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Wai Yan Htun, 18, a member of Myanmars team who stopped to get the Afghans signatures on his shirt, said: We love them. Theyre like superheroes in this competition.

Colleen Elizabeth Johnson, 18, one of three teenagers representing the United States, said: Theyre celebrities here now. Theyre getting the welcome they deserve.

Before their first match Tuesday morning, the six Afghan teenagers were paired with the United States and four other all-female teams for a demonstration match for Ivanka Trump, the presidents daughter and adviser. Ms. Trump then spoke briefly to the crowd, applauding the students work and dedication.

For many of you who have traveled great lengths to be here, we welcome you, she said, turning to smile at the six Afghan girls. Its a privilege and an honor to have you all with us.

In the competition, teams of three, equipped with kits that included wheels, gears and two video game controllers, chased down blue and orange balls, which represented clean and contaminated water. In two-and-a-half-minute rounds, teams guided the robots to sweep the balls into openings based on their color.

Its way more fun, way more exciting than bouncing a ball, said Dean Kamen, one of the organizations founders and inventor of the Segway. Thats not a competition out there. Thats a celebration.

It was certainly a celebration for Roya Mahboob, a renowned Afghan technology entrepreneur who interpreted for the teenagers and came on behalf of her company, Digital Citizen Fund, a womens empowerment nonprofit that sponsored the Afghan team.

The six students were chosen from an initial pool of 150 applicants. They built their robot in two weeks, compared with the four months some of their competitors had, because their kits shipment was delayed.

Im just proud that we show the talent of the women, Ms. Mahboob said. We see that there is change.

The Afghan robot, named Better Idea of Afghan Girls, lurched across the terrain for the first round and skirted out of bounds, but 15-year-old Lida Azizi, a teal-colored braid dangling from under her white head scarf, flashed her teammates a thumbs-up as they cheered in Dari and applauded. As the competition progressed, they continued to make adjustments as they got used to driving their robot, an Afghan flag carefully attached.

While the team did not place in the top ranks overall, their final performance, they agreed, was better than they had hoped for. Team Europe took the gold, while the Polish and Armenian teams took silver and bronze, respectively.

I am so happy and so tired, Alireza Mehraban, an Afghan software engineer who is the teams mentor, said after the competition concluded.

Mr. Mehraban said the contest had been an opportunity to change perceptions about the girls country. Were not terrorists, he said. Were simple people with ideas. We need a chance to make our world better. This is our chance.

Yet with more than 150 countries represented in the competition, the Afghan teenagers were not the only students who overcame bureaucratic and logistical challenges to showcase their ingenuity. Visa applications were initially denied for at least 60 of the participating teams, Mr. Kamen said.

On Monday, with the news media swarming the Afghan girls, a team from Africa five Moroccan students who also got their visas two days before the competition huddled in a downstairs corner to repair their robot, which had been disassembled for last-minute shipment. An American high school built a robot on behalf of the Iranian team when sanctions on technology exports stopped the shipment of their materials kit. And on Sunday, the Estonian team built a new robot in four hours before the opening ceremony, the original lost in transit somewhere between Paris and Amsterdam.

But it was the Afghan team and Team Hope, which consists of three Syrian refugee students, that ensnared the attention of the competitors, the judges and supporters.

The high school students exchanged buttons and signed shirts, hats and flags draped around their shoulders. The Australian team passed out pineapple-shaped candy and patriotic stuffed koalas to clip on lanyards, while the Chilean team offered bags with regional candy inside.

God made this planet for something like this, all the people coming together as friends, said Alineza Khalili Katoulaei, 18, the captain of the Iranian team, gesturing to the Iraqi and Israeli teams standing nearby. Politics cannot stop science competitions like this.

During Tuesdays awards ceremony, judges awarded the Afghans a silver medal as part of an award for courageous achievement, giving gold to the team from South Sudan.

The crowd roared and waved flags as the teenagers accepted their medals and waved.

