Saturday January 25, 2014
Kabul (BNA) NATO military committee chief has said NATO was preparing to assist Afghanistan in the upcoming presidential elections. General chiefs of staff of 28 NATO member countries in their 170th sessions held in Brussels discussed related to new NATO mission in Afghanistan.
NATO military committee chief has said during the two-day session, representatives of NATO member countries reviewed on their preparations related to upcoming presidential and provincial council elections.
The session decided NATO would hold talks with Afghanistan government related to NATO new mission in the country, continuing of NATO’s support from ANSF and legal framework for presence of NATO forces in Afghanistan.
“Currently NATO is working with Afghanistan government related to a legal framework for new mission titled ‘supporting role’ in Afghanistan. Based on this framework, we will organize our programs as mentoring, training, advising and supporting ANSF beyond 2014.
NATO has agreed to work with Afghanistan government on an agreement letting NATO keep on its mission in Afghanistan.

   'Tis time the heart should be unmoved, 
                        Since others it ceased to move: 
                    Yet, though I cannot be beloved, 
                        Still let me love!

                    My days are in the yellow leaf; 
                        The flowers and fruits of love are gone; 
                    The worm, the canker, and the grief 
                        Are mine alone!

                    The fire that on my bosom preys 
                        Is lone as some volcanic isle; 
                    No torch is kindled at its blaze-- 
                        A funeral pile.

                    The hope, the fear, the jealous care, 
                        The exalted portion of the pain 
                    And power of love, I cannot share, 
                        But wear the chain.

                    But 'tis not thus--and 'tis not here-- 
                        Such thoughts should shake my soul nor now, 
                    Where glory decks the hero's bier, 
                        Or binds his brow.

                    --

                    Tread those reviving passions down, 
                        Unworthy manhood!--unto thee 
                    Indifferent should the smile or frown 
                        Of beauty be.

                    If you regrett'st your youth, why live? 
                        The land of honourable death 
                    Is here:--up to the field, and give 
                        Away your breath!

                    Seek out--less often sought than found-- 
                        A soldier's grave, for you the best; 
                    Then look around, and choose your ground, 
                        And take your rest. 

Lord Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824)

  WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has proposed to President Obama that 10,000 American troops remain in Afghanistan when the international combat mission there ends after this year, or none at all, senior government officials said Tuesday.

That figure, debated in recent days within the White House, is the midpoint of a range of 8,000 to 12,000 troops — most of them Americans — that has been contemplated for months as the United States and its NATO allies planned for the long mission’s end. Anything less than that, the officials said, would be too few to be able to protect the reduced retinue of diplomats, military and intelligence officials that remain in Afghanistan.

“The proposal is 10,000 or basically nothing, a pullout,” said one official, who has been briefed on the plan but spoke on the condition of anonymity about internal administration deliberations.

Both the intelligence agencies and the State Department, who would have personnel remaining in Afghanistan after 2014, back the Defense Department’s proposal, the officials said. But it has met resistance among some officials in the White House National Security Council, including Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who question why the choice has to be 10,000 troops or zero, and nothing in between.

About 37,500 American troops are currently in Afghanistan, about twice as many as the number of international forces also there.

Administration officials declined to confirm a report in The Wall Street Journal that the military’s plan would call for quickly withdrawing the troops so that none remained by the time Mr. Obama leaves office in January 2017. That is a far more rapid departure than considered previously for residual forces; a still-pending agreement with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan would allow for an American presence to 2024.

The Obama administration is eager to maintain some military presence in Afghanistan after this year, especially given the resurgence of Islamist extremists and Qaeda sympathizers that has exploited the United States’ withdrawal from Iraq and the regional chaos of the civil war in Syria. But Mr. Karzai could foil any plans, as he has balked at signing a bilateral security agreement negotiated late last year to set out the conditions for a continued American presence in his country.

The White House would not respond to reports of the Pentagon plan, and instead focused on keeping pressure on Mr. Karzai to sign the security agreement — without which any talk of keeping American troops in Afghanistan is moot.

“The president has not yet made decisions about final troop numbers,” said Caitlin M. Hayden, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council.

But absent a bilateral security agreement, she said, “then we will initiate planning for a post-2014 future in which there would be no U.S or NATO troop presence in Afghanistan. That is not a future we are seeking, and we do not believe that it is in Afghanistan’s interests.”

“The further this slips into 2014, however, the more likely such an outcome is,” Ms. Hayden added. Decisions have to be made soon, she said, about issues like base closings and force levels.

Despite the tension now between the United States and Mr. Karzai on the matter, the agreement negotiated included concessions from the Afghans that the Obama administration had not been able to secure from Iraq in 2011, which led to Americans’ complete withdrawal from that country.

Chief among them was assurance that American soldiers would not face prosecution in Afghanistan for actions in the course of their duties there. Also, Special Operations forces would be able to conduct antiterrorism raids in private Afghan homes. But Mr. Karzai has since insisted on other conditions, while the United States has refused to reopen negotiations.

The Afghan intelligence – National Directorate of Security (NDS) announced Wednesday that the NDS operatives foiled coordinated attacks on Bagram airfield in Parwan province and other government compounds in this province.

The National Directorate of Security (NDS) following a statement said, Afghan intelligence operatives discovered and seized two missile launcher devices along with 11 BM-21 Grad missiles from northeastern Kapisa province of Afghanistan.

The statement further added that the homemade missile launchers along with the 11 BM-21 Grad missiles were discovered from Jamal Agha area in Eise-Do of Kohistan district in Kapisa province.

NDS in its statement added that the terrorist groups were looking to attack the US-run Bagram airfield in Parwan province and other government compounds.

The statement did not disclose further information regarding the detention of any suspected individual, however it said that Afghan intelligence officials have launched an investigation in this regard.

Kapisa is among the relatively restive provinces in northeastern Afghanistan, where Taliban militants and other insurgent groups are operating in a number of its districts.

The anti-government armed militant groups have not commented regarding the reports so far.

My days are numbered here.. I am relocating.. my plans are intact

And i have someone with me, someone i love so much

When i look into those honest blue eyes i see so much of myself 

My Heart interests

I´m a lucky man

Need to be a Well Trained man in the Military.. make sure keeping fit.. Half Marathon Dec 2013