Comparison of 1989 and 2014 in Afghanistan

As we ease into 2014 observers of the Afghan conflict are looking at the post-2014 era in Afghanistan when ISAF will remove most of its troops. Up in the air is whether the new Afghan president will sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) which will allow NATO to leave up to 16,000 troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014 to conduct Security Force Assistance and counter-terrorism operations against remnants of al-Qaeda. Many are comparing the post-2014 era with 1989 when the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan. The Afghan communist regime supported by the Soviets survived about four years before it was toppled. Some observers point out that the present Afghan police are corrupt and ineffective and that the Afghan National Army (although more capable) could easily divide along ethnic lines and ties to warlords and power brokers. Read more in "Withdrawing from Afghanistan - 1989 and 2014", DW.de, February 14, 2014.

Fox News Calls Karzai Villain Who Should be Tried for Corruption

Fox News (Bill O'Reilly) has stated that President Hamid Karzai is a "villain" and should be tried for corruption. Read more here on Fox News Insider.

Afghan Presidential Debate

The pace of the road to the Afghan elections is picking up with active campaigning by all eleven candidates for president. A series of presidential debates are being held so the candidates can get their views across to the Afghan public. A recent televised debate was held in Kabul. Read more in "Afghan Presidential Hopefuls Debate Corruption, Peace, Women's Rights", Radio Free Europe, February 16, 2014.

Photos of Osama bin Laden's Death Were Ordered Destroyed

Photos of Osama bin Laden's death were ordered destroyed by Admiral McRaven the U.S. Special Operations Command commander. This was a wise move as it was determined that any photos would be used as a propaganda tool by our enemies. However there is one organization that has taken objection with the destruction of the photos. Judicial Watch seems to think they have a right to the photos and is questioning on whether any laws were broken. One would think Judicial Watch would have more important things to worry about and you have to question their overall motives for this request. Read more in "Admiral: Destroy photos of Osama bin Laden's corpse", USA Today, February 12, 2014.

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101st Sustainment Brigade of 101st Div Returns to Campbell

Soldiers from the 101st Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne Division returned from a nine-month long deployment to Afghanistan. It was the sixth deployment for the brigade since 2001. While in Afghanistan the brigade ran sustainment and retrograde operations for Regional Command Capital, East and North. Read more in "Lifeliners Return", The Fort Campbell Courier, February 13, 2014.

715th Military Police Company Returns from Afghanistan

Members of the 715th Military Police Company of the Florida National Guard returned home after a nine-month long deployment to Afghanistan. Read the story here in "After more than a year away, Brevard-based soldiers return home", Florida Today, February 11, 2014.

Some Question Youth Awareness about Afghan Election

There are questions being raised about the awareness level of the Afghan elections among young people that will take place in April 2014. About 68 per cent of Afghanistan's population of 28 million are under the age of 25 and 77 per cent of the people live in rural areas. Read more in "Afghan Youth Debates: Concerns About Youth Awareness of Polls", Institute for War & Peace Reporting, February 14, 2014.

Odierno Says U.S. Needs to stay in Afghanistan

In a Council of Foreign Affairs event the chief of staff for the Army, General Odierno, said it is important to keep a U.S. presence in Afghanistan.  Read more in "Odierno: Important that US troops stay in Afghanistan", DEFCON Hill Blog, February 12, 2014.

Dangerous Taliban Prisoners Released by Karzai

Sixty-five dangerous prisoners were released by the Afghan government recently. The U.S. has registered strong discontent with this action but Karzai went ahead with the release anyway. Read more in "Afghanistan frees 65 inmates U.S. calls dangerous", USA Today, February 13, 2014.

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Two Fort Bragg Soldiers Killed in Green-on-Blue Incident

Two Fort Bragg Soldiers from 3rd Special Forces Group were killed in a 'green-on-blue' attack this week. At least two men wearing Afghan National Security Forces uniforms opened fire on their unit. SPC John Pelham of Portland, Oregon and SFC Roberto Skelt of York, Florida were killed on Wednesday. Both Soldiers were assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group. They died of wounds suffered when struck by small-arms fire in Kapisa province. Read more in "Two Fort Bragg soldiers killed in Afghanistan", Fayetteville Observer, February 15, 2014.