It was the first medal Fatemah Qaderyan, 14, of the Afghan team had ever earned, and through a translator, she explained that she planned to hang it in her room and show it to all of her friends.

I am so excited, and very, very happy, she said, turning the medal over in her hands. I still cant believe this happened.

Even after the team changed into traditional dresses and scarves for a reception at the Afghan Embassy, they kept their medals on. On Wednesday, they will tour Capitol Hill before returning Thursday to Afghanistan.

We dont have the words to say how happy we are, said Rodaba Noori, 16. So proud of ourselves.

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A version of this article appears in print on July 19, 2017, on Page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Afghan Girls, Once Denied Visas, Win Limelight at Robotics Contest.

Original post:
Afghan Girls' Robotics Team Wins Limelight at Competition - New York Times

wbur

Talk in the West Wing about using a private army of mercenaries to take over the war in Afghanistan. Blackwater founder Erik Prince is with us.

This fall will mark 16 years of U.S. troops in Afghanistan war in Afghanistan. Americas defense chief says were not winning. The Trump administration is looking for ways out of the box. One idea, with interest from Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner: hand the US Afghan operation off to private contractors. Mercenaries. Let them deal. Blackwater founder Erik Prince is all for it. Hes with us today. This hourOn Point: the mercenary option and Afghanistan. -- Tom Ashbrook

Joshua Smith,Afghanistan correspondent for Reuters. (@joshjonsmith)

Erik Prince, founder of the government services and security company Blackwater.Executive director and chairman of Frontier Services Group, a global private security firm. Head of the private equity firm Frontier Resource Group.

Sean McFate, senior fellow at The Atlantic Council.Professor at the National Defense University and Georgetown Universitys School of Foreign Service. (@seanmcfate)

New York Times:Trump Aides Recruited Businessmen to Devise Options for Afghanistan "President Trumps advisers recruited two businessmen who profited from military contracting to devise alternatives to the Pentagons plan to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan, reflecting the Trump administrations struggle to define its strategy for dealing with a war now 16 years old."

The Atlantic:The 'Blackwater 2.0' Plan for Afghanistan "Heres a crazy idea floating around Washington these days, outlandish even by todays outlandish standards: The United States should hire a mercenary army to fix Afghanistan, a country where weve been at war since 2001, spending billions along the way. The big idea here is that they could extricate U.S. soldiers from this quagmire, and somehow solve it."

Wall Street Journal:The MacArthur Model for Afghanistan "Afghanistan is an expensive disaster for America. The Pentagon has already consumed $828 billion on the war, and taxpayers will be liable for trillions more in veterans health-care costs for decades to come. More than 2,000 American soldiers have died there, with more than 20,000 wounded in action. For all that effort, Afghanistan is failing. The terrorist cohort consistently gains control of more territory, including key economic arteries. Its time for President Trump to fix our approach to Afghanistan in five ways."

This program airs on July 19, 2017.

Read this article:
Privatizing The War In Afghanistan - WBUR

DARA-I MAZOR, NURGAL, KUNAR, AFGHANISTAN It is only a short drive into a side valley just off the busy main road between Jalalabad and Asadabad, the capitals of Afghanistans eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar. The narrow dusty road passes fields of golden blades of wheat that slightly sway in the light breeze. Beyond the fields and the scattered verdant trees, barren craggy hills frame the valley called Dara-i Mazor in Kunars district of Nurgal. Across the small river, some of the traditional mud houses resemble tiny bulky castles, hinting at the fact that Afghanistans violent past dates much further back than the U.S. or Soviet-led invasions.

Behind a low farm house that lies quietly in the shadows of surrounding trees, there is yet another wheat field. But next to it several patches of land are covered in other plants whose single green stems topped by golf-ball sized pods rise above the bushy leaves at their roots. It is opium-yielding poppy.

