Afghan War Blog

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Afghan Daily News Snippets (Dec 7, 2014)

December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor Day. On this day the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. About 360 Japanese planes attacked 33 American ships and military installations. The American losses were 18 ships, 170 aircraft, and over 3,000 lives.

The New York Times reported that the Obama administration changed the rules of US troop engagement authorities for 2015. The Times reported that a "secret memo" had been signed expanding the military's options in post-2014; but the administration is denying any big changes and so is ISAF. So was there a change in authorities? Hard to tell. Read more in "Afghanistan: The plot thickens", The Strategist, Australian Strategic Policy Institute Blog, December 4, 2014.

U.S. Special Envoy Daniel Feldman was interviewed by Deutsche Welle (German newspaper) about Afghanistan. Feldman has a positive outlook on the country's prospects. Read more in "US Afghan envoy Feldman: Very clear on challenges facing Afghan security forces", DW, December 3, 2014.

The country of Georgia has been a dependable contributor to the fight in Afghanistan. Its 51st Battalion of the V Infantry Brigade has just completed a deployment at Bagram Air Field. Read more in "General Anderson Bids Farewell to 51st Battalion", The Messenger Online, December 4, 2014.

The new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, faces a number of huge challenges in the future. NATO is leaving, international donor funds are being reduced, corruption is the number one problem, drugs are at a high level of production, and the Taliban are stronger than ever. Read more in a news report. (Euronews.com, Dec 4, 2014).

Hagel Visit to Afghanistan. The outgoing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel conducted a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Saturday, December 6, 2014. Most likely his last in his current position. In a statement he said that he believes the Afghans will successfully put down a surge in Taliban attacks in the capital and stabilize the nation. Read more in "Hagel: Afghanistan on right track", Yahoo! News, December 6, 2014.

Continued German Support. Chancellor Angela Merkel says her country will continue to support Afghanistan after NATO combat troops pull out at the end of the year. Her statement came during a joint press conference with Afghan President Ghani. The German parliament voted to keep 850 soldiers in Afghanistan in 2015 to continue to advise and assist the ANSF; primarily in northern Afghanistan. See "Merkel Pledges Continued German Support to Afghanistan", Radio Free Europe, December 6, 2014.

Rebirth of Afghanistan. The population of Afghanistan is one of youth. The young Afghans are slowly transforming Afghanistan on many fronts. A commentator provides us with a dose of optimism (by way of discussing the Afghan sports teams) in "Rebirth of a State in Heart of Asia: The New Afghanistan", Eurasia Review, December 5, 2014. Waheed Rahimi is an Afghan analyst and writes for The Kabul Times. @wrAFG

Expats in Afghanistan are a strange crowd. They come to Afghanistan on a work assignment and then, for whatever reason, stay on for years. Some for decades. Read more in "Why I'm staying in Afghanistan", The Guardian, November 8, 2014.

Video - "The Kabul property scene", NATO Channel, November 14, 2014. An in-depth look at the current property market, both rental and construction. Despite being a benefit for the economy, extensive construction on unplanned and unapproved land is putting a strain on the infrastructure of the city. The "Kabul Solidarity Programme" or KSP aims to provide basic services to unplanned areas and legally bring them into the government's fold. (5 mins).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IFKYQ0EBn0

The Pentagon has released a report on the insider attack that killed MG Harold Greene. Read more in a news article by The New York Times, December 4, 2014.

Withdrawal of U.S. troops delayed according to a news report in The New York Times (Dec 6, 2014).

The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a private, international, and non-denominational development organization, has stated that it will continue its work in Afghanistan. Read more in an AKDN press release (Dec 4, 2014).

U.S. airstrikes on Pakistani militant elements located in Afghanistan are the latest signs of a thaw in U.S.-Pakistan relations. (Fox News, Dec 5, 2014).

In April 2014 Canadian journalist Kathy Gannon was covering the Afghan elections when she was shot by an Afghan police officer (her associate photographer Anja Niedringhaus was killed). Gannon was shot six times with an AK-47. Read more in a news account (CTV News, Dec 3, 2014).

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Saturday, December 6, 2014

82nd CAB and Retrograde

The 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade has been busy loading helicopters onto aircraft for the ride home back to the states. By the end of the year the 82nd CAB will have sent back 80 helicopters, including Chinooks, OH-58 Kiowa Warriors, UH-60 Black Hawks and AH-64 Apaches. It has also returned nearly $200 million worth of spare parts, tools and other equipment as part of its retrograde operations. The bulk of the equipment is shipped back to Kuwait where it is sorted through and prioritized for further shipment. Read more in "With the Troops: Copters packed for trip home", Fayetteville Observer, December 5, 2014.

