Subscribe to Afghan Daily News

You can receive the Afghan War News Daily Newsletter each day. It should arrive in your e-mail inbox at 5:00 am Eastern Standard Time. It is easy to subscribe. Send an e-mail to staff@afghanwarnews.info or go to www.afghanwarnews.blogspot.com and submit your subscription request in the "Follow by Email" dialogue box in the top of the right hand column. It is easy to unsubscribe. At the bottom of the newsletter click "unsubscribe" and you will be automatically unsubscribed.

Kabul Bank Scandal: A Promising Start

President Ghani is impressing observers with his quick re-opening of the Kabul Bank scandal investigation. He has promised to attack corruption within the Afghan government and this is a great start. Read more in "Kabul Bank Scandal: If at First President Ghani Does Succeed", Khaama Press, October 13, 2014.

Cellphone Photos of Women - A Cultural Problem

The rise of technology is generally considered a good thing. In Afghanistan the telecommunications industry (cell phones especially) has transformed Afghan society. Unfortunately, there are some downsides. One emerging adverse development is the selling of videos and photographs of Afghan women by the gigabyte to store on computers and cellphones. This, in a very conservative society like Afghanistan, is a cultural problem. Read more in "Cellphone snapshots of women cause stir in conservative Afghanistan", Stars and Stripes, October 11, 2014.

More on the C-27A Spartan Fiasco

The media is starting to ask some hard questions on why 16 perfectly good aircraft of the Afghan Air Force were scrapped. The $486 million program was reduced to $32,000 of scrap metal. Read more in "U.S. Air force probed for scrapping costly planes bought for Afghans", AOL.com, October 10, 2014.

Details of $44 Million MD 530F Helicopter Contract

You can read more details on the MD 530F helicopter contract for Afghanistan's Air Force in "MD Helicopters Awarded $44.2M Contract to Weaponize MD 530F Fleet for Afghan Air Force", Vertical Magazine, October 10, 2014.

Post-Mortem: Afghan Election

An observer and analyst of events in South Asia, Sharif Azami, has posted a post mortem on the Afghan election. He makes some great observations and draws some interesting conclusions in "The Ballot Stuffing Equilibrium and a Messy Compromise: Winners and Losers of the Afghan Elections", The Huffington Blog, October 10, 2014.

C-5M Super Galaxy and Afghan Retrograde

Next to the Security Force Assistance (SFA) mission in Afghanistan the next biggest mission is retrograde. Getting personnel and equipment home to the United States as the troop commitment drops to 9,800 in December 2014. The c-5M Super Galaxy is playing a big role in the retrograde mission. Read more in "Airmen take retrograde operations to the next level", DVIDS, October 10, 2014.

IMU Weakened

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) has operated in northern Afghanistan, eastern Afghanistan, and northwestern Pakistan for a number of years. It suffered a high rate of casualties in the last three or four years as a result of stepped up targeting by U.S. special operations forces. At the moment it is severely weakened. In an attempt to strengthen its position it has recently allied itself with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL). Read more in "Helplessness forces IMU to call itself an ISIL partner", Central Asia Online, October 10, 2014.

Bergdahl Investigation Concluded

Stars and Stripes reports (October 10, 2014) that the Bergdahl investigation has been completed. He disappeared from a base in Afghanistan five years ago and was captured by the Taliban. The next stage in the investigation is a lengthy review process. Bergdahl is currently assigned to U.S. Army North at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston. Read more in the article - "Bergdahl investigation finished".

Kerry Sees Turning Point in Afghanistan

Secretary of State John Kerry seems optimistic about the future of Afghanistan. He says the resolution of the election crisis and the formation of the national unity government are signs of hope that the country can get on track. Read the news story in "Kerry: Afghan Unity Govt. Could Prove Turning Point", Voice of America, October 11, 2014.

Paper - "How Do Insurgencies End?"

The Small Wars Journal  has posted (October 10, 2014) a journal article entitled "How Do Insurgencies End?" by Russell Croy. The author recently graduated with a M.A. in Political Science from Colorado State University and served in the Marines in the Al Anbar region of Iraq in early 2008. Croy explores the issue of why some insurgencies end quickly and others go on for decades. He notes that many scholars have provided papers on how to understand insurgencies they don't provide much info on how these insurgencies end. He then compares two insurgencies to illustrate his argument - that of Chechnya and in West Java. He draws a distinction in defeating an insurgency and ending an insurgency; and concludes that the ending of an insurgency should start not also from a position of military action but from the end goal of achieving a desirable and peaceful outcome.