Opium has an analgesic effect and is the base for morphine, heroin, and other opioids that are used for medical purposes, but also for illegal drug consumption. Afghanistan accounts for some 70percent of the global opium production, according to the World Drug Report 2016 of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Although poppy cultivation is concentrated in southern Afghanistan, it can be found throughout the country. And while opium production is more prevalent in ungoverned areas like Dara-i Mazor, it also exists in government-controlled zones, as security forces, often struggling to keep insurgents at bay, are hardly able to prevent poppy cultivation.

In Kunar, early May was the end of the short harvest season, which takes places right after the white or dark pink poppy flowers have withered and only the green capsules remain. This can be earlier or later in other regions of the country, depending on the local conditions.

The harvest itself is a labor-intensive task. Every single poppy pod has to be lanced with a tool with several tiny blades at its end. Once lanced, the opium latex immediately leaks out of the razor-thin scratches (in Dara-i Mazor the sap is a light pink, but experts say that it is usually white at first before it oxidates in the air, quickly turning to a pink and later dark brown color). The valuable latex is just liquid enough to drip out, but still gooey enough to stick to the pod and to not drop to the ground. Normally, the capsules are then left until the next day. However, given my short visit, the locals showed me right away how they skim the leaked-out opium from the pod with another tool that looks like a broad sickle.

Skimmed opium latex in a field in Dara-i Mazor (May 2017). Photo by Franz J. Marty.

One farmer, a young man with a neatly trimmed beard and pitch black, greasy hair, stated that about 60 percent of his fields are poppy. And this is not an exception. Asked for his reason to plant poppy, he said that he is forced to do it because other crops would yield little profit. This was also asserted by other farmers in Nurgal and Shigal, another district of Kunar. However, they dont claim that other crops would yield noprofit, raising the questionof whether they are only engaging inpoppy cultivation for the higher profits that no licit crop can possibly generate.

But according to Dr. David Mansfield, a senior researcher for the London School of Economics and the Afghan Research & Evaluation Unit who has worked on opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan for almost two decades, profit-maximization is not the driving force behind the decision. Afghan farmers would rather try to balance their livelihoods, secure a certain degree of food self-sufficiency, use their soil sustainably (which also means changing or rotating different crops), and mitigate risks of crop failures. Thus, the monetary profit is only one of many factors in the farmers decisions.

In any event, Mansfield asserted that in his years of experience across Afghanistan and despite allegations to the contrary he has never met a single farmer that was physically coerced into cultivating opium. Reports also often suggest that farmers are de facto forced to sow poppy as they are dependent on advance payments that they can obtain for the future opium harvest or have no other choice than to produce opium to repay loans. However, sources explained that the system of advance payments on future harvests has dramatically decreased in past years and also exists for other crops. And although economic pressure plays a role, according to UNODC, having outstanding loans did not emerge as a differentiating factor for cultivating opium since the percentage of farmers under debt or with outstanding loans were similar [whether they grew poppy or not].

Hence, the often-portrayed image that insurgents or mafia-like groups exploit the farmers weaknesses, forcing them to cultivate opium, does not match the reality. The decision to sow poppy is rather sometimes more, sometimes less freely taken by the farmers themselves.

Man skimming opium latex from a poppy capsule, Dara-i Mazor(May 2017). Photo by Franz J. Marty.

In the subsequent sale of raw opium the farmers are far from being at the mercy of a cartel. Farmers in Nurgal and Shigal stated that numerous merchants come separately to the farms to buy opium and that they would usually only buy a very few kilograms which is, even for a small farmer, only a fraction of his whole yield (according to the UNODC Afghanistan Opium Survey, in 2016 the average opium yield amounted to 23.8 kilograms per hectare). This makes opium even more attractive for farmers, as contrary to other crops they dont have to transport their harvest over often underdeveloped and sometimes dangerous roads to a market.

Asked about the merchants, farmers described them as independent actors that try to make a profit by reselling the narcotic for a higher price, but assert that they do not belong to any specific group or cartel. This was confirmed by an opium trafficker who asked to not be identified. It was also confirmed by two experts, who added that while there are certain regional differences the sale of small portions of the opium yield to several independent merchants is the norm across Afghanistan.