IMF Report on Afghanistan

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published a report based off a recent trip to Afghanistan. Read more in a press release dated December 2, 2014.

Investigation MG Greene Insider Attack Complete

The investigation into the insider attack on MG Harold Greene on August 5, 2014 is now complete. The U.S. Central Command public affairs office has released a statement about the completed investigation available here. You can access the reports here.

Paper - "Logged On"

The World Bank has published online a paper entitled "Logged On: Smart Government Solutions from South Asia" (December 2014). The paper looks at mobile and smart phone technology through the lens of good government management. It shows how developing governments (including Afghanistan) can deliver goods and services that citizens care about. Paper available at this link on the World Bank website.

IJC Says ANA Getting Better

The commander of the ISAF Joint Command (IJC), LTG Joseph Anderson, says that he is confident in the Afghan National Security Forces' tactical capabilities. He says they are "a very good fighting force". He does say that the Afghans need to focus on logistics, intelligence, aviation and special operations integration. IJC is days away from shutting down and LTG Anderson provides some comments over the past several months that he has commanded IJC. Read more in "Three-star: Afghan army getting better, needs to 'keep upping the game'", Military Times, December 5, 2014.

EUPOL, ABP, and FDP

With the end of the ISAF mission coming up fast (December 31, 2014) many international organizations are scaling back activities in Afghanistan. The European Police (EUPOL) is one of those organizations. Read about EUPOLs activities with the Afghan Border Police (ABP) and the Fire and Disaster Police (FDP) in "Fire & Disaster Police and Border Police: close cooperation and an open mind go a long way", European Union External Action, December 4, 2104.

Pubs - Exit Strategy for Afghanistan

A bibliography entitled "Exit Strategy and Military Disengagement" is available on the website of the NATO Multimedia Library. The bibliography provides a listing of books, publications, and papers about how to exit the conflict in Afghanistan to include topics about peace talks, transition, and military victory. Available at the link below:

www.natolibguides.info/ld.php?content_id=6618301

Daily News Snippets (Dec 6, 2014)

Read President Ghani's statement at the NATO Ministerial Meeting held in Brussels, Belgium on December 2, 2014. Available on the Office of the President's website here.

Kate Clark of the Afghan Analysts Network (AAN) provides more information about the Taliban "Bird Bomber" that the ANSF reported carrying a bomb, GPS, and camera. She chases down the facts and determines that the bird carried a GPS and camera but no explosives. Read more in "Bird Bomber: Police kill 'dangerous' houbara bustard", AAN, December 5, 2014.

A news article by PBS Newshour highlights the activities of a non-profit called Global Partnership for Afghanistan. It is an organization started to help small farm holders restart their farm businesses in Afghanistan. Read more in "Helping Afghan farmers regrow the economy", PBS Newshour, December 4, 2014 by Larisa Epatko.

The Guardian provides us an interactive infographic that tells us where all the Afghan aid money has gone. (December 4, 2014).

The 45th Sustainment Brigade's headquarters has returned from their 8-month long deployment to Afghanistan. While deployed they were the hqs for the Central Command Material Recovery Element (CMRE) charged with sorting, tracking, and recovering all U.S. military equipment from the operational area. (DVIDS, December 4, 2014).

According to Central Asia Online the Ministry of Interior (MoI) appointed former Balkh province police chief General Abdul Rahman Rahimi as the new Kabul police chief. The seat became vacant when General Zahir Zahir resigned on November 30, 2014. Zahir is now the chief of the crime branch at MoI.

NATO has pledged support for the Resolute Support mission but they are not going to get all of their troops to Afghanistan on time. The U.S. has decided to fill the gap. Read more in "U.S. moves ahead with plan for extra troops in Afghanistan until allies finalize plans", The Washington Post, December 5, 2014.

The United Nations political chief, Jeffrey Feltman, addressed the London Conference in Afghanistan. You can read his remarks in "UN political chief urges revamped approach to boosting development in Afghanistan", UN News Centre, December 4, 2014.

Watch a video of former British Soldiers chatting about their hopes for Afghanistan on British Forces TV. (5 mins). http://forces.tv/80957412

Casey Michel writes a not so favorable outlook for the CASA-1000 project that would export electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Read more in "An Historic, But Pointless, CASA-1000 Accord", The Diplomat, December 5, 2014.

The Taliban's high profile attacks in Kabul are having an effect; if not strategically, then at least in the amount of fear and press generated. Read more in "Taliban Making High-Profile Attacks Ahead of US Drawdown", Military.com, December 5, 2014.

