Podcast on Transitions in Afghanistan

Thomas Ruttig, a long-term observer of all things Afghanistan and co-founder of the Afghan Analysts Network (AAN), provides his comments on the 2014 elections, democracy, and governance in Afghanistan. Listen to the podcast here (AAN, Dec 26, 2014, 9 minutes).

Daily News Snippets - (Jan 2, 2015)

A suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden vehicle (some reports say 'truck' and others 'Toyota Corolla') into an ANA base in central Maiden Wardak province on Tuesday. (Tolo News, Dec 30, 2014). The bomber was killed and one Afghan soldier was injured (some reports say killed). The incident took place in the Sayed Aabad district.

Joshua Keating, a staff writer at Slate focusing on international affairs, asks "Is America's Longest War Really Over?", Slate, December 29, 2014. He seems to think that the conclusion of combat operations in Afghanistan felt awfully anticlimactic and less than definite. 

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) published a statement on their website saying the 'so-called governor' of Kapisa was killed with two of his aides. I would link to the statement on the MoI website but China has infected the Afghan government websites with malware and I don't know if the problem has been cleared up!

And about that malware attack by China . . . Khaama Press (an Afghan news outlet) has more on that story in "Cyber attack on Afghan Government Websites? Was it really an attack?" (Dec 30, 2014). 

Anna Mulrine writes in The Christine Science Monitor about the ending of the ISAF combat mission and move to continue advisory and counterterrorism missions in Afghanistan. Read her story here (Dec 29, 2014).

John McCain says that Afghanistan is on the verge of becoming another Iraq. He says pulling troops out for political reasons is a mistake that could lead to instability and violence similar to what we now see in Iraq. (Defense News, Dec 30, 2014).

A blue-ribbon commission on military compensation and retirement is coming to the end of its two-year long study and will be releasing its proposals for change in early February. The Defense Department will review the proposed changes and then send its recommendations to President Obama. Those who currently serve in the military and those who have retired are holding their breath. There is concern that the retirement system could be changed (for the worse) and that Tricare could get folded into Obamacare or Medicare (oh, that would hurt). Then, of course, there are our admirals and generals who like big ships and expensive planes (can you spell J-35) and feel that lower pay and reduced benefits could help fund the big ticket items. It is hard to see how the enlisted man comes out ahead on the upcoming changes. Read more in "DoD braces for political battle over military pay", Military Times, December 30, 2014.

While President Obama has declared a "responsible end" to the Afghan War - others seem to think that the war is still on-going. Read "Afghan's War Remains Fierce After Coalition Ends Combat Mission", The Wall Street Journal, December 30, 2014.

It seems a lot of money was spent on women's programs in Afghanistan but that some of it may have been poorly spent resulting in less than anticipated gains. Read more in "U.S. failed to track spending on aid for Afghan women, auditor finds", Los Angeles Times, December 30, 2014.

A news article by Dan Murphy, a staff writer for The Christian Science Monitor, entitled "The Afghan war that didn't really end yesterday ended in defeat" (Dec 29, 2014). He states that none of the claimed long term objectives for the war in Afghanistan,either from the Bush or Obama administrations, have been achieved.

It appears that the Australians were present for the "Secret Ceremony" that marked the end of the ISAF mission and the beginning of the Resolute Support mission. There are still about 400 Australians in Afghanistan who haven't got the word that the war is over; several attended the ceremony. Read more in an Australian news report (Dec 30, 2014). 

Guest Bloggers Wanted!

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 blog posts and articles to our blog and add content to our website. And naturally, if you see errors, outdated information, or broken links please let us know.

staff@afghanwarnews.info

Start the New Year off with Afghan War Newsletter

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Happy New Year!