This does not exclude the involvement of some larger, more powerful dealers or even criminal networks. But they dont control the market and are just some among many actors. In this regard, the opium trafficker even asserted that bigger networks would usually only play a larger role once the raw opium is processed to heroin. This is, however, further down the chain and does not affect the farmers directly.

Given the above, the fluctuating price of opium at the farm-gate is not unfairly dictated by the buyers, but set according to various conditions of a rather free market. And even though it is a fraction of heroin prices on the end markets, it is still a small fortune by Afghan standards. UNODC put the average price of one kilogram of dry opium at the farm-gate in eastern Afghanistan in 2016 at $239. Farmers in Nurgal and Shigal as well as the opium trafficker claimed to sell dry opium even for 25,000 to 35,000 Pakistani rupees (about $240 to $335) per kilogram (the indication of Pakistani rupee is not out of the ordinary, as in parts of eastern Afghanistan, Pakistani rather than Afghan currency is the norm).

Raw opium from Dara-i Mazor (May 2017). Photo by Franz J. Marty.

Such prices are hard to verify though and might be flawed. Moreover, setting this into perspectiveis difficult. Compared to the monthly salary of an average Afghan worker in the capital Kabul, which amounts to around $200, opium sales prices appear very high. However, it has to be taken into account that those prices are qualified by significant production costs and that the farmers live in a different socioeconomic setting.

Be that as it may, farmers sometimes even hold back raw opium, which does not spoil, in order to wait for better sales prices yet another sign of a free market.

In view of all this and contrary to common perception, the opium sale at the Afghan farm-gate is not in the iron grip of the Taliban or powerful cartels, but rather a loose open market in which numerous independent farmers and racketeers try to get their share of this profitable illicit trade.

This article has been originally published in Swedish by Blankspot.

Read the original:
Afghanistan's Opium Trade: A Free Market of Racketeers - The Diplomat

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Afghanistan Turns Away Plane Carrying Its Vice President Wall Street Journal (subscription) KABULA plane carrying a top Afghan official under investigation for kidnapping and raping a political rival was prevented from landing in northern Afghanistan, authorities said Tuesday. The official, First Vice President Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, was ... Afghan Vice President's Return Thwarted as Plane Is Turned BackNew York Times Noor says no legal hindrance for Gen. Dostum's return to AfghanistanKhaama Press (press release) (blog) all 12 news articles »

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Afghanistan Turns Away Plane Carrying Its Vice President - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Christina Gregg, AOL.com

Jul 18th 2017 1:37PM

President Trump's eldest daughter and senior adviser greeted participants at a global robotics competition in Washington on Tuesday, paying a special visit to one team that struggled to get visa clearance before the event.

The FIRST Global competition is an annual event put on by the non-profit with a mission of inspiring STEM around the world.

"With 160+ countries represented, @FIRSTweets goes beyond robotics," Ivanka Trump wrote with a Twitter post on Tuesday. "It is a game everyone can play & where everyone can turn pro!"

Click through to see photos from Ivanka's appearance at the robotics competition:

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Ivanka Trump greets participants at global robotics conference

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The six girls representing Afghanistan in the competition faced an uphill battle leading up to the July event when they were twice denied visas allowing them to participate. Eventually, President Trump and Washington officials involved themselves in the affair, and all participants -- even those from Yemen and Syria -- were allowed to come to Washington for the robotics event.

The U.S. team was paired with the Afghanistan team on Tuesday morning before the competition began, during which Ivanka Trump visited and shared some words with the girls.

"For many of you who have traveled great lengths to be here, we welcome you," Ivanka said, smiling at the Afghan girls. "It's a privilege and an honor to have you all with us."

The competition will conclude with an awards ceremony on Tuesday night, after which many team participants will spend the rest of the week touring the nation's capital.

