Obama to Karzai: Time is Running Out on BSA

President Obama had a phone conversation with President Karzai (the Mayor of Kabul) to impress upon him that time is running out for the signing of a Bilateral Security Agreement with the United States. Read more in "Obama gives Karzai warning", DEFCON Hill Blog, February 25, 2014.

Australia's Accomplishments in Afghanistan

A video documentary chronicles Australia's commitment to Afghanistan. It details the deaths, injuries, and money involved in the 12-year long Afghan War. However, the conclusion is not encouraging. Read (view) "Australia in Afghanistan: 12 years of futile efforts", Typewriter.org, February 25, 2014.

SIGAR Continues Watch on Afghan Reconstruction

A news report on the activities of the Special Inspector General for Reconstruction in Afghanistan (SIGAR) provides the operating principles adopted by the agency to ensure that development projects are provided proper oversight. Read more in "Watchdog Taps Contractors for Lessons on Rebuilding Afghanistan", Government Executive, February 18, 2014.

A Look at 'Operational Assessments' in Afghanistan

Commander's (and staffs) are continually trying to assess how well the fight is going in Afghanistan. This quest for answers to their questions covers a broad spectrum of areas. For instance, how well is the information operations structure of ISAF forming the perceptions of the Afghan National Security Forces, what does the population think of the legitimacy of the Afghan government, how well is the Afghan National Army doing in recruiting and retention of its soldiers, are the Afghan security forces winning the fight against the insurgents, and so on. An article about the assessment process in southern Afghanistan provides us with detailed information about how an assessment process can have too much data and be irrelevant. Read "Recognizing Systems in Afghanistan: Lessons Learned and New Approaches to Operational Assessments", by William P. Upshur, Jonathan W. Roginski, and David J. Kilcullen, Prism 3, No. 3, page 87-104. An Adobe Acrobat PDF posted on website of Caerus Associates located at this link.

Daily Newsletter from Afghan War News

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.

163rd MI Battalion Assists Afghans in RC South

In the current environment in Afghanistan U.S. Soldiers are doing a lot less fighting and more advising. This has been the norm since 2012 when the focus of ISAF turned to Security Force Assistance or SFA. As part of that advisory effort the Afghan National Army is provided advice and assistance in a number of functional areas. One of those areas is extremely important - the ability to gather, analyze, process, and distribute intelligence. As every SFA adviser working in Afghanistan knows  - intelligence is a key component in conducting operations in a counterinsurgency. The Afghan National Security Forces have not been very adept in conducting intelligence-driven operations; but they are receiving training, advice, and support in this important area. Each of the Afghan corps have a Military Intelligence Kandak (battalion). In Regional Command South the Military Intelligence Kandak of the 205th ANA Corps is advised by elements of the 163rd Military Intelligence Battalion. Read more on the 163rd in "Fort Hood MI battalion more than halfway finished with deployment", Fort Hood Herald, February 19, 2014.

Videos About Security Force Assistance

The COMISAF Advisory and Assistance Team (CAAT) has produced four videos that help explain the Security Force Assistance (SFA) mission in Afghanistan. The videos are entitled "Mission", "Mindset", "Approach", and "ANSF". The videos provide information on the the new "functionally-based" Security Force Assistance mission that the soon to deploy Security Force Assistance Advisory Teams (SFAATs) will be executing in Afghanistan. The videos can be viewed on the ISAF SFA page on the Ronna Apan website.

SFAAT and 203rd ANA Corps Engineer Kandak Celebrate Anniversary

In the photo to the left are members of the Security Force Assistance Adviser Team (SFAAT) of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division along with members of the Combat Engineer Kandak (CEK) of the 203rd ANA Corps at Forward Operating Base Thunder in Paktya province, Afghanistan. The occasion was the one year anniversary of the 203rd CEK. The CEKs of the Afghan National Army (ANA) are a relatively new unit fielded in 2013. Many of the members underwent on the job training once the unit completed its basic training at the central training facility. The CEK is primarily a construction unit (vertical and horizontal). Read more news articles about the ANA Combat Engineer Kandaks. (Photo by PFC Dixie Rae Liwanag, February 17, 2014).

