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THE TOPLINE: The general in charge of U.S. military operations in the Middle East was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, where he lawmakers pressed him on counter-Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) operations, Afghanistan, civilian casualties and more.

The Hills Ellen Mitchell reports:

The head of U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday that the Pentagon is reviewing whether to send additional U.S. forces to Afghanistan.

We are in the process of going through a review of our posture in Afghanistan and how we have to look at that going forward, Gen. Joseph Votel told lawmakers.

Votel would not give additional details on the review during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on security challenges in the Middle East, saying its findings are pre-decisional.

VOTEL ADDRESS CASUALTIES: Votel also spoke about the reports of an increase in civilian casualties, particularly the 200 or so deaths in Mosul when a building collapsed.

Also from Mitchell:

He agreed with an official's comments made Tuesday that there is a fair chance that our operations may have contributed to civilian casualties, but added that the investigation continues and theres still much to learn from the initial assessments.

We acknowledge our responsibility to operate at a higher standard, he told lawmakers. We take every allegation seriously and we are executing a well developed process to assess and if necessary investigate these allegations.

Votel stressed that though the nature of the fight and the Pentagons approach to it have evolved over the two-and-half-year operation, We have not relaxed the rules of engagement.

Read about Mitchells entire piece -- on both Afghanistan and Mosul -- here.

GOP DEFENDS TRUMPS RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: Republican lawmakers are defending the Trump administration from criticism about an increase in civilian casualties from air strikes in Iraq and Syria, arguing that rules of engagement under former President Obama were too strict.

They say the rules should be loosened because they have resulted in missed opportunities to strike Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) targets and have discounted the judgment of the commanders in the field.

They missed targets because they had to go back and have an NSC that met for weeks, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday. I think you need to tell the military commanders what you expect and then let them do their job. Now, that does not mean there will never be a mistake, of course."

Read the rest here.

MCCAIN, GRAHAM PAN POTENTIAL CR: With the deadline to fund the government coming up in a few weeks, defense hawks are coming out strong against the potential for another stopgap funding measure.

The Hills Jordain Carney has the story:

A pair of Senate Republicans are signaling they will not support a short-term funding bill ahead of next month's deadline to avoid a government shutdown.

GOP Sens. Lindsey GrahamLindsey GrahamOvernight Finance: Senate Dems call for investigation of acting SEC chairman | Wyden: Russia probe should focus on Trump financial ties | Dems seek more money for IRS Overnight Defense: Top general talks Afghanistan, civilian casualties | Defense hawks slam short-term funding McCain and Graham: We won't back short-term government funding bill MORE (S.C.) and John McCainJohn McCainOvernight Finance: Senate Dems call for investigation of acting SEC chairman | Wyden: Russia probe should focus on Trump financial ties | Dems seek more money for IRS Overnight Defense: Top general talks Afghanistan, civilian casualties | Defense hawks slam short-term funding McCain and Graham: We won't back short-term government funding bill MORE (Ariz.) two of the Senate's most vocal defense hawks said separately that they would oppose a continuing resolution (CR) over concerns about its impacts on the Pentagon.

"It would decimate the ability to defend the nation and it would put the lives of our men and women in uniform at risk," McCain, who chairs the Armed Services Committee, told The Hill.

Graham separately told reporters that he wouldn't back a CR, even if it funded the government through the end of the end of September, over similar concerns.

Read more here.

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW:

The commander of U.S. Transportation Command will testify before the House Armed Services Committee at 9 a.m. at the Rayburn House Office Building, room 2118. http://bit.ly/2nZ3VhN

The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for former Rep. Heather Wilson to be Air Force secretary at 9:30 a.m. at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room G-50. http://bit.ly/2na7kZo

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 10 a.m. at the Dirksen 419. http://bit.ly/2odr0MZ

A House Armed Services subcommittee and a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee will hold a joint hearing on Russias violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty at 10:30 a.m. at Rayburn 2172. http://bit.ly/2nvxDNN

ICYMI:

-- The Hill: Senate intel panel 'within weeks' of completing initial Russia review

-- The Hill: Top general: ISIS extraordinarily savvy in cyber

-- Miami Herald: Pentagon picks national security lawyer to run Guantnamo war court

-- Reuters: Inside Mosul, a huge blast, then screams, dust and horror

-- Associated Press: Syrian experts visit critical dam spillway near main Islamic State base

See the original post:
Overnight Defense: Top general talks Afghanistan, civilian casualties | Defense hawks slam short-term funding - The Hill

St. John's - West Indies will play Afghanistan in three one-day and three Twenty20 internationals in June after failing to qualify for the Champions Trophy, the West Indies Cricket Board said on Wednesday.

