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In the final days of the Obama Administration, 23 refugees came through Slovakias Emergency Transit Centre from countries including Somalia, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Iraq and Eritrea, all of which have struggled with terrorism, according to the International Organization for Migration.

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Slovakia has been sending refugees into the U.S. since 2009, with now 978 refugees already resettled into the country.

But, the latest group of refugees could be some of the last to enter the country for a while. The Trump administration has promised to halt the refugee resettlement program, at least from countries where the majority of refugees currently migrate from.

Where the newest refugees have migrated to in the U.S. remains unknown, but regions like Knoxville, Tennessee, have seen their fair-share of refugees entering their neighborhoods at record pace, as Breitbart Texas reported.

Like the refugees coming to the U.S. from Slovakia, the majority of refugees entering Knoxville are from Iraq, a country that has been torn apart by Islamic terrorism. Other refugees in Knoxville are from similar third-world areas, like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.

Just three years ago, there were only 170 refugees resettled in Knoxville. In 2015, that number slightly increased to 194. If the projections are sustained, there will be at least 476 brought to the region in two years.

John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at@JxhnBinder.

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Refugee Flow From Somalia, Afghanistan Continues Into US - Breitbart News

Desert T20 Challenge January 22, 2017

ESPNcricinfo picks out five talking points from the inaugural Desert T20 which was won by Afghanistan

The Desert T20 was a short, sharp well-run tournament and the teams wanted to win it Peter Della Penna

1. No Papua New Guinea, No Problem

Of the Division One Associate countries, only Papua New Guinea declined an invitation to participate as the dates conflicted with most of their first-choice players appearing in the East Asia-Pacific squad at the Australian Country Championship. Those plans had been arranged well in advance while the Desert T20 was arranged at relatively short notice.

However, given the opportunity to participate in a future edition, it's doubtful that PNG would voluntarily skip it again. Though Namibia went winless, they provided stiff competition in their first two games, taking UAE down the last ball and Ireland into the final over. More than that, every team more or less brought their first choice squad and played at a high intensity level throughout regardless of there not being an ICC qualification or tournament spot up for grabs. The tipping point was Scotland's seven-run win over Netherlands as the Scots showed a total desperation to win. Scotland have been more vocal than most Associates about wanting more playing opportunities and were taking advantage of the current one on offer.

2. A Full Member or Two Wouldn't Hurt Though

The only carrot left to dangle in front of Associates that would make them even keener to come back would be the inclusion of Zimbabwe and one lower-ranked Full Members. Afghanistan are currently ranked ninth in the ICC's T20I rankings, ahead of both Zimbabwe and Bangladesh and though Bangladesh have traditionally been bunched together when discussing Full Member sides who aren't pulling their weight competing with the other Test nations, that is shifting thanks to Bangladesh's vast improvements in recent times.

Bangladesh qualified ahead of West Indies for the 2017 Champions Trophy and currently are in line for an automatic qualification spot for the 2019 World Cup too. T20 is a different kettle of fish but it wouldn't hurt for another team, whether it is Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh to throw their hat into the ring.

3. The transformation of the Afghanistan fan base

At the 2010 World T20 Qualifier final in Dubai, more than 10,000 fans filled up Dubai International Stadium to be a part of history, getting a chance to witness Afghanistan win the tournament and move on to the 2010 World T20 in West Indies. The crowd that night seemed more there to support Afghanistan the country than Afghanistan the cricket team, with many seemingly first time fans cheering at awkward moments not entirely sure of what was happening.

Seven years later, the fan base has swelled in size and in knowledge. Those turning up throughout the tournament still have a peerless passion, literally seen walking through open stretches of desert without a form of transportation to get them to the stadium venues but determined to see their team play. But there is no doubting that they now also have a keen appreciation for the nuances of the game. It is best seen through the way they cheered Rashid Khan's spells, for even the wicketless moments were sensed for their excellence due to the impact he was having by building pressure. Afghanistan doesn't just have rabid cricket fanatics, but aficionados too.

4. Short and sweet

Fifteen games in seven days was a lot of cricket to squeeze into a week, but the ICC could learn a thing or two from how smoothly this tournament came off when the cricket is put first. Yes, it would have been great if these matches were televised, but commercial interests are the main reason why the World Cup is so bloated, extending to seven weeks despite having only two more teams.

Even the World T20 has morphed into a mini-marathon. The first one in 2007 lasted just two weeks while the most recent one in India was stretched into nearly twice that time at 27 days to squeeze out every last dollar possible from TV rights revenue. The only changes to the Desert T20 schedule that could have made the knockout stage better would be to have an off day, after the end of the group stage, and splitting the semis and final up by 24 hours rather than cramming them all into one day, something Afghanistan coach Lalchand Rajput said he hoped for regardless of his team's ability to go undefeated. Otherwise, it was a well-run event.

