Afghan War Blog

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Receive Afghan War News Via Email

You can receive the Afghan War News Daily Newsletter each day. It should arrive in your e-mail inbox at 5:00 am Eastern Standard Time. It is easy to subscribe. Send an e-mail to staff@afghanwarnews.info or go to www.afghanwarnews.blogspot.com and submit your subscription request in the "Follow by Email" dialogue box in the top of the right hand column. It is easy to unsubscribe. At the bottom of the newsletter click "unsubscribe" and you will be automatically unsubscribed.

Monday, February 24, 2014

C-IED Training for ANSF in RC South

Members of the Afghan National Army's 2nd Brigade, 205th Corps in Regional Command South recently completed two courses on Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) topics. One course was on hand-held mine detection equipment and techniques and the second course was on explosive hazard reduction and containment. The presence of IEDs on the battlefield are a major concern of those remaining International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) units still traveling the roads and the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). The course that ran at Camp Eagle, Afghanistan in January 2014 will help the ANSF become more capable in defeating an enemy tactic that represents over 50% of the ANSF casualties in this long-running insurgency against the Afghan government. Read more on the C-IED courses recently conducted at Camp Eagle in "ANA train to defeat Taliban's most deadly weapon: the IED", DVIDS, February 16, 2014. (Photo by CPL Clay Beyersdorfer, Jan 14, RC South).

31st Georgian Light Infantry Battalion - Helmand Province

The country of Georgia has been a very dependent partner and member of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) over the past several years. They operate principally in the Helmand province working alongside U.S. Marines and other coalition countries. Currently the 31st Georgian Light Infantry Battalion is deployed to Helmand - this being their third tour in country. The battalion is part of the task force charged with security of Camp Leatherneck and Camp Bastion. The battalion conducts patrols, mans guard towers, and provides a quick reaction force. Georgian forces have been deploying to Afghanistan since 2004. There are currently two 750-man Georgian battalions in Afghanistan. Georgia is 5th in troop numbers for ISAF behind the United States, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Read more in "Marines in Helmand hlep Georgians become fighting force", Stars and Stripes, February 22, 2014.

Soviet COIN in Afghanistan: The Manwaring Pardigm

An interesting article has been posted on Small Wars Journal about the Soviet Union counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan. The author details the many failures of the Soviet counterinsurgency campaign through the framework of the Manwaring Paradigm. Max Manwaring, a research professor of military strategy with the Strategic Studies Institute, developed a method to analyze internal conflicts that consists of six dimensions that can explain success or failure in internal wars and conflicts. The six key factors included legitimacy of the government, organization for the unity of effort, type and consistency of support for the targeted government, ability to reduce outside aid to insurgents, intelligence support for COIN, and discipline and capabilities of the government's armed forces. While this article pertains to the Soviet COIN effort the six factors are equally applied to the U.S. (ISAF) COIN effort. Read "An Uncomfortable War in the Graveyard of Empires", by Michael McBride, February 22, 2014.

War in the Future: Rethinking How We Fight

The University of South Florida's Citizenship Initiative recently held a two-day conference attended by a number of well-known military personnel and civilian SMEs on counterinsurgency and military affairs. This included David Kilcullen (a noted COIN expert), MG John Nicholson (commander of the 82nd Airborne Division and former ISAF DCoS Ops), David Asher (Fellow at the Center for a New American Security), Russ Howard (a retired general and director of the Monterrey Institute of International Studies), and Paula Broadwell (biographer for General Petraeus). Learn more about the conference in "Counterinsurgency expert: We need to rethink how we fight", The Tampa Tribune, February 18, 2014.

Post-2014 Afghanistan? Civil War, Taliban Takeover, Internal Strife?

There is a lot of speculation on the what Afghanistan looks like after the year 2014. Much is riding on the outcome of the Afghan presidential elections and the signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement between the United States and Afghanistan. Some predict a fracturing of the government, society, and Afghan National Security Forces along ethnic lines. Many see the Taliban gaining ground in Pashtun areas of Afghanistan (south and east). A recent column in a Canadian newspaper, noting the withdrawal of the last of the Canadian combat troops, examines what a post-2014 Afghanistan might look like. Read "What's next for Afghanistan", Ottawa Citizen, February 22, 2014.