USAID Public Relations Problems

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) feels it has a publicity problem. In military parlance that could mean Public Affairs (PR), information operations (IO), or inform and influence activities (IIA). Whatever you want to call it - PR, IO, or IAA - USAID has a perception problem. The USAID has been on the receiving end of countless reports detailing waste, fraud, and corruption in the development projects it oversees in Afghanistan. So in an attempt to counter the bad publicity it has been getting it wants to hire professional photographers to photograph its various projects upon which it has oversight. However, it appears (according to the solicitation) that photographer needs to be able to operate within Afghanistan independent of USAID and military forces - as the photographer will be visiting places USAID and the US military no longer can visit because of security reasons (security still is not that great in Afghanistan evidently). This begs the question. If USAID can't visit the project sites to take its own photographs how can USAID provide proper oversight on those projects involving millions of dollars? Things that make you go "Hmmmmm". Read more in "USAID struggles to capture a different picture of Afghanistan", The Washington Post, February 13, 2014.

USAID Conducting Propaganda on US Public?

Some questions are being raised on a recent USAID solicitation for independent professional photographers to visit and photograph recent USAID projects in an attempt to provide pro-USAID photos that depict the projects in a positive light. It seems that the USAID cannot visit the sites and take their own photos because of security concerns. The same security concerns that prevent USAID from taking their own photographs probably hamper the oversight USAID is supposed to provide on these expensive projects. And therein lies the problem. It isn't a public perception problem; it is a poor oversight problem. But I guess USAID doesn't get it. Read more in "USAID cancels contract for good news from Afghanistan", USA Today, February 13, 2014.

Video on Air Missions Run by 10th CAB at Bagram

A short video can be seen that describes some of the air missions that the 10th Mountain Combat Aviation Brigade is running out of Bagram Air Field in Regional Command East. CW5 William Butler is featured; interviewed by Gail McCabe. Mr. Butler talks about the flight hours, retrograde of equipment, how young troops are working hard and learning a lot, and how the aviation support mission has changed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJOzEez_gBc

Interview of DoS Official for Counter-Narcotics

Ambassador William R. Brownfield, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs was recently interviewed upon his return from a trip to Afghanistan. He attempts to explain how, despite the expenditure of 6-8 billion dollars since 2001 the production of opium is higher now than what it was in 2002. "Warning Sounded Over Drug Trafficking In Afghanistan", Radio Free Europe, February 13, 2014.

Look Past Karzai on the BSA

Most American officials and members of Congress are fed up with President Karzai. Many believe that we need to table the Bilateral Security Agreement until the next President of Afghanistan is elected (possibly in the April elections; probably in a run-off in mid-summer). Read more in "U.S. Looking Past Karzai to Post-Election Afghan Security Accord", Bloomberg Businessweek, February 12, 2014.

65 Afghan Detainees Freed by Karzai

Afghan insurgents under detention by the Afghan government have now been freed. Many were confined due to attacks against NATO or ANSF troops over the past several years. Over sixty-five detainees were released from the high-security Bagram detention center. The U.S. embassy in Kabul has labeled the move as "deeply regrettable". Read more in "Afghan prisoners freed from Bagram amid US protests", BBC News Asia, February 13, 2014.

Pakistan's Taliban University

Just 90 minutes (driving) northwest of Islamabad, Pakistan is an Islamic seminary that is considered a jihadist factory producing Taliban fighters for decades. It is unofficially known as the "University of Jihad". Among its alumni are Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar and Jalaluddin Haqqani. About 3,500 students currently live and study at the compound. Read more in "At Pakistan's 'Taliban U' jihadists major in anti-Americanism", Fox News, February 7, 2014.