5. This tournament mattered

The reactions after the final told of how much winning the tournament meant to the Afghanistan players. It wasn't just about the Nawroz Mangal's farewell. When the seventh over began in the chase and only eight runs were needed to win, the entire team lined up on the boundary edge ready to sprint onto the field. When Mohammad Shahzad hit the winning runs, they hared out to the middle as if they had just won a major tournament title.

It would have been easy for Afghanistan to casually pooh-pooh the win as just another title for them because they were expected to win it from the start based on their ranking and the form entering the tournament of their nearest traditional rival, Ireland. But they wanted it badly. The other teams did too, especially Oman, Scotland and Ireland judging on their reactions upon losing the semi-final and final respectively. Even Hong Kong, with almost nothing to play for against Netherlands, not only upended them from making the semis but did so with enough oomph to give themselves an outside chance of progressing as well. Everyone wanted it badly and the intensity level from beginning to end legitimised the event as a quality tournament.

ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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How about a Full Member and TV next time - ESPNcricinfo.com

The Afghanistan war was forgotten during the 2016 presidential campaign although the war is the longest American war in US history. After 16 years including NATO participation, the war is inconclusive - there is no peace and seemingly no end. The war has been between U.S./NATO and the Taliban. Originally the Taliban conquered many towns and provinces without fighting as the townsmen welcomed them because they were disappointed with the mujahidin internal intrigue just the same as the American public who were disappointed with the established political order in Washington during 2016 election that led to the victory of President-Elect Donald Trump.

The Taliban had control of Afghanistan when the tragedy of Bin Laden's 9/11 took place and caused a regime change in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001. The subsequent U.S. appointed regimes failed to make peace with the Taliban and bring into the fold the 30 million Afghan citizens.

Needless to say, the American war must end by President Trump as it has no purpose to continue. The engagement of NATO members in Afghanistan was arguably unlawful. The North Atlantic Treaty initially included 12 memberships in 1949. Its mission was a collective defense pact against the threat of the Soviet Union to protect Europe. The membership has been expanded to currently 28 countries. Under article 5 of the treaty an attack on any member is considered an attack on all members. However, the Soviet Union never attacked a member of NATO and therefore its provision was never put to use until the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

The United States pressured NATO members to participate in the invasion of Afghanistan plus several additional non-NATO members such as Korea. NATO participation in Afghanistan has been a tragic failure, as evidenced in the British contingent in Helmand and the French contingent in the southern provinces of Afghanistan. Moreover citizens of France and England demonstrated against the war in Afghanistan and pressured their governments to withdraw their troops which they did prematurely. Besides the engagement of NATO in Afghanistan was arguably illegal as Afghanistan had not invaded any of the NATO member countries and therefore NATO's article 5 provisions did not apply in the particular case of Afghanistan. Historically, Afghanistan has had good relations with European countries.

During the U.S. presidential campaign candidate Trump opted to modify or withdraw from subsidizing NATO. President Trump should use this lever to redefine US Afghanistan policy.

Currently the Taliban appears to be prepared to make peace, negotiate with the U.S. government, and offer many advantages including eliminating the presence of ISIS and other Arab insurgents groups from Afghanistan soil and end Pakistan's long-term duplicity vis-i-vis U.S. interest. President Trump should not miss this opportunity to finally end the war.

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President Trump's Opportunity To End American War In Afghanistan - Huffington Post

Author: Ali Yawar Adili and Martine van Bijlert

Afghanistans new electoral law has come into force, which means that the requirement of electoral reform ahead of the next elections has at least nominally been met. AANs Ali Yawar Adili and Martine van Bijlert discuss the main features of the new law and note that the most controversial and complicated changes have been passed on to the Independent Election Commission to decide on. These include, most prominently, an instruction to decrease the size of the electoral constituencies for the parliamentary and provincial council elections, which could usher in an overhaul of the electoral system. This will be a politically fraught exercise, which will pave the way for a new round of bickering and delay. It also threatens to drag the newly established commission into political controversy.

