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Lida Azizi and Yasimin Yasinzadah, with Team Afghanistan. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Using remote controllers, the six girls from Afghanistan guided their robot, designed to sort blue and orange balls, down a patch of turf inside the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall in Washington DC. Their cheeks were painted with small Afghan flags, and they wore head scarves in matching black, red and green, as they competed against robotics teams from more than 150 countries.

When the three-day student contest ended on Tuesday, the judges awarded the team a silver medal for courageous achievement, praising the teenagers for exhibiting a can-do attitude despite multiple setbacks.

It was the most exciting moment of my life, said Lida Azizi, 15, one of the six team members, in an interview through a translator. It never came to my mind that one day I would compete in a competition like this.

For the team, participating in the robotics contest was itself a victory.

Twice rejected for US visas as they sought to participate in the First Global robotics competition, the girls faced a plight that attracted international attention and resulted in an extraordinary intervention from Donald Trump to grant them admission to the US.

The Afghans were not the only team to overcome bureaucratic obstacles. But it was their story that captured the attention of their competitors, the judges and supporters from around the world.

In order to apply for US visas, they had to travel twice from their hometown, in western Afghanistan, through territory under Taliban control, to the US embassy in Kabul.

Their case began attracting global attention and sparked a heated debate over the presidents immigration policies when their visa applications were rejected. Though Afghanistan is not among the countries included in Trumps travel ban, critics of the president said the case was demonstrative of the administrations attempt to restrict Muslims from entering the US.

After news of the girls case reached the White House, Trump instructed officials at the state department and the Department of Homeland Security to grant the team admission.

Dina Powell, the deputy national security adviser for strategy, said in a statement after the intervention that the administration could not be prouder of this delegation of young women and called them the future leaders of Afghanistan.

The attention surprised Azizi, who said her hands occasionally trembled when she was asked a question in English.

I hope we have made Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan proud, Azizi said.

Of that there was no question. The Afghan ambassador, Hamdullah Mohib, said greeting the robotics team at Dulles International Airport was the proudest moment of my career. He described the girls as symbols of a new Afghanistan emerging from the shadow of Americas longest war.

These girls are 16 years old. The youngest is 14. She was born after the US engagement in Afghanistan, and the others around the time when the US started to engage with the country. People give the statistics 16 years ago we didnt have schools for girls. And today there are, Mohib said in an interview.

What does it mean? These girls are actually representative of what progress has been made. They have gone through that process every year, through education. They started with their primary school and went up and today are competing in an international competition with the robots that they built.

Somayah Faruqi, 14, another member of the Afghan robotics team, said her favorite memory from the contest was the opportunity to work with teams from other countries and to observe the different techniques her competitors used to assemble their robots.

I learned a lot from them, she said. It was a very unique experience.

Faruqi, among the youngest students to compete, said her first impression of the US was different from what she expected, though the translator noted that the girls opinion had largely been shaped by movies set in in New York City.

I like that American people always give a smile, Faruqi said. Even though I dont know the language, I always receive a smile.

The six Afghan teens were chosen from an initial pool of 150 students, Mehraban said. Because of a shipment delay, the teens had just two weeks to build their robot compared with the nearly four months some of the other teams had.

Azizi and Faruqi said they planned to continue studying science and technology, and hoped to someday return to the competition as mentors for a future team of enterprising young Afghans.

During the competition, the girls met Ivanka Trump, the presidents daughter and adviser. They received well wishes from politicians and even drew an at-capacity crowd to a hastily arranged reception at the Afghan embassy, which, the ambassador noted, is no easy feat in Washington, where social calendars typically fill well in advance.

Alireza Mehraban, a software engineer from Herat who is the teams mentor, said he believed the competition would change what is possible for Azizi, Faruqi, their teammates and potentially a generation of young Afghan women interested in science and technology.

They say no, girls in Afghanistan cannot do this ... but they can, Mehraban said.

Read more here:
For Afghanistan's all-girl team, robotics contest represents many victories - The Guardian

Mattis had said on several previous occasions that a decision would come by mid-July. When asked by reporters if the delay is because of political issues, he replied: "I hope it's a political decision. You fight wars for a reason." Mattis added, "once you get the policy right then you have to get the strategy right."

Mattis insisted that there is no stalemate in Afghanistan. "It's not like we just stalled out here ... We have changed what we're doing. But I have not used the authority that has been granted to me, I'm going to figure it out before we last thing I want to do is send troops in there and find I sent troops in for something I just canceled, these troops go in harm's way so you have to be careful."

Two defense officials close to the discussion on Afghanistan policy tell CNN that the top US commander for Afghanistan, Gen. John Nicholson is likely to get what he is requesting. The officials say that an additional 3,000 to 4,000 more troops are likely to be sent to the country. However, the officials caution that no final decision has been made.

What remains unclear is whether the troop increase would involve sending additional US forces or just topping off the unfulfilled NATO requirement from US allies. Mattis acknowledged how precious forces are for the US and allies: "There will be some allies who are willing to send more troops. We are aware of that. But again their troops are as precious to them as ours are to us so we've got to get this thing right."

Approximately 8,000 US troops are currently in Afghanistan.

Mattis also hinted that an official troop number increase may not be made public, "I think we'll certainly give the framing principles. Wherever we can give the plan in a way that doesn't jeopardize the lives or the mission, we'll do it. I don't want to tell the enemy that (how many troops). ... You know me I am always going to be conservative, if it's going to endanger the troops: nope, not going to talk about it."

