Monday, December 29, 2014

Australia Pre-Deployment Handbook

The Australia Department of Defense has published a useful publication that will assist Security Force Assistance advisors who are deploying to Afghanistan. It is entitled Pre-Deployment Handbook: Afghanistan (post 2014). The handbook provides information that will assist in understanding the complex environment that is Afghanistan in 2014 and beyond. The research and analysis supports Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel operating in Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission Op Resolute Support. The authors, David Matthews and Raspal Khosa, are part of the Joint and Operations Analysis Division of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation. The code for the handbook is DSTO-GD-0909 and it is dated May 2014. It is an Adobe Acrobat PDF, is 141 pages long, and is 9 MBs big.

www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a605161.pdf

Transition Ceremony Kicks off Resolute Support Mission

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) held a ceremony concluding operations in Afghanistan and transitioning to the new NATO-led Resolute Support mission. The ceremony paid tribute to the international efforts launched in 2001 to help establish a new government and security in Afghanistan. The Resolute Support mission will consist of more than 12,500 troops focused on building Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) sustainability. This will be done through the implementation of Functionally-based Security Force Assistance. The force will consist of 28 NATO allies and 14 partner nations. Under Resolute Support, efforts to train, advise, and assist Afghan Security Institutions (ASI) and the ANSF at the ministerial, operational, and institutional levels will focus on eight essential functions. These 8 EFs comprise the systems and processes required for the professionalism and sustainability of the ASI and ANSF. There was no mention of whether the NATO RS mission would advise and train the ANSF in counterinsurgency operations - an area in which the ANSF desperately needs assistance. Read more in "Transition ceremony kicks off Resolute Support Mission", NATO News, December 28, 2014.

Polish Advisors now with TAAC East

After several months of preparation in Poland a unit of advisors has arrived at Tactical Base Gamberi to take part in the Resolute Support Mission as an element of the Train, Advise, Assist Command - East (TAAC East). They arrived on December 19, 2014 and are part of a larger Polish contingent known as Task Force White Eagle. The advisors are detailed to the Military Advisory Team and Police Advisory Team and are conducting a transition with the current advisors from the U.S. Army's 3d Cavalry Regiment. Read more in "Polish advisers ready for Resolute Support in Afghanistan", DVIDS, December 27, 2014.

ANA Logistics Still Broke

Despite an intense effort over the past two years to fix the Afghan National Army logistics and supply system prior to the departure of ISAF at the end of 2014 the ANA log system is broke, units are suffering from lack of ammunition, supplies, and material, and vehicles sit in boneyards broke and unusable. Read more on this deplorable situation in "Uh-oh in Afghanistan", by David Wood, Senior Military Correspondent, The Huffington Post.

Herat Govt Officials Dismissed by Ghani

Afghan President Ghani has fired several governmental officials in Herat province due to charges of corruption. Ghani visited Herat and announced the dismissal of the provincial head's of the attorney, oil, power, customs and education offices. He also fired the heads of police in all of Herat's 15 districts. Very welcome news indeed! Read more in "Afghan President Dismisses Officials in Western Province", Radio Free Europe, December 27, 2014.

NATO Troops End on Mission, Start Another

The end of 2014 sees the ISAF mission in Afghanistan end and the NATO Resolute Support Mission begin. The Afghan War, which has lasted over 13 years, has seen critics expound upon the successes and failures of the NATO mission thus far. Read more in "NATO troops end one Afghanistan mission, start another", Deutsche Welle (DE), December 27, 2014.

ISAF Flag is Lowered in Afghanistan

A ceremony was held at ISAF Headquarters ending the NATO commitment to Afghanistan under the ISAF mission. Beginning in January 2015 NATO will continue to provide support and assistance to Afghanistan under the Resolute Support Mission. Read more in "NATO flag lowered in Afghanistan as combat mission ends", The Washington Post, December 28, 2014. See also "US, NATO mark end of mission to Afghanistan", Yahoo! News, December 28, 2014.

