Kerry, China, and Afghanistan

Secretary of State John Kerry took the opportunity to provide his insight on the relationship between the United States and China and outlining different aspects of that relationship in a speech before the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. (See Remarks on U.S.-China Relations, U.S. Department of State, November 4, 2014). While the speech was quite long and covered many subjects he did touch a little bit on China and Afghanistan. His comments on that topic are below:

"It can also make a difference in countering violent extremist groups like ISIL, which seek to harm people in every corner of the globe. And it can help in bringing stability to places like Afghanistan, where today we are partnering to support political cohesiveness and prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a safe haven for terrorists. We welcome China’s role as a critical player in the Afghan region. And just last week, in fact, President Ghani, our Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Dan Feldman, and President Obama’s counselor John Podesta all traveled to Beijing to participate in a conference focused on supporting Afghan peace and reconstruction."

Slain Afghan Official Mourned

The sub-governor of Kandahar, Abdul Qadim Patyal, was assassinated while he was attending a night class on Afghan literature. He embodied the hope of many who saw a youthful public servant who was not tied to a warlord or specific "tribal family" that would help bring Afghanistan out of the 14th century and into the 21st century. Read more in "Slain Afghan official, a poet, embodied hope of youth", Los Angeles Times, November 4, 2014.

Afghan 119 Information Center

The 119 Information Center service in Afghanistan is now five years old. Afghans can dial 119 on the phone to reach an emergency call center to report a crime, seek emergency assistance, or report insurgent activity. There is a main call center located in Kabul and several regional call centers around the country (Kandahar, Mazar-e-Sharif, etc.). The call centers operate around the clock and have communication with the regional Operational Coordination Centers or OCC-Rs. The Ariana TV network and Awaz Productions are now broadcasting a program called Reaction 119 which provides information about the value of the government emergency call center service. The program, aired on the private television channel, is dedicated to demonstrating the services of the Quick Reaction Police and the 119 Information Center. Learn more in "Afghan 119 police services prevent violence", Central Asia Online, October 31, 2014.

Guest Articles, Posts, and Commentary Welcome

The Afghan War News Blog and the Afghan War News website are constantly striving to keep its blog, daily newsletter, and website factual, current, and relevant. If you have a link to a website or document you feel should be shared with the greater community then please send it to us. In addition,we are looking for individuals with some knowledge, experience, and expertise in Afghanistan on a wide range of topics to contribute articles to our blog and add content to our website. And naturally, if you see errors, outdated information, or broken links let us know.

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Last of Russian Helicopters Delivered

The last of 63 Russian Mi-17 transport helicopters have been delivered to the Afghan Air Force (AAF) in October 2014. The Russian Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation says it will assist with future helicopter deliveries to the Afghan military and help maintain the aircraft already in service. The U.S. funding for the purchase of the Mi-17s were widely criticized by members of Congress because of Russia's support of the Assad regime in Syria and Russia's annexation of the Crimea and support of the Ukrainian rebels. In addition, there appears to be a bit of price gouging going on as well by the Russians. The U.S. military are staunch supporters of the Mi-17 program as the Russian helicopters are best suited for the Afghan terrain and maintenance capabilities. Read more in Russia Delivers Last of U.S.-bought Helicopter to Afghan Military", DoD Buzz, November 3, 2014.

Interview with John Nagl - Author "Knife Fights"

Dr. John Nagl was recently (October 28, 2014) interviewed about his new book "Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice". Nagl is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army and a former president of The Center for a New American Century. The book is an education in 21st Century Warfare - both its theory and its practice. Nagl first came into the public eye with his book "Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife" - about counterinsurgency and how the United States had to understand an insurgency and be flexible in its response and able to adjust its strategy to deal with the threat. The interview, narrated by Peter Bergen (no slouch himself on warfare, insurgency and terrorism) was recorded by The Center for a New American Century, it is 1 hour and 23 minutes long and can be seen at the link below on YouTube.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6WLiErc2mw

More Aircraft for the Afghan Air Force

The United States will be providing additional aircraft to the Afghan Air Force. Read more in "Warplanes: Fixing the Afghan Air Force", Strategy Page,  October 30, 2014.

Afghan Refugees Die in Boat Disaster

24 people were killed in a boat sinking off the Turkish coast. They were part of a group of 42 Afghan refugees who paid a smuggler to transport them from Turkey to Europe. Read more in "24 killed in migrant boat disaster off northern Istanbul coast", Hurriyet Daily News (Turkey), November 4, 2014.

Afghan Withdrawal Timeline Reassessment

General John Campbell is reassessing the United States withdrawal time frame from Afghanistan. The electoral dispute and late signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement put a lot of planned programs to advise and assist the Afghans on hold. These programs were meant to prepare the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) for the full withdrawal of International Security Assistance Force (except for 12,500 personnel under the Resolute Support mission). Insurgent attacks have reached the highest levels since 2011 and the ANSF has suffered high casualties in the 2014 fighting season. The recent events in Iraq, where the U.S. withdrew completely in 2011, have raised questions on the ability of the ANSF to hold out against the Taliban after ISAF leaves. Read more in "Top US commander of Afghan war reassessing US withdrawal timeline", Stars and Stripes, November 4, 2014.

Tajikistan and Turkmenistan to Aid Afghanistan

The two Central Asian countries of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are keen to see a secure and stable Afghanistan. The last thing these countries need is an unsecure northern Afghan border from which insurgents can cross causing internal security problems within their respective countries. To that end they are assisting with the delivery of electricity to Afghanistan at a reduced cost. Read more in "Turkmenistan, Tajikistan want to aid Afghanistan", Central Asia Online, October 28, 2014.

