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The Islamic State group is rapidly expanding in parts of Afghanistan, advancing militarily into areas where it once had a weak presence and strengthening its forces in core regions, according to Afghan and U.S. officials.

Depending on the location, the proliferation of IS has drawn varied resistance from the Afghan military, U.S. air support and ground troops, local militias, Taliban forces and other militant groups.

Attacking IS has become such a priority in the country, that disparate forces sometimes join together in the ad-hoc fight, with Afghan and U.S. forces finding themselves inadvertently supporting the enemy Taliban in battling IS.

Confusion leads to mistakes

All too often, officials say, mistakes are made due to confusion on the ground.

Afghan army planes on Wednesday night accidentally air dropped vital supplies of food and water to IS militants in the Darzab district of northern Jouzjan province instead of to their own besieged troops, provincial police chief, Rahmatullah Turkistani told VOA. The supplies were meant to help Afghan forces that are countering twin attacks by IS and Taliban militants but were used instead by IS.

It's not getting better in Afghanistan in terms of IS, U.S. Chief Pentagon Spokeswoman Dana White told VOA this week. We have a problem, and we have to defeat them and we have to be focused on that problem.

Reinforcements for the IS cause reportedly are streaming into isolated areas of the country from far and wide. There are reports of fighters from varied nationalities joining the ranks, including militants from Pakistan, India, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Russia and Central Asian neighbors.

Confusing scenarios

Still, the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISK) as IS is known in Afghanistan remains a fragmented group composed of differing regional forces with different agendas in different parts of the country.

IS-K is still conducting low-level recruiting and distribution of propaganda in various provinces across Afghanistan, but it does not have the ability or authority to conduct multiple operations across the country, a recent Pentagon report said. But where it operates, IS is inflicting chaos and casualties and causing confusing scenarios for disparate opponents.

In the Tora Bora area, where IS has made a strong stand in recent days, local villagers and militias joined with Taliban to rout IS. IS regained ground after a few days, leading to U.S. military air attacks on IS positions in conjunction with Afghan intelligence instructions and army operations.

IS fighters reportedly have fled from mountain caves of Tora Bora, where al-Qaida's leader Osama bin Laden hid from U.S. attack in 2001.

Families displaced

IS fighters were also reportedly advancing in neighboring Khogyani district, displacing hundreds of families, according to district officials. It is one of several areas in Nangarhar province, near the Pakistani border, where IS has been active for over two years.

Fierce clashes in the Chaparhar district of Nangarhar last month left 21 Taliban fighters and seven IS militants dead, according to a provincial spokesman. At least three civilians who were caught in the crossfire were killed and five others wounded.

IS has overpowered Taliban in some parts of Nangarhar because the Taliban dispatched its elite commando force called Sara Qeta (Red Brigade) to other parts of the country, including some northern provinces to contain the growing influence of IS there, Wahid Muzhda, a Taliban expert in Kabul, told VOA.

Recruiting unemployed youths

IS has also expanded in neighboring Kunar province, where, according to provincial police chief, it has a presence in at least eight districts and runs a training base, where foreign members of IS, train new recruits.

Hundreds of miles from Nangarhar, IS is attempting to establish a persistent presence in several northern provinces where it has found a fertile ground for attracting militants and recruiting unemployed youths, mostly between the age of 13 and 20.

IS has been able to draw its members from the Pakistani Taliban fighters, former Afghan Taliban, and other militants who believe that associating with or pledging allegiance to IS will further their interests, according to the Pentagon report.

Hundreds of militants have joined IS ranks in northern Jouzjan and Sar-e-Pul province where local militant commanders lead IS-affiliate groups in several districts.

Darzab district

Qari Hekmat, an ethnic Uzbek and former Taliban militant who joined IS a year ago, claims to have up to 500 members, including around 50 Uzbek nationals who are affiliated with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) previously associated with al-Qaida and Taliban in Afghanistan.

IS and Taliban are reportedly fighting over the control of Darzab district in Jouzjan which they stormed this week from two different directions and besieged scores of government forces. The Taliban has reportedly captured the center of the district while IS militants control the city outskirts.

Afghanistan faces a continuing threat from as many as 20 insurgent and terrorist networks present or operating in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, including IS, the Pentagon said.