Afghanistan: Strong Military but Weak Government - What Should be Done After the Drawdown of Troops

The Council on Foreign Relations Center for Preventive Action has released a Council Special Report entitled "Afghanistan After the Drawdown" (Council Special Report No. 67, November 2013). The report outlines the composition, role, and rationale for the ten thousand U.S. troops that will be stationed in Afghanistan beyond December 2014. The authors recommend a number of steps the United States can and should take to advance its interests during the transition that Afghanistan will undergo through the April elections, transition of all security responsibilities to the Afghan National Security Forces, and the diminishing of foreign aid by international donor nations. Both authors are associated with the RAND Corporation. Seth Jones has a lot of experience with Afghanistan and Keith Crane has worked in the public policy area for years. You can learn more about the publication (view online or download) at this link.

Medical Report: Large Scale Psychological Disorders Among Afghan War Veterans

According to a recently published medical report by the Institute of Medicine a large proportion of veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq have at least one psychological disorder and many have more than one. Read more in "The Mental Health Toll of the Long Wars", NextGov.com, February 21, 2014.

ANSF Assessments - CUAT and RASR

One of the critical functions of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is to conduct assessments of the capability of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to perform their mission across a variety of functional areas to include manning, equipment and training. For a number of years ISAF used the Commander's Unit Assessment Tool (CUAT). In July 2013 ISAF Joint Command (IJC) replaced the CUAT with the Regional ANSF Status Report (RASR). IJC says the RASR replaced the CUAT because the ISAF senior leadership found the CUAT to be "difficult to read, inconsistently applied, and not useful". However the usefulness of the RASR will be called into question as time goes on. When the RASR was implemented in 2013 there were over 50,000 U.S troops in Afghanistan - many of them conducting the Security Force Assistance mission as Security Force Assistance Advisor Teams or SFAATs. Currently (as of February 2014) there are 32,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. If the Bilateral Security Agreement is signed then there will likely be about 10,000 troops available for the counter-terrorism mission and to continue the Security Force Assistance mission past December 2014. However, the advisory footprint would be small concentrating on the ANA corps and ministries (MoI and MoD). An accurate assessment of the ANSF will be problematic at that point. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has provided a report on the RASR and has some recommendations to ensure a adequate ANSF assessment process is in place for the post-2014 environment. You can read the report entitled "Afghan National Security Forces: Actions Needed to Improve Plans for Sustaining Capability Assessment Efforts", SIGAR 14-33 Audit Report, February 2014 at this link.

Female Counterinsurgents in Afghanistan

An observer of the Afghan conflict notes that there has been an increased deployment of female counterinsurgents in Afghanistan. She points to the Female Engagement Teams (FETs) that were assigned in the later years of the war. This essay assesses the role of the FETs in changing counterinsurgent practice in Afghanistan. The report, written by Charlotte Fraser, was posted on February 22, 2014 on the E-International Relations website at "The Deployment of Female Counterinsurgents in Afghanistan". (Photo by DVIDS US Army).

"Robber Barons Rising" - COIN in Ghazni

Stability Journal: The International Journal of Security & Development has published a new report about Ghazni, Afghanistan. The authors, Matthew P. Dearing and Cynthia Braden have wrote "Robber Barons Rising: The Potential for Resource Conflict in Ghazni, Afghanistan" dated February 18, 2014. The publication is available at this link "Robber Barons Rising". An abstract of the report is below in quotes:

"Security and governance in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan are threatened by resource conflict dynamics: groups focus on exploiting lootable resources in the short term while weak institutions and conflict persists. Elements within the Afghan government and insurgent organizations alike expand their power and influence in this manner. Understanding how criminal organizations operate within the regional political economy is essential to reducing the leverage these networks, associated criminal syndicates, and corrupt government officials have on the community. We proffer three hypothesis for development and stability practitioners to monitor as transition approaches in 2014, as well as recommendations for mitigating the onset of resource conflict in Ghazni as the province experiences a downgrade in foreign security forces. Adopting effective, anti-insurgency policies will be fundamental to mitigating the malicious effects on the population and providing incentives for peace, rather than continuing conflict".

