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In order to further identify the specific education needs and priorities of undocumented returnee children, the NRC Afghanistan education team in the East and South with support from the Education Unit in the capital office, Kabul, conducted a rapid needs assessment in high return areas and IDP settlements of Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar and Kandahar Provinces. Using a mix of structured questionnaires, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and field observations, the team collected quantitative and qualitative data to better inform the design of EiE interventions in Eastern and Southern Afghanistan.

Eastern Region:

1. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs): A total number of 25 FGDs in high returned areas and IDP settlements of Nangarhar, Laghman and Kunar provinces have been conducted by the professional education staff each FGD was participated by at least 8 persons including community members, youths, head of shuras (CDCs), maliks, mullah imams, head masters and principals.

The key findings from FGDs in Nangarhar province are that 3,800 returnees and 2,508 IDP families are located in the areas the assessment has been conducted in including Jalalabad City, Behsud, Kama, Kuz Kunar, Surkhrood and Rodat districts from these returnee and IDP families, 8,289 children (4308 boys & 3981 girls) of different age categories attend schools while 18,309 children (8714 boys & 9591 girls) of different education categories are deprived of education opportunities to lack of access to formal schools because of long distance and overcrowded classes, poor economic conditions, early marriages (specially for girls), lack of proper documentation and fear of violence.

The key findings from FGDs in Laghman province are that 370 returnees and 920 IDP families are located in the areas the assessment has been conducted in including Mihterlam City and Qarghayi districts from these returnee and IDP families, 455 children (328 boys & 127 girls) of different age categories attend schools while 3,075 children (1,470 boys & 1,606 girls) of different education categories are deprived of education opportunities to lack of access to formal schools because of long distance and overcrowded classes, poor economic conditions, early marriages (specially for girls), lack of proper documentation and fear of violence.

The key findings from FGDs in Kunar province are that 80 returnees and 160 IDP families are located in the areas the assessment has been conducted in including Asadabad, Khas Kunar and Sawki district from these returnee and IDP families, 300 children (135 boys & 165 girls) of different age categories attend schools while 422 boys and girls of different education categories are deprived of education opportunities to lack of access to formal schools because of long distance and overcrowded classes, lack of gendered facilities, poor economic conditions, early marriages (specially for girls), lack of proper documentation and fear of violence.

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Afghanistan: Initial Rapid Assessment Report: Education in Emergencies for Undocumented Returnees (8 March 2017) - ReliefWeb

By John McCain and Lindsey Graham By John McCain and Lindsey Graham March 13

John McCain (R-Ariz.) is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is a member of the committee.

On Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists murdered 3,000 innocent civilians on American soil while under the sanctuary of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. In response to that attack, U.S. and NATO forces deployed to Afghanistan to hunt down those responsible and ensure that Afghanistan would never again be a haven for terrorists. Since then, more than 2,000 Americans and more than 1,000 troops from our NATO allies have given their lives to that mission.

But after more than a decade-and-a-half of war, Gen. John W. Nicholson, commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last month that the war in Afghanistan is in a stalemate. President Trump and his administration must treat Afghanistan with the same urgency as the fight against the Islamic State, or this stalemate risks sliding into strategic failure.

This month, two simultaneous suicide attacks by the Taliban in Kabul killed at least 16 people and wounded more than 40. In northern Afghanistan, the Taliban overran another district. These setbacks came on the heels of disturbing losses across the country. Nicholson recently confirmed an inspector general report that the Afghan government controls or influences just 57 percent of the countrys districts, down from 72percent just over a year ago.

Make no mistake: Afghans are fighting ferociously to defend their country from our common enemies. At the same time, we must recognize that the United States is still at war in Afghanistan against the terrorist enemies who attacked our nation on Sept. 11 and their ideological heirs. We must act accordingly.

Unfortunately, in recent years, we have tied the hands of our military in Afghanistan. Instead of trying to win, we have settled for just trying not to lose.

Time and time again, we saw troop withdrawals that seemed to have more to do with U.S. politics than conditions on the ground. The fixation with force management levels in Afghanistan, as well as in Iraq and Syria, seemed more about measuring troop counts than measuring success.

Authorities were also tightly restricted. Until last summer, our military was prohibited from targeting the Taliban, except in the most extreme circumstances, taking the pressure off the militants and allowing them to rebuild and reattack. Indeed, while we were fighting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, authorities in Afghanistan were so restrictive that it took an entire year before U.S. forces were finally given authority to strike the groups fighters in Afghanistan.

While we have settled for a dont lose strategy, the risk to U.S. and Afghan forces has only grown worse as the terrorist threat has intensified.

The Taliban has grown more lethal, expanded its territorial control and inflicted heavy casualties on Afghan forces. And it is reportedly doing so with help from Iran and Russia, who want nothing more than to see the United States fail in Afghanistan.

Al-Qaeda and the Haqqani network continue to threaten our interests in Afghanistan and beyond.

The Islamic State is trying to carve out another haven from which it can plan and execute attacks.

Moreover, U.S. efforts to confront these terrorist threats are continually frustrated by terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan used to attack across its border and kill U.S. forces. Deteriorating relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan only make this problem more difficult.

Trump has an important opportunity to turn the page, seize the initiative and take the fight to our terrorist enemies. To do this, the United States must align ends, ways and means in Afghanistan.