In areas where the government has limited influence and control, IS attempts to emerge and expand there, Ateequllah Amarkhail, an analysts and former Army general in Kabul told VOA.

Hit-and-hide strategy

IS has also claimed responsibility for several recent attacks in urban areas, however, with a hit-and-hide strategy that is proving effective. And it is engaging too in more skirmishes with U.S. forces that initially were sent to the country to help Afghan forces halt the spread of Taliban.

Three American service members based in eastern Afghanistan were killed in April during operations targeting IS militants, according to the Pentagon.

"ISIS-K remains a threat to Afghan and regional security, a threat to U.S. and coalition forces, and it retains the ability to conduct high-profile attacks in urban centers, the Pentagon said.

Read more from the original source:
Can Flourishing Islamic State Be Stopped in Afghanistan? - Voice of America

Jun 23, 2017

Peter Della PennaCricket

The elevation of Ireland and Afghanistan as Full Members is the crowning achievement after a trail-blazing decade for both countries. It's a celebration of their hard work on the field, but also about yeoman's work off the field by both administrations. The boards have supplemented historic performances with enhanced infrastructure, and multi-day competitions that have been awarded first-class status.

In spite of now being part of the Test family, there are no guarantees for extra exposure by way of matches.

One just has to look at the struggles over the years of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe to fill their skin-and-bones body of fixtures, where others have far meatier calendars, to know that Ireland and Afghanistan will not gain instant Test nourishment.

Zimbabwe's first Test, at home against India in 1992, was one of eight they played in the first 12 months of their Test existence, along with two more at home against New Zealand and a reciprocal one-off trip to India. It took them another three years to record their maiden Test win, against Pakistan, in their 11th Test, and 20 more Tests after that for their second win, over India at home in 1998.

They followed that with their first away win, against Pakistan in Peshawar in their next Test. However, the only other team they have beaten besides India and Pakistan is Bangladesh, for a total of 11 wins in 101 matches.

Bangladesh, who played their first Test against India in Dhaka in 2000, had a eight more through the end of 2001. But their on-field struggles were far greater. Though from a chronological standpoint their first win - against Zimbabwe in January 2005 - came just over four years after their inaugural Test, they took three times longer than Zimbabwe did in terms of matches played to record it.

Their

The ripples of this decision of awarding Test status to both countries are first being felt in the ICC boardroom, where positions that had been held by Ireland as the representative of all Associates are now vacated. New blood will come in and new voices will have a chance to be heard. In the immediate term, that may happen with a particularly empathetic set of ears in Warren Deutrom, Ross McCollum and Shafiq Stanikzai, the men most familiar with the administrative struggles that Associates go through.

It's not just in the ICC boardroom that the domino effect is being felt, though, as their now former Associate brethren are impacted on the field in many ways. Since the 2005 ICC Trophy, the top six ranked Associates following the conclusion of the World Cup Qualifier hold ODI status. That is how Ireland (in 2005) and Afghanistan (in 2009) first gained ODI status. With both countries no longer part of the Associates pack, the door is open for two more Associates to potentially score more opportunities and recognition in limited-overs cricket, and just as significantly, prevents two others from possibly losing it.

It could ease some of the pressure on Scotland and Hong Kong, currently third and fourth on the WCL Championship table and ostensibly fifth and sixth among Associates in ODI cricket prior to Thursday's decision. This also brings renewed hope for Kenya and Nepal, who are just below them, while Canada and Oman, freshly promoted from WCL Division Three, can also have a crack at securing ODI status through the 2018 World Cup Qualifier.

But it's not all roses. Perhaps the biggest loser coming out of Thursday's announcements is Netherlands. The ICC, in line with its old tradition of moving goalposts, has scrapped the long-hyped Test challenge in 2018, and possibly the one proposed for 2022 as well. David Richardson, the ICC CEO, called it "unnecessary" now that Ireland and Afghanistan have been given Full Member status. He admitted in so many words that the proposition to play the lowest-ranked Full Member for a shot at provisional Test status was targeted for the two sides that now been given Test status.

