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ICC news February 2, 2017

Ireland have won four Intercontinental Cup titles, including three successive ones between 2005 and 2008 ICC/Saleem Sanghati

Ireland and Afghanistan are looking forward to a pivotal round of ICC meetings in the hope that they come out the other side as Test-playing countries. Among the topics up for discussion in front of the ICC board this weekend is the structure of Test cricket, and whether the five-day format should be opened up to more than the current ten Test sides. Specifically, it is Ireland and Afghanistan who are knocking on the door and waiting to see if the Full Member boards open up that possibility.

Prospects for such a development have become brighter in recent times. Ireland's inter-provincial competition was awarded first-class and List A status in October 2016. Afghanistan's application to have first-class status granted to their multi-day domestic competition, meanwhile, is due to be examined at the Chief Executives Committee meeting on Thursday.

Afghanistan recently declared their ambitions of achieving Full Member status. Their premier national competition has five teams compared to Ireland's three-team elite structure, while Afghanistan's domestic crowd numbers run well into the thousands, helping to satisfy the most nebulous aspect of ICC criteria: proving an established "cricket culture". As such, Afghanistan's administrators are confident that at the very least their domestic competition will be awarded the same first-class status as Ireland's, and perhaps more.

"We've submitted a proposal for Test status and in February they will decide about it," Atif Mashal, chairman of the Afghanistan Cricket Board, told ESPNcricinfo in a recent interview. "We had a very positive meeting with ICC. They were very happy for Afghanistan cricket, the development and sustainability of the cricket, the introduction of youngsters to our team.

"Now we have many new names in the team and they are performing very well. Introducing new boys to the team is a plus thing because it is becoming a young, sustainable and well performing team. We have already reserved a place for Full Membership and after the criteria is passed by the full [ICC] board and executive committee, we are ready for Full Membership."

For Ireland and Afghanistan, it may help to argue for Test status without necessarily attaching Full Member status to it AFP/Getty Images

Results at international level will also matter. At each of the previous three 50-over World Cups, Ireland have notched wins against Full Members while Afghanistan added the scalp of West Indies at the 2016 World T20 to their stretch of dominance over Zimbabwe. Both countries are already part of the 12-team ODI qualification table and have demonstrated consistently positive results in the highest multi-day competition available to them, the Intercontinental Cup.

Since entering the competition in 2009, Afghanistan have won 14 games, lost once - to Ireland in the 2013 I-Cup final - and recorded four draws, including in their first-class debut match against a Zimbabwe XI in 2009. They beat Scotland in the 2010 final to claim the title in their first appearance at the tournament, and in the current tournament table are in second place behind Ireland. It's a record that proves Afghanistan are ready for Tests, ACB chief executive Shafiqullah Stanikzai told ESPNcricinfo this past summer.

Ireland won three I-Cup titles from 2005 to 2008 when the competition was crammed into a two-year cycle. They won again in 2013 by beating Afghanistan in the final and could have won more titles had the format not been rejigged to stretch out seven group matches over three years. Overall, since 2004, they have won 24 matches and drawn ten while losing only two. One of those losses was to Scotland in the first year of the competition, the other to Afghanistan in 2009. They have been unbeaten in their last 12 matches, which includes four wins in four matches in the current tournament that began in 2015.

Despite demonstrating their cricketing prowess, each country's fate may have just as much to do with their administrative nous off the field. Part of that is garnering support from other Full Members for inclusion. While the two-tier structure proposal was put on the back burner at the ICC annual conference, momentum may be growing for a dual-conference structure, thereby maintaining a semblance of competitive parity. In order to avoid rocking the boat with the ICC's 10-team financial distribution model linked to Full Membership, it may also help to argue for Test opportunities without necessarily attaching Full Member status to them.

One official believes, however, that nothing definitive will emerge until after the ongoing Intercontinental Cup. "One of the key objectives is to try and uncouple Test cricket from Full Membership," the official said. "I don't think that is going to be determined through the new membership of the Test cricket until following this latest Intercontinental Cup competition."