The U.S. objective in Afghanistan is the same now as it was in 2001: to prevent terrorists from using the countrys territory to attack our homeland.

We seek to achieve this objective by supporting Afghan governance and security institutions as they become capable of standing on their own, defending their country and defeating our common terrorist enemies with less U.S. assistance over time.

Doing this successfully requires the right number of people in the right places with the right authorities and the right capabilities. Our assessment, based on our conversations with commanders on the ground, is that a strategy for success will require additional U.S. and coalition forces and more flexible authorities. It will also require sustained support of the Afghan security forces as they develop key capabilities, especially offensive capabilities such as special operations forces and close air support needed to break the stalemate.

The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for nearly 16 years. Weary as some Americans may be of this long conflict, it is imperative that we see our mission through to success. We have seen what happens when we fail to be vigilant. The threats we face are real. And the stakes are high not just for the lives of the Afghan people and the stability of the region, but for Americas national security.

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John McCain and Lindsey Graham: Why we need more forces to end the stalemate in Afghanistan - Washington Post

Afghanistan continues to be torn by a three-decade long conflict and recurrent natural disasters which have forced an ever increasing number of families to leave their homes. In 2016, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees reached unprecedented records, with more than 623,000 people on the move due to conflict alone. Many families have joined informal settlements throughout the country, straining the already limited resources available in these sites. Despite these widespread new trends, very little comprehensive research focused on informal settlements exists, with a particular lack of research on Afghan refugees returning from Pakistan due to the recent forced migration.

In an effort to fill this knowledge gap, REACH has launched the Informal Settlement Profiling Project, aimed at identifying, assessing, and mapping informal settlements in Afghanistan on an ongoing basis. As a first step, REACH teams focused on provinces with significant influxes of returnees and IDPs, prioritising assessments in Kabul and Nangarhar which together regroup over 80 informal settlements. In a second phase, REACH will conduct assessments in informal settlements in Afghan provinces including Kandahar, Kunduz, Herat, Balkh and Baghlan while in parallel establishing a monitoring system aimed at reviewing each informal settlement on a monthly basis.

The newly released factsheets compile findings from all assessments conducted in Kabul and Nangarhar provinces, through data collected via informal settlement residents. REACH findings provide a detailed overview of the size, population, and displacement history of each settlement, as well as an accurate mapping of their boundaries and infrastructures. Different security and humanitarian conditions were identified for each site, with data collected referring to more than 472,000 individuals in total. In Kabul province, residents reported a general sense of security, with good access to health and education services. Informal settlements In Nangarhar province are facing a lack of access to drinking water and a widespread lack of health and education facilities. Displaced population also reported very limited possibilities to find refuge outside of the informal sites, due to financial hardship and lack of other shelter options available.

REACH will continue monitoring each settlement on a monthly basis to capture any significant change in vulnerabilities and make sure its findings allow for a targeted and effective humanitarian assistance in an ever-changing environment.

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Afghanistan: New REACH project monitors highly vulnerable informal settlements in Kabul and Nangarhar - ReliefWeb

KHOST, Afghanistan Gunmen attacked a military air base in the eastern Afghan province of Khost, officials said on Saturday.

Khost police spokesman Faizullah Ghairat said that three militants had attacked the base, close to the border with Pakistan. One had been killed, while two others were still holding out, he said.

There was no immediate comment from the headquarters of the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Kabul.

The incident comes just ahead of the normal start of the spring fighting season, when warmer weather brings increased operations by both insurgents and government forces.

Afghan and U.S. officials have warned that Afghanistan will see increased fighting this year as the Taliban steps up an insurgency which has cut the area controlled by the government to below 60 percent.

Earlier this week, the head of U.S. Central Command, General Joseph Votel, asked for more American troops to join the roughly 8,400 already stationed there.

The Afghan interior ministry said that over the past 25 hours, security forces had killed 51 armed militants in counter-terrorism operations across Afghanistan.

In a separate incident in the southeastern province of Zabul, two renegade policemen killed eight colleagues and defected to the Taliban, local officials said, although details of the incident, which occurred last Friday, were unclear.

"They first poisoned them and after that shot and killed all of them," Zabul Governor Bismillah Afghanmal said, adding that the men stole weapons and equipment before defecting.

The Taliban's main spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied that the two poisoned their colleagues, saying that they had "prepared the way" for other fighters to attack the checkpoint.

(Reporting by Ahmad Shah in KHOST and Ismail Sameem in KANDAHAR; Editing by Alexander Smith)

BEIRUT/DAMASCUS A double bomb attack targeting Shi'ite pilgrims in Damascus killed at least 40 Iraqis and wounded 120 more who were going to pray at a nearby shrine, the Iraqi foreign ministry said.

BEIRUT Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said U.S. forces in Syria were "invaders" and he had yet to see "anything concrete" emerge from U.S. President Donald Trump's vow to prioritize the fight against Islamic State.

BAGHDAD Islamic State has released dozens of prisoners held in jails in the districts of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul that remain under its control, residents said on Saturday.

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Gunmen attack military airport in eastern Afghanistan - Reuters

Afghanistan: Wheel turns full circle Pakistan Observer To the contrary, it warrants far more deep attention because potentially it contains within itself seeds of same hostility and confrontation between Pakistan and Afghanistan which existed prior to Russian tanks rolled into Kabul in Dec 1979. The ... and more »

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Afghanistan: Wheel turns full circle - Pakistan Observer