UK to Pay Closer Attention to Aid Dollars for Afghanistan

The United Kingdom is striving to pay closer attention to where the aid dollars to Afghanistan end up. Corruption is a huge problem in Afghanistan and corrupt Afghan officials divert a lot of aid money to their bank accounts in Dubai. Afghanistan is one of the UK's top foreign policy priorities and see a lot of money coming its way from the UK; but many in the UK question where that money ends up. Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) is being urged to send more personnel with financial and contracting experience in order to ensure the money goes to the intended purpose. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact, a UK government entity, says that the UKs aid program is not performing well and needs significant improvements. Read more in "UK must tighten grip on Afghan aid programme - watchdog", Reuters, March 22, 2012.

ROLFSOs: Rule of Law Field Support Officers - Five Perspectives on Duties

The U.S. Navy JAG Corps is providing five posts on the Rule of Law in Afghanistan from the perspective of five different ROLFSOs or Rule of Law Field Support Officers. Read the first one in "ROLFSOs: One Individual Augmentation, Five Different Experiences", March 22, 2012.

Money Leaving Afghanistan in Millions Each Day

A recent news article reflects the growing concern that Afghan government officials have over the tremendous amounts of money leaving Afghanistan every month. Over $4.6 Billion dollars left through Kabul Airport during 2011. That was the "declared" sum; the amount of money that left through other airports or that was undeclared is not known. The entire Afghan government budget is $4.8 billion - so the amount of money that left the country is almost equal to the government's budget. Most of the money has found its way to Dubai bank accounts or real estate property. The money is estimated to be either drug money or money skimmed off of international aid donations by corrupt government officials.

Read the article in "Rampant Capital Flight Saw $4.6 Billion Leave Afghanistan In 2011", Economy Watch, March 19, 2012.

Afghans Want Veto Power over Night Raids

In formal negotiations set to begin Thursday, Afghan officials are expected to press their U.S. counterparts for veto power over controversial night raids on Afghan homes as well as warrants signed by a judge before the operations are carried out. Despite substantive differences, officials on both sides expressed confidence that they are heading toward an understanding on the raids that will allow them to complete within two months a broader accord governing the long-term military relationship between the countries.

These negotiations could lead us down the road to disaster. The night raids currently conducted by ISAF SOF, CJSOCC-A, and other organizations' have been extremely productive - keeping the insurgent mid-level and high-level leaders off-balance, running from house to house each night, and suspicious of informants within their ranks. Many insurgents have met their demise or have been captured during night raids. This is due to an extremely effective targeting procedure, good COIN intelligence, great ISR assets, and good working relationships with Afghan partner special operations units (PRC, ANASF, Commandos, and others).

Agreeing to Afghan approval of targets and moving to a warrant-base system is problematic. It slows down the targeting cycle, reveals intelligence sources, will be a bonanza of information for the Taliban infiltrators of the ANSF, tips our hand on targets who will be notified that they are at risk, relies on an ineffective and corrupt judiciary, and holds us hostage to Afghan politics.

Read more in "Afghan officials likely to press for veto power over night raids in formal talks", The Washington Post, March 21, 2012.

Exiting Afghanistan - Transit Costs of Material to Send Home

As the withdrawal from Afghanistan begins this fall many ISAF partner nations will be moving troops and equipment home. Routes home include Pakistan and the Central Asian countries (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan). With the on-again off-again relationship with Pakistan many NATO countries may opt for the northern land route instead of using the ports of Pakistan. Read more about which countries will benefit as a result of transit fees (can you say price gouging?) in "Neighboring Countries Scramble to be NATO's Exit Route from Afghanistan", Radio Free Europe, March 22, 2012.

Command and Control Structure in Afghanistan

The Foreign Policy blog known as The Best Defense has posted an article (with structural diagram) entitled "Annals of Command and Control (IV): Untangling the structure in Afghanistan", March 21, 2012. It is a good read for someone who wants to understand how we got the C2 structure that we now have in Afghanistan.