UN Afghanistan Quarterly (Winter 2014)

The United Nations Afghanistan Quarterly most recent edition has been published. Some of the articles include comments from the UN Special Envoy, "Young Afghan activist wins UNDP peace award", "UN political chief urges new approach to Afghanistan", "Country's solutions are political and not military", "Campaign to eliminate violence against women", "Violence against Afghan women widespread", "UN: Universal Declaration for all people everywhere", "UN envoy, Afghan President decry rights violations", "Winter comes to Afghanistan, affecting most vulnerable", Information law hailed as press freedom milestone", and "UN urges reform to ensure country's security".

United Nations Afghanistan Quarterly, Volume 4, Issue 3, Winter 2014.

UK SIGINT in Afghanistan

In a counterinsurgency environment Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) is extremely important. Many of the Coalition troop contributing nations deployed their own SIGINT units. Some units were 'national' assets while other units were 'tactical' elements. The United Kingdoms' Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), an intelligence and security organization, sent SIGINT equipment and personnel in Afghanistan to develop targeting information and for force protection purposes. Read more in "GCHQ ran string of front-line listening posts in Afghanistan", The Telegraph, December 28, 2014.

Timeline of Afghan War

Now that the ISAF mission in Afghanistan has ended everyone is updating their timelines of the history of the Afghan War. The UK's Daily Mail has their version posted here.

Operation Freedom's Sentinel

It appears that the name of the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan under the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission will be called Operation Freedom's Sentinel.

Daily News Snippets (Dec 29, 2014)




Five provinces received new science class packages worth over AFN 5 million from Germany. The Afghan Ministry of Education's Provincial Education Directorates (PEDs) of Balkh, Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunduz, and Sar-e-Pul received the new science equipment. The equipment was funded by the German government and includes laboratory materials for math, chemistry, biology, and physics classes. GIZ BEPA was the agency responsible for the handover of the science equipment. BEPA, or Basic Education Programme for Afghanistan, is a joint program of the German Government with the Afghan Government and is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammmenarbeit (GIZ). Read more in "5 provinces receive new science class packages worth over AFN 5 million from Germany", Wadsam - Afghan Business News Portal, December 27, 2014.

The NATO Secretary General issued a statement on the upcoming Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan. Read more in "NATO Secretary General's statement on a new chapter in Afghanistan", NATO News, December 28, 2014.

NATO has published an online Fact Sheet (Dec 2014) on NATO's commitment to Afghanistan after 2014. You can read the backgrounder here.

A regional Taekwondo championship with the nations of Afghanistan, India, Nepal and Malaysia competing saw Afghanistan place very well. Read more in "Afghanistan wins 48 medals in International Taekwondo Championship", Khaama Press, December 24, 2014.

An IED killed a local tribal leader in Alingar district in the eastern province of Laghman on Sunday afternoon. Read more in "Tribal elder among 2 killed in Laghman explosion", Khaama Press, December 28, 2014.

Plans by the United States to transfer military equipment to the Ukraine is opposed by Afghanistan. The U.S. is in the process of moving excess MRAPs to the Ukraine and President Ghani is not happy. He intends to discuss this development with President Obama soon. Read more in this news report by Eurasia Review (Dec 27, 2014).

CIVCAS. NATO mistakenly killed three Afghan nomads in an air strike in Logar province on Friday. An additional two people were wounded. The victims were inside a house. Reuters, December 27, 2014.

