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KABUL (Pajhwok): The Afghanistan national cricket team would strive to win its first-ever match against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) atLords in London on Tuesday.

The MCCteam would be captained by Brendon McCullum, former New Zealand skipper in the 50 over game, said a statement from the Afghan Connection Group.

Other MCC players would be include two other former international captains, Kumar Sangakkara, of Sri Lanka, and Misbah ul-Haq of Pakistan. The Afghan team would include the highly respected all-rounder, Mohammad Nabi, and the 18-year-old prodigy, Rashid Khan.

The rise of the Afghan national cricket team has been phenomenal over recent years. Most notably, as the match at Lords approached, Afghanistan has been confirmed as a full member of the elite group of ICC (International Cricket Council) Test Match nations.

President of MCCMatthew Fleminghas had close connections with Afghan cricket, and was a very keen supporter of the game there. I have visited Afghanistan and seen the enthusiasm and skill of so many players there, both of senior teams, and of boys and girls too, he said.

MCC has supported Afghan cricket since 2009. MCC supports the game there by funding cricket pitches and helping with coaching, not least of children all around the country. We do this through working with Afghan Connection, a charity which had already become successfully involved with supporting Afghan cricket, says Matthew Fleming.

Afghans love cricket so much, says Dr Sarah Fane, Founder and CEO of Afghan Connection.But they hardly haveany equipment.So Afghan Connection made a delivery to the national team and began supporting grassroots cricket around the country for the young.

"Within a year MCCbegan backing Afghan cricket through Afghan Connections projects. Since 2009 this has led to 100 cricket pitches being built, serving well over 100,000 Afghan children, as well as provision of equipment and coaching for them.

Since 2002, the Afghan Connection has funded the construction of nearly 50 schools in remote areas of northern Afghanistan, serving about 75,000 boys and girls in almost equal numbers, along with training programmes for over 900 teachers.

Afghan kids love going to school.And cricket has become such a large part in the lives of so many, said Dr Fane.

nh/mud

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Afghanistan all set for Tuesday's encounter against MCC - Pajhwok Afghan News (subscription) (blog)

Members of Afghan robotics girls team which was denied entry into the United States for a competition, work on their robots in Herat province, Afghanistan July 4, 2017.

We want to make a difference and most breakthroughs in science, technology, and other industries normally start with the dream of a child to do something great. Team Afghanistans statement on the competition website

They seized the chance to study in a country that has long denied that advantage to many girls. They excelled in science and technologyamale-dominated field. And they competed successfully to represent their country against some of the brightest young minds in the world.

But, after overcoming these improbable odds, a robotics team of six Afghan girls found a hurdle they couldnt clear: the United States government, which denied them visas to attend the robotics competition in Washington, DC.

The robot they built is being shipped to the US, but the girls will participate via Skype. Almost all other teams were allowed in, including those from countries barred under the US travel ban, such as Iran and Sudan.

In the days after the September 11 attacks on the US, Americans heard a lot about Afghan girls. Images of women in blue burqas and girls yearning hopelessly to go to school helped build support for the US-led military intervention. Laura Bush, Kofi Annan, Cherie Blair, and Hillary Clinton were among those speaking out in the weeks after 9/11, pleading for the world to aid Afghan women.

Today, many Afghan women feel betrayed. The Trump administration is formulating a new Afghanistan strategy, but the talk is all about troop numbers, not school books and certainly not girls. The number of girls attending school in parts of the country is falling due to rising insecurity and poverty, and declining donor support. The Talibans grip on the country is growing and their desire to deny girls education largely unchanged.

This context makes the achievements of the robotics team exceptional. The team members are in their teens, an age when many Afghan girls leave school because of child marriage, child labor, lack of secondary schools for girls, and social barriers. Sixty-six percent of girls ages 12 to 15 are out of school. In a country where only 37 percent of adolescent girls and 19 percent of adult women are literate, donor countries should be sweeping these girls up to see how their achievement can be replicated not slamming the door in their faces.

The robotics team, struggling to call in to Washington, DC, via Skype on a lousy internet connection, in the middle of the night, is all too emblematic of the hollowness of US efforts to empower girls in Afghanistan.

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Forgetting About Girls in Afghanistan Again | Human Rights Watch - Human Rights Watch

The Trump administration has set a cap on the number of additional troops Defense Secretary James Mattis can send to Afghanistan without getting additional approval fromthe White House, The Wall Street Journal reported.

President Trump last month gave Mattis authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan, with 3,000 to 5,000 additional soldiers as the reported goal.