ISAF Mission Complete

ANP doing ANA's Job

The outgoing head of the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan (EUPOL) had some insightful comments about the current state of security in Afghanistan. Karl Ake Roghe (Sweden) has led the EUPOL mission for over 2 1/2 years. He stated that the main problem for Afghanistan is how the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) is dividing the responsibilities for fighting the insurgency. He states that the police are bearing the brunt of the counterinsurgency fight; more so than the Afghan National Army. Afghanistan has 157,000 police that were created, trained and funded (partially) by the European Union. These police are under attack every day from the Taliban; especially in remote districts centers, outlying checkpoints, and in rural areas. The police receive little backup from the army and do not enjoy air support, medical evacuation, and hospitals. The emphasis given to police training is almost insignificant when compared to the money, training, and equipment provided to the Afghan National Army.

Of course, everyone familiar with counterinsurgency tactics, techniques, and procedures knows that the police are in the lead in a counterinsurgency effort (read FM 3-24 if you didn't and see note 1 below). Unfortunately, the Ministry of Interior was terribly corrupt and incompetent for many years (probably still is), and the Afghan National Police ill-trained, under-equipped, and also very corrupt. ISAF's efforts (as opposed to EUPOL) in improving the MoI and Afghan National Police (ANP) suffered from over emphasis on the Afghan National Army (ANA) and less than effective police training programs (see note 2 below). Read more in "Head of Afghan police training says high casualties are deadly cost of doing the army's job", Fox News, December 28, 2014.

Note 1: According to FM 3-24, para 6-90, page 6-19, (15 Dec 2006) "The primary frontline COIN force is often the police - not the military" . . . "Because of their frequent contact with populace, police often are the best force for countering small insurgent bands supported by the local populace." However, the police need the support of other government institutions (judicial, prosecutors, government officials, etc.) and the army. In Afghanistan, these institutions were poorly developed or corrupt.

Note 2: In the 2012-2013 period the United States deployed hundreds of Security Force Assistance Advisor Teams (SFAATs). Some of these teams were tasked with advising police district centers. The SFAATS advising the police were supposed to have a senior U.S. Army Military Police NCO on the adviser team - but rarely did this happen. In addition, the police advisor teams were supposed to be augmented with four Embedded Police Mentors (EMPs) - contract civilian policemen from the U.S. - but the contract for the EPMs was not amended in a timely manner to provide the required number of EPMs. The experience level of some EPMs left a lot to be desired. In addition, the SFAATs received very little training in police operations in a COIN environment and knew very little about the ANP prior to deploying to Afghanistan. In effect, the U.S. Army's attempt to professionalize the ANP was not at the level needed; the U.S. Army expended a lot of time, money, effort and personnel on the police training effort but not in a coherent and wise manner.

SF Team Cleared in Friendly Fire Incident

Two Special Forces Soldiers from the 5th Special Forces Group have been cleared of wrongdoing in a friendly fire case that occurred on June 9, 2014. A B-1B bomber dropped two bombs on the position of a Special Forces team killing five Americans and one Afghan sergeant. U.S. Central Command conducted an investigation and pinned some of the blame on the SF team on the ground. The lead investigator, Air Force MG Jeffrey Harrigian, called for charges against the two Green Berets. However, the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), commanded by LTG Charles Cleveland, conducted a review of the incident and cleared the SF team leader and team sergeant of any wrongdoing. The B-1B was conducting a five-mile orbit at 12,000 feet - placing it outside of the effective range of the radios used by the ground team - which caused a decrease in communications effectiveness between the aircrew and the ground team. In addition, the air crew was relying on night vision devices that did not have sufficient range to detect ground team signals. An Air Force Joint Terminal Air Controller (JTAC) on the ground with the SF team called in the air strike. The bombs landed directly on the SF teams position. The B-1B, flying too high and too distant from the SF teams position, was unable to properly execute a mission more suited to the Air Force A-10. The A-10 has crews that specialize in close air support of ground units and can fly low and slow - increasing the effectiveness of communications and able to observe the situation on the ground. Read more in "Green Berets cleared in Afghanistan friendly fire deaths", The Washington Times, December 28, 2014.