Netherlands is currently next in line on the Intercontinental Cup table. They're placed third, 31 points behind second-placed Ireland, and have an outside chance to draw close should they secure a full 20 points when the two sides face off at Malahide in August. Similarly, Netherlands are right behind Ireland in one-day cricket by virtue of occupying the top spot on the WCL Championship table. But winning that competition may no longer guarantee a spot in the 13-team ODI league.

Richardson had stated earlier this year that the winner of the WCL Championship would be the 13th team in the proposed ODI league for 2023 World Cup qualification, but new details on Thursday showed the boardroom thinking had changed, with the 13th team possibly being decided by a rankings cut-off date ahead of a proposed start of the ODI league in 2020.

It means winning the WCL Championship in this cycle carries far less weight. Even finishing as the top Associate at the 2018 World Cup Qualifier might not be enough and there is the possibility of another WCL Championship cycle being squeezed in between the end of the qualifier and 2020 to determine the 13th team. While it's great news for a majority of Associates, the Dutch have every reason to grimace.

Funding is another area where the ICC has sent out mixed signals. Ireland and Afghanistan are both expected to have their current ICC distribution doubled to more than US$40 million each over an eight-year cycle. It's good for them, but that money is coming out of what had been allocated for all Associates and does not eat into distributions for their now fellow Full Members.

It's also worth noting that the ICC has furthered the notion that rules exist for some and not for others when it comes to certain demographics, to Afghanistan's benefit. Developing women's cricket was referenced by Cricket Ireland's Warren Deutrom as one of the 21 statutes that needed to be met in the application for Full Member status, and Ireland has made significant investments in this regard.

Afghanistan's administrators often pay lip service to prioritising the development of women's cricket, but there is scant evidence anything has come of it, and they have faced few, if any, sanctions as a result. Women's cricket in Afghanistan is a complicated matter, with various sensitivities at play that have slowed the pace of progress. But having obtained full membership without satisfying an obligation to fulfill a mandate for women's development, the ACB's hand is not about to be forced on the issue.

At the end of the day, it's a mixed bag for Associates. While Afghanistan and Ireland have received funding, the others have had their earnings chopped. Yet there is genuine hope that when an Associate country gets its administrative and on-field ducks in a row, there might be a path forward for them to aspire to.

View original post here:
The Ireland and Afghanistan domino effect - ESPN

Cricket Australia chairman David Peever has welcomed Test cricket's latest additions, and says the new financial model for all nations is a "fair result".

Ireland and Afghanistan have been elevated to full member status by the International Cricket Council, and are likely to start playing Test cricket in 2019. However, it's unlikely they will face the top Test playing nations, including Australia, in their initial years.

As part of the sport's likely new structure, adding greater context to matches, Ireland and Afghanistanwill have most of their matches against lower-ranked nations Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and the West Indies.

Peever, who played a key role in restructuring cricket's governance and financial models for the ICC, said it was important Test cricket continued to spread.

"It is great to see them join international cricket at this leveland, as we have seen with the likes of Bangladeshreaching the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy, it is important they be given opportunities to develop their skills and experience in this form," he said. "It also shows all associate members that they really can aspire to be full members."

Bangladesh had been the last country to be granted Test status in 2000. They initially struggled in the Test arena but are now at least strong on home soil.

Afghanistan, because of security issues,may have to stage its home matches in the United Arab Emirates. It has recently held home matches in the Indian city of Noida.

The new structure for one-day internationals and Test cricket has yet to be approved but it appears there is a consensus that major change is needed to add greater context. That will come in a Test championship, and with greater meaning for one-day matches as part of World Cup qualification.

"Context is vital for sport," Peever said. "Fans like each game to have meaning, to count for somethingand the proposed leagues will achieve this. They will also provide much greater certainty for scheduling, which we know has caused difficulties for everyone involved in cricket.

"The smaller countries, typically, have trouble building a schedule of matches that provides the right quantity of competitive cricket and the opportunities to commercially exploit matches through quality and certainty of programming. We anticipate that this will change under the new schedule."

Under the new financial model, cricket's most powerful individual body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India, will accrue more than $300 million over an eight-year period and Australia will pocket about $100 million from ICC revenue. The previous model, dominated by India, Australia and England, had been widely criticised.

