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Afghanistan is ready for Test cricket, says Nabi - The Hindu

David Burge , El Paso Times 12:02 p.m. MT April 6, 2017

About 250 soldiers from the brigades headquarters and the brigades Special Troops Battalion will deploy to Afghanistan in May.(Photo: Courtesy Sgt. 1st Class Shelia Cooper, 1st Armored Division Sustainment Brigade public affairs)

Soldiers with the 1st Armored Division Sustainment Brigade are ready to get after it and are excited about their upcoming mission to Afghanistan.

About 250 soldiers from the brigades headquarters and the brigades Special Troops Battalion will deploy to Afghanistan in May.

There, they will serve as the logistical headquarters for the entire theater of operations and will provide key support for U.S. and coalition troops. The mission will include providing water, food, ammunition, transportation services and maintenance, among other activities.

The team is coming together, said brigade Command Sgt. Maj. Sean Howard, of Colorado Springs, Colo. Everyone is starting to synchronize, and there is definitely some synergy in the air right now. We are ready to get after it. They are motivated to go.

The brigade did a similar mission from May 2015 to February 2016 in Afghanistan, with about the same number of troops.

This deployment is scheduled to last about six months.

Its a similar mission, but it is dynamic, said brigade commander Col. Michael Lalor.

The mission will change, said Lalor, from Goshen, N.Y. Afghanistan changes, and the mission will change.

Members of the Sustainment Brigade will lead a task force of about 2,000 soldiers, civilians and contractors who will provide key support to troops in Afghanistan.

Howard agreed that the mission will evolve.

The 1st Armored Division Sustainment Brigade has been training for its upcoming deployment since summer.(Photo: Courtesy Sgt. 1st Class Shelia Cooper, 1st Armored Division Sustainment Brigade public affairs)

The big thing is the enemy has a vote, and we are always trying to stay ahead of that as well as focus on our (support) mission, he said.

The Sustainment Brigade has been training for this deployment since July. The Muleskinner Brigade does its sustainment role every day to support the division, but has been focusing its training on being able to provide its own security and practicing its other tactical battlefield skills, Lalor and Howard said.

These are perishable skills, and we always need to practice them, Howard said.

Lt. Col. Robin-Desty Husted, the commander of the Special Troops Battalion, said her battalion is ready to go and play its part, too.

The importance lies in the fact that we will support the daily mission of the forces in Afghanistan and have a direct impact on the success of their mission, said Husted, from San Antonio.

Husted said the Army and the 1st Armored Division have given her battalion all the training and resources it needs to succeed.

As part of the U.S. Army, our mission is to defend the nation as well as assisting in the defense of our allies, Husted said. We are a well-trained and ready force, well capable of providing sustainment operations to units in theater during this deployment.

Command Sgt. Maj. Jason Porras, the Special Troops Battalions senior enlisted leader, said the battalion is absolutely ready for the upcoming deployment.

The 1st Armored Division Sustainment Brigade's deployment is scheduled to last about six months.(Photo: Courtesy Sgt. 1st Class Shelia Cooper, 1st Armored Division Sustainment Brigade public affairs)

The battalion will continue to train until it leaves, but we are ready, said Porras, from Pelion, S.C.

Lalor, the brigade commander, said that the brigades families serve as the foundation for all the unit does.

It is from that bedrock that all this happens, he said. There are a lot of people who have sacrificed a lot.

Some of the key training the brigade and Special Troops Battalion have gone through includes the Combat Lifesaver Course, which is a weeklong course in basic first-aid skills for out in the field.

David Burge may be reached at 546-6126; dburge@elpasotimes.com; @dburge1962 on Twitter.

Members of the 1st Armored Division Sustainment Brigade will lead a task force of about 2,000 soldiers, civilians and contractors who will provide key support to troops in Afghanistan.(Photo: Courtesy Sgt. 1st Class Shelia Cooper, 1st Armored Division Sustainment Brigade public affairs)

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Sustainment Brigade ready for Afghanistan mission - El Paso Times

Is Pakistan witnessing a resurgence of terrorism?

It is an upsurge of terrorism. As a result of the successful conduct of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, the terrorists ran for their lives and crossed over to into Afghanistan, where they were hosted by the Hostile Intelligence Agencies (HIAs). After absorbing the initial set back, these terrorists relocated and re-established themselves.

