IMU Leader Killed in Northern Afghanistan

A leader of the Jundullah militant group has been reported killed (news from a spokesman of the National Directorate of Security or NDS). The Jundullah is another name for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Read more in "Militant Leader Killed in Northern Afghanistan", Radio Free Europe, October 17, 2014.

EU and the Multiannual Indicative Programme (MIP)

The European Union (EU) and the government of Afghanistan have signed the basic document for the Multiannual Indicative Programme (MIP). This document outlines the EU development and aid policy for the next 7 years. The total EU commitment will be 1400 million pounds or 200 million pounds per year. Most of the money will go toward Afghan health care programs. Read more in "EU policy for development cooperation in Afghanistan 2014-2020", European Network of NGO's in Afghanistan, October 17, 2014.

Afghan Election and Social Media

Sam Schneider, who at one time was the online editor for Tolo News, has posted an article on the South Asian Channel (Foreign Policy) on how Afghan social media has affected the elections and how it can sometimes be disruptive and inflame the tenuous political situation in Afghanistan. Facebook and Twitter are mediums that are very closely monitored and which provide instantaneous news alerts - although not always factual and sometimes inflammatory. In an attempt to add to the dialogue and shape the narrative the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) also has a twitter account at https://twitter.com/ISAFmedia and a Facebook account at www.facebook.com/ISAF .Read more in "A Double-Edged Sword: Social Media and the Afghan Election", The South Asia Channel (Foreign Policy), October 16, 2014.

1,000 DA Civilians Serve in Afghanistan

The Under Secretary of the Army Brad Carson recently spoke at the AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition and he commented on the value that Department of the Army civilians provide to the Army at large. There are over 1,000 DA civilians currently working in Afghanistan; and over 16,000 have served there over the years. Read more in "Civilian employees indispensable from Afghanistan to Africa", Army.mil, October 16, 2014.

Senator Levin Issues Warning on Afghanistan

The outgoing chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Carl Levin, says that "public disillusionment and disengagement with Afghanistan threatens the fragile progress taking root amid the United States' longest war". He made his comments during a speech to the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) earlier this week. Read more in "Outgoing Armed Services chair warns about waning support for Afghanistan", Stars and Stripes, October 15, 2014.

Osprey Crews Return Home

Members of the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261, Marine Aircraft Group 26, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing returned home (New River, NC) in mid-October after completing their nine-month long deployment in Afghanistan. The squadron provided support with emergency casualty evacuations, resupply operations, and troop movements. Read more in "Welcome Home: Marines embrace families, friends after Afghan deployment", DVIDS, October 17, 2014.

Taliban's Financial Activities replace Ideology

The motivation for many of the Taliban may no longer be revenge or ideology according to a recent online article posted on Foreign Policy. The authors believe that money has now become the primary motivator for belonging to the Taliban. They state that the Taliban have become the ". . . gatekeepers to a host of black market activities that both sustain the organization and help recruit members". Recommendations from the authors include strategies that address these extra-legal funding sources. Sources of money include the drug trade, protection money paid by international and government contracts, Islamic taxes, smuggling, and other financial activities. The article explores three transforming periods of time of the Taliban (post-2001) explaining how it went from an ideological organization to one very keen on financial activities. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between a Taliban organization and a criminal patronage network in several provinces. Read more in "The Taliban's Transformation from Ideology to Franchise", The South Asia Channel Foreign Policy, October 17, 2014.

Afghan War News via Email

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.

19th Special Forces Group Doing Its Part

The U.S. Army Special Forces has a unique set of missions that set it off from the rest of the Army in general. This mission set is very arduous and complicated requiring intense Special Forces training to ensure that the SF Soldiers meet the highest standards and are ready to tackle almost any mission it is confronted with. Special Forces tend to be very unconventional; of course, Unconventional Warfare (UW) is one of their primary missions. As a result of their extensive training and the ability to think and operate "outside the box" they tend to break some of the rules just a little bit from time to time. This is true while deployed in a war zone, operating overseas on training exercise, or while at home station cooling their heels between war zone deployments (of which there are many). SF Soldiers also like to take care of their own and others - especially the wounded from the long-running wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

The 19th Special Forces Group, a unit that probably has deployed each of their members to Afghanistan or Iraq at least four or five times in the past 13 years, has probably gotten itself into "hot water" in assisting a very worthy cause - called "Help for Heroes" - which is an organization dedicated to helping wounded veterans from the United Kingdom. Some young women from the United Kingdom were looking for a location to shoot some photos that will appear in a calendar that will raise money for needy wounded war veterans. The 19th Special Forces Group heroically stepped up to the plate to assist. However, it appears that some "naysayers" are casting doubts on the wisdom of providing this assistance to fellow wounded veterans from across the pond (the same ones that have their SAS chaps in Afghanistan and Iraq (in the fight against ISIS) working alongside us at the moment). Seems there are some pouty pusses out there that have their panties in a wad who not happy with 19th SFGA and they are pushing for an investigation. You can watch a video on YouTube that provides some behind-the-scenes "scenery" on the photo shoot for the Hot Shots 2015 calendar, If your interested in the calendar you can learn more here at www.hotshotscalendar.com. Myself? I give a tip of the hat to 19th Special Forces Group!