As the ISAF mission comes to a close and the Resolute Support mission begins (1 Jan 15) folks are trying to figure out just what the mission is. See "Afghanistan 2015: a mission in flux", Stars and Stripes, December 5, 2014, by Chris Carroll.

Some news reports indicate that President Ghani is conducting negotiations with the insurgent group Hezb-e-Islami. The group, led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, is probably interested in a power-sharing arrangement. HI fought against the early Communist regime and then the Soviet Union invasion and occupation. Read more in "Ghani holds negotiations with Hezb-e-Islami", Central Asia Online, December 5, 2014.

The 419th Sustainment Support Battalion is completing its mission on Bagram Air Field and heading home. Learn more in "Task Force Guardian prepares for redeployment", Fort Hood Herald, December 3, 2014.

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News with Your Coffee

Friday, December 5, 2014

Bibliography for Resolute Support

Afghan War News has compiled an "Annotated Bibliography for Resolute Support". The ISAF mission in Afghanistan will end this year. NATO will begin the Resolute Support mission in January 2015. The Resolute Support mission is primarily Security Force Assistance (with a little bit of counter-terrorism). The mission will entail training, advising, and assisting the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and the Afghan Security Ministries (ASI). The link below will take you to an annotated bibliography for the Resolute Support Mission. The bibliography will be extremely helpful for advisors and staff working at the ministerial, institutional, and corps levels. The publication is an Adobe Acrobat PDF, is almost 200 pages long, and less than 3 MBs big.

www.afghanwarnews.info/pubs/RSM-Bibliography.htm

Special Forces Soldier Dies in Zabul Province

A Special Forces Soldier of 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group died of small arms fire on December 3, 2014 in Zabul province, southern Afghanistan. He was with his unit conducting a clearing operation at the time. SSG Ammerman enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2004. He served with the 509th Infantry Battalion (Alaska) and deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq with that unit. He later served with the 69th Armor Regiment (Georgia). He volunteered for Special Forces in 2012. Details were released by ISAF, Army Times, and stateside newspapers. See a press release from United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC).

Big Hurdle: Lack of Cooperation Among ANSF

A German newspaper Deutsche Welle has posted (Dec 3, 2014) an interview with Jason H. Campbell about his recent fact-finding trip to Afghanistan. ". . . Campbell is an associate policy analyst at the RAND Corporation where he focuses on issues of international security, counterinsurgency, intelligence, and measuring progress in post-conflict reconstruction." In the interview Campbell talks about the main challenges facing the ANSF, the diminished support the ANSF will receive from NATO under the Resolute Support Mission, and how there is a lack of coordination between the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, and the National Directorate of Security. He also discusses the degree of control that the Taliban has in the countryside and the future prospects of peace talks. Campbell's analysis of the current situation in Afghanistan seems to be spot on. Read the news article "Lack of coordination among local forces remains 'biggest hurdle' to Afghan security".

Book "Failure of Counterinsurgency"

The topic of counterinsurgency is popular if you judge it by the number of books coming out. It is interesting to see so many perspectives on COIN in literature; and there are certainly more to come. Supporters are trying to justify COIN while detractors criticize it. Ivan Eland, a Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty, has wrote his perspective of COIN in The Failure of Counterinsurgency: Why Hearts and Minds Are Seldom Won. Read an article on why COIN failed in Afghanistan that he posted in The World Post (Huffington), (Dec 1, 2014).

AAN - Access to Health Care

The Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) has published an online article entitled "Between Rhetoric and Reality: Access to health care and its limitations" (December 2, 2014). Frank Dorner and Lena Langbein look at the rhetoric of political and military actors about healthcare and what is actually happening at ground level in Afghanistan - as seen by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). They list a number of health care shortcomings such as the growing humanitarian needs due to the ongoing armed conflict, medical clinics far from people's homes, health care that poor Afghans cannot afford, and lack of skilled female personnel in rural areas.

Ghani so Far: An Assessment

The Los Angeles Times has posted (December 1, 2014) an assessment of President Ghani's performance thus far. The reporters who wrote the story are Ali M. Latifi and Shashank Bengali. Read "Afghan president sets all-business tone as he aims to steady nation".

White House Had Hotline to Afghanistan

Much to the dismay of then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates - the White House had a direct link via telephone to the U.S. special operation's headquarters that went to a top White House national security official. Gates was not happy and had the SOF guys tear the phone out on the spot. He told the SOF commanders that "If you get a call from the White House, you tell them to go to hell and call me". To Gates the phone in Kabul symbolized the White House's staff attempting to micromanage the war and the Pentagon. Read more in "White House interference extended to hot line in Afghanistan", Stuff New Zealand, December 1, 2014.