Maintaining and Sustaining America's Legacy Drones

The United States military has an extremely large inventory of small and large drones (the military prefers the name unmanned aerial systems). While some drones (or UAS) are still in use in Afghanistan many are now back in the states. The rapid fielding of these drones into Iraq and Afghanistan now requires a realignment of maintenance and sustainment programs. Read more in "Military Taking a Larger Role in Drone Sustainment", National Defense, March 2014.

21 Afghan Soldiers Killed in Kunar

The Taliban launched an attack on an Afghan National army (ANA) checkpoint resulting in at least 21 Afghan soldiers killed. Read more in "Taliban Checkpoint Attack Kills 21 Afghan Soldiers", The New York Times, February 23, 2014.

SFABs and the Targeting Process in an Advisory Role

A recent online article discusses the challenges that a Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) encountered when it attempted to advise the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) on a successful targeting cycle that would provide focus to their tactical operations. Two Army Captains who recently returned from an Afghan deployment to Regional Command South provide their observations on this topic to include the targeting process (see F3EAD), working with their Afghan counterparts, understanding the dynamics of the Afghan population, and providing intelligence support to a counterinsurgency. Read the article in "Targeting Challenges in the Advising Environment", Small Wars Journal, February 19, 2014.

Afghan Hand Describes His Job Advising Kabul Chief of Police

LTC Steve Heffington, an Air Force officer and Afghan Hand, describes in this short video his job as an advisor to the Kabul former Police Chief General Salangi. Heffington spent the past year working alongside General Salangi, helping him on ways to modernize his police force. The relationship they built up extended far beyond work. View the video here at "The Afghan Hand", NATO TV, February 10, 2014.

ISR: More than Just Air Assets

The military community (including the Intel folks out there) have mistakenly re-defined "ISR" to mean air surveillance assets (usually drones). This is true across the entire spectrum of warfare as well as intelligence support to a counterinsurgency (the Afghan construct). A recent online article on this topic provides more information on the meaning of ISR. Read "Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance is Greater than Aerial Surveillance", Small Wars Journal, February 18, 2014.

Building Resilience through Stabilization Programs in Afghanistan

An article posted on the Caerus Associates web site explores the building of resilience through stabilization programs in Afghanistan. The author - Aimee Rose, working with the USAID's MISTI Project in Afghanistan, states that it is important to build resilience in the right areas of Afghanistan to ensure that the population will provide more support for the Afghan government (and not to the insurgents). Read more in "Resilience and Stability in Afghanistan".

Subscribe to the Afghan War News Daily Update

Snowden and Manning Treachery: Lasting Damage to Intelligence Capability

A former CIA operative discusses the treacherous actions of Snowden and Manning and the long-term effect on the capability to gather intelligence. Read "Tinker, Tailor, Leaker, Spy: The Future Costs of Mass Leaks", The National Interest, January 7, 2014.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

China and Pakistan (and Afghanistan)

China is waiting on the sidelines to see how the Afghan situation develops in the post-2014 era. It has a great interest in the abundant natural resources of Afghanistan - of note is its arrangement with the Afghan government for the development of the copper mine in Logar province. While the United States is realigning its diplomatic and military efforts with a "Pacific pivot", China is looking to its west - to Central and South Asia in an attempt to reinvigorate a "new silk road". However, as much as China would like to further develop its political and economic ties with Afghanistan it must also reconcile these efforts with its relationship with Pakistan. The Pakistan -China - India dynamic is a delicate balancing act and will affect the degree that China involves itself politically and economically in a post-2014 Afghanistan. To learn more about the relationship between China and Pakistan see "China's all-weather friend in Pakistan", Registan.net, February 10, 2014. Learn more about China and its relationship with Afghanistan.

Roshan Transforming Society in Afghanistan

The CEO of Roshan Telecom was recently interviewed about the role that Roshan has played in transforming Afghan society. When Roshan first established itself in Afghanistan in 2003 there were no cell phones and very few Afghans had expensive satellite phones. Most Afghans had to cross the border into Pakistan, Iran, or another neighboring country to make a phone call. Now the great majority of Afghans have cell phone access and this access has transformed Afghan society and provided an impetus for business and development to grow. Read more in "Roshan: the Greatest Untold Story of Societal Transformation in Afghanistan", Forbes.com, February 18, 2014.

