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Indias PM Narendra Modi says the rising instability in Afghanistan was a cause for concern for both India and the U.S.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S President Donald Trump on Monday agreed to continue strengthening coordination for ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan as they expressed concern over rising instability in the war-torn country.

According to India Today, Trump thanked the Indian people for their "contributions to the effort in Afghanistan, and for joining us (the U.S) in applying new sanctions against the North Korean regime."

Modi and Trump also reportedly held in depth discussions on a number of issues affecting the region, including Afghanistan.

India Today reported Modi as having said the rising instability in Afghanistan due to terrorism is a cause of mutual concern for both India and the U.S.

"India and the U.S have played a crucial role in the redevelopment of Afghanistan and its security. We will have close coordination, consultation and communication to achieve peace and stability in Afghanistan," Modi said.

Modi stated that the U.S and India had been struck by the evils of terrorism and extremism.

Both U.S and India have been struck by the evils of terrorism. We discussed the problems arising due to terrorism and radicalization. Fight against terrorism and their safe havens is an important part of our cooperation, Modi said.

The security partnership between the U.S and India is incredibly important. Both our nations have been struck by the evils of terrorism and we are both determined to destroy terrorist organizations and the radical ideology that drives them. We will destroy radical Islamic terrorism, Trump said.

On the defense front, Modi said:Peace, stability and security in the Indo-Pacific region is our focus.

He also stressed that both nations growing security and defense co-operation was very important. He pointed out that increasing instability in Afghanistan was a cause of concern and said India were in close consultations, communication and coordination with the U.S in this regard.

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India, US Agree To Strengthen Ties For Peace In Afghanistan - TOLOnews

In brief

People often ask me what its like to be a woman in the army. The answer is that Ive got no idea because Ive always been in the army ever since leaving university. Im proud to be a woman in the army.

Commanding a regiment is something that I have aspired to throughout my career and I feel incredibly privileged to be in this role. Its a 24-7 job, but I love it.

Ive been deployed to Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and travelled across the world in my career.

In my first job in 2000, aged 22, I was in charge of a troop of 30 all male soldiers in Germany. Women werent allowed into the Royal Engineers as soldiers until 1998, so there werent many women at that time.

I became an Adjutant, which is effectively a staff officer to the Commanding Officer. Then in 2005, I was deployed to Iraq for six months, where I was working all hours of the day, often through until midnight.

I really enjoyed my time in Iraq. There was a threat out there but its what we spent so long training for.

I met my husband in the army and we have two girls together who are aged eight and 10. I took a year maternity leave to have my first child and then went back to work. I felt ready to go back. My husband worked full-time as well but we had good childcare and always shared the pick-ups and drop-offs between us.

We bought a house in a place fairly near to a lot of military bases just before we had our first daughter and lived there for 10 years.

We were lucky you only find out where you are going to get posted at the end of your two years in each job so you cant really make a 10-year plan. But we were able to work close enough to home to be able to share the childcare.

My husband had transferred from the regular army to the reserve to give us a bit more flexibility Lt Col Katie Hislop

In 2013, I was deployed to Afghanistan. Professionally, going to Afghanistan was brilliant. At that stage, I was commanding a squadron of 120 people and we were exceptionally busy providing force protection across the whole of Helmand Province.

Leaving my children for five months was one of the hardest things Ive ever done. My husband had transferred from the regular army to the reserve to give us a bit more flexibility so that he could have more time with the children while I was away.

From a professional perspective, this was probably the most challenging and rewarding thing that somebody commanding a squadron could do. My husband and I decided we were happy for me to deploy. It was something I really wanted to do professionally and I think doing a job I love sets an amazing example to my children.

Men and women can return from deployments to find their children feel they dont know them Lt ColKatie Hislop

Our role in Afghanistan was to provide infrastructure support to all of the bases operating across Helmand. We also had to make sure the bases were well defended from Taliban attacks.

There is a period of adjustment when you arrive home after a deployment. You suddenly walk back into family life and it can take some time to get back to normal.

