weighs in on the topic.  See "Are Afghan women better off after a decade of war?", CNN Opinion, March 8, 2012. The author of the article is Heather Barr - an Afghanistan Researcher for Human Rights Watch.  She has lived in Kabul, Afghanistan since 2007.

Paper - "Equal Rights, Unequal Opportunities" on Women's Participation in Afghanistans Elections

The Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) has released a new paper that deals with women's rights in Afghanistan. It is entitled "Equal Rights, Unequal Opportunities: Women's Participation in Afghanistan's Parliamentary and Provincial Council Elections", by multiple authors, dated March 2012. The paper is available on the AREU website in Adobe Acrobat PDF format here. Learn more about women in Afghanistan. A brief description of the document (taken from the AREU website) is below:

"The establishment of a democratic system under Afghanistan’s 2004 constitution has without doubt led to an unprecedented expansion of political participation for its women. In the years that have followed, millions of women have turned out to vote in successive rounds of presidential, legislative and provincial elections. Thousands more have competed for positions in parliament and the provincial councils. A new AREU paper explores some of the dynamics of women’s participation as candidates and voters in these elections, drawing on conversations with successful and unsuccessful female candidates, along with men and women in six study communities spread across Balkh, Bamiyan and Kabul provinces."

Pentagon Officials Say Panjwai Gunman Acted Alone

Pentagon spokesmen have released a statement saying that the US Soldier who committed the killings of civilians in Panjwai district in Afghanistan acted alone.  See "Officials Believe Gunman Acted Alone, Press Secretary Says", American Forces Press Service, March 12, 2012.

Afghan Corruption and Graft Hampers U.S. Efforts

Afghan corruption and graft have severely hampered the efforts of the United States to defeat the Taliban and build government institutions in Afghanistan.  President Karzai, of course, is the principal culprit.  He provides protection to his political cronies who have been able to get rich on the billions of dollars that have been pumped into the government coffers of Afghanistan. Read more in "Intractable Afghan Graft Hampering U.S. Strategy", by Matthew Rosenberg and Graham Bowley in The New York Times, March 7, 2012.