Peter Della Penna is ESPNcricinfo's USA correspondent. @PeterDellaPenna

ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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Ireland, Afghanistan hoping for Test seal of approval | Cricket ... - ESPNcricinfo.com

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According to the latest quarterly report to Congress by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which covers the final months of the Obama administration, about one-third of the country is considered contested.

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Previously USFOR-A [U.S. Forces in Afghanistan] has described contested districts as having negligible meaningful impact from insurgents, contending that neither the insurgency nor the Afghan government maintains significant control over these areas, notes SIGAR.

The U.S. military revealed that more than half (57 percent) of southern Afghanistans opium-rich Helmand Province, which borders Pakistan, is under insurgent control or influence.

Moreover, five out of the six districts (83 percent) in Uruzgan Province which lies next to the Taliban and al-Qaeda strongholds of Helmand Province and Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan are under insurgent control or influence.

Kandahar is considered the birthplace of the Taliban.

The Afghan government only controlled or influenced about 57 percent of the countrys 407 districts as of mid-November 2016, marking a nearly 15 percent decrease from the same period the previous year.

Citing the U.S. military, SIGAR explains:

[O]f the 407 districts of Afghanistans 34 provinces, 233 districts were under government control (83 districts) or influence (150), 41 districts (in 15 provinces) were under insurgent control (9) or influence (32), and 133 districts were contested.

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USFOR-A attributes the loss of government control or influence over territory to the ANDSFs [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces] strategic approach to security prioritization, identifying the most important areas that the ANDSF must hold to prevent defeat, and focusing less on areas with less strategic importance.

The U.S. military notes that the number of districts under insurgent control or influence rose 2 percent from late August to mid-November 2016, to nearly 10 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of districts that have been deemed contested increased nearly 4 percent to about 33 percent of all districts during the same period.

SIGAR learned from United Nations (UN) that Afghanistans security situation further deteriorated between January and October 2016, with intensifying armed clashes between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban.

Armed confrontations between the U.S.-Afghan security forces which include police and army units and insurgents, primarily the Taliban reached their highest level since UN reporting began in 2007, and marked a 22% increase over the same period in 2015, adds the watchdog agency. The Taliban continued to challenge government control in key districts and attempted to cut off strategically important highways and supply routes.

The UN recorded 6,261 security incidents in Afghanistan between August and November 2016, representing a nearly 10 percent increase from the same period in 2015.

As in past UN reporting, armed clashes account for the majority of the security incidents (65%), followed by those involving improvised- explosive devices [IEDs] (18%). During the period, the majority of the recorded security incidents (66%) continued to occur in the southern, southeastern, and eastern regions that border neighboring Pakistan.

Most of the districts under insurgent control or influence lie in provinces in and around Afghanistans border with Pakistan, which the Pentagon has repeatedly accused of serving as asanctuary for terrorists.

The region with the most districts under insurgent control or influence is centered on northeast Helmand Province and northwestern Kandahar Province, and includes the Helmand/Kandahar border area, Uruzgan Province, and northwestern Zabul, reports SIGAR. This region alone accounts for 16 of the 41 districts (or 31.7%) under insurgent control or influence.

Despite the governments loss of territory and insurgents gains, the U.S. forces in Afghanistan noted that the insurgents failed in their eight attempts to capture a provincial capital this year, points out the inspector general.

Furthermore, the U.S. military found that the amount of population that the insurgency influences or controls decreased from 2.9 million to 2.5 million (a decrease of 1.2%) in the last three months, adds SIGAR.

In its last assessment of the Afghanistan war conducted by the Obama administration, which was released in December 2016, the Pentagon downplayed the insurgent gains.

Taliban territorial gains during this reporting period were fleeting, as the ANDSF consistently retook district centers and population areas within days of a loss, the Pentagon reports. Although security conditions vary across the provinces, the Taliban have exploited their localized and temporary successes by portraying these events as major strategic shifts through the use of social media and other public information campaigns.

