Dempsey: Past Year ‘Surprisingly Positive’ for Afghan Forces

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT, Feb. 25, 2014 – By both NATO and Afghan accounts, the past year “has been surprisingly positive” for the Afghan national security forces, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey told reporters traveling with him to Afghanistan that both NATO and Afghan leaders underestimated the abilities of the Afghan security forces -- forces that didn’t really exist a few years ago.

Since taking the lead throughout the country last year, Afghan forces have done very well, the chairman said. The Taliban had a handful of objectives, he added: to reclaim territory, to use several high-profile attacks to return to prominence, and to discredit the Afghan security forces.

The Taliban obviously didn’t have much success, Dempsey said. They never retook territory, they launched few large attacks in the Afghan capital of Kabul, and they have not discredited the security forces. The question now is not how the Afghan forces are doing, he said, but rather how the upcoming Afghan election will come off, and whether there will be a political system to embrace the Afghan forces and their progress in the months ahead.

Afghan forces are in charge of April’s presidential election, providing the security with NATO forces staying far to the rear. Plans now call for limited NATO support for logistics.

The NATO combat mission ends at the end of the year. A follow-on NATO mission -- Operation Resolute Support -- begins Jan. 1, and it calls for NATO forces to stay engaged at the regional level helping to train, advise and assist Afghan army and police formations. It also calls for providing assistance at the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior in Kabul.

Before this can happen, Afghan officials must sign the bilateral security agreement that they negotiated with the United States and which a national council of tribal and family elders approved. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he will leave it to his successor to sign the document. Once the U.S.-Afghan agreement is signed, NATO will negotiate a similar pact.

NATO needs the agreement to legally remain in Afghanistan beyond this year. Dempsey said the “shot clock” is running down, and there is a point at which the regional approach may no longer be feasible. “What I don’t want to do is run out of options for our elected leaders or for Afghanistan,” he said.

Dempsey noted he has made many visits to Afghanistan. “What I’m always struck by is that many of us -- our NATO partners and us -- continue to change jobs,” he said. “So there is always something new to learn, to see, to talk about. But I also end up speaking with the same Afghans time after time after time.”

The chairman said he had the same experience when he served in Iraq. “My counterpart in Iraq has been the chief of defense for eight years,” the chairman said. “So when I would come back to him and talk about what’s new, I’m not sure he could see what was new as readily as I could. But I don’t think I could see what isn’t new as readily as he can.”

The same is true in Afghanistan. “It has always been our challenge to knit those two together -- our ability to see things as they are changing, and maybe our partner’s ability to see the continuity of things,” he said.

Dempsey said he does have some clarity on the retrograde movement out of Afghanistan.

“Our ability to retrograde the entire thing -- should we need to, and which would be unfortunate -- we could retrograde with relatively low risk, given the time available,” he said. “As the time continues to expire, the risk on our ability to retrograde increases, and that’s another thing I need to look them in the eye to make sure I understand it fully.”

Counter-IED Organization to Continue at Smaller Size

By C. Todd Lopez

Army News Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2014 – The Defense Department’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization is still relevant and is needed for future conflicts, but its size is expected to shrink significantly, according to its director.

Army Lt. Gen. John D. Johnson said he'd received guidance from then-Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to "scale JIEDDO down," and to draw up plans for what an "enduring" JIEDDO might look like in the future.

JIEDDO's mission is to help combatant commanders "defeat IEDs as weapons of strategic influence." The IED has been called the "signature" enemy weapon in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Johnson said he's confident that Carter's guidance, a request to craft a roadmap for JIEDDO's future, is proof enough the organization will endure after Iraq and Afghanistan -- the two conflicts that necessitated its creation in 2006.

"There is a full appreciation that JIEDDO functions should endure. The key is that it be scaled to what the nation can afford," Johnson said. "And we have to be smart as to how we structure it so it can be rapidly expanded as necessary based on the nature of the threat and the challenges we are going to face in the future."

The organization stands now at about 3,000 personnel, Johnson said, adding that he'll draw JIEDDO down to 1,000 by the end of this fiscal year. Additional guidance from the deputy secretary of defense could later bring the organization's numbers as low as 400, said the general, speaking at media roundtable last week at JIEDDO's headquarters in Arlington, Va.

Johnson said he will spell out to the deputy secretary what could be done with 400 personnel, and what risks are associated with it.

"There are certain parts of an organization like this that if you reduce it beyond a point, it could take six months, a year, even longer to re-establish it," he said. "And in that time period, our soldiers and Marines in the field are suffering from the effects of IEDs, and it ends up costing us more to try to fix the problem without necessarily having the sophistication of understanding the entire system of systems."

