An MC-12 surveillance airplane, like this one, crashed Friday in Afghanistan, killing three Americans.

An U.S military plane has crashed in eastern Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of three Americans.  There are no indications that the aircraft was brought down by enemy fire, said a defense official.

“International Security Assistance Force service members and one ISAF civilian died following an aircraft mishap in eastern Afghanistan today,” said a statement released by NATO in Afghanistan.

A defense official told ABC News that the incident involved an MC-12 reconnaissance aircraft flying a nighttime mission over eastern Afghanistan.

MC-12′s are Beechcraft propeller aircraft that carry multiple surveillance systems that enable the monitoring of different areas at the same time.  The feeds are monitored by technicians who fly in the rear of the small aircraft.

The crash comes on the same day that an ISAF spokesperson confirmed that a Blackhawk helicopter crash in mid-December that killed six soldiers was the result of “enemy action.”

The spokesperson said that the families of the six soldiers were notified Thursday that “enemy action caused the crash and loss of life.”

At the time of the crash, on December 17, defense officials said there had been no indications that enemy fire had brought down the helicopter.

The investigation into the crash continues, so no other details were provided.

A defense official would not go into what kind of “enemy action” brought down the helicopter, but said the investigation had determined there was no firefight on the ground after the crash.

In the United States, health care professionals need refresher education about rabies because they hardly ever see it in people. Here in Afghanistan, health care professionals need training because they lack access to information sources like the Internet, libraries and that sort of thing.

Health care professionals play an important role in any rabies control and prevention program because they treat people who have been bitten by rabid animals.

Upwards of 99 percent of human rabies cases in Afghanistan are caused by bites from rabid dogs. If those victims get treatment at all, it's probably going to be from one of those health care professionals.

Educating health professionals is only one aspect of an effective rabies control and prevention program.

The key to any rabies control program is immunizing at least 70 percent of the dog population. The rabies control program here is just the beginning and must be carried farther out. I may also stress the importance of transferring the program entirely into the hands of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Rabies control and prevention programs are what governments do; it's an essential service. This is something we're helping them start, but it's something the Afghan government will have to carry on and expand.

  Habibullah Khan (June 3, 1872 – February 20, 1919) was the Emir of Afghanistan from 1901 until 1919. He was the eldest son of the former Emir, whom he succeeded by right of primogeniture in October 1901.

Habibullah was a relatively secular, reform-minded ruler who attempted to modernize his country. During his reign he worked to bring Western medicine and other technology to Afghanistan. In 1904, Habibullah founded the Habibia school as well as a military academy. He also worked to put in place progressive reforms in his country. He instituted various legal reforms and repealed many of the harshest criminal penalties. Other reforms included the dismantling of the repressive internal intelligence organization that had been put in place by his father.

He strictly maintained the country's neutrality in World War I, despite strenuous efforts by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a German military mission to enlist Afghanistan on its side. He also greatly reduced tensions with British India, signing a treaty of friendship in 1905 and paying an official state visit in 1907.

Habibullah was assassinated while on a hunting trip at Laghman Province on February 20, 1919.

It could seem like Afghanistan with some impatience waiting for the big World War to become the occasion launching wars in the old style . It had been outside of the big events but still not far failed to achieve so much anger it just went . Afghan emir was in breach of contract with England invited an Russo- Turkish military delegation to the country. Having enemies represented just above the Indian frontier was obviously a threat to England, but the British management in India could not afford and force enough to risk a war with Afghanistan to rebuke the Emir . He got to keep his Germans and Turks until they got tired and went home. But they left behind evidence of their presence and activities , which confirmed that the English suspicions of a conspiracy behind the riots in India were not unfounded. In Afghan capital Kabul was the spring of 1919 a group of Indian nationalists who called themselves the Provisional Government of India. Some of them were hired in and connected to the German-Turkish military delegation. They had relations with various groups rooting for Indian independence and numerous kommunications with them, through the mountain passes and past the forts. In Kabul were printed bundles of leaflets calling for it to revolt against the British.The successor to the now murdered Emir announced that Afghanistan shared the oppressed Indians' feelings and intended to support them in their struggle for freedom. The war came to be known as the "Third Afghan War." 175000 Troops attended on the English side. That should have given the peacemakers in Paris a thought about how the world was still constituted, but they too were relieved about the peace treaty they signed to observera these ominous sign of how the future would turn out, despite all their commendable efforts and lofty talk about it never be war no more.