Afghan War Daily News

You can receive the Afghan War News Daily Newsletter each day. It should arrive in your e-mail inbox at 5:00 am Eastern Standard Time. It is easy to subscribe. Send an e-mail to staff@afghanwarnews.info or go to www.afghanwarnews.blogspot.com and submit your subscription request in the "Follow by Email" dialogue box in the top of the right hand column. It is easy to unsubscribe. At the bottom of the newsletter click "unsubscribe" and you will be automatically unsubscribed.

Brief History of Drones

Chris Cole, an author who has wrote a series of articles on UAVs and drones for Global Research has provided us with yet one more entitled Rise of the Reapers: A Brief History of Drones, (October 6, 2014). The article brings us from the early years when the Royal Navy (UK) developed some drones for gunnery practice in the 1930s. He takes us to the period following the Second World War where the US developed the Firebee drone for air target practice and later reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. He mentions the role of Israel - with their development of drones in the 1970s and 1980s. He concludes with the story of the armed drones used first in Afghanistan and then in the present time throughout the Middle East and parts of North Africa. A very well researched article and extremely educational. Learn more about drones.

More Drone News

It seems that the United States has a shortage of drones in the Middle East and that is hampering operations in Iraq and Syria. Wow! I thought we had thousands of drones of all types by now; and we still don't have enough? Hmmm. Read more in "Shortage of Drones Hampers U.S. Military Missions", The Weekly Standard, October 9, 2014.

Small Steps to Help Afghanistan's Future

Three writers have collaborated on an opinion column posted in The Washington Post providing some suggestions for the way forward in Afghanistan. Vanda Felbab-Brown, Ronald Neumann (former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan), and David Sedney (former Deputy U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan) believe that success is within reach but only if ". . . we capitalize with small investments that can enable significant payoffs" and adopt some minor policy changes. A major push is needed to prod our allies to provide 2,000 additional personnel to augment the U.S. contingent to deploy on Resolute Support (post Dec 2014 mission). A slight modification of the timetable for the withdrawal of troops could provide additional space and time for our European allies to fully commit to the long-haul. Critical support to the Afghan National Security Forces is needed in the area of air support, intelligence, and institutional development. Major mistakes in contracting by the United States have led to a capability gap in the Afghan Air Force; the U.S. Air Force should be provided more time to get it right. Read more in "The small steps to save our gains in Afghanistan".

Baloch Culture in Afghanistan

The Baloch people of Afghanistan are very closely tied to those who live in Iran and Pakistan. This area of the world where the Baloch people comprise the majority of the population is the size of France. However, within their respective countries they are minorities. The Afghan Baloch number about two million people. The Baloch people of Afghanistan are seeing a cultural revival. Read more in "Afghanistan's Re-Emerging Baloch", The Diplomat,  September 26, 2014.

Improving Tactical Intelligence

A former Army intelligence captain who was assigned to an aviation intelligence section and stationed in Jalalabad, Afghanistan in 2009 is now attending the System Design and Management program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is working on a thesis that will make systems better for intelligence collection and analysis. Read more in Designing Intelligence, MIT News, October 8, 2014.

Kidnapped German Aid Worker Freed

A German aid worker who was kidnapped in Pakistan more than two years ago has been freed in Afghanistan. The details are slim but you can read them in "Kidnapped German Aid Worker Freed in Afghanistan", ABC News, October 10, 2014.

600 Security Contractors Needed for KAF

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) has posted a Request for Information (RFI) to determine " . . . the availability and adequacy of potential sources prior to determining an acquisition and contract strategy to procure Private Security Company (PSC) services . . ." for Kandahar Airfield (KAF). Only expatriates from the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia or New Zealand can participate. You can view the RFI at this link.

Video - ANA Receive Training on MRAPs

Armed Forces Network (AFN) has released a five-minute video of Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers receiving training on MRAPs. Military Advisor Team Five, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Two-Five, and personnel with the Warrior Training Alliance work together to teach the ANA soldiers some important MRAP lessons. The ANA have used older "Humvee's" and Ford Rangers in the past; however these don't provide the protection that the MRAPs provide. The MRAPs provide more coverage and the ability to mount bigger weapons for greater defense. Watch the video dated October 2, 2014.