"This is a very fair result, and we are very comfortable with the agreement and the manner in which it has been discussed and arrived at," he said.

"ICC events continue to grow in popularity and commercial value. It is only appropriate that all countries share in the proceeds from these rights. But, at the same time, the new model strikes a balance that includes a clear understanding that the Indian market is a principle driver to this value, and that the BCCI should receive a much larger share."

Peever's primary focus this week will be to try to lock in a pay deal between CA and the Australian Cricketers Association ahead of Friday's deadline. After months of posturing and recent informal talks, the two parties remain at odds over the key plank,that being the players' insistence the set-percentage-of-revenue model be retained.

If the deadline is not met, players are likely to be locked out, puttingan Australia A tour of South Africa next month and a Test tour of Bangladesh from August in doubt.

CA said on Saturday players would have a week-long camp in Darwin from August 10 in preparation for the Bangladesh trip,should it go ahead.

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Cricket Australia chairman David Peever welcomes Afghanistan and Ireland - The Sydney Morning Herald

Last month, a US government agency issued an assessment of the United States efforts to help Afghanistan recover from the devastation of 16 years of war. Its findings were grim. Six out of every 10 dollars since 2002 had been spent on Afghan defense forces, yet problems were rampant. Widespread illiteracy was found to be a corrosive challenge, undercutting progress not only in establishing security but also in carrying out civilian projects. The quality of leadership was also identified as a major stumbling block. If leadership [in the defense force] is poor, the author of the report said, the people below dont care, and they wonder why they have to die.

At the root of the problem is the state of education. More than six out of every ten people cannot read or write. Nearly four million children arent in school, and more than three quarters of all children drop out of school by the ninth grade. Overall, opportunity is extremely limited, making hope for the future impossible for many families to conjure. Not only does this lead to the significant obstacles to progress that the US assessment points to, it is a situation that gives extremism and terrorismand the warped meaning and sense of purpose it can providean evergreen appeal. Millions of Afghans, including children, are clear-eyed to the fact that their future is simply without hope.

The state of education in Afghanistan today actually represents progress compared to ten years ago, since there was virtually no ability to improve education during the many years my country was embroiled in war, starting with the Soviet Unions 1978 invasion. Yet if we fail to make radical progress in our education system, the Afghan peoples ability to shape a more sophisticated economy, and a country in which war and terrorism are not tolerated, looks bleak.

Make no mistakeit is ultimately up to Afghans, not the US, and not the international community. While foreign aid dollars can provide meaningful support, local communities will ultimately have to produce and support the leaders of tomorrow who will help counter the twisted appeals of terrorist recruiters, fight to find ways for communities to prosper, and bring forth a future in which Afghanistan offers more of its people the promise of a better life for their children.

As Malala Yousufzai said, I dont want to kill terrorists. I want to educate the children of terrorists. That is the true way to eradicate extremism in my country.

It is also why I launched Teach For Afghanistan, a program that is part of the Teach For All network and adapts the approach of Teach For America, here in Nangarhar Province along the Pakistani border, where 80 graduates from Afghan universities are teaching 23,000 girls and boys in 21 schools with the support of USAID and The Asia Foundation. Afghanistan has the one of the youngest populations in the world and I believe that it could be our greatest asset. But too many who make it through our higher education system, or have the opportunity to study abroad, choose not to return to their homes to work for a better future for our country. Through Teach For Afghanistan, we provide a supportive pathway for young graduates to do so, while also helping to bring motivated new teachers into our overcrowded classrooms.

In 44 similar programs around the world, which include not just those well-known in the US, but in countries from India to Malaysia to Peru to Bulgaria, roughly 70% of young people who finish the programs stay committed to working to improve education for disadvantaged children in some way, even if they initially planned on following a completely different career path. Im hopeful that, over time, our program can help produce and inspire a new generation of collective leadership not just in communities in Nangarhar, but all across Afghanistanleadership that is singularly committed to creating a future of opportunity and promise for each and every child.

Claiming that education is the answer might sound like a clich, but it doesnt make it any less true. If our future is to improve, todays children must learn to read. They must learn to write. They must learn to question dominant ways of thinking. They must learn that no child is inherently worth more than another. If we can start down that journey today, we can all have hope for tomorrow.