(AFP) / 1 January 2014

Afghans fear that the end of the NATO military mission next year will see a pullout of all but the most resilient programmes, putting at risk the fragile gains of the last 12 years. 
 

As NATO forces pack up and shift out of Afghanistan, aid groups are determined to avoid following them, but they face rising militant attacks and uncertainty over funding.

Projects working on everything from clean water to skateboarding parks sprung up in Afghanistan after the Taleban were ousted in 2001.

Now, many Afghans fear that the end of the NATO military mission next year will see a pullout of all but the most resilient programmes, putting at risk the fragile gains of the last 12 years.

“The international soldiers left here a year ago,” said Noor Mohammed, an elderly man in Kapisa province, north of Kabul.

“Fortunately for us, the NGOs (non-governmental organisations) have stayed so far.

“We still do not have drinking water and irrigation for our fields is a major problem, so we still need help.”

Among the aid groups to have stayed in Kapisa is MRCA (Medical Refresher Courses for Afghans), a French organisation established in 1985 that runs health programmes in several provinces.

In Darwazagi village, nestled below rocky cliffs, MRCA’s Afghan staff distribute drugs to treat bronchitis as the bitter winter takes hold.

Its chief of mission in Afghanistan, Valerie Docher, said it was determined to keep helping some of the country’s most vulnerable people despite 2013 being the deadliest year for aid workers since the Taleban fell.

This year more than 30 aid workers have been killed, including six Afghan employees of the aid group ACTED, who were shot dead last month while working on rural development projects in the northern province of Faryab.

“There is no single source of problems,” said Docher. “It is a multitude of challenges we face, and it is the variety that makes it so difficult to manage.

“If the militants really want to attack us, they can do so tomorrow morning. They know where we are.”

The Aid Workers Security Database recorded 164 attacks against NGOs worldwide, with 79 in Afghanistan, making it the world’s most dangerous country even in comparison to South Sudan, Syria and Somalia.

Assassination, kidnap, robbery and the ongoing war are some of the many threats — and experts believe the violence is increasing away from the eyes of the international community.

“Where the foreign troops have withdrawn, in most of those places the fighting is worse this year than last year,” said Graeme Smith of the International Crisis Group.

“That’s not something that people are ready to admit around Kabul these days... (but) the (NATO) military would admit its ability to collect numbers is just getting worse.

“It does not seem like an insurgency that is slowing down.”

In Kapisa, deputy governor Aziz ur-Rehman Tawab insists that the Taleban have not gained ground, but he confirms that fighting in areas such as Tagab district has intensified since NATO forces pulled out a year ago.

“There is heavy fighting,” he said. “The French soldiers had a significant air support to carry out their operations. Afghan forces lack helicopters, which offers more latitude to the Taliban.”

Another major threat to NGO work is the failure of Afghanistan and US to sign a deal that would allow a residual force of US troops to stay after 2014 — a delay that could trigger a collapse in funding.

This month, NATO and US officials warned President Hamid Karzai that he must soon sign the bilateral security agreement or jeopardise millions of dollars of development aid.

Karzai is due to stand down at elections in April, and has said he may leave signing the deal to his successor — adding further confusion as NGOs try to plan for the future.

The 2009 election, which was won by Karzai, severely shook confidence in the international effort to help Afghanistan as voting was marred by violence and massive fraud.

Donors at a conference in Tokyo in 2012 pledged $16 billion in civilian aid until 2015 — but only on condition that corruption was tackled, rule of law strengthened and women’s rights improved.

Half of the money is dispersed by the Afghan government, raising fears of lack of transparency and threatening aid workers’ independent from state authorities.

“If there are problems in the election, the number of humanitarian NGOs and the funds could fall further,” said Sayed Hashim Basirat, head of the government’s NGO relations department.

Both the Red Cross and the International Organisation for Migration were hit in major attacks by gunmen and suicide bombers this year, though the Taliban say they do not target aid groups.

A fall in NGOs projects after 2014 would increase the risk of economic collapse and a return to the extremism and instability of the Taliban era.

But Acbar, an umbrella group for 120 NGOs active in Afghanistan, said its members remain defiant.

“We’re here... we are really not going,” said Acbar director Justine Piquemal.