The ANDSF largely repelled insurgent attacks in Helmand Province and several attempts to isolate Kunduz City in July, August, and October 2016, it adds. Although the ANDSF experienced minor setbacks during these and other insurgent offensives, they frequently regained lost terrain.

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Afghanistan Loses Control of Nearly Half the Country Under Obama - Breitbart News

The government barely controls half its country, hundreds of thousands have fled their homes due to conflict and opium production is at a historic high in Afghanistan. Thats just a glimpse of Afghanistans spiral of dysfunction, compiled by the U.S. government watchdog that oversees the billions of dollars the United States pours into Afghanistan each year.

In a new quarterly report to Congress released Wednesday, the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) office, John Sopko, outlined a stark backslide in progress in Afghanistan a country the United States has sunk over $117 billion in since 2002.

Just over a week into his new administration, President Donald Trump hasnt solidified his foreign policy priorities outside of boosting military spending and defeating ISIS. But in Afghanistan, Trump is inheriting a costly and messy conflict from his two predecessors, as the SIGAR report shows.

Among the most damning aspects of the SIGAR report:

The Afghan government had 57.2 percent of the country under its control by the end of 2016 a 6.3 percent decrease from 2015. That doesnt bode well, given the number of Afghan security forces is decreasing while its casualties are increasing.

583,000 people fled their homes due to conflict in 2016. SIGAR added that that is the highest number of displacements since record keeping started in 2008.

Some 23 percent of the 8,397 conflict-related casualties in Afghanistan were attributed to Afghan security forces and the U.S.-led coalition.

Afghan opium production rose 43 percent from 2015 levels. Afghan opium bankrolls the Taliban and other insurgent groups. And its the countrys largest export; 90 percent of the worlds opium came from Afghanistan in 2014 alone.

There were 3 million fewer students actually attending classes in Afghanistan than previously thought. The Afghan Ministry of Education had to strikes the number of students attending classes down to 6 million; some students simply dont show up, others cannot because of conflict or school closures. Security concerns closed more than 1,000 schools down around the country.

SIGAR suspended and disbarred U.S. funded projects due to corruption, fraud, or poor management, valued at over $137 million in 2016 alone. U.S.-funded projects have a sordid history of mismanagement; the U.S. government squandered nearly half a billion dollars on Afghan mining projects through 2016.

Nearly every trend line is going in the wrong direction with one notable exception: procurement reform. The Afghan governments efforts to fight corruption and reform its procurement processes saved $200 million that may have otherwise been lost to corruption, the SIGAR report said.

Sopko added a personal warning in the report to the new Trump administration. Unfortunately in the nearly five years Ive been traveling to Afghanistan, I first witnessed the United States put in way too much, way too fast, he said. More recently, Ive watched the U.S. remove way too much, way too fast. Policy makers both in Congress and the new Trump Administration should take note of this, he said.

Photo credit:Scott Olson/Getty Images

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Scathing Government Watchdog Report Details Bleak Outlook on - Foreign Policy (blog)

Dr. Julien Clment was home in Quebec City on Sunday, relaxing and enjoying some down time with his wife and young family.

It was his day off. He wasn't even on call. But when his phone rang, all of that changed.

"I was planning my summer vacation at home [in] my pyjamas, and I got a phone call from one of my colleagues. There's been a lot of gunshots somewhere, and please come in."

Clment is a surgeon and the medical director for trauma at l'Enfant-Jesus hospital. The hospital is the trauma centre for Quebec City, and it's the one to which five of the victims of Sunday's mosque shooting were rushed by ambulance.

"l'Enfant-Jesus got all the critically injured," Clment told CBC News Tuesday. "All the gunshot wounds."

Some patients needed more than one kind of surgeon, he said. "Let's say you got multiple gunshot wounds, and you got a broken leg, and you got torn lips, and something in the abdomen. Well, you'll need three types of surgeons."

l'Enfant-Jesus hospital has a team of eight, including specialists in thoracic, orthopedic andoral/maxillofacial medicine. By the time Clment arrived, six had already been called in.

Clment got to work on one of the critically injured patients. The man had multiple injuries in the abdomen, the liver, the small bowel and the pancreas.