Some parts of JIEDDO can't be easily scaled. One of the areas he's looking to protect, Johnson said, is the intelligence integration functions of JIEDDO.

"My concern is, right now, we have a fairly persistent look at the organizations that most commonly use IEDs," he said. "If we were to take our eyes off, what are the chances that there would be an adaptation or permutation in the way they use IEDs that we didn't anticipate, and how long for us to catch up?"

"Operational integrators" embedded in combat units also are a critical component of JIEDDO that Johnson said he has marked for retention.

"We have embedded analysis and operational integrators down with most of the tactical units and in the supporting commands," he said. "Those integrators are able to observe the organization they support, understand what their problems are, and transmit those problems all the way back to the capabilities we have here to either go develop a piece of kit or modify a piece of kit or see their situation in a different light."

That capability of integrators in the units is something Johnson said he thinks JIEDDO needs to retain.

"It's that bottom-up feedback that defines very rapidly not only what any one of those particular units need, but helps telegraph what other units may well expect to see on the battlefield," he said.

He also said that JIEDDO will need to maintain its robust relationships with the research and development communities that support it, pointing out that rapid acquisition to defeat emerging threats requires solutions from a full spectrum of innovative sources.

JIEDDO still has an ongoing role to play in Afghanistan. There, Johnson said, the focus is taking care of and protecting forces. He said JIEDDO continues to prepare units with relevant pre-deployment counter-IED training to support their mission.

JIEDDO's mission inside Afghanistan, however, now largely involves advising the Afghan national security forces. "We don't have as much of a direct role in the fight there," said Johnson, referencing the Afghans taking the lead in operations.

In Afghanistan, JIEDDO is training staffs and advisors to help Afghan forces use the assets they have -- including equipment and organizations -- to protect themselves and take the fight to the enemy, the general said.

In the last six months, he added, there has been additional JIEDDO emphasis on helping the Afghan forces to stand up their own counter-IED skills and capabilities in preparation for the 2014 withdrawal of forces.

"As we have not been as directly engaged in combat operations, the ANSF have picked that fight up, and as a result, the IED casualties are being felt by the ANSF," he said. "By helping train them, by helping them facilitate their own logistics networks and things like that to get their hands on the equipment that is available to them, they are better able to take this fight on."

The term IED largely entered American vernacular as part of the fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, but Johnson said the term has broader application beyond homemade bombs placed along convoy supply routes as part of an insurgency.

The devices responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, the 2000 USS Cole bombing, and the Boston Marathon attack in 2013 all were IEDs, Johnson said.

While acknowledging that he doesn't have responsibility for law enforcement in the United States, "there is great value in sharing information among the various agencies in our government to make sure we don't miss out on experiences we've had abroad and … how we have benefitted from that knowledge here,” the general said. “We collaborate with the other agencies very closely."

After the attack in Boston, he said, "the discussions … were really a comparison of experiences to see if there were ways that we could learn from what happened there, and they could learn from anything that we did. One of the most important things we've done is in the investment of the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center that the FBI has."

He said JIEDDO had invested in TEDAC during Iraq and Afghanistan because "we needed the highest level of forensic capabilities to take a look at these IEDs and tell us who was responsible from them and also to help us track if they were flowing from one country to the next." Increasing biometric and forensic capabilities has taken the anonymity from those who plant IEDs and has been a tactical game changer on the battlefield, he added.

Outside collaboration with federal agencies in the United States, Johnson said, JIEDDO is working with partner nations to assist them with standing up their own organizations that are similar to JIEDDO.

The Colombians, for instance, have stood up a JIEDDO-like capability, and Johnson said they recently visited the United States to discuss that organization and their strategy. He said he hopes he can demonstrate to the Colombians how JIEDDO is organized, and help show them how they are successful. JIEDDO also works with other key allies such as Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, he said. He also highlighted NATO's establishment of an IED center of excellence in Madrid.

In Southwest Asia, where operations are still underway in Afghanistan, Johnson said, JIEDDO has developed a partnership with Pakistan to help that country deal with its own IED threat. In particular, he said, JIEDDO is interested in helping to stymie the flow into Afghanistan of IED precursors -- the materials, such as ammonium nitrate-based fertilizer, that can be crafted into homemade explosives.

He said JIEDDO is working with industry to find better ways of controlling distribution of materials and "to make sure this very legitimate product is being used in ways it was intended to be used."

JIEDDO has seen a reduction in the amount of ammonium nitrate fertilizer that's being used as homemade explosives, he said, but that "it isn't enough."

With approval in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, and a recent re-approval, JIEDDO has been able to use its own money to pay for other U.S. government agencies to use their authorities in Pakistan to help "get after" the JIEDDO mission. Agencies that benefit from that authorization include the Commerce, Treasury and Justice departments and the FBI, for instance.