Gen Allen: Remember the Soviet Withdrawal

In a recent seminar conducted by the Stimson Center General John Allen (retired) stated that we need to compare the withdrawal of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan with the upcoming withdrawal of ISAF from Afghanistan. He said that the Afghan government in the first few years after the Soviets left managed to survive with the continued advisory assistance and funding of the Soviets. It was only after aid was cut off that the Afghan regime fell to the Muhjuhadeen. The same fate can possibly happen in the post-2014 period. Of note is that Afghanistan will require about $4 billion a year or more to pay and sustain its large Afghan National Security Forces. Read more in "How not to repeat the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan", USA Today, February 21, 2014.

Coalition for Afghan Democracy: Elections at Risk

The Coalition for Afghan Democracy believes that the Obama administration's 'hands off' approach to the Afghan elections is putting the electoral process at risk. The coalition believes the stakes are high and the elections need US involvement. The US State Department and military are concerned too much involvement by the international community will taint the elections - with the charge of western interference. Read more on the two sides of this issue in "Obama putting Afghan elections at risk?", DEFCON Hill Blog, February 23, 2014.

Applied Network-Centric Warfare and COIN

A recent conference on counterinsurgency held at the University of South Florida exposed the attendees to a number of concepts about COIN. One of these was the introduction of "Network-Centric Warfare" as an alternative to counterinsurgency. Read more in this press release from InRef, LLC dated February 24, 2014 on PRWeb.

3,000 Troop Option in Afghanistan

The White House is considering several options for a continued US military presence in Afghanistan. One option (sometimes referred to as the Biden option) would leave 3,000 US troops in Afghanistan. The specific locations would be the sprawling Bagram Air Field north of Kabul and Kabul itself. Read more in "U.S. examines Afghanistan option that would leave behind 3,000 troops", The Washington Post, February 23, 2014.

Remarks on Taverna du Liban by Expat

An expat who teaches school in Kabul provides us his insight on the effect the bombing of the Taverna du Liban restaurant (January 2014) will have on the expat community. Read "No derailing progress now", Relentlessly Alive, February 8, 2014.

ALP Program Continues to Grow

The Afghan Local Police or ALP continues to extend its reach throughout Afghanistan. The ALP has been recognized as one of the more successful programs that provide security to the Afghan population and that limits the ability of the insurgents to gain more territory and influence in the rural areas of Afghanistan. Recently a village in Logar province - Babus - conducted a shura where it selected a new ALP commander for its local community. Read more in "Afghan Commandos introduce new ALP chief", DVIDS, February 19, 2014.

Abdullah Seeks First Round Victory in Afghan Elections

Abdullah Abdullah, a candidate for the Afghan presidency, hopes to attain a first-round victory in the April 2014 Afghan elections. He was one of several candidates who ran in the 2009 presidential elections. Hamid Karzai, the leading candidate in those elections, did not attain 50% of the vote so a run-off was announced between Karzai and Abdullah - the second runner-up. However, the 2009 elections were marked with massive fraud and corruption and Karzai basically stole the election. Abdullah withdrew from the run-off election as he realized there was no hope of winning a rigged election against Karzai. This time around it is hoped that the upcoming election will be less corrupt. Time will tell. Read more in "Abdullah aims for knock-out blow in Afghan elections", Japan Times, February 19, 2014.

McChrystal: Afghanistan Needs a Continued US Presence

Retired General Stan McChrystal says that Afghanistan needs a continued United States military presence to provide a degree of confidence that the west will not walk away entirely as we did in 1989. He points to the resurgence of al Qaeda in Iraq as a possible outcome in Afghanistan if we adopt the 'zero option'. Read more in "Iraq repeat: US pullout in Afghanistan?", DEFCON Hill Blog, February 21, 2014.

Good War Gone Bad

A pessimistic editorial on the future of Afghanistan is provided in a February 18, 2014 opinion provided by The Post and Courier entitled "The good war gone bad".

Kandahar Airport - Connecting Afghanistan to the World

The United States and other western nations are pumping a lot of money into Afghanistan. A lot of this money seems to get wasted and some of it is shipped out by the suitcase by Hamid Karzai and his cronies to Dubai bank accounts. However, there are some pockets of light that surface from time to time. Gail McCabe provides us with one in her report on the Kandahar International Airport. View a short video by the Pentagon Channel about the airport and the progress being made at the following link. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEh5w-yF9F8

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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.

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

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.

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.

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.