But days after Trump granted the authority, national security adviser H.R. McMaster penned a classified memo that limits forces to Afghanistan to no more than 3,900 troops. Mattis must confer with the White House before sending more beyond that number, people familiar with the document told the Journal.

The memo sent to a small group of administration officials came as a surprise to some. A few officials told the Journal they thought that the White House would impose no such restrictions. The White House National Security Council declined to comment to the paper.

Dana White, the Pentagons chief spokeswoman, told the Journal she couldnt discuss details of any classified memos.

Defense officials said that though the memo constrains military decisionmaking, its not likely to tie up Pentagon planning.

The White House is struggling with how it will end the 16-year war in Afghanistan that has cost trillions of dollars, with Pentagon leaders calling for more troops to end what many consider a stalemate.

Mattis told lawmakers in June that the U.S. isnot winning in Afghanistanbut promised to correct this as soon as possible and to brief Congress in detail on a new strategy for Afghanistan by mid-July."

But differing opinions on what U.S. goals should be in Afghanistan have emerged in thethe White House.

White House senior strategist StephenBannon is reportedly skeptical of any additional resources and troops sent to the region, while Mattis, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford andCommander Joseph Votel of U.S. Central Command are all pushing for increased forces.

The U.S. already has roughly 8,400 troops in Afghanistan on a joint mission of advising and training Afghan forces and conducting anti-terror operations against groups such as al Qaeda and ISIS.

Trump, meanwhile, has long touted his stance that the White House shouldnt micromanage the military and has frequently criticized his predecessor, President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaTillerson: Trump and Putin had 'positive chemistry' White House limiting number of troops to Afghanistan: report Tillerson: Trump pressed Putin on election interference MORE, for doing the opposite.

What I do is I authorize my military, Trump said April 13 following the use of the Pentagons largest non-nuclear bomb on a militant compound in Afghanistan.

We have the greatest military in the world, and theyve done the job as usual, so we have given them total authorization. And thats what theyre doing. And frankly, thats why theyve been so successful lately.

Excerpt from:
White House limiting number of troops to Afghanistan: report - The Hill

What has changed, what has achieved and whose benefits are at stake?

By Mohammad Adil Zahed for The Diplomat

July 08, 2017

As envisioned in his election manifesto and soon after being elevated as the new president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani issued a legislative decree to reform public procurement of Afghanistan. The reform was initiated by merging the existing procurement entities and establishing a central regulatory body, the National Procurement Authority. It came at a time when the prolonged and disputed presidential election caused massive delays to the procurement process of development projects.

For a newly formed entity it was challenging to both establish itself and operate at the same time. Clearing the massive backlog of procurement, responding to the demands of both the procurement entities and the donors in terms of proceeding with the procurement of new projects, and dealing with the urgent need of security sectors fuel and food contracts can be enumerated as major challenges.

What has changed?

This institutional reform was not warmly welcomed initially by many including politicians, legislatures, bureaucrats, and donors. It was considered to be centralization of authority by the Office of the President. While comparing the pre and post reform organizational structure, centralization of authority is less apparent. A special procurement commission to approve above threshold contracts, Afghanistan Reconstruction and Development Services (ARDS) to facilitate procurement processes, and Procurement Policy Unit to formulate and provide policy guidance were functioning previously in the public procurement sector of Afghanistan.

The functions of the National Procurement Authority (NPA) are adequately similar to the former structure in terms of authority distribution, hierarchical arrangement, and contracts award authority. The reform principally addressed the key flaws of the former dispersed organizational structure: lack of coordination, duplication of responsibilities, and spread out functions that have not only caused hindrance for the procurement entities but resulted in reduced efficiency and effectiveness of the procurement processes.

What has been achieved?

The political and programmatic success of public procurement reform has been acknowledged both domestically and internationally. Afghanistans commitments to the Tokyo Mutual Accountability Framework (TMAF) and renewed commitments at the London Conference on Afghanistan 2014 were greatly concentrated on reforms and as wished-for, this reform has satisfied its aimed onlookers particularly the international community.

NPAs focus on increasing efficiency, effectiveness and value for money by meritocratic appointments and the introduction of transparent and accountable systems have played an important role in achieving its intended objectives. United States Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction SIGARs recent report to the U.S Congress recognized these steps encouraging in the fight against corruption. Transparency International calls it one bright spot in the governments fight against corruption by saving more than $200 million that might have been lost to corruption.