The FBI, Johnson said, is training bomb technicians, border police, and customs officials in Pakistan. Additionally, homemade explosive test kits have been provided so border police there can test materials they see moving through their checkpoints.

"There is more work to be done. The Pakistanis are anxious to work with us, and I am excited about the ability to continue to do that," Johnson said.

Dempsey Visits Afghanistan as Contingency Withdrawal Plans Begin

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Feb. 25, 2014 – Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived here today as White House officials announced that in the absence of a signed post-2014 bilateral security agreement, President Barack Obama has directed the Pentagon to ensure that it has adequate plans in place to accomplish an orderly withdrawal should the United States not keep any troops in the country beyond the end of the year.

Dempsey told reporters traveling with him that he recommended the U.S. military begin the planning process.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai appears unlikely sign the bilateral security agreement he negotiated with the United States last year. The agreement would put in place the legal authority for American troops to continue serving in the country under Operation Resolute Support, the follow-on operation, in 2015.

The order to begin the planning process does not close the door on continued American and NATO presence in Afghanistan next year, White House officials said. The “train, advise and assist” mission could continue should a new Afghan president sign the agreement. Afghan national elections are scheduled for April.

But the more time that passes without an agreement, White House officials said, the more challenging it will be to plan and execute any U.S. mission. Furthermore, they said, the longer a signed post-2014 agreement is not in place, the more likely it will be that any U.S. mission after this year will be smaller in scale and ambition.

“The idea here is we’re at the point where we have to begin planning for other options,” Dempsey said. “We’ve seen it coming, and I’m sure I’ll find our junior leaders are ahead of me on this.”

The general said he wants military officials in Afghanistan to know what this decision is and what it is not. “It is a statement where we’ve reached a point where we have to plan for other options -- to include a complete withdrawal by the end of 2014,” Dempsey said. “But it is not an indication that we’re not committed to a mission beyond the end of 2014, because we very much believe the Afghan security forces could use our help.”

Dempsey said he also will tell service members here that there is still a lot of work that needs to happen through the end of the year. “All this planning for ’15 is important, but we have some really heavy lifting to do for the Afghans this year, and I want to make sure we stay focused on it,” he said.

This year, NATO and U.S. forces will work with Afghan forces to ensure the election happens safely, the general noted, adding that he also wants to talk about retrograde issues here. “We have this issue of making sure our Afghan partners know we really are committed, but absent a bilateral security agreement, I can’t ask our young men and women to serve in a country without the protections afforded by a BSA,” Dempsey said.

As the United States military continues to move people and equipment out of the Afghan theater, the force posture over the next several months will provide various options for political leaders in the United States and NATO, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a statement today.

“During this time,” the secretary said, “DOD will still continue planning for U.S. participation in a NATO-led mission focused on training, advising, and assisting Afghan security forces, as well as a narrowly focused counterterrorism mission.”

Dempsey said the United States does have incentive for a continued presence in Afghanistan.

“The United States does not want to leave Afghanistan, principally because al-Qaida -- the ideological movement that manifests itself in violence and anti-American, anti-Western activities -- is still alive,” the general said. “It’s morphed as we’ve pressured it, so now it exists from Afghanistan through Mali. [We] need to keep pressure on it through its entire length. You can’t ignore it anywhere along its length.”

The United States needs a credible, stable, reliable partner in Afghanistan against al-Qaida for the near future, Dempsey added.

The young men and women who have served in Afghanistan accomplished their mission, the chairman said. “They set back al-Qaida in very significant ways,” he said. “They have built an institution -- Afghan security forces -- that, given the right political structure around them, can sustain the fight. We can’t deliver a political outcome.”

This could cause dislocations for those deploying to Afghanistan, Dempsey acknowledged. It will not be so noticeable for active duty troops, he added, but will be for the reserve components.

“If you mobilize them for a mission, they suspend school, their jobs, rent out their apartments, sell their cars,” Dempsey said. “What we’ve done in the past is we tried to re-mission them somewhere else.”

But time remains before those decisions have to be made, Dempsey told reporters. “We won’t reach a point where we have to change our structure or change our retrograde plans or postpone or delay or cancel deployments for a few more months,” he said.

Face of Defense: Soldier Takes Deployments in Stride

By Army Sgt. Antony Lee

Regional Command South

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Feb. 24, 2014 – When service members first arrive here to begin their deployments, all must first be trained on certain skills before they can begin their mission.

Some are trained on weapons systems, others are trained on biometrics, and others train solely on countering improvised explosive devices.