Challenging Corruption in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is languishing at the bottom of the Transparency International Corruption Index ranking 175 out of 177 nations in 2013. In December 2014 new results will be announced and Afghanistan is sure to be in the top ten most corrupt countries in the world. The world community is meeting in London this week discussing renewed financial support for Afghanistan. Many observers are leery of providing increased or continued aid to the country because much of the money is siphoned off by corrupt Afghan government officials and does not get to the poor. Corruption is viewed by many Afghans as the most important problem in Afghanistan after the issue of security. Corruption fuels the insurgency with much of the rural population supporting the Taliban against a government that does not govern, provide services, encourage development, and ensure security. Transparency International is offering six recommendations that the Afghan government officials and international donors should consider:

1. Promote clean leadership in key institutions.
2. Make the judiciary independent.
3. Establish a best practice right to information regime.
4. Establish an independent anti-corruption agency.
5. Make asset declaration mandatory for all who hold power.
6. Procurement transparency.

Read more details of Transparency International's recommendations in "Challenging Corruption in Afghanistan" (December 1, 2014).

Bribery Gets You Day in Court in Afghanistan

The international community continues to pour money into Afghanistan in an effort to improve the police, judiciary and rule-of-law. However, progress is being made at a snail's pace. To get any results from a court in Afghanistan a citizen must wait, and wait, and . . . or pay a bribe. Read more in "Donations buy justice in Afghanistan?", Aljazeera, December 3, 2014.

India, Pakistan: Secret War for Afghanistan

Parviz Azizi has wrote an interesting column entitled "Pakistan, India, and the Secret War for Afghanistan", Geopolitical Monitor, December 2, 2014. He outlines Pakistan's and India's interests in and perspectives on Afghanistan. In addition, he provides us with his view of the future outlook.
www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/pakistan-india-secret-war-afghanistan/

Traditional Justice in Afghanistan

There are three justice systems at work in Afghanistan. One is the Afghan government's judicial system which is under-funded, under-resourced, inefficient, incompetent, and extremely corrupt. A second is the "traditional justice system" that has existed for centuries in Afghanistan based at the local level. The third is the Taliban "shadow" judicial system; judged by many to be quick, fair, and harsh. There are supporters and detractors about the traditional justice system; which incorporates the use of jirgas and shuras. Read more in "How Fair is Traditional Justice in Afghanistan", Institute for War & Peace Reporting, December 4, 2014.

Afghan War News Snippets (Dec 5, 2014)

Movie Review - "Kajaki". An American military officer recently viewed the British film "Kajaki" in a London movie theater. He provides us with his thoughts on the history of Hollywood war movies and then let's us know that "Kajaki" is definitely worth viewing. Read "The British War Movie America Needs", by T.S. Allen, War on the Rocks, December 4, 2014.

An Afghan interpreter, one of the few that manage to get a visa from the U.S. Department of State, has finally been reunited with his family. Read more in "Former Afghan translator living in US finally reunited with family", Stars and Stripes, December 3, 2014.

The F-22 and F-35A are two pieces of high tech machinery and they are very complementary of each other. Read more in "Talk Stealthy to Me", by Kelley Sayler, War on the Rocks, December 4, 2014.

LTG (Ret) Daniel Bolger, author of the recently published book Why We Lost, has provided us with his top war books that he considers essential for military leaders. Read "WarBooks Profile: Lieutenant General Daniel Bolger", WarCouncil.org, December 4, 2014.

Freedom House has produced an InfoGraphic posted by Radio Free Europe depicting the levels of Internet Freedom Around the World. There are three ratings - green is "free", orange is "partly free", and red is "not free". On the map Afghanistan is . . . white. I guess that means "unknown".

According to Tolo News (Afg) the Ministry of Finance (MoF) will incorporate three Afghan banks - Pashtani Bank, Milli Bank, and the New Kabul Bank. The New Kabul Bank is the notorious financial institution where ex-President Karzai's relatives stole billions of dollars. The merger will mean that a single bank will control the banking system, which is currently performed by the Central Bank of Afghanistan. Read more in "MoF to Incorporate Three State-Run Banks", Tolo News, December 3, 2014.

Poland has been a steady and reliable partner in the Afghan conflict. Read more about Poland's contribution to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan in "NIC: Focus on Poland", ISAF News, December 4, 2014.

Drugs in Afghanistan. Two long-time members of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime have wrote an article which has been posted in Stability: International Journal of Security & Development entitled "Capturing the Elusive Formula Against Afghanistan's Drug Economy Through Integration" (December 2014).