SIGAR Warns About Corruption as Drawdown Looms

The Special Inspector General for Reconstruction in Afghanistan (SIGAR) is warning the U.S. public and members of Congress that a good portion of the $5 billion plus we will likely send to Afghanistan each year for the next few years may go to waste. Currently the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have inadequate safeguards to ensure the money is used for the designated purpose. As there will be less and less troops on the ground (as of February 2014 there are 32,000) as time goes on it will become harder and harder to provide the proper oversight needed to inspect development projects and place advisers in the proper places to ensure money is used properly. Compounding this problem of inability to provide oversight (because bad security prevents observers to go out to over 80% of the country side) is the immense corruption found within the highest reaches of the Afghan government to include the current president - Hamid Karzai. Read more in "As Afghanistan Drawdown Looms, Inspector General Warns of Graft", The Huffington Post, February 18, 2014.

Remembering COIN Lessons Learned

A retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and book author, "Learning to Eat Soup With a Knife", recently addressed a group of West Point cadets and expressed his fears that the Pentagon will forget the lessons learned about counterinsurgency gained from the Afghan experience. John Nagl is a West Point graduate and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford where he earned a doctorate in international relations. He also served in Iraq and has contributed to the public discussion on the importance of learning counterinsurgency. He believes that future wars will find the U.S. fighting an enemy that resembles an insurgency than what we faced in World War II or Desert Storm. Read his comments in "Military needs to remember lessons about fighting insurgencies", Mainline Media News, February 21, 2014.

Minerals in Afghanistan: Curse or Blessing

A blogger of Afghanistan (newly arrived on the scene) provides us some insight on the immense reserves of copper, iron, gold, hydrocarbons, and rare earth minerals. Unfortunately, as the author points out, minerals in Afghanistan may prove to be more trouble than they are worth due to corruption, warlords, lack of security, and minimal infrastructure (roads, railroads, and skilled labor). Read more in "Afghan Extractive Industry: Are Abundant Natural Resources a Blessing or a Curse?", Relentlessly Alive Blog, February 10, 2014 at this link. Learn more about Afghanistan's mineral resources.

Two Massachusetts Families Lose Their Marines in Final Days of the War in Afghanistan

Two Marines from Massachusetts will be remembered as casualties at the waning end of a long war. Read "In Afghan wars twilight, two farewells in Mass", The Boston Globe, February 17, 2014.

MG James McConville Promoted to LTG

MG James McConville - the commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and of Combined Joint Task Force - 101 (Regional Command East in Afghanistan) has been selected for promotion to the rank of LTG and assignment as deputy chief of staff, G-1, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C. Read the news release in "General Officer Announcements", DoD Press Operations, February 18, 2014.

U.S. Legacy in Afghanistan is in Doubt

Many observers are contemplating the Afghanistan that will be left behind in the post-2014 era. The observations are mixed - from downright pessimistic (the sky is falling) to very optimistic (we have established a democracy with security forces that have beaten the Taliban). Some think that the United States is is not going to fare well in the history books. Philip Ewing - a longtime observer of the military - shares his insight with us in "U.S. facing a no-win legacy in Afghanistan", Politico, February 18, 2014.

Chinese Security and Afghan Stability

China has some security concerns about it western region of Xinjiang. Muslim extremists have been very active in this area and in some instances are supported by extremist, terrorist, and insurgent groups operating in the remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Xinjiang has a large Muslim minority. China shares a small border area with Afghanistan along the western Chinese border. The area is very remote and mountainous. The Chinese would like to see a stable Afghanistan that does not harbor terrorist groups; but at the same time, it must be cognizant of its relationship with Pakistan (a country that supports some of the insurgent groups attacking Afghanistan). Read more on this complicated topic in "Top official says Chinese security depends on Afghan stability", Chicago Tribune News, February 22, 2014. Learn more about the China relationship with Afghanistan.

Complicated Process of Caring for Afghan Refugees

Afghanistan is a nation with many refugees. Some live within the country and others in bordering countries - for the most part Iran and Pakistan. Dealing with the refugees is a complicated business for the many humanitarian aid agencies. On the one hand there are the corrupt Afghan officials and on the other the difficulty of distinguishing who is a refugee and who is poverty stricken looking for a free hand-out. Read more in "Jumble of needs complicate aid to Afghanistan's displaced", IRIN, February 18, 2014.