For some parents of very, very young children, some men and women can return from deployments to find their children feel they dont know them. We have a great welfare centre most regiments do who give advice on reintegrating with partners and children.

My family and I now live on the camp I work at in Catterick, in North Yorkshire.

Moving to the camp wasmore of a change for my children as they had to move to a different school. Thats something military children go through at least every two years in terms of finding a new school and making new friends.

Our girls have adapted very well to life on the camp. But if you continue to move around, the army will subsidise some of your boarding fees for keeping children in the same school.

There are quite a few couples who are parents and both in the military. Some are serving in the same area, some not, and all are juggling work and children between them.

For the last six months, Ive been training to be deployed to South Sudan in July, as part of the United Nations mission out there. Ill be in charge of a task force of 400.

I was expecting to go to South Sudan that is one of the reasons I asked for this job Lt Col Katie Hislop

Our role out there will be to help build more accommodation blocks, better roads and better security in order that the United Nations military can then protect the civilians in South Sudan who are in desperate need of protection and food.

I was expecting to go to South Sudan that is one of the reasons I asked for this job. Its a hugely interesting deployment and somewhere I have never been to before. Working with the UN means we will learn so much from the other nations who have been there for years.

I want women to know that it is genuinely possible to have a career in the army and a family. There are lots of options as to where you can be posted and the timings of where you could work that mean you really can have both.

However, its very important to make sure you have a network of support around you because it would be impossible for one person who is in the military to also have to do every single school run.

I feel really proud to be in the army, especially after recent events across the world. I think that we are valued and everywhere I go, particularly in the UK, people are always really positive when they find out what I do.

As told to Heather Saul

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I'm an army commanding officer, I've been to Afghanistan and Iraq and I've had two children - iNews

So the Narendra Modi-Donald Trump joint statement has been read and the nuances and body language debated in the media. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's much-awaited US visit is now behind us, and different factions are claiming victory or defeat.

Representational image. AP

Afghanistan and terrorism were among the many issues touched upon by both sides, particularly the Indian delegation. The joint statement also, much to the pleasure of both sides, delivered a stinging rebuke to Pakistan. The statement told Pakistan to refrain from hosting terrorists, which appeared to elevate Indias diplomatic position on terrorism vis--vis Kashmir.

However, even as Modi and Trump were breaking bread, another notable event took place closer to home.

On 26 June, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang announced that Beijing would conduct shuttle diplomacy between Afghanistan and Pakistan. This was the result of foreign minister Wang Yi visiting both countries.

The announcement included several interesting points, including a mechanism to manage crises that stressed intelligence and operational cooperation and a mechanism to set up the meetings of Chinese, Afghanistan and Pakistan foreign ministers, presumably to enable this shuttling to take place.

The statement also backed the Quadrilateral Coordination Group made up of China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States with the specific intention of bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table and into the peace process. Further flying the peace flag, the statement called for a revival of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) contact group with Afghanistan, presumably to include Russian interests.

That China is the reigning SCO power is a separate issue. As an added palliative to Afghanistan, the statement also backed The Kabul Process, President's Ashraf Ghani's pet project. On one level, Beijing is simply acknowledging the confusing mix of powers that have influence in Afghanistan and have a role to play.

Russia, which has been in and out of Afghanistan, had been, for years, cooperating with the United States in eliminating Al-Qaeda leaders. However, since 2015 there has been a sea change. Russian presidential envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov reportedly stated that Russia and the Afghan Talibans interests objectively coincide due to the formation of the Islamic State.

Since then, Russian officials have admitted to meeting with Taliban leaders while Afghan intelligence officials have been quoted as saying that such meetings occurred in Moscow and Tajikistan. The Russians also reportedly frequently visit Kunduz province which abuts Tajikistan, a strong Russian ally. Still others allege that some of these meetings have taken place in Iran.

Whatever the truth, the fact remains: Russian president Vladimir Putin has held four multinational meetings on Afghanistan. This showcases that Russia is once again a major player in Afghanistan and has positioned itself directly against US interests.