Report: Torture of Detainees in Afghan Prisons

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and the Open Society Foundations recently released a report about the treatment of detainees in Afghan prisons. The report is entitled "Torture, Transfers, and Denial of Due Process: The Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees in Afghanistan", March 17, 2012 (Adobe Acrobat PDF file). Read more about this reports release in "Groups Report on the Continued Transfer of Detainees to Afghan Prisons", The New York Times, March 18, 2012.

General Jack Keane Comments of Afghanistan - Stay the Course

Citing military progress in southern Afghanistan in the last 18 months General Jack Keane (retired) says we need to stay the course in Afghanistan. He believes that withdrawing troops prematurely will weaken the chances of defeating the Haqqani Network in the east of Afghanistan and put into question the survivability of the Afghan government. Read more on this topic in "General Jack Keane: Staying the Course in Afghanistan", The Foundry of the Heritage Foundation, March 21, 2012.

British Advisors Say Afghan National Army is Improving

Soldiers with the British Advisory Group 3rd Kandak 215th Corps (Two Rifles Battle Group) have been spending their tour of duty in Afghanistan as advisors. They have seen a great improvement in the performance of the ANA. Read more in "Afghan National Army operations symbolizes success in Advisor's mission", DVIDS, March 21, 2012.

Karzai - Time to Dump Him? Some people think so!

Karzai's recent negative statements about the United States (and ISAF) are drawing comments from around the world. Some find it hard to understand why the State Department and military cave in to Karzai. We have agreed to allow Afghans to protect our bases, convoys, and development projects with the Afghan Public Protection Force (APPF), hand over supervision of the detention facilities, put restraints on our special operations forces that conduct night raids, and we have given him a pass on the corruption found everywhere in his government. The Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) can't even protect themselves from the Taliban - never mind hoping the APPF can protect NATO and US personnel, facilities, and interests. The Afghans have no clue how to run a detention facility - have we forgotten the 500 Taliban that escaped from the Kandahar prison last year? Although the Afghan special operations forces (ANASF and Commandos) are getting more proficient - they still need the advise and assistance of ISAF SOF. If we agree, as may likely happen, to a warrant-based targeting system then we have major problems. Most recently Karzai has called for NATO to withdraw from the Afghan villages - an action that will certainly put a halt to the very sucessful Village Stability Operations (VSO) program and its associated Afghan Local Police (ALP). Read more about the discontent with Karzai in "Karzai The Ingrate", Investor's Business Daily, March 21, 2012.

22% of NATO Fatalities Caused by Afghan Army and Police

60 NATO troops have been killed this year in Afghanistan. 13 have been killed by Afghan security force personnel. That comprises 22% of the NATO casualties suffered thus far. Read more in "NATO fatalities in Afghanistan: 22 percent this year at hands of Afghan Army, police", The Christian Science Monitor, March 21, 2012.

Gen Allen to Speak at Brookings

General John Allen, the ISAF commander, will speak at Brookings event on March 26, 2012.  Read more on this in "The U.S. Mission in Afghanistan".

Info on U.S. - Afghan Strategic Agreement

The United States and Afghanistan are in the process of fine-tuning the wording of the "Strategic Partnership  Agreement" that will define the relationship between the two countries over the next few years. The negotiations are on-going and recent events such as the Koran burning and Panjwai killings have been complicating the agreement's terms. In addition, Karzai has some "red lines" that have caused some reluctance on the part of the United States - elimination of night raids and turning over detention facilities to Afghan control. Read more on this agreement in "Fact Sheet: U.S.-Afghan Strategic Agreement", by Paraag Shukla, Institute for the Study of War, March 2012.

Fort Polk Trains 4th Infantry Division Soldiers for Advisory Role in Afghanistan

Teams of military personnel from the 4th Infantry Division are training for the Afghan advisory effort they will take part in at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk. They train on a number of scenarios at a mock Afghan village that has Afghan role players. Read more in "New advisor teams key to US exit from Afghanistan", News-Leader.com, March 21, 2012.