Learn how to write for Quartz Ideas. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com.

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Educating Afghanistan's young people is the only true solution to the scourge of terrorism - Quartz

Afghanistan National Institute of Music: currently the institute has about 250 students, including 75 girls

Impact Journalism Day (June 24th, 2017) focuses on solutions-based journalism. Fifty leading media organisations, including The Irish Times, are sharing stories of innovative solutions to social issues around the world, in an initiative developed by Sparknews. Read our articles here: irishtimes.com/news/impact-journalism-day and follow the conversation on Twitter through #ImpactJournalism and #StoryOfChange.

In one of the many practice rooms of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), Zarifa Adeeb is playing the violin with admirable dexterity and concentration amid a group of students. While this Afghan girl has long dreamed of becoming a pop singer, her passion for classical music has emerged more recently.

When she was only one year old, Adeeb fled with her family to Pakistan where she stayed until she was 15, before deciding to return to her own country. I came here at the end of 2014. When I was looking for a music teacher I found this music institute, where you can come and learn music in a professional way. Zarifa Adeeb, now in her final year, has been studying the violin for two years. She is ambitious and hopeful.

However, only 10 years ago, these music lessons would have been completely banned.

ANIM was opened in 2010 by Ahmad Naser Sarmast, the current director, although its history goes back even further. The institute is rekindling a musical teaching tradition that was severely weakened over the course of recent political upheavals.

With the original creation of the music school in 1974, music became a part of the national curriculum in Afghanistan. The school held classes until 1988 when it closed due to war. It stayed shut throughout the rule of the Taliban, since music was made illegal. The school only reopened after former president Hamid Karzai came to power.

Sarmast then began the Reconstruction of Afghan Music project in 2008, which was funded by the World Bank. Two years later, the music school became ANIM and began teaching courses in both classical western and eastern music. These include lessons in the violin, viola, guitar, piano, trumpet and flute, as well as more traditional instruments such as the robab, ghickak, tambour drum, qashqarcha, the three-stringed sarod and the delroba.

Currently ANIM has about 250 students, including 75 girls. From these ranks young women have pooled together their respective talents to form the Zohra Orchestra, the first Afghan orchestra made up exclusively of girls. Started in 2014, this musical group held its first event at the Canadian embassy in Kabul not exactly a small-town crowd.

Zarifa Adeeb talks about these first days: When I first joined the school there were only five girls in total. We wanted to organise a group for women since, that same year at the institute, the boys were allowed to create both rock and pop groups. It was like a competition. So we created a choir. As time went on, other girls came to join the group. Thats when, only three weeks later, we changed from a singing group into an orchestra.

A teacher at the institute, Mohammad Murad Sharkhush, says: The original idea for the Zohra Orchestra came from a young girl called Mina who was a student here. The idea was taken up by Dr Naser Sarmast and, today, were witnessing the orchestras success. Unfortunately, due to family problems, the girl had to return to her home province, and then her family refused to let her return to Kabul.

Musicians in the orchestra range from 12 to 21 years of age. Recently, they had the opportunity to participate in various international programmes, such as the Davos forum in Switzerland. One of our main successes so far was being able to show to the world a positive image of Afghanistan and its culture. This orchestra has been supported by several countries and is also known as the Angels of Music, Sharkhush adds.

Every year, between 300 and 400 applicants take the institutes entrance exam and only 50 of them are offered places. About 50 per cent of the candidates are homeless or orphaned children and are put forward by NGOs working on childrens rights in Afghanistan. As well as the Zohra Orchestra, the institute has 11 other music groups.

Sharkhush continues: When a change occurs in a country, its better not to worry: you should be positive, and I am optimistic. Afghanistan is a country where art occupies a prominent place in peoples lives.

At the institute, both rich students and orphans attend music classes under the same roof. They express their emotions whether that means pain, hope, joy or grief through music, so that one day they will be able to fulfil their childhood dreams. Sarmas ANIM is like an island of hope in the dark. This institute is the symbol of the Afghanistan of tomorrow.

Hassan Karimis article was written for Hasht e Subh, a national daily newspaper in Afghanistan

See more here:
Afghanistan's orchestral manoeuvres a success of note - Irish Times