Ethnic Divisions Lie Below the Surface in Afghanistan

Below the surface of Afghan society and politics lie the ever-present ethnic divisions that could fracture the Afghan government and security forces. The countries largest ethnic group - the Pashtuns - have been at odds with the other minority groups of Afghanistan - Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Hazara for many years. The Talibans' in-country support comes primarily from the Pashtun population in the east and south of the country. Read more on this topic in "Afghan Ethnic Tensions Rise in Media and Politics", The New York Times, February 18, 2014.

Long-Term Effects of Blast Exposures

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies has published a document entitled "Gulf War and Health: Volume 9 - Long-Term Effects of Blast Exposures". You can download the document at the link below. Publication Description:

"Since the United States began combat operations in Afghanistan in October 2001 and then in Iraq in March 2003, the numbers of US soldiers killed exceed 6,700 and wounded 50,500. Although all wars since World War I have involved the use of explosives by the enemy, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq differ from previous wars in which the United States has been involved because of the enemy's use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The use of IEDs has led to an injury landscape different from that of prior US wars. The signature injury of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars is blast injury."

Download or read the publication at this link.

LPG and Rickshaws in Afghanistan

Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) is emerging in Afghanistan as an alternative fuel source for motorized vehicles in Afghanistan. LPG conversion can bring big savings and is also easier on the environment. In a city like Kabul (where the 'Kabul Crud' is prevalent) cleaner air is important. Learn more in a short video (3 mins) where the conversion of rickshaws to LPG is saving motorists a lot of money. View "The Rickshaw LPG Fuel Revolution", NATO TV on YouTube, February 19, 2014.

ISAF COIN Lessons Applicable to MONUSCO (DRC)

An instructor at the Peace Support Operations Training Centre (PSOTC) in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina provides us with an essay that stresses the lessons of counterinsurgency learned in Afghanistan not be forgotten and suggests that these lessons are applicable in future conflicts such as the one currently raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He believes that the Mission de l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Republique democratique du Congo (MONUSCO) could apply some of the best practices employed by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. These best practices include applying the principles of "clear, hold, build" and providing enablers such as Female Engagement Teams (FETs), Human Terrain Teams (HTTs), CoISTs (that provided intelligence support to COIN), and more. Read his essay entitled "Why Counterinsurgency Matters for MONUSCO", Small Wars Journal, February 20, 2014.

Former ISAF Cdr Says War Planning Must Improve

At a recent gathering at The Stimson Center in Washington, DC the former commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), retired General John Allen, stated that the United States military has to improve in its war planning. He points out that we start wars very well but have trouble finishing the last phase - stability operations. This lack of forward looking planning was lacking in the Afghan conflict as well. Allen served as the ISAF commander from 2011 to 2013. He shifted focus from combat operations to the Security Force Assistance model and deployed hundreds of Security Force Assistance Advisor Teams to Afghanistan to conduct SFA. Read a news brief on his comments in "Allen: US Generals Must Improve War Planning", Military.com, February 21, 2014.

Afghan News Delivered to Your Inbox at 5:00 AM!

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Snow Affects Helicopter Operations in Southern Afghanistan

Southern Afghanistan recently saw some snowy weather. Snow will affect military operations - changing or cancelling various types of activities. Primarily this pertains to movement of vehicles over roads and the use of rotary wing aircraft. Read an interesting article on how adverse weather conditions affects the use of rotary wing aircraft in Afghanistan. See "In Afghanistan, snow in desert brings operations to a halt", Stars and Stripes, February 15, 2014.

Afghanistan's High Peace Council to Meet with Taliban

Reports indicate that Afghanistan's High Peace Council will meet with Taliban officials in Dubai to discuss the prospects for peace talks. A senior aid to Karzai is meeting with the current and former Taliban officials. For years the Taliban have refused to meet with Karzai - stating that he was a powerless puppet under the protection of the United States. With Karzai demonstrating his independence from the west perhaps he has changed the perception the Taliban have of him. Thus far, peace talks between the United States and the Taliban have yielded very little. Read more in "Afghan peace team seeks Dubai meeting with Taliban figures", Reuters, February 17, 2014.

"No Go" Areas in RC North Afghanistan

Areas of northern Afghanistan now considered "no go" areas. With the pullout of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) units across Afghanistan comes the risk that the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) will start to yield territory to the Taliban and other insurgent groups. This seems to be happening on a small scale not only in the east and the south where the Taliban have historically always been strong but also in parts of the north of Afghanistan. Apparently there are now areas of Faryab and Jawzjan provinces that are controlled by the Taliban and considered "no go" areas. Read more in "Jihadists create 'no-go zones' in northern Afghanistan", Threat Matrix of the Long War Journal, February 17, 2014.

