Navy Med Unit at Landstuhl Closes

If you have been wounded, injured or sick and needed to go to the states for medical treatment you likely passed through the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. The staff at the medical center and hospital was augmented as the Afghanistan and Iraq wars heated up - producing a large number of casualties. However, the Iraq war finished up in 2011 (but wait, we are back there again!) and the Afghan War is slowing down. Since 2006 the Navy Expeditionary Medical Unit (NEMU) at Landstuhl has assisted in the management of the coordination of care and transportation of military personnel from the war zones. But that time has come to an end with the inactivation of the NEMU. Read more on this topic in "Navy disbands Landstuhl medical unit as casualties dwindle", Stars and Stripes, September 26, 2014.

"Sandhurst in the Sand" Graduates First Class

The first class of cadets has graduated from the Afghan National Army Officers Academy (ANAOA) in Kabul, Afghanistan on September 24, 2014. Modeled after the British military academy and known informally as "Sandhurst in the Sand" - the school is supported by British officers and NCOs. Read more in "Defence secretary salutes first Afghan officer cadets", Your Defence News, September 25, 2014.

New Afghan Leaders Urged to Protect Human Rights

The international organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has provided (in a letter) specific recommendations to the new Afghan government leaders (Ghani and Abdullah) on steps that should be taken to protect the human rights of all Afghan citizens. HRW states that Afghanistan has a significant and long-running human rights situation that needs correcting. These recommendations include "strengthen accountability for the security forces, advance women's rights, protect the media, revitalize the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, and address the need for transitional justice". Read more in "Afghanistan: New Leaders Should Take Action on Rights", Human Rights Watch, September 26, 2014.

82nd Combat Aviation Brigade Returns to Afghanistan

Fort Bragg's 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) has returned to Afghanistan. They will be based at Bagram Air Field and Kandahar Airfield. Read more in this Fayetteville Observer news story dated September 28, 2014.

Pakistani Refugees in Afghanistan Welcome New Afghan Leadership

Refugees from Pakistan are hoping that the new government leadership will take note of their plight and offer assistance. Over 20,000 refugees crossed the border during the summer months 2014 to avoid the Pakistan Army offensive against Taliban insurgents in North Waziristan (Pakistan). Read more in "Pakistani refugees welcome end to Afghan political deadlock", IRIN, September 23, 2014.

Profile - BG Simon Hetherington (Canada)

The director of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) CJ7 is BG Simon Hetherington - a Canadian officer on an exchange program with the XVIII Airborne Corps based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina and now deployed to Afghanistan. NATO Training Mission - Afghanistan (NTM-A) has been folded into the ISAF CJ7. Although Canada has pulled out all of its troops there is still the occasional staff officer found working at ISAF headquarters and at one or two of the Regional Commands.

Canada was part of the Afghan War from the very beginning. It's commitment began with the deployment of CANSOF (Joint Task Force 2) working with the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force - Afghanistan (CJSOTF-A) in 2002 to the significant troop deployments in Kandahar province throughout the past decade. Read more in "Handful of Canadian Forces officers till on duty in Afghanistan", Canada.com, September 25, 2014.

Senator Levin - Proud of Afghan Progress

Senator Carl Levin (Democrat Michigan) is retiring from the Senate after serving 36 years. He currently chairs the armed services committee and has been a leading advocate for the military. At a breakfast with members of the press he expressed the hope that the media will recognize the good progress made in Afghanistan. He believes that the press is painting a picture of gloom and doom about Afghanistan while ignoring many of the successes that have been achieved. Read more in "Senior Democrat: We Should Be Proud of Afghanistan Progress", Time.com, September 25, 2014. (In the photo Sen Levin meets with LTG Mark Milley Oct 2103 in Afghanistan, photo by SSG Richard Andrade ISAF HQ PA).

National Unity Government (NUG) Agreement

The two Afghan presidential candidates signed an agreement (20 September 2014) outlining how the National Unity Government (NUG) will be formed. The actual text of the agreement (in English) is available on the website of the Wall Street Journal. You can read the 4-page document (Adobe Acrobat PDF) at the link below.
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/afghanagreement.pdf

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Retrograde - Shipping Helicopters Home

Have you ever wondered what the U.S. Army is doing with its fleet of helicopters still in Afghanistan? Well, they are shipping them home. Okay, so how does that happen? Richard Johnson - a correspondent with The Washington Post - explains the process to us (story is posted on Stars and Stripes as well). Learn more about "How to neatly ship a Black Hawk helicopter back to the US", Stars and Stripes, September 27, 2014. He also provides us with lots of sketches from his travels in Afghanistan in an online photo journal depicting the Black Hawks in action over Afghanistan.

Departure from Helmand - Taliban Undefeated?

