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New York Times

The Wrong Enemy in Afghanistan New York Times KABUL, Afghanistan For the last month, American and Afghan forces have been engaged in a new offensive against an Islamic State offshoot based in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan. The Trump administration dropped what it boasted was the ... Afghanistan IS head killed in raid - US and Afghan officialsBBC News Officials confirm head of ISIS in Afghanistan is deadNew York Post Top ISIS Leader in Afghanistan Killed in RaidNew York Magazine Bloomington Pantagraph -ABC News -VICE News all 334 news articles »

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The Wrong Enemy in Afghanistan - New York Times

While on deployment, three veterans found a way to cultivate peace and empower the farmers of Afghanistan. Now, thanks to the help of Mark Cuban, a Dallas-based tech entrepreneur and billionaire investor on ABC's "Shark Tank," their mission has seen progress, CNBC News reports.

The three veteransEmily Miller, Kim Jung, and Keith Alanizstarted Rumi Spiceto bring some of the best quality saffron in the world to the United States. Their mission statementsays that over 80 percent of the Afghan population is reliant on the rural agricultural economy.

The team appeared on Friday's episode of "Shark Tank" seeking an investment to help expand their organization. Two potential investors on the show, Daymond John and Kevin OLeary, were wary of investing, especially after learning the price ofone ounce of the spice costs $140.

Its so expensive because there is no automation, it all has to be hand processed, Jung explained, according to CNBC News. Jung later said the team was looking to do more than become a part of the spice industry, they were seeking to build a brand around saffron and doing other saffron-related products."

Despite the warnings and clear disapproval from colleagues, Cuban offered Rumi Spice, a $250,000 investment for 15 percentequity in the company. He told CNBC News he decided to make the offer because he enjoys working with veterans and respects the teams goal of empowering farmers in Afghanistan.

"Striking a deal with Mark Cuban is a game changer, for the women in Afghanistan who work for us, for the farmers in Afghanistan," Miller told CNBC News. "Now we are going to have the ability to scale and bring our brand to all the consumers in America. This is huge. This is huge for us."

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Mark Cuban invests in veteran-run business that sells saffron from Afghanistan - Military Times

May 9, 2017 11:00 PM

Photo/ Baltimore Ravens

BALTIMORE (WJZ) Ravens Coach John Harbaugh receives $1,500 every year from sports company New Era at the NFL League Meetings to spend on personal use or giveaways throughout the season.This year, Coach Harbaugh decided to put the money to special use and bought hats for troops serving overseas.

Harbaughs money was used to buy 154 New Era hats to give away to soldiers in Afghanistan.

Certainly cant underestimate how appreciative we are of the great sacrifices made by our military members overseas, and so our goal with the caps was to try and brighten the days of as many Army men and women as we could, Harbaugh says in a report from the Ravens.

He didnt buy just Ravens hats, but team caps from all the major leagues, including NFL, MLB, and NBA and colleges too.

I know that, unfortunately, not everyone is a Ravens fan, so I thought we should send hats of all teams, says Harbaugh.

But I made sure there were some Ravens, and Michigan, caps in there in case anyone wants to change allegiances. Coach Harbaughs brother Jim Harbaugh is coach for the Michigan Wolverines.

Harbaugh has a close friend in the Army, Maj. Gen. JT Thomson, whom he met eight years ago during his trip to Afghanistan, and had the hats sent to him.

The packages arrived at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan on April 27, and Thomson has been distributing them to troops across the country since.By Saturday, the Ravens report, the hats had made it to a remote location in the northern Kunduz Province.

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Coach Harbaugh Donates $1.5K In Hats To Soldiers In Afghanistan ... - CBS Baltimore / WJZ

New York Times

Playing for 'Our Own,' Afghanistan's Cricket Stars Return Home as Heroes New York Times The International Cricket Council, the sport's organizing body, gives Afghanistan about $1.4 million a year, around 33 percent of the game's overall budget, Mr. Mashal said. The rest comes from private sponsors, their willing numbers increasing with ...

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Playing for 'Our Own,' Afghanistan's Cricket Stars Return Home as Heroes - New York Times

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday that American forces in Afghanistan face a determined enemy but are dealing significant blows to the enemy.

Speaking at a news conference in Copenhagen alongside his Danish counterpart, Claus Hjort Frederiksen, Mattis said both the Islamic State group and al-Qaida are losing ground and power in Afghanistan as the government, under President Ashraf Ghani, wins the affection, the respect and the support of the people.

In Afghanistan, the enemy has lost about two-thirds of its strength and this past weekend, President Ghani announced the death of the emir of IS Khorasan this is the IS group in Nangarhar..., Mattis said. In our anti-IS campaign, were dealing that group one more significant blow with the loss of their leader.

U.S. and Afghan officials announced recently that Abdul Hasib, the head of so-called Islamic State in Afghanistan, had been killed in a military raid. He was believed to have been behind an attack that killed 50 people in a Kabul military hospital earlier this year.

Mattis said the United States will continue integrating its military and non-military efforts in Afghanistan and do everything possible to prevent civilian casualties.

We have to remember that the battlefield that we are fighting on is also a humanitarian field where innocent people live right now, sometimes forced to stay on a battlefield by IS, he said.

The comments from Mattis come as U.S. media report the Trump administration may significantly increase the number of U.S. troops and intensity of the fight in Afghanistan.

According to reports, Trump is weighing whether to send as many as 5,000 more troops to Afghanistan. The U.S. currently has about 8,400 troops stationed in the country.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump has asked military advisers "to relook at the entire strategy" in Afghanistan.

News accounts say the prospective plan would give the Pentagon, not the White House, the final say on the number of troops in Afghanistan, while the U.S. military would have greater range in using airstrikes to target Taliban fighters and remove Obama-era policies limiting the movements of military advisers in the country.

Trump will reportedly make a decision on the Afghanistan policy prior to a May 25 NATO summit in Brussels.

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Mattis: US Faces 'Determined Enemy' in Afghanistan - Voice of America