Torture in Afghan Prisons? The National Directorate of Security (NDS) Says No!

There are constant allegations of torture and inhuman practices taking place in the prisons and detention centers run by the Afghan Ministry of Interior (MoI). These allegations are rejected by the Afghan intelligence service - The National Directorate of Security (NDS). Read more in "Afghan intel service: No torture at our prisons", Boston Globe, March 20, 2012.

Rebuilding Trust in Afghanistan

The recent events in Afghanistan have sharpened the levels of mis-trust between Afghanistan and the United States. Karzai's erratic rhetoric and hard-line stances on negotiations for the strategic partnership have prompted many in the U.S. to decide that leaving Afghanistan sooner is better. Recent blunders by the U.S. such as the Koran burning, Panjwai killings, and other events have some in Afghanistan asking for a speedier transfer of security responsibilities, end of night raids, transfer of authority for running detention centers, and other moving ISAF forces from Afghan villages to the big bases.

Omar Samad, a Senior Afghanistan Expert at the United States Institute of Peace, has wrote a column that explores this mistrust and states that we have to rebuild mutual respect to achieve our objectives in Afghanistan. See "Facing the Afghan obstacle course", The AFPAK Channel on Foreign Policy, March 20, 2012.

MoI Continues to Sign Contracts in Transition from Private Security Companies to APPF

KABUL, Afghanistan – The Afghan Public Protection Force continues to make progress in taking over security for development work around the country. Over the last week, it has signed 10 contracts for security with companies executing development projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development. The APPF concluded six contracts with Development Alternatives International (DAI). These contracts will provide security for USAID projects including Regional Afghan Municipalities Program-East (RAMP-Up East), RAMP-UP West, RAMP-UP North, Afghanistan Stabilization Initiative-East (ASI-East), Agriculture Credit Enhancement (ACE), and Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives North, East and West (IDEA-NEW).

The Afghan Public Protection Program (APPF) got off to a slow start and has continued to fall behind on its timeline and reports of inefficiency, corruption, and difficult negotiations. But, according to the NTM-A article (see link below) it seems to be making progress. (Did you think that NTM-A would say the APPF was doing poorly?)

"APPF signs additional contracts to secure development projects", NTM-A, March 20, 2012.

Rampant Afghan Corruption Might Cause UK to Stop Funding

The massive corruption of the Afghan government is causing many leading UK officials to think about the amount of money that will be sent to Afghanistan to pay for it's security forces after 2014. See "Afghanistan corruption could see UK cut off security funds", Guardian UK, March 20, 2012.

Warrants May Be Required for Afghan Night Raids By U.S. Special Forces

President Karzai is pushing for an end to night raids by U.S. and ISAF special operations forces. Currently Afghan Commando and Special Forces units are working with coalition special operations forces with the Afghan units in the lead for night raids. Karzai is trying to limit ISAFs participation even further with the introduction of warrant-based raids. This didn't work well for coalition forces in Iraq and it will work even worse in Afghanistan. Hopefully the U.S. takes a hard line on this. See "Afghan Night Raids May Need Warrants Under U.S. Offer to Karzai", Bloomberg, March 20, 2012.

Warrant-Based Targeting and Law Enforcement Model for Afghanistan?

Are we moving to a warrant-based targeting and law enforcement model in Afghanistan? Indications are that we will be doing that soon. We did the same in Iraq and it significantly diminished the ability of our forces to operate there. The same can be expected in Afghanistan. Corruption is spread throughout the Afghan National Police (ANP). The judicial system is a joke. Rule of Law is a highly-sought after but elusive ideal. Hopefully the warrant-based targeting system will be introduced AFTER 2014 - because I don't see it working at all in Afghanistan. Read more on this in "Moving to Warrant-Based Targeting and the Law Enforcement Model in Afghanistan?", by Robert Chesney, Lawfare Blog, March 20, 2012.