Afghanistan has also scored well in World Banks 2016 benchmarking public procurement in both thematic areas of procurement lifecycle and complaint and reporting mechanisms. Furthermore, Afghanistans score in Transparency Internationals CPI index has also witnessed a significant improvement in 2016 compare to the earlier four years. The recent agreement on implementing Open Contracting Data Standards (OCDS) will also increase transparency through increased community engagement and citizens participation.

Whose benefits are at stake?

Public procurement is politically sensitive because of substantial public money involvement. In Afghanistan, the main causes and practices of corruption varies from administrative corruption, clientelism and patronage, to low pay and bribery. Corrupt parasitic and monopolistic networks within and outside governments are mostly those affected by the anti-corruption reforms. Resistance to this reform can be divided into two broad categories. The first category is street level bureaucrats who demonstrate rigidity not due to personal interest but because of historical inertia and no willingness to change. The second category are those whose personal interests are at stake. These include elite and influential public and private actors both within and outside government.

In Afghanistan, where corruption is systematic and embedded in political and economic systems, sustainable anti-corruption reform is a pre-requisite to sustainable development. Close coordination and regular communication between the procurement entities and the government institutions can play an important role in increasing accessibility and reducing political and bureaucratic blame games.

Moreover, addressing a single element in isolation to other institutional pillars of a national integrity system cannot guarantee success but reforms shall be initiated under a unified reform strategy. The reform strategy needs to consider certain institutional pillars such as the judiciary, the civil service, watchdog agencies, civil society, and others in order to prevent corruption at first place rather than relying on penalties after the event. Countries where corruption is worse, alongside institutional reforms, social empowerment is equally important and can play a critical role in the fight against corruption. Engaging civil society and providing public access to documents can also add value to the reform initiatives and assist the state in gaining trust and increasing legitimacy in the eyes of its people.

Ghanis efforts of fight against corruption are paying off in terms of regaining the trust of international community by demonstrating strong political will to root out corruption from Afghanistan and to increase effectiveness of the foreign aids. However, continuous support of the international community is essential in order to sustain these reforms.

Mohammad Adil Zahed is a Chevening scholar and studies MPA in International Development at the University of York and tweets at @adilzahed

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How Afghanistan's Public Procurement Reform Is Changing - The Diplomat

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan has quietly instituted a policy under which the reporting of most American combat deaths in that country will be delayed until after the families of the fallen have been officially notified, a U.S. military spokesman confirmed Friday.

Until now, whenever a U.S. service member was killed in action, the death was sent out as a press release right away, with the name and other identifying information withheld, until 24 hours after the next-of-kin notification process was completed.

Under the new policy, ordered by Gen. John Nicholson, commander of Operation Resolute Support, most deaths in Afghanistan will be reported only after families have been informed, which could be several days after the fact.

"Gen. Nicholson wants the support systems we have in place for the families of our fallen and wounded warriors to be in place with the families before a public announcement," said Navy Capt. Bill Salvin, a U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan. "We are going to release the same amount of information, it will just come a bit later than it has in the past."

There was no public announcement of the policy change. Instead, it came to light when the Pentagon announced Wednesday that a 19-year-old soldier, Pfc. Hansen Kirkpatrick, had been killed July 3, two days earlier, by indirect fire while on a counterterrorism mission against the Taliban in Helmand province.

The change, the first since the Afghanistan war began in 2001, was taken to task in a Buzzfeed report Thursday, which argued the two-day delay "would eliminate real-time coverage of US operations in Afghanistan, just as the Trump administration considers sending more troops there."

But Salvin said in the event of a major engagement or mass casualty event, U.S. combat deaths would be reported right away.

"We know that there are times when the situation will dictate that we put out information prior to notification being made or prior to the 24 hours post-notification being complete," Salvin said. "The most recent green-on-blue [insider attack] is an example. The numbers of US wounded being reported were all over the place and we clarified the accurate information very quickly."

But Salvin said in many cases even an initial bare-bones report can cause unwarranted emotional distress among anyone who has a loved one serving in a war zone.

"The non-identifying' information that has customarily been released in the past, ahead of next-of-kin notification, has actually become identifiable because of our small footprint in the country," Salvin said in an email from Afghanistan. "If I say a service member was killed in Helmand province, everyone will automatically think Marines because they are the team operating there now.

"We are balancing our obligation to our families and our obligation to release information to the media and the public in a timely manner," Salvin said. "This will allow us to meet both of those obligations."

The Pentagon said Wednesday the policy was the prerogative of the commander, and for now applies only to Afghanistan. Which means unless the commander there decides otherwise, casualties in Iraq and Syria will be reported right away, without the name, as has been the practice.

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In a policy change, US commander in Afghanistan begins delaying casualty notifications - Washington Examiner