When that was done, Clment co-ordinated all medical care for the rest of the gunshot victims. At one point, four of the operating rooms were in use.

"Its a team play," said Clment. "That's what it is. If you want to manage a situation like this, you cannot do it by yourself."

He said the unsung heroes were the emergency medical technicians, who performed triage on the victims swiftly and delivered them to the hospital.

By 5 a.m. Monday allsurgeries were completed. For the 37-year old surgeon, only then was there time for reflection.

"Afterwards, you're like, whoa, poor guy. He's got two kids. How [can this] happen in Quebec City?" said Clment.

"I don't think anybody could be totally emotionless with what happened."

Usually, most of the gunshot wounds doctors see in Quebec are from suicide attempts or hunting accidents. Either way, Dr. Clment is no stranger to them.

He was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces for 16 years and was deployed on three separate occasions to Afghanistan. At the Canadian base hospital in Kandahar, he treated victims of improvised explosive devices.

Dr. Julien Clment, left, discusses a patient with one of his colleagues at the Kandahar base in Afghanistan in 2010. The Quebec surgeon was deployed three times as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. (Radio-Canada)

His experience in that country prepared him for events like Sunday's.

"I think it helped on two points," he said. "First, the capacity to take care of gunshot wounds. I've just seen more than many other people.

"The biggest issue is how to deal with multiple patients at the same time. That's something I really took from Afghanistan, because it was day in, day out."

But what happened Sunday night in his hometown, he said, is different from what he experienced overseas.

"That happened in my backyard," he said, pausing. "And I really don't like that."

What he'll remember most from Sunday night, he said, is the families of the gunshot victims. Up to 40 were at the hospital that night, standing vigil in a waiting area by the operating room.

It was "emotional" and "tense," he said, and he made sure the families were kept abreast of any medical developments with their loved ones.

"Facing 40 persons outside the operating room, it's something I was not prepared to do. There's no fun of doing that."

He paused again.

"I have difficulty expressing myself on that topic, because it's more emotional."

On what has been called the terrorist act Sunday night, he doesn't hesitate: "I'm so sad for the Muslim community of Quebec City. I'm also a bit angry about that guy that shot them. There's no bound to human craziness. In French, we say 'la folie humaine.'"

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Hospital's trauma team and emergency medical technicians moved fast to save lives of gunshot victims - CBC.ca

NEW DELHI: The External Affairs Ministry has been given Rs 14,798 crore in the Union Budget, an increase of mere Rs 135 crore compared to last year with a major decline in allocation for projects in Afghanistan from Rs 520 crore to Rs 350 crore.

However, the allocation for Nepal has been increased from Rs 300 crore to Rs 375 crore in the Budget, presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament today.

An amount of Rs 150 crore has also been allocated for Chabahar Port, a strategic oceanic port situated in Iran. While no allocation was made for the project in 2016-17 budget, an amount of Rs 100 crore was given under revised budget.

As per revised estimate, Rs 13,426 crore was given to the Ministry in 2016-17, a decline of Rs 1236.66 crore from the budgetary allocation given that fiscal.

In total, Rs 6479.13 crore has been earmarked under "total-aid to countries" which included Bhutan (Rs 3714 crore), African countries (Rs 330 crore) and Bangladesh (Rs 125 crore), Sri Lanka (Rs 125 crore).

Separately, Rs 14798.55 crore has been earmarked for other expenditures like those relating to pilgrimages abroad (Rs 3.50 crore), Nalanda university (Rs 253.88), maintenance cost of Aircraft of Air India for VVIP travel (Rs 215 crore) and 'Special Diplomatic Expenditure' (Rs 2200.01 crore).

Asked about decline of nearly Rs 170 crore in the funds for projects in Afghanistan, ministry sources said it is because three of the major projects - Afghan Parliament building, Salma dam and restoration of Stor Palace- which were assisted by India have been completed.

They also asserted that the ministry was confident of implementing projects in the given amount.

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Budget 2017: MEA funds for projects in Afghanistan see a decline - Economic Times