Turkmenistan is Worried About the Taliban

The Turkmenistan government is deeply concerned about a post-2014 Afghanistan. With ISAF leaving at the end of 2014 there will be very little foreign combat troops left in the country. The Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) will be doing almost all of the fighting with very little close air support and aerial ISR assets. Turkmenistan is taking steps to seal its border. There are almost one million ethnic Turkmens in Afghanistan - and these people have enjoyed great freedom of movement across the border. However, that is all changing - especially in Faryab and Jowzjan provinces. In the past few years the situation in northern Afghanistan has deteriorated. Regional Command North (now called TAAC North) collapsed its military units from the eastern and western sectors of northern Afghanistan into the center (at Camp Marmal near Mazar-e-Sharif). As a result the Taliban are enjoying greater freedom of movement and the ANSF are taking some heavy losses. Read more in "Turkmenistan Prepares for Post-2014 Afghanistan", The Diplomat, October 16, 2014.

UK Moving Drones from Afghanistan to Iraq

Britain will soon be moving its unmanned armed drones from Afghanistan to Iraq. The United Kingdom has been one of the early members of the anti-ISIS coalition and has committed aircraft (eight RAF Tornado fighter jets) and special operations forces to the conflict with ISIS. The UK's armed drone is the Reaper which can launch bombs and missiles. It usually carries two Paveway laser-guided bombs and four Hellfire missiles for precision strikes. Read more in "Britain to re-deploy drones from Afghanistan to Iraq", Yahoo! News, October 16, 2014.

Special Forces Stretched Too Thin?

The U.S. Special Forces have been at war for over 13 years. It's members have deployed year after year to war zones (Iraq and Afghanistan), conflict areas (Philippines, Africa, eastern Europe, etc.), and maintained a year to year presence in over 80 countries on various training missions. The operational tempo is taking its toll. Suicides within the force are at an all-time high and many members are opting out after ten years of service in light of the Army's stance on cutting pay and benefits. Everyone looked at end of the Iraq mission in late 2011 and the end of the ISAF mission in late 2014 (it will transition to Resolute Support with a reduced SF presence conducting Security Force Assistance) as an opportunity to catch their breath. But now the conflict with ISIS has developed. Are the Special Forces stretched too thin? Read more in "Are America's special operations forces in crisis?", The Week, October 16, 2014.

RC South now TAAC South

Regional Command South is now known as Train Advise and Assist Command South or TAAC South. As part of the draw down of ISAF forces and the transition to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to be in the lead for security the ISAF mission will end in December 2014. The NATO mission will continue under the Resolute Support mission - which will be primarily Security Force Assistance. There are sixteen partner nations in TAAC South. Read more in "RC-South transitions KAF to TAAC-South", Fort Hood Sentinel, October 16, 2014.

7th SFGA Soldiers Honored for Afghan Duty

An awards ceremony was conducted at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida for members of the 7th Special Forces Group who served in Afghanistan. Colonel Christopher Riga (7th SFGA Commander) and BG Michael Turello (Deputy Command of USASFC) presided over the ceremony. Read more in "7th soldiers honored for duty in Afghanistan", NWF Daily News, October 17, 2014.

Karzai Clan Wary of Corruption Investigations - Book Ticket for Dubai

Okay. I am just kidding. Hamid Karzai has not booked a ticket to Dubai (where his palatial palaces have been built with western aid money). He doesn't have to book a ticket as he probably has his own private plane. The new president of Afghanistan, President Ghani, has reopened a number of high-profile corruption cases (including the notorious Kabul Bank investigation) and that has the Karzai clan very worried. Two of the Karzai clan (one brother of Hamid) were implicated in the bank scandal and were forced to repay millions of dollars to avoid jail time; however, . . . the money was never repaid. President Karzai granted immunity to the guilty parties and they are still free living the high life in Kabul. Hmmmm, maybe they will need to head to the airport and get on a Safi flight before they end up behind bars. Read more in "Afghanistan: Karzais On The Run", Strategy Page, October 17, 2014.

Khost Protection Force Suffers Casualties

Eight Afghan soldiers belonging to the Khost Protection Force were killed during an engagement in eastern Afghanistan. The deaths were caused by a car bomb that exploded during a raid on a remote compound by the paramilitary unit. Once they had secured the compound a car bomb went off. The Khost Protection Force was established, supported, and paid for by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Read more in "Car Bomb Kills 8 Afghans From Unit Linked to C.I.A.", The New York Times, October 15, 2014.

Former COMISAF Now Commandant of Marine Corps

General Joe Dunford, the former Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (COMISAF) is now the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. He is the 26th commandant, replacing General James Amos. Dunford also served in Iraq as the commander of the 5th Marine Regiment. Read more in "Dunford takes over for Amos as commandant of the US Marine Corps", Stars and Stripes,  October 17, 2014.

NDS Arrest two Haqqani Leaders

The Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) has arrested two senior leaders of the Haqqani Network in eastern Khost province. This, if true, is likely a major blow to the Pakistan-based militant group. The Haqqani Group receives support, protection sanctuary, and operational assistance from the Pakistan intelligence service. Read more in "2 Haqqani leaders arrested by Afghan intelligence", Stars and Stripes, October 16, 2014.

Afghan War News Daily Newsletter via E-mail

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.

Joint Task Force Thor Stands Up

The United States Army has stood up Joint Task Force Thor on October 1, 2014. The United States Air Force has inactivated the 4th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron which has been operating as part of Task Force Odin. The 4th ERS was part of the Project Liberty program created in response to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance requirement shortfalls in the skies of Afghanistan. The 4th ERS core mission was to provide real-time tactical aerial ISR to combatant commanders using the MC-12W aircraft (a modified version of the Beechcraft 350). The aerial ISR provided the ability to "find, fix, and finish" the enemy - an important factor in the intelligence world of a counterinsurgent. The MC-12W planes are now transferred to JTF Thor. Read more in "Find, fix and finish: Air Force MC-12W mission transitions to Army", DVIDS, October 15, 2014. Learn more about Joint Task Force Thor in Afghanistan.