ISAF / USAID and Messaging

Some wars are won in the public arena not on the battlefield. The Vietnam conflict in the 60s and early 70s is ample proof of that. Unfortunately - when looking at Afghanistan, the U.S. military and evidently, USAID, is not that adapt at messaging. They both have been getting hammered by all sorts of sources to include Karzai, the Taliban, the press, Congress, SIGAR, and others. A key tenet of public relations and information operations (or inform and influence activities) is to base your message on the facts - and there is the rub. Read more in "No news is good news from Afghanistan", USA Today, February 13, 2014.

Explaining Karzai - Peter Tomsen Gives it a Shot

Peter Tomsen provides us with his insight on Karzai and his anti-American rhetoric. While we may feel that Karzai has left his senses others are thinking he is ensuring his future and his legacy in Afghanistan. Tomsen is a former U.S. special envoy and ambassador on Afghanistan from 1989 to 1992. He also published a book on the wars of Afghanistan. Read more in "What Is Hamid Karzai Thinking? And should we even care anymore?", Politico.com, February 10, 2014.

Afghanistan - "As Good As it is Going to Get"

The commandant of the United States Marine Corps spends a lot of time in Helmand and Nimroz provinces which make up Regional Command Southwest. He was recently interviewed and asked his perspective on Afghanistan. He says that Afghanistan is "as good as it is going to get". Read more in a Breaking Defense blog post dated February 11, 2014.

Taliban Establish Camps for Training in Helmand Province

Reports from Afghan police officials say that the Taliban have established some training camps in southern Helmand in the districts of Dishu and Khanishin. Learn more in a recent blog post of the Long War Journal dated February 12, 2014.

End Game in Afghanistan - A Canadian's View

A commentator, Scott Taylor, for a Canadian newspaper provides us his outlook on possible outcomes of the Afghan War. He looks at the eleven candidates running in the 2014 Afghan election and comes to the conclusion that things look dismal. He observes that the main objective of the International Security Force Afghanistan (ISAF) is to make the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) as capable as possible so that they can support whoever gets elected in April (or May, or June, . . . depending on the schedule of election runoffs). His concluding sentence is revealing - "We just need the Afghan army to hold the airfields until the last NATO plane has departed". Read the story in "West hopes for best of worst in Afghanistan", The Chronicle Herald, February 9, 2014.

Video Interview on SFAAT Advisor - ANA and C-IED Training

DVIDS has released a video of Captain Rober Soriano, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division being interviewed on C-IED training for the ANA. CPT Soriano serves as an engineer advisor as part of a Security Force Assistance Advisor Team for the ANA 2nd Brigade, 205th Corps. The use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have dramatically influenced the course of the Afghan conflict. IEDs cause over 50% of the casualties of the Afghan National Security Forces. You can view the video here.

Green on Blue Shouldn't Prompt a US Withdrawal

A commentator blogs about the recent green on blue attack in Kapisa and states it should not cloud our judgement and prompt a zero option attitude on Afghanistan. Read more in "Afghanistan: No Reason for Retreat", The American Spectator, February 14, 2014.

Karzai Sidelined

The rhetoric of Hamid Karzai has been muted. The U.S. politicians and military brass (of ISAF) have be preening up to Karzai for so long that it was getting rather sickening. However Karzai finally pushed it too far. The most important event for the Afghan state and its security, next to the Afghan election this April, is the signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement that will allow U.S. and NATO troops to remain in Afghanistan in a counter-terrorist and Security Force Assistance role beyond December 2014. It was hoped that Karzai would sign the Bilateral Security Agreement in early Fall of 2013. Instead he delayed it time and again while verbally attacking the United States on every issue imaginable. We (ISAF) kept cow-towing to him but it would appear that has finally stopped. Someone (Obama, General Dunford, Hagel?) has suddenly developed a little common sense and a set of Br*** B****. It seems (hopefully) that we are now waiting on the results of the election to see if the new President will sign the agreement. Can you spell "Lame Duck". It is easy: "Karzai".