"I am excited to meet these young men and women, whose work ethic, ingenuity and passion has driven them to achieve tremendous success and granted them the opportunity to represent their home countries at this challenging competition," Ivanka Trump echoed in an Instagram post. "Teaching robotics and engineering skills to the next generation of innovators is critical to the future of our economy and the world!"

RELATED: A look at the FIRST Global robotics conference:

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FIRST Global robotics conference

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Team Portugal talks business in the hallways during the robot cometition July 17, 2017 at the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

A member of the Lebanon Team looks up for a photo while working his booth with team computer during the robot cometition July 17, 2017 at the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Members of the Morocco robotic team work on their robot July 17, 2017 outside the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Computer aficiendos from Lebanon (rainbow hair) and Oceania(blue shirts) do a version of the Macarena in the hallways during the robot cometition July 17, 2017 at the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

A member of the Senegal team works on the team computer during the robot cometition July 17, 2017 at the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 17: Participants compete during the first of two days of the First Global International Robot Olympics, an international robotic challenge, July 17, 2017 at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. Teams from over 150 countries, including an all-girl team from Afghanistan whose visas had been initially denied to enter the U.S., took part in the competition. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

One of the members of the United Arab Emirates robotics team carries his robot to the comptetion floor July 17, 2017 outside the 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 17: A member of Team Libya works on his team's robot during the first of two days of the First Global International Robot Olympics, an international robotic challenge, July 17, 2017 at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. Teams from over 150 countries, including an all-girl team from Afghanistan whose visas had been initially denied to enter the U.S., took part in the competition. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 17: (2nd L-R) Rodaba Noori, Yasimin Yasinzadah, Somayeh Faruqi, Kawsar Roshan, and Lida Azizi of Team Afghanistan test their team's robot as coach Alireza Mehraban (L) looks on during the first of two days of the First Global International Robot Olympics, an international robotic challenge, July 17, 2017 at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. Teams from over 150 countries, including an all-girl team from Afghanistan whose visas had been initially denied to enter the U.S., took part in the competition. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Members of the Afghan all-girls robotics team make adjustments to the team robot in the practice area July 17, 2017, between 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall, in Washington, DC. A team of Afghan girls prevailed in their first encounter at an international robotics competition in Washington Monday, but the result was perhaps less significant than the fact they made it at all. Twice denied visas into the United States until a late intervention by the Trump administration, the team of six from the war-torn country's western Herat are now determined to strike a blow for gender equality and national pride. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Members of the Afghan all-girls robotics team make adjustments to the team robot in the practice area on July 17, 2017, between 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall, in Washington, DC. A team of Afghan girls prevailed in their first encounter at an international robotics competition in Washington Monday, but the result was perhaps less significant than the fact they made it at all. Twice denied visas into the United States until a late intervention by the Trump administration, the team of six from the war-torn country's western Herat are now determined to strike a blow for gender equality and national pride. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC- JULY 15: L-R, Katie Johnson, Sanjna Ravichandar, and Colleen Johnson, sit with their robot while watching the FIRST Global competition held at the DAR building (Photo by April Greer For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

A member of the Afghan all-girls robotics team makes a few adjustments to her team's robot on July 17, 2017, between 2017 FIRST Global Challenge competitions at DAR Constitution Hall, in Washington, DC. A team of Afghan girls prevailed in their first encounter at an international robotics competition in Washington Monday, but the result was perhaps less significant than the fact they made it at all. Twice denied visas into the United States until a late intervention by the Trump administration, the team of six from the war-torn country's western Herat are now determined to strike a blow for gender equality and national pride. / AFP PHOTO / PAUL J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC- JULY 15: L-R, Katie and Colleen Johnson, and Sanjna Ravichandar hold their group's robot at the FIRST Global competition held at the DAR building. (Photo by April Greer For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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PHOTOS: Ivanka Trump attends global robotics conference, meets Afghanistan team - AOL