Afghan War Blog

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Dismantling of Bagram Air Base

The retrograde of U.S. personnel, vehicles, and equipment has been ongoing for the last few years. Hundreds of small and large Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) have been closed or transferred to the Afghan security forces. Those remaining bases - Herat, Camp Marmal at Mezar-e-Sharif, Kandahar Air Base, and Bagram Air Field are collapsing their perimeters and demolishing living and work areas. Read about the transformation of Bagram Air Field in "What Afghanistan's Largest Military Base Looks Like Now", Business Insider,, January 6, 2015.

EUPOL and Rule of Law

EUPOL has posted an explanation of their Line of Operation 3 (LO3) for training up the Afghan National Police. LO3 is the Rule of Law Component and it is further sub-divided into the Police-Justice Linkages Unit and the Legal Reform Unit. Read more in "EUPOL's new Lines of Operation explained: Rule of Law", January 6, 2015.

Assessment of ANSF

Franz-Stefan Gady, an Associate Editor with The Diplomat, provides us with his assessment of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). For all their flaws, he believes there is reason to think Afghanistan's security forces can hold their ground. They will likely be successful in maintaining control of the major population areas and the major lines of communication. Some districts will remain in control of the Taliban. Some ANSF units will come to an accommodation with the insurgents. But the Taliban cannot take over the country. Read more in "Can the Afghan Army Prevail on the Battlefield?", The Diplomat, January 7, 2015.

Article - "Why Soldiers Miss War"

Participating in a war has a great effect on people and some have trouble recovering. Many suffer from varying degrees of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) while others just miss the experience and adventure of the war. Some PTSD experts say many experience a combination of both. Some are able to leave it all behind. I don't know for sure as I am not an expert on the topic. Many Afghan veterans spent the war on large FOBs behind large concrete walls - seeing little combat; although some of these "fobbits" were on the receiving end of daily rocket attacks. FOB Shank in Logar province was referred to as "rocket city". Then there are the combat veterans who drove the IED-seeded roads or fought the many small combat engagements from isolated outposts scattered across the Afghan countryside. In the last few years the troops have been participating in advisory missions. One thing is for sure, over the course of the 13-year long war - everyone's experience is different and unique and yet there is a lot of commonality. In addition, upon returning to the states - there is a varied reaction to no longer being in the war. Some combat veterans certainly miss the war; others not so much.

One writer tries to capture this aspect of the Afghan War. He writes about rocket attacks on FOB Shank and then goes on to discuss PTSD. He explains to us that returning combat veterans see life a little bit different from the other 99% of the U.S. population who are not in the military. And he explains PTSD in a different manner than I have heard before; but with which I can certainly understand.

Read Nolan Peterson's piece entitled "Why soldiers miss war", posted on Blue Force Tracker, January 4, 2015.

www.blueforcetracker.com/article/Why-soldiers-miss-war

Paper - JIIM Approach to IW

An extensive paper has been posted on the Small Wars Journal entitled "Countering 21st Center Threats: The Need for an Increased Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental and Multinational (JIIM) Approach to Irregular Warfare." The three authors are a diverse group: a commander in the ROK Navy, a major in the Danish Army, and a major in the U.S. Army. It is a long paper full of information to include a bibliography as well as 53 footnotes. The paper makes several recommendations worth considering.

Read or download the paper off the SWJ website.

A-T Solutions Wins TREX RSM CJ7 Contract

A-T Solutions has won the NATO Resolute Support Mission contract to provide advisory and assistance services to support the Resolute Support Combined Joint Staff 7 - Training and Exercises section. This is more informally known as RSM CJ-7 TREX. The company will develop, design and present field training material and course to ISAF/RS advisors on advisory skills, cultural awareness, insider threat, security force assistance (SFA) and other subjects. Read more in a news release at Business Wire, January 7, 2015.

Afghan News Snippets (Jan 8, 2014)

The Wall Street Journal reports (Jan 6, 2015) that China is creating a new avenue for Afghan peace talks. The Chinese are hosting a delegation of Afghan Taliban officials.