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White House May Delay Signing of BSA Until New Afghan President Takes Office

The White House is considering delaying the signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with Afghanistan until after the new president of Afghanistan takes office. It is very unlikely that Karzai will sign the BSA; and it is time to treat him like the 'lame duck' that he is. While the Afghan election is scheduled for April 5, 2014 it is very likely going to be headed for a run-off that takes place later in the summer. There are eleven candidates running and if the winner doesn't get 50% of the vote a run-off will be scheduled. That means the BSA won' be signed until later in the summer; providing ISAF, the U.S., and the international community three to four months to either pull out of Afghanistan completely or to implement plans to keep up to 16,000 troops in Afghanistan past December 2014. 10,000 would be from the United States and 6,000 from other NATO countries. Read more in "U.S. said to mull shifting Afghanistan exit plans", United Press International, February 11, 2014.

New Afghan Law Will Roll Back Women's Gains in Afghanistan

A new law passed by the Afghan parliament and awaiting signature by President Hamid Karzai will effectively silence victims of domestic violence. Things improved for women in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban regime; however, over the past few years there has been a roll-back of rights and conditions for Afghan women. In 2013 there was (according to the United Nations) a 28 per cent increase in reports of attacks against women - but very little rise in the number of prosecutions. Although there are some laws on the books that protect women they are rarely enforced. The article linked to below points out that with ISAF and the international community pulling out of Afghanistan things will likely get worse for women in Afghanistan. Read more in "New Afghan Law Disastrous for Women, Says National Geographic Photographer", National Geographic, February 8, 2014.

Green on Blue Attack in Kapisa

An insider attack took place in Kapisa province killing two U.S. Soldiers and wounding four others. Read more in "Afghan security forces kill 2 US soldiers, wound 4 in insider attack", All Voices.com, February 13, 2014.

Karzai Says U.S. is Harassing Afghanistan Over Detainee Issue

Karzai continues to poke his fingers in our eyes. The latest news from Karzai is that the United States is 'harassing' him over the recent release of 65 detainees from the Bagram high-security detention center. Read more in "Karzai: US 'harassing' Afghanistan over detainee release", DEFCON Hill Defense Blog, February 13, 2014.

Paper by Seth Jones - Back to the Future: The Resurgence of Salafi-Jihadists

Dr. Seth Jones testified before the House Armed Services Committee on February 4, 2014 about the resurgence of Salafi-Jihadists. His testimony is available in a publication by RAND Corporation entitled "Back to the Future: The Resurgence of Salafi-Jihadist". While relevant to the conflict in Afghanistan from the standpoint of the "Core Al Qa'Ida" being based in Afghanistan it is a paper that provides information on the worldwide network of Salafi-Jihadists. The testimony report is available on the RAND website at the below link:

www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/testimonies/CT400/CT405/RAND_CT405.pdf

Clapper Says Karzai Won't Sign Bilateral Security Agreement

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee the U.S. National Intelligence Chief, James Clapper, says that he doesn't think President Karzai will sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the United States. There are many who say we should just ignore Karzai and wait for the next Afghan president to be elected in either April or in the run-off to be held mid-summer. And I am one of those who say we should marginalize Karzai and treat him like the lame-duck that he is! Read more in "U.S. Intelligence Chief Believes Karzai Won't Sign BSA", Radio Free Europe, February 12, 2014.

Afghan Border Police Learn Map Reading

Photo by CPL Mariah Best, Feb 8, 2014

Security Force Assistance Advisory Teams (SFAAT) continue to work with their counterparts in Afghanistan to improve their capabilities. Intelligence is an important aspect of the counterinsurgency fight in Afghanistan. One of the key functions of an intelligence analyst is being able to plot a grid coordinate on a map. This is one of the many areas where the intelligence advisor on a SFAAT can provide assistance - facilitating map reading classes for the advised Afghan National Security Force unit to improve its intelligence skills. A recent news release by the military provides us with a great example of this - recently 1LT Jonathan Ramey of 3rd BCT, 1st Infantry Division assisted his Afghan counterpart in running a map reading class for members of the 3rd Zone Afghan Border Police in Kandahar. Read more in "Map-reading course brings success to ANP operations", DVIDS, February 10, 2014.