The World T20 title-holders missed out on this summer's 50-over showpiece in England, to be held June 1-18, after dropping outside the top eight in the ICC rankings at the September 2015 cut-off.

"We are looking forward to welcoming the Afghans to the Caribbean for this short series," said WICB cricket operations manager Roland Holder.

"The series promises to be compelling, considering the result of the match between the two sides at the last ICC World Twenty20 in India, and Afghanistan's gradual improvement over the last few years."

He added: "It will also be an important series for our side, as they look to move up in the ICC World Rankings in the two formats, and continue their quest to qualify for the 2019 ICC World Cup in England and Wales."

Hosts England and the top seven other teams will go directly into the 10-team World Cup, with the remaining two places decided in a 2018 qualifying tournament in Bangladesh.

West Indies are ninth in the latest rankings.

They will host Afghanistan in the first of three T20 fixtures to be played in St Kitts on June 2, with the ODI series to follow in St Lucia and conclude on June 14.

Read this article:
Windies to host Afghanistan series in June - Sport24

The insurgent group claims to contest 167 more, many in southern, western and northern Afghanistan.

Earlier this week, the Taliban posted a report to their website enumerating, in detail, which districts the group controls and contests in Afghanistan. The report, titled Percent Of Country Under The Control Of Mujahedin of Islamic Emirate, as Bill Roggio writes for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Long War Journal, may be seen as propaganda, but it does not inflate or exaggerate the Talibans control of districts centers and contested areas throughout the country, in comparison to FDDs data.

Borrowing FDDs terminology and breakdown: The Taliban claims to fully control 34 districts, contest 167, maintain a significant presence in 52 districts, a minimal presence in 6 districts and no presence in 89 districts.

This data doesnt quite match up with claims made by U.S. forces and the government of Afghanistan, as reported in the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR)s latest quarterly report, which states that while insurgents control 9 districts and influence 32, 133 districts are contested. As for the government of Afghanistan, the SIGAR report says it controls only 83 districts and influences 150.

Differences in perspective, timing and terminology aside, the overall trajectory remains grim. The SIGAR report noted that according to U.S. forces in Afghanistan, from August 30 to November 15, 2016 alone, the number of districts under insurgent control or influence rose 2 percent and the number of contest districts rose 4.2 percent.

Moving beyond the numbers, FDDs map is worth taking a closer look at. The districts the Taliban says it controls are clustered, with a significant number in the south and west, including large portions of Helmand, Nimroz, Uruzgan, Zabul, Ghazni, and Farah.

The north is also seemingly heavily contested, particularly along the Turkmenistan border.

This reinforces what I (and Bruce Pannier) have written recently that not all is as quiet along the Turkmen front as Ashgabat likes to say. Maybe the Taliban arent looking north, and maybe as a former Afghan minister recently claimed the Turkmen are selling weapons to the Taliban to keep them happy and content on their side of the border.

Turkmenistan has an overriding economic interest in stability in Afghanistan but perhaps not an overriding preference for whose stability it is. The planned route for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline follows the Herat-Kandahar highway through Afghanistans Herat, Farah, Helmand and Kandahar provinces. The splash of black districts (those the Taliban claims to control) in southwestern Afghanistan lays along that same road.

Ashgabat may be taking solace in the Talibans pledge, made last December, not to attack infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, including TAPI. Turkmenistan has a serious economic need to lengthen the list of countries to which it exports gas. At present, nearly all of the countrys exports are to China. The Talibans pledge may prove thin, if serious work on the pipeline ever begins.

Here is the original post:
Taliban Claims to Control 34 Districts in Afghanistan - The Diplomat

Vehicles en route to Afghanistan line up near the Pakistani-Afghan border in northwest Pakistan's Torkham on March 7, 2017 SidiqueXinhua News Agency/Getty Images

Pakistan has begun work on a fence that will trace its mountainous northwest border with Afghanistan, Islamabad announced Saturday.

A better managed, secure and peaceful border is in mutual interest of both brotherly countries who have given phenomenal sacrifices in war against terrorism, Pakistans army chief, General Qamar Bajwa, said in a statement from the country's tribal hinterlands, the Wall Street Journal reports .

But instead, a border fence could further inflame tensions between Pakistan and its landlocked northeasterly neighbor. For one thing, Afghanistan disputes the legitimacy of much of the border, which was drawn up under British colonial rule; for another, each side accuses the other of harboring terrorists.

The measure follows a spate of terrorist attacks in recent weeks that have killed more than 100 people on Pakistani soil. Islamabad blames these on militants that it says have relocated across its porous border, which it closed for more than a month in February, citing "security reasons."