Daily Newsletter on Afghan War News

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Sunday, December 28, 2014

Gardens of Afghanistan

In a war torn country like Afghanistan there are sometimes few pleasures to enjoy. This is especially true if you are member of the international military spending a lot of your time on a huge Coalition base - built of concrete, crushed stone, and pre-fabricated buildings. A first impression of Afghanistan is that of a country with lots of open spaces covered with rock and sand and little in the way of vegetation. For someone from a forested area of the United States Afghanistan can appear to be a desolate region. However, a lot of my time was spent on Afghan military bases where I discovered the Afghan joy of gardening. While the ANA may not be the best fighting force in the world they certainly are adept in planting gardens. The ANA has an abundance of new bases with modern buildings (paid for by Uncle Sam) - and although the ANA might have trouble maintaining the buildings - they certainly can spruce the surrounding areas up quickly with gardens. This was especially true of the 209th ANA Corps in northern Afghanistan where on any given day over 200 ANA soldiers were engaged in gardening and landscaping activities. Many SFA advisors often wondered which was more important to the 209th - providing security for RC North or tending to their flowers. Certainly the ANA far outclassed the U.S. military in this area; the U.S. military bases were essentially very drab places to live. The only U.S. military attempt at providing vegetation on a meaningful level that I can remember (I am sure there were a few others) occurred in 2013 when Disney Avenue at Bagram Air Field got a row of trees planted from one end to the other. ISAF HQs compound in Kabul has a nice garden but I think it dates from when it was the Afghan Army Sports Center; I am sure that somewhere along the way there was an American general officer who wanted to pull the trees and plants out to put in some pre-fab buildings. Read more about the importance of gardening in Afghanistan in a online report by Lalage Snow posted on the Afghanistan Analyst Network (27 Dec 2014).

Paper - Aviation Security Cooperation

The U.S. Air Force, over the past decade, has engaged in assisting the Iraqi Air Force and Afghan Air Force in rebuilding from scratch. Over the course of the last ten years (and more) the U.S. Air Force has had to revamp its air advisor and training programs to meet this challenge. Over the years the U.S. Air Force advisory effort has had some mixed results but seems to be on track now. However, it appears that the Air Force may be ditching the ability to execute 'Security Cooperation' (SC) in order to find money to fund big ticket programs like the J-35.

A recently published paper argues that ". . . it is in the Air Force's interests to OT&E an effective standing operational SC Capability in the GPF". Doing so would help the service realize its vision of global vigilance, global reach, and global power; help deal with the challenges of highly contested environments; and provide a low-cost way to support US strategic interests and the nation's emphasis on shaping the strategic environment to prevent or deter conflict". The paper then states that the requirements for attaining such a standing SC capability is an investment of dozens of billets and tens of millions of dollars annually in the short term.

Read the paper entitled "Aviation Security Cooperation", Air & Space Power Journal, September-October 2014, pages 92-117.
http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA610320

J-35 to Replace A-10? Let's Hope Not

The news just doesn't get any better for the use of the new J-35 as a close support aircraft for ground troops. The Air Force would like to replace the A-10 with a version of the J-35 but it seems the "top-of-the-line" aircraft can't see the battlefield that well. In fact, the technology designed for the J-35 is ten years behind that being used right now by legacy aircraft. Read more in "Newest U.S. Stealth Fighter 10 Years Behind Older Jets", The Daily Beast, December 26, 2014.

Afghan Interpreter Finds New Life in U.S.

An Afghan interpreter who spent years working for the U.S. military and who's life was threatened by the Taliban has started a new life in the United States. He is being aided by a U.S. Marine in his fresh start. Read more in "Afghan Interpreter Finds Refuge at Marine's Home", Military.com, December 26, 2014.

NATO Airstrike CIVCAS in Logar

According to Afghan news agencies a NATO airstrike caused civilian casualties in the Baraki Barak district of Logar province on Friday. The airstrike hit a civilian home.  Read more in "NATO Airstrike Kills 5 in Logar", Tolo News, December 27, 2014.

Foreign Investment in Afghanistan? Unlikely for Now

Everyone acknowledges that the Afghan economy, despite some bright spots here or there, is in trouble. Foreign investment is stalled and Afghan money is flowing to Dubai and other locations. According to the World Bank the country has the lowest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the region with an average per capita annual income of around $670. Many are calling for government policies to encourage foreign investment but . . . with an ongoing insurgency that shows no signs of going away and a continuing problem with rampant corruption . . . it is unlikely that very much foreign investment will take place at a significant level. Read more in "Attracting Foreign Investments to Afghanistan: A Reality or Dream?", Khaama Press, December 27, 2014.

Advising and Training the Afghan Air Force

A female air advisor and trainer, Maj Mary Clark, recently completed a one-year tour at Shindand Air Base, in western Afghanistan training and advising students learning to fly Mi-17 helicopters. Read her thoughts about her experience, the value of a female instructor/advisor, and on the Afghan Air Force in "Female aviator makes difference training Afghan AF", U.S. Air Force News, December 26, 2014.