Irrigation Canal Provides Prosperity for Two Districts in Panjshir Valley

Two communities in the Panjshir Valley located north of Kabul in Panjshir province are benefiting from combining their resources and working through their respective Community Development Councils (CDCs) to build a government-funded irrigation canal. The farmers should be able to double their agricultural output with the new canal. The funding was provided by international donors through the National Solidarity Program (NSP). The NSP is a function of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) and supported by the World Bank and Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF). The funded program encourages local governance and development through small-scale infrastructure initiatives. Read more in "Irrigation Canal Unites Two Communities", World Bank, February 10, 2014.

MC-12W ISR Provides Find, Fix Capability to ISAF

The MC-12 W Liberty aircraft has been providing a find, fix, and finish capability to ISAF since December 2009 in Afghanistan. The MC-12 aircraft is well-suited for providing critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for U.S. forces. The aircraft has tactical systems on board such as cameras and other sensors. In a counterinsurgency fight the development of intelligence to find and fix the enemy is key. Read more in "MC-12s find, fix and finish in Afghanistan", DVIDS, February 10, 2014. (Photo by Senior Airman Newman).

Afghanistan Through a Western Lens Looks Like Failure

Most observers look at the outcome in Afghanistan as a failure. The government is ineffective and corrupt, the Taliban remain strong and entrenched in their support zones, the Afghan Army can conduct battalion (kandak), brigade, and corps level operations to clear an area of Taliban but don't know how to hold an area. The Afghan police is corrupt as well as the judiciary system, aid dollars are squandered and/or sitting in Dubai bank accounts, and provincial governors are consorting with the Taliban. Karzai has turned on the United States, releasing hardened Taliban fighters, accusing the U.S. of crimes against Afghan civilians, and is increasing his verbal assaults against the United States. Many predict that the Afghan election will be fraudulent and the outcome may be a president even worse than Karzai elected as President. However some think there is a lot of positive trends in place and accuse us of looking at Afghanistan from a western viewpoint. Read "To See the Progress in Afghanistan Stop Viewing the Country Through a Western Lens", The Daily Beast, February 11, 2014.

Interview with Fawzia Koofi - Woman MP in Afghan Parliament

A woman member of the Afghan parliament and a strong advocate for women's rights in Afghanistan has provided an interview highlighting the difficulties that women have in the Afghan governmental process. Fawzia Koofi was a presidential candidate planning to run in the April 2014 presidential elections until she was disqualified. Read more about Fawzia Koofi in "The leadership turns off our microphones when we speak", The Guardian, February 8, 2014.

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RAND Paper - Historical Lessons Negotiating with Insurgencies

RAND Corporation has published a paper entitled "From Stalemate to Settlement: Lessons for Afghanistan From Historical Insurgencies That Have Been Resolved Through Negotiations", By Colin R. Clarke and Christopher Paul, dated February 2014. The paper, a research project, examines 13 historical cases of insurgencies that were resolved through negotiated settlement in which neither side unambiguously prevailed. Negotiations with the Taliban have been less than fruitful thus far. The cases presented in the paper reveal that the path to negotiated settlement generally proceeds in several steps. The findings could serve as an important tool to guide the progress in resolving the Afghan conflict through negotiations as the U.S. and ISAF forces withdraw. You can read or download the RAND document online on the RAND web site at this link - www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR469.html

USAID Outlines Funding for Afghanistan

USAID has announced three new development programs to assist the Afghans as they transition from an economy dominated by aid and development programs provided by donor nations, the effects of having thousands of foreign troops stationed in the country, and the drug trade. One program provides $125 million to Afghanistan's food and farm sector, a second program with a price tag of $77 million over four years will attempt to open Afghanistan up to greater international trade and investment, and the third program worth almost $100 million will help ten Afghan universities with programs that are partnered with three U.S. universities. The U.S. Congress significantly reduced aid to Afghanistan (almost by one half) in the latest budget deal. Read more in "U.S. aid plan seeks to shield Afghanistan from end to war economy", Reuters, February 9, 2014.