Meanwhile, Kabul had long accused Pakistan of offering safe haven for the Afghan Taliban and the allied Haqqani network. It's a charge with which Washington concurs, reports the WSJ.

Building a fence will not help solve the problem, but will only create more tension, General Dawlat Waziri, a spokesperson of the Afghan Ministry of Defense, told the WSJ . To counter terrorism, Pakistan needs to deny sanctuaries to terrorist groups, stop financing, training and helping them."

[ WSJ ]

See original here:
Pakistan Has Started Fencing Off Its Border With Afghanistan - TIME

Ireland batsman Andrew Balbirnie is in line to play against Afghanistan in the Intercontinental Cup clash in India. Photograph: Barry Chambers/Inpho

Irelands cricketers face a gruelling test of both their cricketing ability and physical endurance over the next four days in India as they take on Afghanistan in a key Intercontinental Cup clash.

Afghanistan are hosting the game in the Delhi suburb of Greater Noida, where temperatures are set to hit 40 degrees on all four days of the match, which gets underway at 10am local time on Tuesday (4.30am Irish time).

The match sees the top two sides in the Intercontinental Cup meet with control of the competition up for grabs. And considering that the top side in the table come the end of the competition later this year will get a chance to play off for a shot at Test cricket, the stakes couldnt be higher.

Ireland are 19 points clear of Afghanistan after four games (80 plays 61) but John Bracewells side face a far tougher run in with matches against the Netherlands and Scotland, albeit both are home fixtures. Afghanistan are away to Hong Kong and at home to the UAE in their final two fixtures and will look to gain full points from both.

Ireland have claimed maximum 20-point hauls in their four games to date, including winning by an innings in their last two away to Namibia and at home to the UAE.

Afghanistan, though, have had the upper hand on Ireland lately, winning the recent ODI series 3-2 and also claiming a clean sweep in the three-match T20 series.

The longer format has always been a strong suit for Ireland and they have dominated the Intercontinental Cup since its inception in 2004, losing just two of 36 matches and winning the tournament four times out of six stagings.

One of those losses came at a neutral venue to Afghanistan, when they ended Irelands six-year unbeaten run in Sri Lanka in 2010.

Afghanistan went on to win the title that year but Ireland gained revenge with a comprehensive 122-run victory against them in the 2013 final in Dubai.

Conditions in India look to favour Afghanistan this time around, especially as their contingent of spin bowlers have enjoyed success lately on the turning wickets in Delhi.

The recent one-day games saw the spinners dominate, with Afghanistans teenage leg-spinner Rashid Khan causing plenty of problems for Irelands batsmen.

With left-arm chinaman spinner Zahir Khan and experienced off-spinner Mohammad Nabi also in their ranks, Ireland captain William Porterfield is well aware of the challenge facing his side, although they have had plenty of time to get use to the wickets in Greater Noida.

It will be a big test for us the conditions, the turning surface against a side that has a lot of spinners. Weve been here for three or four weeks, played a lot of cricket on the same ground, so we could not have asked for better preparation, said Porterfield.

We have seen a lot of Afghanistan in one-day and T20 cricket recently. These conditions suit them and we will have to fall back on [spinners] George Dockrell and Jacob Mulder and hope the batsmen put the runs on the board. I feel not too many runs will decide the game. If we pull it off against Afghanistan, we will be in a great position in the I-Cup.

Ireland have been hit by the loss of all-rounder Kevin OBrien through injury, with Pembroke batsman Andrew Balbirnie in line to bolster the middle order.

Opening bowler Boyd Rankin was also ruled out through injury earlier on the tour, but Ireland are well stocked with seam options. The key selection decisions will surround the make-up of Irelands spin attack with off-spinner Andrew McBrine and leg-spinner Jacob Mulder offering Bracewell options to go alongside Dockrell and Paul Stirling.

SQUADS

AFGHANISTAN: Asghar Stanikzai (capt), Afsar Khan, Mohammad Ahmadzai, Dawlat Zadran, Hashmatullah Shaidi, Mohammad Javedi, Mohammad Nabi, Nasir Jamal, Noor Ali, Rahmat Shahi, Rashid Khan, Shabir Noori, Mohammad Shahzad, Zahir Khan.

IRELAND: William Porterfield (capt), John Anderson, Peter Chase, George Dockrell, Ed Joyce, Tim Murtagh, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Jacob Mulder, Andrew Balbirnie, Niall OBrien, Paul Stirling, Gary Wilson, Craig Young.

Read more from the original source:
Ireland's cricketers face serious test against Afghanistan - Irish Times