Rebuilding Technology Base in Afghanistan

There certainly is some progress being made in Afghanistan. The news is not just "gloom and doom". The technology and telecommunications sector of Afghanistan has seen great benefit from the years of hard work done by the international community. Great strides have been made in the education field for basic education as well as advanced education at the university level. The Technical University of Berlin has been helping with the reconstruction of academic organizations in Afghanistan since 2002. Computer centers have been established at five college locations in Afghanistan. Learn more in "Rebuilding tech in Afghanistan with open source", OpenSource.com, posted October 29, 2014.

DCGS-A Suffers Another Black Eye

The Army's Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) program can't seem to catch a break. It is now revealed that a government official said to be ". . . the architect of a failed effort . . ." had an embellished resume. Seems he was known as "Dr. Richardson" yet never earned a Ph.D. (as seen on his resume). DCGS has been judged an expensive failure for the U.S. Army and intelligence units in Afghanistan tried to use other software applications rather than DCGS. Unfortunately, the billions of dollars need not have been wasted on DCGS as there was a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) computer application used by the Special Operations community that did the same function at a far less cost. Read more in "Official allowed others to believe he had Ph.D.", AP Big Story, October 28, 2014.

ANSF Prepared to Defend Helmand

Many observers will cast a keen eye on what happens in Helmand province now that the Brits have departed Camp Bastion and the U.S. Marines have left Camp Leatherneck. Some observers predict doom but the the commander of the 215th Afghan National Army Corps says his troops will do fine. Read more in "Afghan Forces Prepare to Fight Alone as Foreign Troops Leave", The Huffington Post, October 28, 2014.

Czech Soldiers Sign up for Resolute Support

The Parliament of the Czech Republic has approved a plan to keep its soldiers in Afghanistan for two more years. The number of Czechs will likely be about 250. Read more in "Czech soldiers to stay in Afghanistan", Yahoo! News, October 31, 2014.

Afghanistan to Remain Dependent on West

Afghanistan will not be able to fund the security forces that are needed to quell the insurgency - the international community will have to foot much of that bill. The Afghan government yearly budget is about $7.6 billion. International donors provide 65% of that amount. Read more in "Op-Ed: Afghanistan to remain western-funded client state", Digital Journal, by Ken Hanly, October 28, 2014.

Afghan Forces Winning Says IJC Cdr

The commander of the ISAF Joint Command, sometimes called IJC for short, provided an update on the Afghan War in a teleconference with Pentagon reporters. Army LTG Joseph Anderson said that the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) are winning. He stated that the ANSF is ". . . the most trusted government organization in Afghanistan" and that it is ". . . a hugely capable fighting force that has been holding its ground against the enemy". The Afghan forces number about 352,000 - 156,000 in the army and 155,000 in the police.

In the transition from the ISAF mission to the Resolute Support mission there has been a steady decline in the number of Coalition forces in Afghanistan. Currently (early November 2014) there are 38,000 soldiers from 44 nations; with a planned strength of 12,500 Coalition members by the end of December 2014. The number of Coalition bases has decreased from 86 bases in January 2014 to a current number of 26 (as of early November 2014). There are no more Regional Commands. All of the RCs have transitioned to "Train Advise and Assist Commands" or TAACs. The last RC to transition was RC East (to TAAC East). The new mission, Resolute Support, is all about advising and assisting the Afghans at the corps, institutional, and ministerial levels to work systems and processes. The advisory effort is focused along Eight Essential Functions (the "8 EF's are the follow-on to the "Five Functional Pillars") which encompasses everything from planning, programming, budgeting and execution to sustainment and planning. Some of the capability gaps of the ANSF include aviation, intelligence, logistics, and medical.

Read more in "Afghan Forces Winning, ISAF Joint Command Chief Says", DoD News, November 5, 2014.

Ghani Removes "Handcuffs"

General John Campbell, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) says that President Ghani has been very cooperative with ISAF and will likely lift some of the restriction imposed upon ISAF by President Karzai. Campbell says "Since about 2009, the security forces in some instances almost had handcuffs on them because of some of the policies that Karzai had". Read more in "New Afghan President Improves Ties with U.S.-led Forces", The Wall Street Journal, November 2, 2014.

ANASF Trains for Future after U.S. Exit

The Afghan National Army Special Forces (ANASF) are hopeful that they will be ready once the United States military finally leaves. While many of the U.S. SOF units have significantly trimmed down their force structure in Afghanistan - there is still an advisor capacity in country. This commitment will continue to scale back as time goes on. But the ANASF leadership is hopeful. Read more in "Afghan National Army trains to hold off Taliban after U.S. exit", The Washington Times, October 28, 2014.

Paper - Advisor Influence across NSMs and ANSF

An extremely well-researched and detailed paper is available that presents valuable information about advisor influence upon the Afghan national security ministries (NSMs) and the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). The paper, a dissertation for a graduate student at Syracuse University with extensive military experience, ". . . is an in-depth case study of NATO advisors and their perceived influence in Afghanistan . . . " in the period of 2009-2012. The author reviews Security Sector Reform (SSR) literature, presents different theories on SSR, provides an analysis of security assistance partnering, and examines advisor influence across the Afghan security spectrum.  The paper, 370 pages long, explores a two-part question:

". . . how do foreign security actors (ministerial advisors and security force trainers, advisors, and commanders) attempt to influence their host-nation partners and what are their perceptions of these approaches on changes in local capacity, values, and security governance norms?"

The paper is entitled The Prospects of Institutional Transfer: A Within-Case Study of NATO Advisor Influence Across the Afghan Security Ministries and National Security Forces, 2009-2012, by Nicholas J. Armstrong, May 2014.
http://surface.syr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1068&context=etd