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Mattis on Afghanistan troops decision: 'We are working to get it right' - CNN International

July 21 at 5:15 PM

In his July 18 op-ed, Could mercenaries end Americas longest war?, Richard Cohen disregarded the transformational, multifaceted progress made by the Afghan people in partnership with the international community. The values of democracy, pluralism, liberty and free enterprise that Afghans and Americans share continue to be institutionalized in Afghanistan. Our success in this worthy endeavor is based on sound policy and strategy, enshrined in a compact between Afghanistan and our international partners: the Self-Reliance Through Mutual Accountability Framework. This underpins the Afghanistan National Peace and Development Framework, the five-year blueprint for ending Afghan dependence on foreign aid. Steady progress has been made under reforms undertaken by the National Unity Government.

Private security firms cant be trusted to operate as permanent, state-run militaries that adhere to national and international rules of war. As we know from Iraq, for-profit mercenaries do not always follow those rules. Afghanistan has seen failures, wasted aid resources and human rights violations by security contractors and their subcontractors. Any effort to privatize stabilization of Afghanistan can be a recipe for a man-made disaster that must be avoided at all costs.

Afghanistan isnt a chronic disease but a center of international cooperation at the heart of a rising Asia where the United States has far-reaching interests that converge with those of Afghanistan and its neighbors. Staying the course to prosecute a war in support of a robust, results-oriented diplomatic campaign to end that war should guide the way forward.

M. Ashraf Haidari, Kabul

The writer is director-general of policy and strategy at the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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Staying the course in Afghanistan represents the path to peace - Washington Post

The White House said in a statement Thursday that Trump would name John Bass, the US ambassador to Turkey, to lead diplomatic efforts in the war-torn nation.

Bass has been in his current post since 2014. Prior to that he was ambassador to Georgia, also during the Obama administration. The White House said he had served at six US missions overseas.

The announcement of the nomination came as the US undertakes a review of its strategy in Afghanistan.

The US embassy in Kabul is currently under the leadership of the charg d' affaires, Hugo Llorens.

Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have faced criticism over the pace of State Department nominations. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham took the two to task in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" in early July, citing a lack of diplomatic leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a particular cause for concern.

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Trump taps ambassador to Turkey as new top diplomat in Afghanistan - CNN

When Maj. Gen. Lee Quintas took command of the 3rd Infantry Division in May, he said Fort Stewart felt like home. Now, just a few months into his tenure as commander of the storied Marne Division, Quintas and other senior leaders are headed to Afghanistan to help the war-torn countrys security forces.

The Marne Express is now ready to leave the station, Quintas said Friday after he and Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel Hendrex cased the divisions colors in preparation to deploy with about 250 other soldiers from the divisions Headquarters Battalion.

The 3rd ID soldiers will replace 1st Cavalry Division Headquarters at Bagram Airfield as the U.S. forces national support element in Afghanistan. During the deployment, which is expected to last about nine months, Quintas will serve as commander of Bagram and as deputy commanding general for support for the NATO-led Operation Resolute Support mission.

That means providing food, fuel, ammunition, life support and equipment for the entire operation in Afghanistan for the coalition, Quintas said Friday.

The primary mission will be to train, advise and assist Afghan security forces.

Hendrex, who just got back from Afghanistan and has been deployed there four other times, said he has seen the mission in the country change drastically over the last five years.

The last time I was there, there were over 110,000 U.S. soldiers on the ground; we have less than 10 percent now, Hendrex said.

Hendrex noted improvements in Afghan special forces and aerial combat capabilities.

Theyre conducting their own unilateral operations, he said.

There are currently about 8,400 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and about 350,000 Afghan security troops and police, senior 3rd ID staff said.

The training role is widespread, Quintas said.

The essential footprint is every Afghan corps has a train, advise and assist team with them led by a brigadier general or higher, he said.

Two of 3rd IDs deputy commanding generals will serve in direct training and advising roles with Afghan security forces. Most of the deployed soldiers will be at Bagram, but Quintas said some will be located in Qatar and Kuwait.

There is still the possibility of danger. Quintas said one of his top priorities is ensuring safety at Bagram, where there was a suicide bomb attack last year. While it is generally secure, Bagram could be targeted by infiltrators or hit by indirect fire, he said.

There is a significant element of Taliban that remain and contest the government of Afghanistan as it exists today, Quintas said. Were training (the Afghans) to fight that element. Its also important, I think, for the American people to know that there are 20-some odd terrorist groups that operate in Afghanistan. Part of what were doing is fighting the away game. Were taking the fight to them in Afghanistan so that they are suppressed and they do not have an opportunity to ever come here.

During the deployment, 3rd ID soldiers still at Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield will be led by Task Force Marne, which was activated Friday. Its a busy year for the rest of the division. Among other things, its 1st Brigade Armored Combat Team is preparing for a second National Training Center Rotation and its 2nd Brigade Combat Team is in the process of transitioning into an armored brigade.

Col. Sean Bernabe, Task Force Marne commander, said his priorities echo Quintas and the Armys in general.

Priority No. 1 is readiness in all of its facets, Bernabe said. The No. 2 priority is to make sure that Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield remain the best installations in our Army, and the third is to make sure that strengthen and enhance the already great relationships we have with the communities around Fort Stewart and around Hunter Army Airfield.

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About 250 3rd ID soldiers prepare for Afghanistan - Savannah Morning News