The Afghan public is becoming increasingly frustrated with the delay in forming the Afghan cabinet. Read more in "Afghan Cabinet Delay Creates Pessimism", Gandhara Blog - Radio Free Europe, January 7, 2015.

A news story about the Train, Advise, and Assist (TAA) effort at Tactical Base Gamberi is provided by Kay Johnson in "Smaller NATO mission has big job to train Afghan army in time", Reuters, January 7, 2015.

A bombing in the city of Jalalabad, Nangarhar province killed a judge who served in the neighboring province of Laghman. The bomb was attached to the judge's car by a passing vehicle (magnetic?). (Gandhara Blog - Radio Free Europe, Jan 7, 2015).

A commentator writes about the newly released movie "American Sniper" - about the Navy SEAL Chris Kyle - and the disconnect that America has with the people who fight in the nation's wars. Read more in "If Only America Cared About Actual Wars as Much as War Movies", Defense One, January 6, 2015.

Jim Michaels, a writer, has penned an article that tells us Afghan women's gains are in jeopardy as U.S. troops leave. (USA Today, Jan 6, 2015).

Six employees of a construction firm were shot dead in northern Baghlan province on Wednesday morning. (Afghanistan Times, Jan 7, 2015).

The house of the District Governor (DGov) of Sayed Abad district in Maidan Wardak province was set on fire by the Taliban on Tuesday, Jan 7th.

Two police officers were wounded in a Taliban suicide attack on a police training center in the eastern Afghan city of Khowst on January 7th. (Gandhara Blog - Radio Free Europe, Jan 7, 2015).

Marines from Camp Lejeune are preparing for their deployment to Afghanistan. The 2nd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company received word of their deployment and have been conducting pre-deployment training. (Marine Corps Times, Jan 6, 2015).

A funny YouTube spoof entitled "Civilians Try Military Food". Video depicts civilians trying MREs. Funny entertainment if you need some time away from work. The civilians express their appreciation for what deployed military members must endure. (3 mins).

An asylum decision has been delayed for an Afghan military officer who skipped his training on Cape Cod, Massachusetts and tried to cross the border to Canada. (Military.com, Jan 6, 2015).

Are "functional physical fitness tests" in the future for the U.S. Army? Could happen. Read more in "Army Looking at New MOS-Specific PT Tests", Military.com, Jan 6, 2015.

EUPOL is beginning its next chapter in supporting the Afghan police by working at the strategic level. The EU mission mandate has been extended until the end of 2016. The new acting head of mission, Pia Stjernvall, provides us with her outlook on the EUPOL mission and its next chapter in Afghanistan in the years 2015-2016. (EUPOL, Jan 7, 2015).

Tolo News (AF) has wrote that the ANA are mounting a massive operation in Sangin district in southern Helmand province. (Jan 7, 2015).

A news report in a British media outlet provides info on the signal intelligence that the British GCHQ provided to its troops during the deployment to Helmand province. The GCHQ was credited with spoiling an attack on Camp Bastion. The GCHQ worked in 10 different secret listening posts in the province during the British deployment timeframe. (Gloucestershire Echo, January 6, 2015).

There has been a boom in counterfeit medicine in Afghanistan. The corruption and lack of border controls has opened the country up to a flood of substandard drugs that put poor, sick Afghans at risk. (The Guardian, January 7, 2015.)

A retired war veteran writes his thoughts about the end of the Afghan War in "The End of America's War in Afghanistan", U.S. Naval Institute, January 6, 2015.

Blog Contributors 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

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Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Contract Airlift for Afghanistan

The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded contracts for about $40 million for the continuing of contract rotary-wing support in Afghanistan. Two firms - Columbia Helicopters and AAR Airlift Group have been awarded the contracts. They will move passengers and cargo until the end of April 2015. Read more in "US renews contractor airlift support in Afghanistan to end of April 2015", IHS Jane's 360, January 1, 2015.

USFOR-A Graphic Shows Transition and Drawdown

A USFOR-A graphic published in early January 2015 depicts how much personnel, vehicles and cargo containers have been moved out of Afghanistan during 2014. In addition, it depicts bases closed, meals served, and fuel consumed. Read the article and view the graphic at "2014 was a year of transition, drawdown for USFOR-A", NATO RS News, January 6, 2014.