Over time, they have reorganised, regrouped, and recuperated. The recent series of attacks show that they are now well-established and have adequate support of Hostile Intelligence Agencies to restart their heinous activities.

Now that the terrorists are in Afghanistan, the issue is more complex and complicated. Defeating these terrorists in the protection of HIAs is a real challenge, which is further compounded by the non-cooperative outlook of Afghanistan towards Pakistan.

To defeat these terrorists, we definitely need a cooperative framework with Afghanistan. Such a framework must interface the countries at a political, diplomatic, military, intelligence, and a people-to-people level. Both the countries need to cooperate and respond to each other's concerns based on the sincerity and trust to rid the menace of terrorism.

Unfortunately, the Afghan government has displayed hostility towards us recently.

Not only this, Afghanistan is using all available means, forums, and platforms including other countries, particularly India, to blame Pakistan and lump its own failures on us.

This outlook of Afghanistan is worrisome as such a venomous rhetoric permeates into next generations which does not auger well for both the countries. Afghanistan fails to understand that we are their most sincere partner for peace, stability, and a greater future. If we had not stood with Afghanistan at the time of USSR's invasion, there would have been no Afghanistan today. We are their partners to the core and they owe us their sovereignty. We mean no ill to them and furthermore we cannot repeat the conduct of Afghanistan.

Despite the recent hard times, we envision a greater future with our neighbouring country. They are our brothers. Everyone will leave but we will remain together. Therefore, Pakistan's leadership has always displayed patience and a steady outlook on Afghanistan.

I understand that Afghanistan holds a greater future if she can reconcile and become a trade corridor with Pakistan and we are all prepared to help, cooperate, and support Afghanistan to embrace the brighter future along with us.

Janjua retired as a three-star rank army general after commanding the XII Corps in Quetta and briefly tenured as president of the National Defence University in 2012

War has become perpetual in Afghanistan, since all its stakeholders have tried to win the war. They have not tried to win peace. Therefore, they have been investing only in war.

I believe that there are no love stories born out of way of war, particularly if the people are injured en masse. Talking and negotiating from a position of strength is another strategy, which keeps the war ongoing with a view to achieve ascendency over your adversary. So, continuous way of war, and the intent to gain a position of strength, has made the war perpetual in Afghanistan.

Coming to reconciliation, well, that has to happen between the sitting government and the warring factions of the Taliban. Both of them are cousins of each other. They need to reconcile. I also feel that people of Afghanistan, who have seen nothing but war since nearly four decades, should also rise and pressurise both sides to reconcile. They cannot go on fighting forever. We believe that a political solution through an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process will bring enduring solutions for the stability of Afghanistan.

Progress on the plan's implementation had initially been slow, but now it is picking up steadily and we are on our way to gain a better trajectory.

It is important to note that the NAP comprises of twenty points, which identify twenty vacuums or weaknesses of our society. These vacuums have taken a long time to emerge and their redressal would require a change in our attitude, enhancement of our capacities, more time, and the peoples' will.

We also need to be mindful of the fact that NAP has some very sensitive religious areas which, if we do not handle carefully, will prove to be divisive instead. I am hopeful that in the coming days the implementation of NAP will further improve, particularly with the initiation of Operation Radd-ul-Fassad.

Excerpt from:
EXCLUSIVE: Despite challenges, Pakistan NSA envisions greater future with Afghanistan - Geo News, Pakistan

Afghanistan's president insists Australia's military commitment to his country is a "sovereign decision".

Dr Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has been in Canberra for two days of official talks including meetings with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Defence Minister Marise Payne.

Australia has 270 defence personnel deployed mostly in the capital Kabul where they provide support and security along with some mentoring recruits at the Afghan National Military Academy.

Earlier this year, the US Army General John Nicholson, who leads American and international forces in Afghanistan, called for thousands more troops to advise Afghan forces on the ground to beat the stalemate.

Dr Ghani clarified that General Nicholson had requested about 5200.

Asked if Australia should provide more troops, Dr Ghani said: "These are sovereign decisions."

"We always defer to national authorities in terms of the decision-making process," he told ABC radio.

Australia's main base in Afghanistan had been in Uruzgan province, before the withdrawal in 2013.

The Taliban have now overrun that area.

But Dr Ghani insisted "temporary setbacks" should not be seen as reversals.

"It is not trending in the wrong direction," he told ABC TV.

He acknowledged the threat of Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan and said authorities were dealing with them relentlessly.