Pomegranates. A BBC News Asia article by Daud Qarizadah & Harun Najafizade asks "Afghanistan: Can pomegranates power the economy?" (Dec 3, 2014).

It appears that the Pentagon is seeking a replacement pistol for the M9 Beretta. Read more in this news article (UPI, Dec 3, 2014).

Humanitarian workers are at increased risk in Kabul. Read more in "The Murder of Innocents", Foreign Policy Dispatch, December 3, 2014.

In an interview, the United Nations Assistant General Secretary Haoliang Xu said that the international community must remain committed to supporting Afghanistan's development under President Ghani (Thomson Reuters Foundation, December 4, 2014).

A video posted on YouTube by the NATO Channel entitled "Building up Afghanistan's economy" provides info on steps President Ghani is making to rebuild Afghanistan (4 mins).

The U.S. Army is going with a new battle uniform. This means new boots, belt, and T-shirt as well. Learn more in a news report by Army Times (Dec 3, 2014).

The spokesman for the Department of Defense (Admiral Kirby) states that the U.S. is confident Afghans can take full security control next month (DoD News, Dec 2, 2014).

Nasir Shansab is an Afghan-born businessman living in the United States. He has wrote an opinion piece for Newsweek entitled "Afghanistan Needs a Government - Fast" (Dec 3, 2014).

Robert Chesney writes about the "Rules of Engagement for the War in Afghanistan in 2015", on the Lawfare Blog, December 3, 2014.

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Newsletter on Afghan Events

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Road Construction: A Slow Go

Roads provide a lifeline for businesses in Afghanistan - where they exist and are maintained. But the construction of roads in Afghanistan over the past twelve years has quite a history. Much money has been spent but it is questionable how much of that money went to the construction of the roads because of corruption. There is a lot of speculation that much of the road building money was used to construct houses in Kabul and Dubai by corrupt businessmen and government officials. A $200 million project of USAID to construct a road to tie the city of Khost with Gardez has had a fitful start with no sight in end for completion. Read more in "Anger Over Long-Delayed Afghan Highway", by Ahmad Shah of Institute for War & Peace Reporting, December 1, 2014.

Counter-Narrative Important in Counter-Insurgency

Captain Robert A. Newson, a Navy SEAL, has published an article entitled "In Recent Battles, the U.S. Has Forgotten How to Tell Its Side of the Story. It must Remember" (December 3, 2014). It is posted on the Defense in Depth Blog of Janine Davidson (Council of Foreign Relations). Newson argues that ". . . the United States has effectively ceded the information domain without a fight." He states that "an effective information operations strategy will hinge on both long-term commitment and a willingness to expose audiences to the full complexity of political issues rather than resorting to misinformation and simplification." One of his observations is that the United States lost a significant information operations (IO) capability (is it now called inform and influence activities?) when it disestablished the United States Information Agency (USIA) in 1999. He states that the U.S. Army Special Operations Command is looking hard at this problem; citing the release of a white paper entitled Cognitive Joint Force Entry.

Read the article on the Defense in Depth Blog by Captain Newson:
". . . the U.S. Has Forgotten How to Tell Its Side of the Story. . ."

Read the white paper by the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), 26 September 2014. Cognitive Joint Force Entry

Afghanistan and Corruption Index

Transparency International has released its 2014 yearly corruption index. In 2013 Afghanistan was ranked as the third most corrupt nation in the world - behind North Korea and Somalia. This year (2014) we see a significant improvement! Afghanistan is less corrupt in 2014 than in 2013. In 2014 Afghanistan is ranked as only the fourth most corrupt nation in the world. Yes, it's true. Somehow, despite Karzai's best efforts the country of Sudan moved into 3rd place. Now the only countries more corrupt than Afghanistan are Somalia, Korea, and Sudan (in that order). So ISAF's efforts at meaningful oversight of the billions of dollars spent in Afghanistan is bearing fruit. Well done, ISAF.

But, let's give NATO (and the U.S.) another chance at this. According to the NATO webpage that describes the key functions of the new Resolute Support mission addressing corruption is very important. The key functions for NATO in RSM are found below:

- Supporting planning, programming and budgeting;
- Assuring transparency, accountability and oversight;
- Supporting the adherence to the principles of rule of law and good governance;
- Supporting the establishment and sustainment of such processes as force generation, recruiting, training, managing and development of personnel.