Central Asia and Afghan Drawdown

Central Asian states are concerned about the spread of ISIS and the possible flow of insurgents northward from the Afghan nation. The situation in northern Afghanistan gets worse and worse as years go by. The ability of the Coalition under the new Resolute Support Mission to influence or shape events on the ground in what used to be referred to as Regional Command North (RC North) is minimal. Train, Advise, Assist Command - North, under German leadership, has little strength in numbers and very little combat power. Air support is non-existent and comes out of Bagram if at all. The small amount of troops not dedicated to staff, command, advising, or support are providing "force protection" and "guardian angel" services. Confined to Camp Marmal, except when advisors and their force protection detail head to the 209th Corp HQs, the Coalition sees very little on what is happening in northern Afghanistan. TAAC North's intelligence assets are very likely limited and probably blind on the true tactical situation. Relying on the intelligence provided by the 209th Corps, OCC-R, ANP, and ABP is problematic.

The Taliban, IMU, and other insurgent groups have made great inroads into northern Afghanistan and the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) have proven themselves not up to the challenge. There is a very real threat to the Central Asian states to the north. While ISAF may be blind to the situation the Central Asian states are aware of what the future may bring.

Read more in "Central Asia and Afghanistan as the Drawdown Deadline Arrives", Gandhara Blog - Radio Free Europe, December 29, 2014.

Life of an ANP EOD Specialist

A news account details the life of an Afghan specialist in defusing improvised explosive devices (IEDs). He works for the Afghan police in Helmand province - and according to some accounts has defused over 6,000 IEDs. Simply amazing. "The war in Afghanistan is over, but the battle against the Taliban - and their IEDs - goes on", The Independent, December 29, 2014.

NATO Transition to Resolute Support

There is lots of news out there on the Internet about the NATO transition from the ISAF mission to the Resolute Support mission. The mission officially ends at midnight on December 31. Listed below are some of the news articles:

"Nato marks transition to new Afghanistan mission", BBC News Asia, December 28, 2014

"NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan", NATO, December 18, 2014

"Nato ends its war in Afghanistan as insurgency rumbles on", The Telegraph, December 28, 2014.

"A Nation Towards Transformation", Khaama Press, December 29, 2014.

"The war in Afghanistan is over, but the battle against the Taliban - and their IEDs - goes on", The Independent, December 29, 2014.

View photos of ISAF's change of mission ceremony posted on Facebook. See "ISAF to RS Change of Mission Ceremony".

"Taliban vows to continue fighting as NATO combat mission ends", Khaama Press, December 29, 2014.

Operation Freedom's Sentinel is the name of the U.S. military's campaign in Afghanistan - replacing the 13 year long Operation Enduring Freedom.

Canada's Secret Soldiers

Canadian SOF, nicknamed "CANSOF" by some, were an early entry in the Afghan War - deploying as early as 2002. A recent news article posted online provides us an inside look at the training and employment of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR) based in Petawawa. Read more in "Canada's secret soldiers: Special Forces' work takes place under the radar", The Vancouver Sun, December 28, 2014.

Afghan Nat Sec Advisor Remarks at Ceremony

Mohammad Hanif Atmar, Afghanistan's National Security Advisor, made some remarks at the ISAF / Resolute Support transition ceremony in Kabul on Sunday, December 28, 2104. He expressed Afghanistan's deepest gratitude for the NATO Coalition's efforts and sacrifices in Afghanistan since 2001. Read his comments posted on ISAF News (Dec 28, 2014).

PSYOP Tab Now Awarded

Photo courtesy of Duffel Blog

Members of the Psychological Operations community are celebrating the long-awaited recognition that they deserve for being part of the Special Operations community. The PSYOP community has always been associated with the Special Warfare mission - going back to the early 1950s. Those individuals who are graduates of a recognized PSYOP course - the PSYOP correspondence course counts - are eligible to wear the "Psychological Operations" tab. Current service members can start wearing the tab once they have by-name orders published - the personnel action is initiated by their unit S1. Former members of the Army can send a letter (with an attached DD 214) to the S1 of the 4th Military Information Support Group for award of the PSYOP tab. The award of a tab for completion of a specialized Army course is not without precedent. Members of Special Forces who have undergone Special Forces training are awarded the 'Special Forces' tab for completion of the SF qualification course. This is often informally referred to as the 'long tab'. However, SF dudes are now calling the PSYOP tab 'the longest tab' because of the number of letters required (see picture at left). In the tabbed world there are a lot of changes afoot - from the establishment of the PSYOP tab to the soon-to-be seen spectacle of women wearing the Ranger Tab. Get ready for it! Progress is unstoppable! Read more in "Psychological Operations Debuts New 'Longest Tab'", Duffel Blog, December 29, 2014.