"Given what has happened in Iraq and Syria, the likelihood of them migrating or jumping like cancer cells elsewhere is significant," Dr Ghani said.

During the president's visit thousands of Hazara protesters rallied in Canberra against a 2011 deal between Australia and Afghanistan to send failed Afghan asylum seekers back to their homeland.

Dr Ghani said it had not been a subject of conversations during his meetings with Australian government ministers.

He argued thousands of refugees had returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan in recent years and the level of participation in public life by Hazaras was increasing.

Asked if Afghanistan would take back failed asylum seekers detained on Manus Island or Nauru, he said due process was important to follow.

"An Afghan who has gone through the full legal process has a right to return. We never refuse if the host country wants to expel them, then the due process should be observed," he said, adding that international human rights agreements need to be taken into account.

Dr Ghani earlier on Tuesday marvelled at Australian-designed gadgets that are protecting his country's soldiers and police from improvised explosive device attacks.

In the past two years, Australia has supplied 150,000 Redwing contraptions to Afghanistan security personnel with a further 34,000 to be delivered later this year.

The devices, which jam radio signals that can set off IEDs, cover both individuals and vehicles and are made in Brisbane.

"It's truly amazing," Dr Ghani said.

"You've taken the request to save lives extremely seriously."

Link:
No request for extra troops to Afghanistan - NEWS.com.au

Afghan farmer in his poppy field in eastern Afghanistan. (AP)

President Donald Trumps budget puts a number of foreign assistance programs at risk, if not outright elimination. His plan to cut about 30 percent from the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development has drawn resistance from both Republicans and Democrats.

At a March 28 hearing, Rep Ted Yoho, R-Fla., came to the defense of several prominent projects, including the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and two Obama-era programs aimed at boosting electric capacity in Africa and agriculture globally. But Yoho did agree with cuts in one area -- the war on drugs. He said it was ineffective.

"I look at the poppy fields in Afghanistan," Yoho said. "They have more hectares planted today than they had before we started this war." Opium poppies produce a key ingredient for heroin and other opioids.

Afghanistan remains the worlds top opium poppyproducer, despite the billions of dollars America has put into the country. Since late 2001 when the United States and its allies retaliated against the Taliban and al-Qaida for the 9/11 attacks, America has spent about $25 billion to rebuild Afghanistans economy and $8.5 billion to rid it of narcotics.

Yohos office said he got his information from a United Nations report. The latest survey found that in 2016, farmers were growing poppies on more than 200,000 hectares. In 2002, the number was 74,000 hectares.

The U.N.s chart below shows the pattern over the decades. The black lines show the high and low estimates. In conflict zones, satellite images replaced on-the-ground observations.

Aside from a few years, the land under poppy cultivation has trended up. The actual tons produced has jumped aroundmore, but it too is higher today than in 2002. The big drop in 2001 came after the Taliban banned production in 2000. The Taliban later reversed itself, leading to a rapid spread after 2012.

According to the U.N., most of the opium comes from Afghanistans southern provinces.

Only in terms of Gross Domestic Product does opium play a smaller role than in the past. The International Monetary Fund reported that in 2004, opium exports were equal to half of the countrys non-opium GDP. Today, it is closer to about 15 percent.

But it still provides about 400,000 jobs, more than the Afghan National Security Forces.

Reports from the private research group RAND and the World Bank say the driver is simple economics. Opium offers a better return to farmers than most crops. In a regrettable twist, American-led efforts to make legal crops more lucrative can backfire.

In Helmand Province, a project successfully shifted a number of landowners away from poppies, but then they no longer needed the sharecroppers and tenant farmers who had been working the land. World Bank researchers said this "created a displaced, cheap, and mobile population, skilled in poppy cultivation." They moved to marginal land and poppy production increased.

Our ruling

Yoho said Afghanistan has more land producing poppies than before the U.S. war began. U.N. surveys back that up. In 2002, the country had about 74,000 hectares in poppy cultivation. In 2016, the number was over 200,000. The amount of land used for growing poppies has gone up and down, but the long term trend is definitely up.

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"Afghanistan has more hectares (of opium poppies) planted today than they had before we started this war."

Ted Yoho

U.S. Representative from Florida

In a house hearing

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

03/28/2017

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"Afghanistan has more hectares (of opium poppies) planted today than they had before we started this war." - PolitiFact