Why Russia is negotiating with the Taliban is not entirely clear. It could be alarmed by the Islamic State's growing influence in Afghanistan it calls itself the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) which it sees, correctly, as a threat. The Islamic State in Syria, with its several hundred Chechens and Uzbeks, has Moscow squarely in its sights.

Recently, there have been reports of the Islamic State expanding its presence in the north Afghanistan, towards Jowzian. Meanwhile, according to Al Jazeera's Afghan sources, "thousands" of Islamic State cadres have moved to Afghanistan. While some movement cannot be ruled out, there has been no indication that the group has more than 3,000 cadres. And this was before the US bombed their Nangarhar base using the Mother Of All Bombs.

So a Russian finger in the Afghan pie is probably the precursor to a large Russian fist making its presence felt in its old sphere of influence. But given Russias continuing economic woes its GDP is below India's it is unlikely to be able to sustain its Afghanistan venture.

Analysts are already predicting the advent of a New Cold War as Russia and US continue to be at loggerheads, exacerbated after the proxy bombing in Syria. In Afghanistan, the New Cold War has seen the United States eschewing Russian equipment while rearming the Afghan National Army.

Russian interference is also likely to smoothen the way for the US-China cooperation, at least on this issue. Although China's links to the Taliban go back to the 90s, it has no Cold War lineage in this theatre of war. It does, however have an economic interest. Afghanistan lies smack dab in the way of the Dragon's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

While China may not be the lynchpin that some claim, Afghanistans importance is apparent from rising Chinese economic aid, which, despite being small change relative to the size of BRI, has been quickly ramped up from a few million dollars to a pledge of more than $300 million. The now standard housing projects are apparent in Kabul, while about 3,000 Afghans have been sent to Beijing for training.

Most importantly, it announced the first train linking Hairatan in northern Afghanistan to China. While China used the existing rail links of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, it nonetheless counts as an achievement. Beijing has also, for the first time, offered Afghanistan security assistance and there have been talks of patrolling the Pamir area together.

China has also offered to provide $85 million for a mountain brigade for Badakshan. The Dragon could do far more for Afghanistan and it is this promise and "persuasion" that it is expected to exert on Pakistan that attracted the attention of the Kabul presidential palace.

On the other side is long time player Iran, which remains suspicious not just of the United States which retains facilities on the Afghan-Iran border but also of the Saudis, who have long had an active hand in Kabul while simultaneously engaging with Pakistan. Taliban heads such as Motasem Agha Jan traveled to Riyadh at least thrice a year to collect funds for the terrorists' coffers.

While the Saudis denied that they provided such funds, a leaked 2014 telegram from former secretary of state Hilary Clinton stated that this funding was fallout of the fight between the Saudis and Qatar for influence in the Sunni world. Given the ongoing Gulf diplomatic crisis, this is an action replay of the worst kind. Saudi Arabia has long resented the role that Qatar played in hosting the Taliban office and its role in negotiations.

Meanwhile, Iran, which once lined up with Russia and India against the Taliban, did a spectacular somersault by hosting Taliban leaders including its then chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour who was later killed in a US drone strike and has been using its considerable clout with the Taliban to expand its influence. With the Obama administrations policy up in smoke, Tehran is hardly likely to cooperate with the US in reigning in the Taliban.

So at what price our position on Afghanistan and more importantly, Pakistan the central spider in the web?

With Iran and Russia finding common ground with China, it would seem that India has already been edged out from influence in Afghanistan. This particularly when the US is also encouraging Afghanistan and Pakistan to cooperate in areas very similar to what China has set.

However, Indias position has never been wishing away geography. Afghanistan and Pakistan are neighbours. They have to sink or swim together. That we would rather see Islamabad sink into its own terrorist swamp is a separate issue.

