Afghanistan 2015 onwards: Moderator's Notice

[davidbfpo]

There is a new NATO Mission in Afghanistan, Operation Resolute Support, with twelve contributors (down from fifty with ISAF) and with a declared non-combat mission. The USA retains a separate CT mission. For a brief outline see:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-30616380 and from NATO:http://www.nato.int/cps/da/natohq/topics_113694.htm

Currently there are 345 threads in this arena, in the next few days I will start to close them down, starting in 2005. There maybe be some merging (actually very little done. Merged threads on securing the Afghan border and Helmand Province - not UK & USMC, ANSF).

Several new threads will be created for 2015, currently I am thinking of the following themes:


ANSF performance 2015 onwards
Afghan politics (catch all, so includes talking to the Taliban)
The NATO mission: concerned watchers and trainers
Non-NATO involvement (India, Iran, Pakistan, China etc)
Reflections on the past (assessment of ISAF etc up to 2015)

I do appreciate that there can be cross-over between the topics, notably how the NATO mission interacts with the ANSF and Afghan politics.



Any suggestions are welcome.

[davidbfpo]

From a short WaPo article on the US mission:
Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a statement Sunday that will include two core components: working with allies and partners on Resolute Support, and continuing “counterterrorism operations against the remnants of Al-Qaeda to ensure that Afghanistan is never again used to stage attacks against our homeland.
Link:http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/12/29/meet-operation-freedoms-sentinel-the-pentagons-new-mission-in-afghanistan/

[davidbfpo]

The five new threads have been created, so let the reading, dialogue and learning SWC is famed for commence in 2015.

A small number of recent OEF / Afghanistan threads remains open, notably Afghanistan's drug problem and as I am British the two threads on the UK in Helmand, just in case I get the urge to post.:wry:

This thread is now closed.

[Bill Moore]

Well done David, it will be good lesson for all us as we watch events unfold in Afghanistan in 2015 and beyond. We all wish the best for the Afghan people, while fully recognizing the immense challenges they face internally and externally. We'll soon see how resolute our RESOLUTE SUPPORT mission is.