ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Germany signed a bilateral assistance agreement with Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior on Wednesday to pledge its support to the Afghan security forces after 2014. Deputy head of mission of the German embassy in Kabul called on the Afghan government to take full responsibility for the training centers built by his country around Afghanistan. "We have built training centers for the police in many provinces. The government of Afghanistan should take responsibility for these centers and continue the process of training the police," said Oliver Owzca at an event in Kabul to sign the assistance agreement between the German police academy of Lübeck and Afghan interior ministry's police academy. The training chief of the MOI police academy Noorullah Zal said the pact is of great value to the Afghan forces. "We are signing an assistance agreement with Lübeck, one of the best academies in the world, to provide security and stability in our country and to have better

"The Afghan Taliban and all its sub-groups, including the Haqqani Network, remain capable of conducting high profile attacks though counter-terrorism pressure has degraded this ability," Dunford said in his Tuesday address to a senate committee in Washington. "However, the Taliban remain firm in their conviction that Isaf's drawdown and perceived ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) weakness...will translate into a restoration of their pre-surge military capabilities and influence." The four-star general pointed out the continued existence of insurgent safe havens. "Safe havens in Afghanistan and sanctuaries in Pakistan continue to provide Taliban senior leadership some freedom of movement and freedom of action, facilitating the training of fighters, and the planning of operations," he said. The General expressed that he has hopes for the peace talks with the Taliban but he believes the efforts have not been as productive as they should be. "I d

The kidnapping happened in the Khaja Dokoh district of Jawzjan yesterday around 12:00pm, district governor Saira Shikeeb told TOLOnews. "Before kidnapping the soldiers, the Taliban also torched a fuel tanker and took the driver hostage. The security forces arrived in the area and started fighting the Taliban insurgents, but they could not rescue the soldiers," she said. "Today we received information that they beheaded the soldiers," she added. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the beheadings in a message to media outlets. Recently, Taliban insurgents have become more active in several parts of the northern province and have targeted the local security forces check-posts. It comes after some unknown armed men shot dead two employees of the Red Crescent and wounded two others Tuesday evening in Jawzjan's Khan Aqa district, local officials said. The head of the Jawzjan Red Crescent said that the incident occurred when one of the Red Crescent staff and his

KABUL, Afghanistan — Roadside bombs and insurgent attacks killed at least 24 people in five separate attacks across Afghanistan as violence steadily rises during this year’s spring fighting season, officials said Wednesday. So far, April has been the deadliest month this year for Afghan and foreign civilians and security forces. According to an Associated Press tally, 182 people have been killed in violence around the nation this month. In western Afghanistan, seven women and children died when their truck hit a roadside bomb near Shindad in Herat province, said Muhiudin Noori, a spokesman for the governor. In the east, another roadside bomb killed five men who were part of a government security force guarding a convoy of trucks in Ghazni’s Qarabagh district, provincial spokesman Fazel Ahmad Sabaoon said. Also in the east, insurgents attacked a checkpoint in Laghman province, killing four village policemen, provincial spokesman Sarhadi Zawak said. In northern Jowzjan province, police c

by Matthew Barber   Al-Qaida and Jabhat al-Nusra have each declared an Islamic State in Syria, in their own way. And by the way, Jabhat al-Nusra is al-Qaida. T he head of al-Nusra, Abu Muhammad al-Julani, finally confirmed the obvious through an official declaration of allegiance. An Islamic State in Syria? For Real? Al-Qaida in Iraq already styles itself as the “Islamic State in Iraq” (ISI). The difference between it and Jabhat al-Nusra is that the latter actually controls territory, making the declaration of a state cause for a moment of disconcerted reflection: If Jabhabt al-Nusra currently administers various villages and cities (such as Raqqa) through a manifestation of Islamist governance embodied in shari’a councils, and if Jabhat al-Nusra is al-Qaida, then it’s not absurd to say that something resembling a rough patchwork of quasi city-states has been established by al-Qaida in Syria. This is a strange station that no one expected to arrive at when the Syrian uprising

Bomb pieces, circuit board found; FBI requests tips Investigators combing through the grim aftermath of the deadly Boston Marathon terrorist attack have found evidence that timing devices were used Monday to detonate the bombs that ripped through race spectators on Boylston Street, said an official briefed on the investigation. Working with fragments painstakingly gathered at what is considered the city’s largest-ever crime scene, they also ­determined that the two bombs were probably fashioned from 6-liter pressure cookers, filled with nails and small ball bearings, like buckshot, to increase the carnage, and then hidden in black nylon bags or backpacks and left on the ground. FBI bomb experts at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., will try to rebuild the devices from fragments that include a circuit board that indicated the bombs were detonated on a timer, rather than remote control. The bombs, which detonated 12 seconds apart just after 2:50 p.m. Monday near the finish line o

CHINA'S defence ministry made a thinly veiled attack on the United States today for increasing tensions in the Asia-Pacific by ramping up its military presence and alliances in the region. Days after the top U.S. diplomat visited Beijing over tensions on the Korean peninsula, China has revealed it is uneasy with what the US has called the "rebalancing" of forces as Washington winds down the war in Afghanistan and renews its attention in the Asia-Pacific. China says the policy has emboldened Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam in longstanding territorial disputes. China faces "multiple and complicated security threats" despite its growing influence, the Ministry of Defence said in its annual white paper, adding that the U.S. strategy meant "profound changes" for the region. "There are some countries which are strengthening their Asia Pacific military alliances, expanding their military presence in the region and frequently make the situation t

The United Nations warns that opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has been on the rise for the third year in a row and it is expected to hit a record high. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) issued a report entitled “The Afghanistan Opium Winter Risk Assessment 2013” on Monday. According to the report, although the exact figure for opium production in 2013 is still unclear, it is expected to surpass the 154,000 hectares planted in 2012, and the 131,000 hectares in 2011. The report predicted that out of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, 12 provinces are expected to increase their opium production, while no major change is expected in seven others. “The southern region is expected to remain the largest opium cultivating region in Afghanistan in 2013. Poppy cultivation in Helmand and Kandahar, the main opium cultivating provinces in the country, is expected to increase and Helmand is expected to retain its status as the largest opium cultivating province in the country,” the repo