Map from Wikimedia.org

The U.S. Marines and the UK troops have departed Helmand province. Camp Bastion and Camp Leatherneck have been transferred to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). Only a few hundred ISAF troops remain to complete the packing up process. It was a tough fight for the Brits and Marines over the past several years - both contingents losing hundreds of men to the conflict. At one time there were over 40,000 ISAF personnel (Marines, Brits, contractors, etc.) stationed at Camps Bastion and Leatherneck but now it is owned and run by the Afghans. More importantly, the ANA and ANP are now responsible for providing security in that part of Afghanistan and defeating the Taliban. But . . . that is the big question. Can they do that? Read more in "With Marines Gone, Can the Afghan Army Hold Off the Taliban", NPR Parallels, October 27, 2014.

Constitutional Implications of National Unity Government

The Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) has published a blog post entitled Constitutional Implications of a National Unity Government (September 28, 2014). The article  examines the constitutional implications relating to key features of the agreement to form a National Unit Government (NUG). The NUG commits the parties to amend the constitution and create the post of an "Executive Prime Ministership". The AREU is an independent research organization based in Kabul. The AREU mission is to inform and influence policy and practice through high-quality, policy-relevant research. You can access the article here.

NMCB 25 TAAs NEB

Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Two Five (NMCB 25) are currently involved in a train, advise, and assist (TAA) mission with the Afghan National Engineer Brigade (NEB). "The mission ensures that the Afghan engineers are a viable, well-trained and equipped force ready to face the engineering and disaster response needs of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan." There are a variety of ANA engineer units found at brigade, corps and national level. At one time all the ANA engineer units had SFA Engineer Advisors. The NEB has a Specialty Engineering Kandak (SEK) that does water well and bridging projects and a Construction Engineering Kandak (CeNK) which does vertical and horizontal construction. Learn more about the job of the Seabees advisory effort in "Helping Hands: Reserve Seabees Prepare Afghan Engineers for the Future", DVIDS, October 28, 2014.

Video - Memorial Service at KIA

A memorial service was recently held at Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan. The service was held to honor two Americans (one Army major and one DoD civilian) and a service member from Poland who were recently killed in a suicide car bomb earlier in the month on airport road in Kabul. The airport road runs between the Kabul airport and Massoud Circle - the U.S. Embassy and ISAF HQ compound are adjacent to Massoud Circle. The video shows the preparation taken to ensure the memorial service is conducted smoothly - from practicing the firing squad, preparing the memorial service area, to lacing the fallen members boots. View the video (2 minutes long) - "Honoring Our Fallen", DVIDS, September 28, 2014.

A Review of Books on Drones and War

A freelance writer, based in Northampton (a small country town somewhere in New England) provides us with her (Katharine Whittemore) views on drone warfare and explores with us some of the books she has read on the topic. See "New flight plan on drones", The Boston Globe, September 27, 2014.

Afghan Unity Deal - Governance at its finest?

There are lots of commentators and observers remarking on the recent Afghan elections and the National Unity Government (NUG) that presidential candidates Ghani and Abdullah have agreed to form.. Some criticize the agreement as skirting the constitution and invalidating the elections in which the international community paid good money to run, the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) expended great effort (and lives) to secure, and the Afghan population braved bad weather and Taliban threats to vote. However some feel that " . . . the deal was beneficial and represents a step forward in the natural evolution of Afghanistan's political system". Read more on the topic in "Forget Secrecy and Opacity: Afghanistan's Unity Deal Represents Governance at its Finest", by Akhilesh Pillalamarri in The Diplomat, September 26, 2014.

Army and the Human Elements of War

The Army is conducting an analysis of the Afghan and Iraq wars with the intent of discovering why they did not go well for the U.S. military. The Army is very well trained in conventional force on conventional force warfare, it has a high degree of technological capability, is organized to fight in many different environments, and can over match the enemy in almost all settings. However, it lacks expertise in the human dimension - which is important in irregular and asymmetric warfare. While the Army is discovering this deficit in its in approach to warfare it is at the same time eliminating the  Human Terrain System and Human Terrain Teams (HTTs) as well as the Army Irregular Warfare Center (AIWC) - reportedly these have gone away as of Fall 2014. Things that make you go "Hmmmmm". Read more in "Army Rethinks the Human Elements of War", Real Clear Defense, September 29, 2014.

Negotiating Kabul Traffic

For some working for ISAF being able to drive in the city of Kabul is necessary to accomplish your job. There are flights to catch at Kabul airport and meetings and events to attend throughout the city. Read a short article about how "Aust drivers tackle wild Kabul streets", Sky News Australia, September 28, 2014.

Quotes by Karzai

President Karzai is gone (good riddance). But he will be remembered in part by his famous quotes.  A few are listed below. You can read more quotes of Karzai in "The Eminently Quotable Karzai", Radio Free Europe,  September 29, 2014.

"If you and the international community pressure me more, I swear that I am going to join the Taliban".

"Let's pray for God to rescue us from these two demons [the United States and the Taliban]. There are two demons in our country now"

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