In September 2016, the government finally managed to agree on a new electoral law, and, in November 2016, the president appointed and inaugurated a new Independent Election Commission (IEC) and Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC). The law was passed by presidential decree, based on a ruling by the Independent Commission for Overseeing the Implementation of the Constitution (ICOIC), which ruled that, in this case, the president did not need to go through parliament. The ICOIC based its ruling on a different interpretation than the parliament had previously arrived at of an article in the constitution which prohibits the parliament from discussing the electoral law in the last year of its session (for details see previous AAN reporting here). The new law combines the two main laws that previously governed the electoral process and bodies: the Electoral Law and the Law on the Structures, Authorities and Duties of the Electoral Bodies (or Structure Law, for short). (1) The new law simply titled Election Law replaces earlier legislative decrees that were issued by President Ashraf Ghani (but not enforced, as they had not been passed by parliament), as well as the two electoral laws that were signed by former president Karzai in 2013, ahead of the 2014 presidential election. The most important changes are discussed below (the full text of the new electoral law, in Dari, can be found here).

Changing the electoral constituencies

Potentially, the most important change in the new law is found in article 35. This article instructs the newly appointed Independent Election Commission (IEC) to determine the Wolesi Jirga and provincial council electoral constituencies and to divide them into smaller constituencies. It does not stipulate whether the constituencies should be multi-member or single-member. The decree that endorsed the law further instructs the IEC to conduct a technical study within three months of its establishment on the better implementation of article 35 (the study must therefore be finalised by late February, as the new IEC and ECC were sworn in on 22 November 2016). It is unclear what happens after that. The decree states that the cabinet will assess the report and take a decision accordingly, but does not specify whether it can modify the IECs proposal on the redrawing of the electoral constituencies, a move which, in any case, would reopen the discussions that had bogged down the finalisation of the law from the beginning.

Article 35 is a watered-down version of the ongoing attempts to replace the current electoral system (SNTV, or single non-transferable vote) with a first-past-the-post, single-member constituency system. Such a change would simplify the vote and make the outcome easier to understand for voters, but would also introduce a winner takes all system in each constituency.

The Special Electoral Reform Commission (SERC), the commission that was tasked in 2015 by the government to come up with proposals for electoral reform, had been unanimous in their desire to change the SNTV system, but had had trouble agreeing on what should replace it. After considering several possible alternatives, the SERC developed a Multi-Dimensional Representation (MDR) system with multi-member constituencies, which it presented to the government in late 2015. (2) Two dissenting boycotting SERC members presented their own favoured system to the government, which was the first-past-the-post system that the cabinet tried to include in the current law (but failed to reach a consensus on). Opponents of the single-member constituencies fear that the system could fatally split their voter base and/or allow representatives in certain areas to be elected with very small numbers of votes (which is currently already the case in some insecure provinces). They worry that the IEC may be pressured to not only decrease the size of the electoral constituencies, but to also make them single-member.

Apart from raising the stakes of the competition in every single constituency (given that only one person can win), a change to single-member constituencies will also complicate the issue of the womens quota. As reiterated in article 35 of the new electoral law, the IEC needs to observe article 83 of the constitution (paragraphs 4 and 6), which states that the Wolesi Jirga, apart from not exceeding 250 individuals, should be proportionate to the population of each constituency, and should include, on average, two women from each province. In a single-member constituency system, this would involve different constituencies for the male and female seats (as there are less seats for the women to compete over). This could possibly result in separate elections with separate ballots for male and female candidates, which would be a significant setback for women, particularly for the female politicians who aim to get elected on their own merit, by receiving enough votes vis--vis their male counterparts to win regardless of a quota.

The issue of the electoral system risks becoming polarised. Proponents of the different options keep a close eye on how they believe the changes might impact the relative balance of power in parliament. Particular concerns include the parliaments ethnic make-up, its factional and geographical representation, whether the changes strengthen political parties or not, and what they mean for the womens quota. In this climate of heightened suspicions, it will be difficult for the IEC to come up with a proposal that can unite the different sides, address the various concerns and not complicate election procedures further.

If the IEC and/or the cabinet fail to come to an agreement on a new electoral system, they may choose to retain the existing STNV system. Despite its drawbacks large numbers of candidates, narrow margins between winners and losers, high percentages of wasted votes, and a fragmented parliament SNTV is a known quantity. As we have seen so far, any change to the system is likely to affect the equation regarding who might benefit, and will draw opposition from those who believe they might lose out.

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Afghanistan's Incomplete New Electoral Law: Changes and controversies - Reliefweb

Taliban asks Trump to review Afghanistan policy Khaama Press (press release) (blog) In a statement released following the US presidential inauguration, Taliban said the violence in Afghanistan will continue if the Trump administration continued to follow the approaches of the previous US administrations led by Obama and George Bush.

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Taliban asks Trump to review Afghanistan policy - Khaama Press (press release) (blog)