With this much attention on the problem of corruption one would think that Afghanistan's ranking in December 2015 will be much improved. Time will tell. See the world wide corruption rankings at the link below:

www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results

Interview w/ Author of "Warrior Diplomat"

Peter Bergen, the director of the International Security Program of New America, will be interviewing Michael G. Waltz - the author of a recent book about Afghanistan. Waltz is a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army Special Forces (Reserve Component) and the author of Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret's Battles from Washington to Afghanistan. Waltz deployed to Afghanistan three times with the Special Forces, worked as a policy advisor on counter-terrorism for Vice President Richard Chaney, and helped shape policy for Afghanistan at the Pentagon. The interview will take place on Thursday, December 4, 2014 at 12:15 pm - 1:45 pm. If you click on "RSVP" at the link provided below you should be able to watch the video online.
www.newamerica.org/international-security/warrior-diplomat/

Video - "Changing NATO Mission in Afghanistan"

The NATO Channel has published online (YouTube) a 4 minute long video explaining the Resolute Support mission, provides info on base closures, and identifies shortfalls and gaps of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). Watch the video published on December 1, 2014 and narrated by Mel Preen - "Changing NATO Mission in Afghanistan".

Afghan Covert Opns in Balochistan

A recent news article provides some insight into the covert operations that the Afghans are running into Pakistan. Of course, it may not be an "official" Afghan intelligence operation" - but at least it is something! According to the article there is a covert war between Afghan intelligence agents and Taliban militants in the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan. The fight is between the Adozai supporters of General Abdul Raziq (the provincial chief of police for Kandahar province) and the Afghan Taliban who have sanctuary in Balochistan. Islamabad has always denied that the Afghan Taliban seek refuge in this area of Pakistan; but WE know they are there! Read more in "Pakistani Leader Says Covert War Destabilizing Province", Gandhera Blog - Radio Free Europe, December 2, 2014.

NATO Agrees to RSM

NATO foreign ministers agreed (formally) on Tuesday to launch the new training mission for Afghanistan called Resolute Support. The new mission has been highly publicized and coordinated over the past year so this conference was mostly window addressing in terms of the agreement. (Reuters, Dec 2, 2014).

Corruption Feeds Insurgencies

One of the well-known aspects of the Afghan conflict is that corruption is the number one issue that feeds support and recruits to the insurgency. However, ISAF and the United States has been slow to reduce the corruption; instead, concentrating on military solutions combined with generous amounts of foreign aid for governance and development. However, a good portion of that foreign aid is siphoned off by government, police, and military leaders and officials - thereby reducing the effect of all that aid money. In addition, the excess of aid money without adequate oversight and controls, further fuels the corruption. Read an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times by Doyle McManus entitled "How the U.S. can fight corruption abroad: start by collecting intelligence" (December 1, 2014).

Interview with UK Soldier - "Kajaki"

A new movie being released in the UK is about the time spent on tour in Helmand province by some UK soldiers. Watch an interview about the movie in "British Soldier and Actor on Filming "Kajaki"", Forces TV, December 1, 2014.

Women in Nangarhar Want Schooling

The women in the eastern province of Nangarhar are demanding more access to education and have brought their complaints to the local government officials. Nangarhar has almost 900,000 boys and girls enrolled in nearly 900 schools - which demonstrates a significant growth in the Afghan education system. However, the women of the province want to see girls education expanded as well as opportunities for women adult education. Read more in "Women in Eastern Afghanistan Demand Education", Institute for War & Peace Reporting, December 1, 2014.

China and Peace Talks

China has been stepping up of late on the economic and diplomatic front with Afghanistan. It appears that China is now willing to help with negotiations to start up a peace process with Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Taliban. However it requires the earnest participation of Pakistan's military (and intelligence agency), the Taliban, and the Afghans. At the moment, China is waiting on a peace plan to be submitted by President Ghani. Read more in "Viewpoint: Can China bring peace to Afghanistan?", BBC News Asia, December 1, 2014.

DoDIG Assesses Intel Training

The U.S. Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DoDIG) conducted an assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of the DoD's intelligence training and education programs in relation to the fundamental competencies of the DoD intelligence workforce. The DoDIG found that the DoD Intelligence Enterprise lacks the program standards to address the basic training needs and essential skills required by the DoD intelligence workforce. The DoD does not have the structure, resources, or capability to provide an efficient DoD Joint Intelligence Training (JIT) program to professionalize the DoD intelligence workforce. Read more in Intelligence and Special Program Assessments Report, Office of the Inspector General, 31 October 2014.
www.dodig.mil/pubs/report_summary.cfm?id=6034

Tribute to 453 UK Troops

The Telegraph, one of the UK's leading newspapers has posted an online memorial to the 453 UK lives that were lost in the Afghan War. The site is called "We will remember them: Afghanistan 2001-2014" at this link. A staff member of The Telegraph, Alice Audley, provides a heart-breaking story of how she helped research the backgrounds of those who died to assist in the establishment of the site. Read her story here in "Afghanistan 2001-2014: Creating The Telegraph's tribute" (December 1, 2104).