Australia's Role in Afghanistan Changes to Advising

Australia's role in Afghanistan has taken many forms from advising the police to providing special operations troops for direct action missions. One of the most important missions, providing security for Uruzgan province, is now complete. The Australians have withdrawn from Uruzgan where the Afghan National is now in the lead for security. Australian troops continue to have an advisory role with the 205th Corps and in Regional Command South. In addition, the Australians continue to advise and train at the Afghan National Academy and the Afghan Special Police Unit. Read more in "Australia's Role in Afghanistan Shifts to Advisory", Defense News, February 10, 2014.

News About OCC-R at FOB Gamberi

"LAGHMAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan – On March 2, 2008, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai signed the decree that initiated the creation of Operational Coordination Centers at the provincial and regional levels for the Afghan National Security Forces. The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan designed these OCC-Provincials and OCC-Regionals to serve as hubs of information wherein the different pillars of the ANSF could share intelligence and coordinate operations in real time, even while missions are being executed. Six years later, OCCs are now located across the country. Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, Afghan Border Police, Afghan Civil Order Police, and the National Directorate of Security, all work together under the same roof at these centers to help keep their country secure." 

Read more about the OCC-R located at FOB Gamberi in the North of Kabul (NoK) area of Regional Command East in "Coordination centers fortify Afghan security", DVIDS, February 9, 2014. Learn more about OCC-Rs in Afghanistan here.

Germany Urges Afghanistan to Sign Bilateral Security Agreement

The German Foreign Minister recently visited Afghanistan and urged the Afghanistan government to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement. Frank-Walter Steinmeier spent some time at the Afghan foreign ministry in Kabul and met with his Afghan counterpart. Steinmeier also visited Mazar-e-Sharif - a northern Afghan city where over 3,000 German troops are currently stationed.  The German government has decided to extend its deployment to Afghanistan until the end of 2014. Read more in "German FM Urges Afghan Leader to Sign U.S. Troop Deal", Defense News, February 9, 2014.

Karzai's Vilification of America is Playing With Fire

President Karzai's incoherent actions aimed at the United States has perplexed many and worried many more. He risks losing it all for Afghanistan. Sure, he will be fine. As one of the most corrupt leaders in the world he has squirreled away billions in Dubai banks for his very comfortable retirement. But it is Afghanistan that everyone worries about. Read more in "Playing with fire", The Economist, February 1, 2014.

Soldiers Say DCGS-A Too Difficult

A news article provides insight into the difficulties that Soldiers are having working with the Distributed Common Ground System in Afghanistan. Most intelligence analysts are using Palantir - a less expensive but more user-friendly and useful software application. Read more in "Soldiers say intel tool is too difficult", The Washington Times, February 9, 2014.

Afghan Presidential Candidates and Their Positions on Human Rights

Human Rights Watch sent out a questionnaire to the eleven presidential candidates running in the April 2014 Afghan election. Only 4 of the 11 candidates responded to the questionnaire. Topics included accountability for war crimes, women's rights, and torture. The four candidates who responded included Abdullah Abdullah, Qutbuddin Helal, Qayum Karzai, and Daoud Sultanzoy. Read more in "Afghanistan: Candidates' Positions on Rights in Spotlight", Human Rights Watch, February 9, 2014.

Profile of Afghan Candidates for President

There are eleven candidates for the office of President of Afghanistan who are running campaigns with hopes of being elected on April 5, 2014. Learn all about them in "Candidates for Afghanistan's presidential election", Charlotte Observer, February 7, 2014.

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