Fight for Highway One in Afghanistan

The major line of communication (road) between Kabul and Kandahar is Highway 1. Over the past ten years major efforts were made to hard-pave this road so that military, commercial and civilian traffic can pass safely and quickly between the two cities and the communities that lie along the roadway. However, the Taliban have made Highway 1 a very dangerous route; especially in the use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) laid along the roadway. The Afghan National Army is fighting for control of Highway 1 but it has not won the fight yet. Read more in "Afghan Army's Test Begins With Fight for Vital Highway", The New York Times, February 16, 2014.

Mortuary Affairs at Bagram: A Quick Glimpse of the Job

Mortuary Affairs is not a job for everyone. However it is one that has to be done and it is important to friends and family of the deceased that it be done correctly. Read about one of the toughest jobs in the Army in "Death shapes life for teams that prepare bodies of fallen troops for final flight home", Stars and Stripes, February 17, 2014.

Spike (the Canine) and His Human Partner

A short story online about a dog handler and his dog Spike. Provides you a little information about the life of a couple that work and live together in Afghanistan. Read it here in "Soldier serves Afghanistan with canine partner", Harbor County News, February 12, 2014.

Pakistan Refugee Camp Holds Victims of Soviet-Afghan War

There are still over one million refugees living in Pakistan that fled the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Many have become accustomed to the refugee life while others yearn to return to Afghanistan. Read more in "Victims of Soviet-Afghan War Live Forgotten in Pakistan Refugee Camp", Radio Free Europe, February 18, 2014.

Get Your Morning Afghan War News with Your Morning Coffee

Friday, February 21, 2014

US Needs Drone Bases to Hit Targets in Pakistan

One of the casualties of the 'zero option' (no troops left in Afghanistan after December 2014) will be the lack of a base from which to operate the drones or UAVs that strike high-value targets in Pakistan. Currently the drones can operate out of bases in Afghanistan but if the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) is not signed then these drone bases will be closed. Both the military and the CIA operate drones at the current time in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Should the BSA not be signed by either Karzai or the president that is elected in the April 2014 presidential elections then the United States will have to negotiate with other Central Asian countries for the use of a base to launch the Predators or Reapers. Drone attacks into Pakistan are down in the last few years. In 2010 there were about 117 attacks; last year in 2013 there were 28 drone attacks into Pakistan. Read more on this topic in "U.S. seeks new bases for drones targeting Al Qaeda in Pakistan", The Los Angeles Times, February 16, 2014.

Dahla Dam, Kandahar ($50 Million and It Doesn't Work)

Dahla Dam, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Afghanistan is full of stories about development projects that didn't get completed or that didn't pan out the way they should have. Some of this has to do with the poor security situation where many of the projects were underway. A lot has to do with the austere conditions, lack of skilled construction laborers, poor oversight, shoddy workmanship, and corruption. One expensive project that is having trouble becoming fully functional is the providing of irrigation canals with water from the Dahla Dam in Kandahar province. This was a pet project of the Canadians (to the tune of $50 million). Unfortunately the project has some problems. The dam was built in 1952 - over 60 years ago. Canada cleared or refurbished almost 500 kilometers of irrigation canals in order to provide water for over 30,000 hectares of land. There are numerous stories of corruption, money flowing to the Taliban, illicit connections with the Karzai family, political connections determining where the water will flow, and ties to the illegal drug trade. Learn more in "Out of Afghanistan: A Legacy under construction", Ottawa Citizen, February 18, 2014. (Photo by Mark Ray, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, June 24, 2012).

Green-on-Blue Threat and Guardian Angels

A Canadian correspondent, Scott Taylor, writes about his experience with Guardian Angels in Afghanistan. Guardian Angels are employed to protect NATO military personnel from attacks by members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). These attacks are known as 'green-on-blue' attacks or 'insider threat' attacks. During his visit to Afghanistan in December 2013 he describes the precautions taken against the insider threat while visiting Afghan units in Kabul. Read more in "Allied troops remain wary of Afghan soldiers", The Chronicle Herald, February 16, 2014. Read more about the Insider Threat and read news articles about the Insider Threat.