Guide to U.S. Military Casualties

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has published a CRS report entitled "A Guide to U.S. Military Casualty Statistics" dated November 20, 2014. It covers the conflicts of Inherent Resolve, Operation New Dawn, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom. The report includes statistics on PTSD, TBI, amputations, evacuations, and the demographics of casualties. Read more in "Document: Guide to U.S. Military Casualty Statistics", USNI News, December 1, 2014.

Afghan War Daily News Snippets

News about the NATO Conference. NATO has released a statement (Dec 2, 2014) about the meeting of the foreign ministers of NATO and 14 partner countries where it was decided to launch the Resolute Support mission.
www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_115564.htm

News about the London Conference. A political analyst and historian, Helena Malikyar, provides us with her analysis of the London Conference receiving so much press coverage. She disputes the "feel good" press releases of the U.S. military, ISAF, NATO and other international agencies touting "metrics" that laud significant progress in security, health care, education, etc. Malikyar points out that there is a difference between quality and quantity. Read her article in Aljazeera posted on the Yahoo! News website (December 3, 2014) entitled "Afghanistan conference won't rock the boat".

Watch a video of President Ghani's remarks at a press conference with the President of the European Union (Donald Tusk) that took place on Tuesday, December 2, 2014. Published on YouTube by the Presidential Palace Directorate of Communications (5 Mins).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNNC5r2OZY8

Congress has approved the White House and Pentagon's requests to cut benefits for members of the military - although not to the extent that was wanted. Troops will see smaller pay raises, reduced housing allowance, and increased co-payments for health care. Pay raises are capped at 1 percent. Meanwhile very expensive F-35 is fully funded and entitlement programs such as welfare are untouched. The 1% of the population that serves the country is penalized. I am not sure our high-ranking generals and admirals are serving us well. Read more in "Budget deal calls for troop benefit cuts next year", Stars and Stripes, December 2, 2014.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released a report stating that Afghanistan's 2014 economic performance has been hurt by political and security uncertainties. The IMF has recommended the restarting of the sale of the New Kabul Bank and the establishment of a nine-month long Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) to assist Afghan authorities on macroeconomic policies and a reform agenda. (UK News Yahoo, December 3, 2014.

The 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade's pathfinder company - Company F, 2nd Aviation Assault Battalion located at Bagram Air Field - is tasked with recovering downed pilots and unmanned vehicles, setting up landing zones for helicopters, and helping ship out equipment from closing bases. Read more in "82nd Airborne pathfinders on call to move quickly in Afghanistan", Stars and Stripes, December 2, 2014.

New Secretary of Defense. Now that it is known that Ash Carter will be the new secretary of defense folks are looking into his capabilities. He is known as a technocrat with a deep knowledge about advanced weapon systems and the budget; however, he never served with the military and has never led troops in combat. Read more in "New defense secretary would inherit old tensions", The Washington Post, December 3, 2014.

The monthly average of mine blast victims for 2014 is 37. According to the Mine Action Coordination Center of Afghanistan (MACCA) more than 350 people have been killed or disabled as a result of mine blasts. (Tolo News, Dec 2, 2014).

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is supporting initiatives to provide legal aid to those accused of crimes or imprisoned in Helmand province. The Afghan judiciary system is horribly corrupt and most criminal cases are not resolved until a bribe is paid. Read more in a news release by the UNDP (Dec 3, 2014).

The construction of a new bridge in the Kharoti area of Garam district has cut down the travel time by half for residents bringing produce to market, attending school, seeking medical care, and more. The new bridge over the canal was funded by Japan and supported by the National Area Based Development Programme. Read an UNDP news release (Dec 3, 2014).

The Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR) is a battalion-sized unit which is part of the secretive Joint Task Force 2 and has been active in the war on terror in Afghanistan. Read more in "CSOR - Canada's Special Operations Regiment", Special Ops, August 3, 2014.

A recent posting of The Long War Journal (Dec 3, 2014) states that the US has conducted airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan to target Pakistani Taliban. The "Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan" operates on both sides of the border (Afghanistan and Pakistan) but is postured to attack Pakistan government forces. So these recent strikes by the U.S. are certainly welcomed by Pakistan. Now if we can only get the Pakistanis to bomb the Haqqani Network.

Reuters reports (Dec 3, 2014) that there are over 760,000 Afghan refugees that risk deportation from Iran. Many Afghans work in Iran (legally and illegally) to provide an income for their families.