At the moment, we are seen by Afghans as a country that has been loyal to Kabul through good times and bad.Most of all, our aid, which must be ramped up, is being channelled for stability. Hopefully, it will push connectivity in the future. That counts for something.Especially since US drone strikes continue to hit Pakistani territory, killing a Haqqani commander or two.

The author is former director of the National Security Council Secretariat

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Mission Afghanistan: As China engages in 'shuttle' diplomacy and US-Russia renew rivalry, India must ramp up aid - Firstpost

Soldiers from Team Canada and Team U.S.A. jostle in a ball hockey game in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Sunday, April 1, 2007. ( John Cotter / CP file photo )

A piece of hockey history, which helped prop up many a game at the Canadian Forces Airbase in Kandahar, Afghanistan, settled into its new home at the Hockey Hall of Fame Tuesday.

A well weathered portion of the boards from the rink at the Kandahar Airbase were unveiled at the Hall. They brought with them a tapestry of stories from a place where men and women on a mission to protect Canadas freedom enjoyed ball hockey for more than a decade.

Tiger Williamss (a legendary former Toronto Maple Leaf) elbow is embedded in those boards . . . . He ran over someone when we were playing a game against the USA, said Lanny McDonald, ex-Leaf, now the chairman at the Hall.

McDonald was joined by Brigadier General Kevin Cotten,, and former Leafs GM and current Calgary Flames President of Hockey Operations Brian Burke.

Each man stressed the significance of the 126-inch by 48-inch length of the boards. The once beaming, red Canadian flag logo was bleached by a desert sun in Kandahar that often drives temperatures over 40C.

We were told that we should get an early start on our game, so we did . . . . We played in 46C heat, but that beat the (mid day) heat of 51C, Burke said.

This (Hall of Fame) is a perfect place for these boards. I played on that rink a couple of times . . . . Kandahar is a staging area, and a place where they (military) can relax and play some ball hockey. Those people are working 14 to 17 hours a day, seven days a week, so they got a chance to relax a bit there (at the ink).

Burke was among a wide group of NHL executives and players who visited the troops at the Kandahar Airfield, which housed more than 50,000 people in its time as the centre of Canadas military engagement in Afghanistan, from 2011-16.

Some 158 members of the Canadian Armed Forces, plus four civilians, were killed, and more than 1,800 wounded, serving Canada during its mission in Afghanistan.

General Cotten welcomed the chance to have the boards, and their history, brought to Toronto, where theyll be on display at the Hall from June 30 to Sept. 4.

Its an honour to have a piece of Canadiana brought to the Hall of Fame, Cotten said. The boards help represent Canadas rich history of the combination of hockey and the military, which dates back to the first World War, and saw the Royal Canadian Air Force Flyers win an Olympic gold medal in 1948.

The boards were originally part of the Airbase rink, a near regulation-sized concrete sheet where military personnel played ball hockey from the time the rink was built, mostly by Canadian engineers volunteering their time on off day, in 2006.

Over the years, the boards saw the Hockey Night in Kandahar, a game between the Canadian and U.S. military in 2010, which Canada won 16-2, and a 24-team league, with teams from Canada, the U.S., and Slovakia, which became a mainstay at the rink at the height of the Canadian mission prior to 2011.

NHLers such as Burke, Don Cherry, Guy Lafleur, Tiger Williams, Jerome Iginla, Mike Gartner and others, returned many times to the rink. They were given no special treatment during their visits.

We stayed for three days and we slept in the barracks with everyone else, Burke said.

The first couple of days, the air space over Kandahar was not secure, and we heard they attacked (the base) two days after we left. The first time I was there, there was an air ramp service for a U.S. Marine, who had been killed.

Burke felt NHL players should view the boards, and learn as much as they can about the efforts of the Canadian military. In 2011, during one of his three visits (four others were called off due to weather or safety), he brought former Leafs defenceman Luke Schenn to experience the base and the rink.

I told him (Schenn) if you are going to go out (in the NHL) and behave like a soldier, then you better get some real sand in your boots, said Burke, who took heat for one of his visits because it fell on Canada Day, which coincided with the opening of NHL free agency at a time when the Leafs were fighting to make their roster playoff-worthy.

