[Vision2020] U.S., NATO ceremonially end Afghan combat mission

[Scott Dredge]

It's a 'ceremonially ending'.  Maybe there is also a figure head in charge of nothing.

From: sunilramalingam at hotmail.com
CC: vision2020 at moscow.com
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2014 06:44:38 -0800
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] U.S., NATO ceremonially end Afghan combat mission




I'm going with me every time.

Subject: Re: [Vision2020] U.S., NATO ceremonially end Afghan combat mission
From: thansen at moscow.com
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2014 06:42:34 -0800
CC: vision2020 at moscow.com
To: sunilramalingam at hotmail.com

Who should we believe, Mr. Ramalingam?
You or the U.S. Department of Defense?
Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense at:
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=123791
------------------------------------- Hagel Explains Differences Between Afghanistan, Iraq Drawdowns
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2014 – The Afghanistan drawdown and the situation in Iraq when U.S. troops left that country in 2011 are poles apart, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said yesterday.“We left Iraq under totally different circumstances,” the secretary told reporters during a visit to Forward Operating Base Gamberi in Afghanistan’s Laghman province.The current transition in Afghanistan is taking place with the agreement and the invitation of the Afghan people and the Afghan government, Hagel said.“This is a transition with our closest 50 partners over the next two years after we continue to help the Afghans build their capacity, build out that capability, build their institutions, train, assist and advise,” he added. “That's totally different than how we left Iraq.”The Transition MissionDuring 2016 -- the second year of the transition in Afghanistan -- the role of coalition troops will be to work themselves out of a job, Hagel said. “That's the whole point of this,” he added.When the drawdown concludes, it will mark 15 years of active U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, the secretary said. “Thirteen of those have been combat roles. The last two have been train, assist, advise and working through this,” Hagel noted.“So I see it as a fundamentally different set of dynamics here,” he said. “It's planning, it's training [and] it's transitioning. It's an agreement with everybody knowing what the objectives are every month as we transition out and help build their capacity.”The Plan Remains the SameThe drawdown plan and bilateral security agreement are unchanged despite a change in government earlier this year, the defense secretary said. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his opponent Abdullah Abdullah formed a new unity government in September, which approved the agreement shortly thereafter.Ghani’s predecessor, Hamid Karzai supported the bilateral security agreement, even as the government was transitioning, Hagel told reporters, noting that Karzai endorsed the pact at a national assembly of local Afghan elders and leaders.“As that transition went forward,” he said, “President Karzai took the bilateral security agreement to the Loya Jirga that he called, and endorsed it to the Loya Jirga. … So there's no shift just because … one government wants to change it and the other one doesn't -- not at all. There's no shift in that.”Afghan Military ParticipationThe Afghan military helped to write the plan, Hagel said.“And they understand it better than anybody,” he added, “because they want to have the capability to be able to do on their own without us having that constant, ‘We're the backup, call us in.’”This year’s Afghan presidential elections demonstrate the existing capability of the country’s forces, the defense secretary said. The Taliban and al-Qaida announced they would do everything they could to disrupt the vote, he said, but “the Afghan security forces independently assured those elections.”“I think that's a pretty significant testament to the capability of the Afghan Security Forces and the people of Afghanistan wanting this to go forward,” Hagel said.(Follow Claudette Roulo on Twitter: @roulododnews)
-------------------------------------

Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .
"Moscow Cares"http://www.MoscowCares.com  Tom HansenMoscow, Idaho

On Dec 9, 2014, at 6:29 AM, Sunil <sunilramalingam at hotmail.com> wrote:




Nothing is ending, little is changing.

From: thansen at moscow.com
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2014 04:34:49 -0800
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] U.S., NATO ceremonially end Afghan combat mission

Courtesy of the Army Times.
-------------------------------------- U.S., NATO ceremonially end Afghan combat mission
KABUL, Afghanistan — The U.S. and NATO ceremonially ended their combat mission in Afghanistan on Monday, 13 years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks sparked their invasion of the country to topple the Taliban-led government.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, which was in charge of combat operations, lowered its flag, formally ending its deployment.
U.S. Gen. John F. Campbell, commander of NATO and U.S. forces, said that the mission now would transition to a training and support role for Afghanistan's own security forces, which have led the fight against the Taliban insurgents since mid-2013.
"The Afghan security forces are capable," Campbell said. "They have to make some changes in the leadership which they're doing, and they have to hold people accountable."
>From Jan. 1, the coalition will maintain a force of 13,000 troops in Afghanistan, down from a peak around 140,000 in 2011. There are around 15,000 troops now in the country.
The mission ends as the Taliban is increasing its attacks. U.S. President Barack Obama recently allowed U.S. forces to launch operations against both Taliban and al-Qaida militants, broadening the mission of the U.S. forces that will remain in the country after the end of the year.
Violence continued Monday in the country, as suicide bombers launched an assault on a police station in southern Kandahar province. Police killed three suicide bombers, said Samim Akhplwak, the spokesman for the provincial governor. He said casualty figures were unclear.
Campbell said that Afghan security forces, including the army, police and local militias, were capable of securing the country despite record-high casualty figures that have risen 6.5 percent this year, to 4,634 killed in action, compared to 4,350 in 2013. By comparison, some 3,500 foreign forces, including at least 2,210 American soldiers, have been killed since the war began in 2001.
Up to 10,800 U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan for the first three months of next year, 1,000 more than previously planned as the new mission, called Resolute Support, waits for NATO partners to deploy, said a NATO official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss troop deployments.
As a result, there will be little, if any, net drop in U.S. troop numbers between now and Dec. 31. By the end of 2015, however, the U.S. troop total is to shrink to 5,500, and to near zero by the end of 2016.
Monday's ceremony was the first of two that will draw a formal close to NATO's combat mission by Dec. 28.
--------------------
International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, right, and commander of International Security Assistance Force, Gen. John F. Campbell, center, salute during a flag-lowering ceremony Monday in Kabul. The U.S. and NATO ceremonially ended their combat mission in Afghanistan.
http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/Afghanistan/Kabul_Retiring_the_Colors_120814.jpg
--------------------------------------

Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .
"Moscow Cares"http://www.MoscowCares.com  Tom HansenMoscow, Idaho
"The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it."
- Gen. George C. Marshall (1956)  
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