Book - "Answering the Pashtun Question"

Abu-Bakr Siddique has wrote a book entitled The Pashtun Question: The Unresolved Key to the Future of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The book examines the Pashtun jihadists ("good" and "bad"), history of jihadism in Pakistan, Pakistani motivation for supporting the Afghan Taliban ("good"), and the significance of the Durand Line. The book is also very rich in analysis and provides a good history of the Pashtuns. The book is reviewed by Myra MacDonald, a former Reuters journalist and book author. Read the book review in "Answering the Pashtun Question", War on the Rocks, December 29, 2014.

Daily News Snippets (Dec 30, 2014)

After years of ignoring them, Pakistan has begun to crack down on violent Islamists. Read more in a news report (The Washington Post, December 28, 2014).

Russia is in the process of drafting a framework agreement that would govern the providing of weapons to Afghanistan. Read more in a news report (Radio Free Europe, Dec 29, 2014).

The Taliban have declared victory against the foreign invaders with the observance of the end of the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. Read more in "Taliban declare 'defeat' of U.S., allies in Afghanistan", Thomas Reuters Foundation, December 29, 2014.

William Dalrymple, author of Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42, writes up a piece comparing the first Anglo-Afghan War to the present conflict. Read "Road to Gandamak", The Cairo Review of Global Affairs, October 19, 2014.

The head of the Ulama Council of central Maidan Wardak, his son and a bodyguard were wounded by a bomb planted on a vehicle on Sunday morning.

Taliban Declares Victory. The Taliban has cranked up its Information Operations machine in celebration of the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. Read more in "Taliban: U.S. Leaving Afghanistan in Defeat", Foreign Policy, December 29, 2014.

Shashank Bengali writes that "U.S. airstrikes remain crucial to Afghan forces in Taliban battles", Los Angeles Times, December 28, 2014.

Pakistan remains a very strong ally in the fight against terrorism. The suspected mastermind of the 2008 militant attacks on Mumbai that killed 166 people has won his appeal against detention in Pakistan. Hmmmm. (Voice of America, Dec 29, 2014).

Some press reports say that the closing ceremony for the ISAF mission in Afghanistan was "held in secret". Read more in "One sentence that shows how badly America failed in Afghanistan", VOX.com, December 29, 2014.

Robert Scales, a retired major general and former commandant of the Army War College, has penned a piece about the infamous U.S. Army M16/M4. Read "Gun Trouble", The Atlantic, December 28, 2014.

Which country is the worst Narco-State in history? According to RAWA News it is Afghanistan.

Russia's special representative to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, has warned that Islamists in Afghanistan are concentrating along the Tajik and Turkmen borders. He believes that the number run into the thousands and that a number of training camps exist in northern Afghanistan as well. (Radio Free Europe, Dec 29, 2014).

Max Boot says you can re brand (ISAF to Resolute Support) the Afghan War however you want but Afghanistan is still at war. (Los Angeles Times, Dec 30, 2014).

Pakistan has increased the requirements for the process of buying SIM cards. The government started requiring call centres, franchises, and authorized dealers to have every customer scan his or her Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) and thumbprint into biometric machines as part of the process of buying SIM cards. This will make it difficult for criminals and terrorist as the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has blocked Afghan-based subscriber identity module (SIM) cards from access to roaming services. (Central Asia Online, Dec 29, 2014).

Pakistan is not a fan of the U.S. TV spy drama "Homeland". Seems their feathers have been ruffled by the unflattering portrayal of Pakistan's powerful spy agencies. It appears the TV show links the Haqqani Network with the Inter-Service Intelligence agency. (Newsstalk ZB, Dec 29, 2014).

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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.