LTG Anderson (IJC Cdr) and His Good Buddy Abdul Raziq

The newly arrived ISAF Joint Command (IJC) commander LTG Joseph Anderson was recently photographed with a 'colorful' personality in Kandahar province - Abdul Raziq. Raziq is the Provincial Chief of Police (PCoP) for Kandahar - and is also suspected by many to be a warlord with strong ties to drug smuggling, corruption, and other illicit activities. Major General Raziq started out as a militia leader in Spin Boldak in southern Kandahar along the Pakistan border. Read more in "US general criticised over photo-op with Afghan cop accused of human rights abuses", The Telegraph, February 20, 2014. (U.S. Army photo by SGT Antony S. Lee, ISAF RC South, Feb 11, 2014).

Former Canadian General Released from Afghan Prison

An ex-Canadian brigadier-general, now a senior official with a Canadian security firm conducting business in Afghanistan, has been released from imprisonment in Afghanistan. He had been held for weeks after a dispute during a meeting with Afghan officials. The story gets a little murky in the details. Read more in "Former Canadian general released from Afghan jail", The Star, February 20, 2014.

What Does Post-2014 Afghanistan Look Like

A contributor to the Geopolitical Monitor, Marc Simms, provides his comments on what he thinks post-2014 Afghanistan looks like in a recent article posted online. He cites the lack of a security agreement, money to fund the $4 billion budget of the Afghan National Security Forces drying up (if no security agreement), the possible split of the Afghan army over ethnic lines, the competition for the opium trade, recruiting and retention problems of the Afghan army and police, and lack of spare parts and maintenance capability for vehicles and aircraft as a few of the many issues of concern. Read his article "What Will a Post-NATO Afghanistan Look Like?", Geopolitical Monitor, February 16, 2014.

Criminal Law That Penalizes Afghan Women to be Reviewed

The Afghan parliament recently passed a law concerning criminal legislation that penalizes women of Afghanistan. The new criminal procedure code would ban relatives from testifying against alleged abusers. This would effectively curtail most of the prosecutions of crimes against women. The new code met stiff opposition from the international community, human rights organizations, and some members of Afghan society. Karzai has taken a look at the new code and wants it to be reworded. See "Afghan president orders changes to draft law following claims it would hurt women's rights", US News and World Report, February 17, 2014.

A Paranoid Karzai

President Hamid Karzai's strange behavior has generated a lot of uncertainty and confusion. His refusal to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement, release of dangerous insurgents from the high-security detention center at Bagram, accusations that the U.S. was behind the recent Kabul restaurant bombing, and false propaganda about civilian casualties has put into question his sanity, his motives, and the future of Afghanistan post-2014. Some observers are trying to figure out Karzai; David DeVoss provides his insight. Read more in "Paranoia in Kabul", The Weekly Standard, February 24, 2014.

DoS Travel Warning for Afghanistan

The U.S. Department of State has issued an updated Travel Warning for Afghanistan dated February 20, 2014. The security threat to all U.S. citizens in Afghanistan remains critical. It states that there is "no province in Afghanistan where one can be considered immune from violence and banditry, and the strong possibility exists throughout the country for hostile acts, either targeted or random, against U.S. and other foreign national at any time". This new Travel Warning supersedes the previous one dated August 23, 2013. You can read the Afghanistan Travel Warning here.

ISAF Marine Corps Colonel Promotions

A couple of O-6 level Marine Corps officers assigned to ISAF have been nominated for promotion for their first star. Colonel William Jurney has been nominated for appointment to the rank of brigadier general. He is currently serving as the executive officer for General Dunford, commander of ISAF. COL Micheal Langley has been nominated for appointment to the rank of brigadier general. Langley is currently serving as the senior advisor to the 215th Corps in Regional Command Southwest Afghanistan. Read the DoD news release dated February 19, 2014 here.

Afghan Interpreters for New Zealand Finally get Residency

It seems that the U.S. State Department isn't the only organization having problems processing visas for Afghan interpreters. Evidently it has taken New Zealand over three years to process residency permits for some Afghan interpreters that worked for the New Zealand special operations forces. New Zealand has been a steady partner of the NATO forces in Afghanistan. Their special operations forces were operating in western Afghanistan conducting "rat patrols" through Shindand, Nimroz, and Helmand province in 2002. Later New Zealand forces stood up the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Bamyam. They also provided forces in other areas of Afghanistan as well. All these endeavors required the use of Afghan interpreters. Read more in "Afghan interpreters finally offered residency", 3 News, February 14, 2014.