Paper - Four Views of the Long War

Joseph J. Collins, a retired Army Colonel, former Deputy Asst. Secretary of Defense, and now employed at the National Defense University (NDU) provides us with a paper that takes a look at four new books about the "Long War" and its lessons for the future. He discusses Robert Gate's memoir, Duty; a recent RAND study by Linda Robinson et al, Improving Strategic Competence: Lessons from 13 Years of War; LTG Daniel Bolger's book, Why We Lost: A General's Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars; and John Nagl, Knife Fights: a Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice. His paper is informative and spot on. Read "The Long War: Four Views", Small Wars Journal, January 5, 2015.

Bergen: Stay in Afghanistan

Peter Bergen, a CNN National Security Analyst, has penned an opinion piece entitled "Why U.S. needs to stay in Afghanistan", CNN, January 5, 2015. He states that President Obama's policy of withdrawing by the end of 2016 may make good politics in the short-term but if Afghanistan slips backward (as did Iraq) then it could hurt the Democratic party over the long-term. He believes a small advisory contingent - heavy with Special Forces is needed to ensure Afghanistan continues to make progress.

Paper - Taliban Movement

A new paper by Michael Semple on the Taliban has been published. Semple is a peace practitioner and scholar who focuses on Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is currently a visiting professor at the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation and Social Justice at Queen's University Belfast. He previously worked as a political officer for the UN mission and the European Union for Afghanistan. In addition, he was a fellow at Harvard with the Kennedy School's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy.

His report offers insights into the Taliban movement's doctrine, organization, and rhetoric and is intended to inform efforts to end the Taliban violence. This report examines the evolution of the Taliban case for armed struggle and the adjustments the Taliban rhetoricians made to cope with the impending political change in Afghanistan in 2014. It considers how the Taliban might make a case for peace, should they take the political decision to engage in negotiations.

Read "Rhetoric, Ideology, and Organizational Structure of the Taliban Movement", United States Institute of Peace (USIP), January 5, 2015.

M-4 Carbine is Staying

A few weeks back retired General John Scales wrote an article in the January issue of The Atlantic on why the M-4 is a bad rifle for the U.S. infantryman. Kyle Mizokami examines the valid points of Scales but ponders other attributes of the M4 that make him say the M-4 isn't going anywhere soon. Read "The M-4 Carbine is Here to Stay", War is Boring, January 5, 2015.

Moderation Through Sufism

Jan Agha Iqbal, a former diplomat, writes about the role of moderate Islam through Sufism could provide stability in Afghanistan. He believes that Sufism is misunderstood by the western world. Read more in "In Search of Stability in Afghanistan: Discovering Moderation Through Sufism: OPED", Eurasia Review, January 5, 2015.

Taliban in China for Peace Talks

A Taliban delegation visited Beijing recently for peace talks with Chinese officials. The delegation was led by Qari Din Mohammad - a member of the Taliban political office in Doha. Read more in "Taliban Delegation Holds Talks in China", Radio Free Europe, January 4, 2015.

Daily News Snippets (Jan 7, 2015)

The inability of the Afghan government to appoint a cabinet has been the topic of online humor. Read more in "Taliban 'joke' joins online mockery over delayed Afghan cabinet", Reuters, January 6, 2015.

A compelling story of an Afghan, age 66, who transports the dead of both sides (Taliban and government) to their homes. Read "Ferrying the Dead of Both Sides in a Cruel Afghan War", The New York Times, January 6, 2015.

Critics point to the Guantanamo detention center as a recruitment tool for al- Qaeda and the Taliban. It appears that an increased number of transfers is taking place that may allow the closing of the detention facility at some point in the future. Read more in "The Path to Closing Guantanamo", The New York Times, January 5, 2015.

The newly appointed Ambassador to Afghanistan - P. Michael McKinley - presented his diplomatic credentials to President Ghani at a ceremony on Tuesday in Kabul.