Ill go again if they ask, Burke said.

You get off that plane and one of the first things they do is warn you about rocket attacks, so you realize these are the people with important jobs.

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Hockey Hall of Fame installs rink boards from Kandahar, Afghanistan - Toronto Star

WASHINGTON In Afghanistan's turbulent Helmand province, U.S. Marines are rekindling old relationships and identifying weaknesses in the Afghan forces that the Trump administration hopes to address with a new strategy and the targeted infusion of several thousand American forces. Returning to Afghanistan's south after five years, Marine Brig. Gen. Roger Turner already knows where he could use some additional U.S. troops. And while he agrees that the fight against the Taliban in Helmand is at a difficult stalemate, he said he is seeing improvements in the local forces as his Marines settle into their roles advising the Afghan National Army's 215th Corps. Turner's report on the fight in Helmand will be part of a broader assessment that Gen. Joseph Dunford wlll collect this week from his senior military commanders in Afghanistan. Dunford landed in Kabul Monday with a mission to pull together the final elements of a military strategy that will include sending nearly 4,000 more U.S. troops into the country. He will be meeting with Afghan officials as well as U.S. and coalition military leaders and troops. The expected deployment of more Americans will be specifically molded to bolster the Afghan forces in critical areas so they can eventually take greater control over the security of their own nation. The Taliban have slowly resurged, following the decision to end the combat role of U.S. and international forces at the end of 2014. The NATO coalition switched to a support and advisory role, while the U.S. has also focused on counterterrorism missions. Recognizing the continued Taliban threat and the growing Islamic State presence in the county, the Obama administration slowed its plan to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by the end of last year. There are now about 8,400 there. But commanders have complained that the sharp drawdown hurt their ability to adequately train and advise the Afghans while also increasing the counterterror fight. As a result, the Trump administration is completing a new military, diplomatic and economic strategy for the war, and is poised to send the additional U.S. troops, likely bolstered by some added international forces. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will be in Brussels later this week and is expected to talk with allies about their ongoing support for the war. While Turner said he has already seen improvements in the Afghan's 215th Corps, he said adding more advisers would allow him to pinpoint problems at the lower command levels, including more brigades. "The level and number of advisers you have really gives you the ability to view the chain on all the functional areas. The more areas you can see -- you can have a greater impact on the overall capability of the force," he told the Associated Press in an interview from Helmand Province. "If we had more capacity in the force we would be able to address more problems, faster." He said that although the Afghan forces have improved their ability to fight, they still need help at some of the key underpinnings of a combat force, such as getting spare parts to troops with broken equipment. The seemingly simple task of efficiently ordering and receiving parts -- something American forces do routinely -- requires a working supply chain from the warehouse to the unit on the battlefield. And Turner said that's an issue that could be improved with additional advisers. Other improvements, he said, include increasing the size of Afghanistan's special operations forces and building the capacity and capabilities of its nascent air force. The Afghan ground forces in Helmand, he said, have been able to launch offensive operations against the Taliban, including a recent battle in Marjah. "I don't think last year they could have taken the fight to Marjah like they just did," he said. "They're in a much better position that they were a year ago." But they are facing a resilient Taliban, whose fighters are newly financed, now that the poppy harvest is over. "Once they draw their finances, they start operations," said Turner. "What we've seen so far since the end of May, when they made that transition, is a steady grind of activity across a number of places in the province." What has helped a lot, Turner said, is his Marines' ability to renew old relationships with Afghan tribal elders, provincial ministers and military commanders they worked with six or seven years ago. Battalion officers they knew then are now commanders; many government leaders are still in place.

"We obviously have a long commitment here in Helmand. It's been good for the Marines to come back here," he said. "This is a really meaningful mission. I think people realize that we don't want to get into a situation where the kinds of pre-9/11 conditions exist again."

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Dunford arrives in Afghanistan as Marines work to rekindle relations in Helmand - Military Times