A news report, penned by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, entitled "How Afghans Feel About the Direction of Their Country" is posted on the Defense One website (Dec 2, 2104).

The David Webb Show interviews LTC Michael Waltz (a Special Forces officer) about Afghanistan. Waltz is the author of Warrior Diplomat. Waltz is worried about the current administration's policy, ability of the ANSF to hold off the Taliban, and ability of President Ghani to move the country ahead. Waltz is high on Ghani but has concerns on ethnic tensions and warlords with the withdrawal of the U.S. and the resulting diminishing influence and leverage. (An audio sound bite, Dec 3, 2014).

Vanquish Worldwide has announced that it received a $145 million trucking contract to assist in the retrograde operations of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Read a news release (Dec 2, 2014).

The 59th Forward Engineer Support Team - Advanced (FEST-A) is completing their Afghan tour. The unit performed a variety of missions in support of RCs South, Southwest, and West. Read more in "59th Forward Engineer Support Team prepares for return to Tulsa", DVIDS, December 2, 2014.

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Wednesday, December 3, 2014

A-10 Retirement? Not Quite Yet!

Congress is fighting hard to save the highly valued (by ground troops if not the Air Force) A-10 Warthog. This close air support aircraft is considered by many to be the best ground support platform available - especially in a counterinsurgency fight. The Tactical Air Control Party Association has sent a letter to SECDEF Hagel stating that the ". . . F-15s, F-16s, and B-1s cannot replicate the CAS capabilities of the A-10 . . ." The Air Force wants to scrap almost 300 of the A-10s to save money to buy advanced fighter jets like the F-35. Unfortunately the F-35 comes out on the short end when you analyze the "quality vs. quanity" argument. Some A-10s are still in service in Afghanistan and recently A-10s deployed to the Middle East to engage in the fight against ISIS. Read more in "A-10 Warthog retirement debated after replacements role in 'friendly fire' deaths", The Washington Times, November 30, 2014.

Paper - "ISAF IJC 2014: The Year of Change"

Anderson, LTG Joseph and MAJ Matthew McCreary. “International Security Assistance Force Joint Command 2014: The Year of Change”, Military Review, January-February 2015, pages 16-25. This paper describes the transition from SFA to FbSFA and the ‘thinning up’ of the advisory effort with the ANSF taking place at the same time that a significant retrograde of personnel, equipment and closing of bases was happening. The article is essentially correct but takes too much credit for transition that had already transpired in 2013 – such as thinning up, move to Functionally-based Security Force Assistance, and advising at the higher echelons vice district center and kandak level. This editors’ opinion is that 50% of the credit taken in the paper was for work already completed in 2013. But . . . the paper by the commander of IJC is a good historical document for those who want background info or who are writing academic papers or books on the advisory effort in the Afghan conflict.

www.afghanwarnews.info/pubs/IJC2014MRJan15.pdf

Saffron - Hope for Afghanistan

A group of military veterans who are also students at Harvard University are hoping that a business venture associated with the Harvard Innovation Lab will produce beneficial results for the Afghan economy. Rumi Spice is a venture that launched earlier this year (2014) and which provides quality saffron from Afghan farmers. If the venture takes off it is hoped to move Afghan farmers away from the drug trade and into an economic alternative crop. This would reduce money going to warlords, corrupt government officials, and the Taliban as well as cut down on the amount of drugs going into the international market. Read more in "Harvard students help rebuild Afghanistan with one ingredient: Saffron", Boston Business Journal, November 30, 2014. Visit the website of Rumi Spice to order your products in time for Christmas. www.rumispice.com/

Year of Change (Afghanistan)

Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, U.S. Army and Maj. Matthew M. McCreary, U.S. Army have wrote an article entitled "International Security Assistance Joint Command 2014: The Year of Change", Military Review, pages 16-25, January-February 2015.

Assessment of ANSF

Jason Campbell, a researcher for the RAND Corporation, recently finished a fact-finding trip to Afghanistan. He has wrote several pieces on his trip. His most recent is an assessment of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) - "What's The Plan? The Afghan National Security Forces", War on the Rocks, December 2, 2014. Read more assessments on the ANSF.

Afghan Interpreters - "No One Left Behind"

An organization calling itself "No One Left Behind" has been established to assist Iraqi and Afghan interpreters. The mission of the organization is to assist Iraqi and Afghan combat interpreters who have received Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) with resettlement in the United States. The charity focuses solely on Afghan and Iraqi SIVs recipients who served honorably alongside US forces in combat. The goal of the charity is to provide targeted, short term housing and cultural adaptation aid and to quickly transition them to self-sufficiency through various employment programs. Learn more about "No One Left Behind" here - www.nooneleft.org.