Army Master Sgt. Pablo Jimenez of the 4th Infantry Division makes sure incoming service members are properly trained for their mission in southern Afghanistan. He is a senior noncommissioned officer in the operations section of Regional Command South, a section that focuses on current and future operations. Jimenez is in charge of training.

Jimenez is serving in Afghanistan for a second time. He served as a company first sergeant in eastern Afghanistan on his last deployment, when he and his soldiers worked with Afghan forces on missions outside the wire.

“Our main mission here is to assist the Afghan forces,” he said.

That mission has not changed since Jimenez was last here, but his job has: he now helps to coordinate training for units coming through Kandahar Airfield. He also serves once a month as a range safety officer for soldiers conducting marksmanship training.

Jimenez enlisted in his native Puerto Rico in August 1986. Since then, his career has taken him all over the world. In addition to his two deployments in Afghanistan, he also served in Iraq.

“My dad was in the Army -- he is a Korean War veteran,” Jimenez said. “I always wanted to be like him.”

Outside of his combat deployments, Jimenez, who is an infantryman, has been stationed overseas in Italy and in South Korea. He said his time in Italy, from 1999 to 2002, was his best experience in the Army.

“I have enjoyed my Army career,” he added. “The Army has allowed me to travel around different countries [and to] get to know different types of people and experience their cultures.”

Jimenez said his wife, Joanne Aldridge Jimenez, has supported him through three deployments, a big reason he continues to serve.

“When you have a solid marriage and your wife is there for you, she gives you positive encouragement. She is praying for you, and she’s taking care of the household -- that makes your life easier here. It makes you stronger.”

Jimenez, who has been stationed at Fort Carson, Colo., since January 2013, also plays the drums for the Catholic service he attends here on Sunday evenings. He is scheduled to return to Colorado this summer as the 4th Infantry Division completes its time as headquarters for Regional Command South.

California National Guard Soldiers awarded medals for valor in Afghanistan

By 1st Lt. Antonia Elena Pearse
411th Engineer Brigade

GHAZNI PROVINCE, Afghanistan (2/21/14) - Two California Soldiers have been honored for saving two battle buddies last fall.
Members of the 216th Mobility Augmentation Company, a California National Guard unit, were serving under the 365th Engineer Battalion while deployed.

Almost immediately after dismounting Sept. 16, 2013, to conduct deliberate clearance operations, 216th's 1st Platoon received two casualties: one soldier shot in the leg and the other in the chest.

Part of the dismount team became pinned down while returning fire and was unable to render buddy aid to control the bleeding.

Focusing only on saving their battle buddies, the 216th MAC combat medic, Cpl. Christopher Garland, of Upland, Calif., and Staff Sgt. Martin Krebs, of Las Vegas, risked their lives to save their comrades as they raced out from their covered positions. Garland, along with another combat medic from the 216th MAC, Staff Sgt. Laurence Jeffery, treated the two casualties while the other Soldiers provided suppressive fire.

"Everyone did exactly what they needed to do," said 1st Lt. Minkyu Park, the 216th MAC platoon leader. "The enemy has all the time in the world. That day the enemy noticed a weakness in our formation and tried to take advantage of it. My Soldiers reacted to the situation and executed what they needed to do perfectly."

Still taking fire, Garland led the litter team back to the vehicles so they could facilitate the movement of the two wounded Soldiers to the landing zone, where a helicopter would arrive and take the wounded to the hospital. Garland assisted in setting up the landing zone and verified their location and casualties to the flight medics. Upon returning back to base, Garland assisted in the care of the casualties.

"All I was thinking about was the objective," Garland said. "Get the wounded to safety — training kicked in, and I just acted. The gunners were returning fire, Staff Sgt. Wilfredo Delgado, Cpl. Rodrigo Ceja and Staff Sgt. Lawrence Suyashi, all 216th MAC, helped me carry the litter. Everyone acted the way they were supposed to; unit cohesion was perfect."

Due to his heroic actions, Garland has been awarded with an Army Commendation Medal with "V" Device, for valor, and the Combat Medic Badge. All Soldiers on the patrol that day received a Combat Action Badge.

Following the engagement event, everyone returned to the Forward Operating Base alive.

"I'm thankful for my non-commissioned officers who are always adapting and overcoming. I'm thankful for Soldiers who are always motivated," Park said. "I am also on edge. We are only halfway through our deployment, and I don't want complacency setting in."

During mobilization training, conducted prior to deployment, rehearsing possible situations during a mission were emphasized. Soldiers trained on everything from procedures for route clearance patrols and reacting to fire, to resiliency education to improve post-mission mental stability

When Soldiers are in an extremely stressful situation, like a firefight, they will fight as they have been trained. The more intense the training, the more prepared the Soldier will be to react; whether it is on a deployment or garrison mission.

"Training always pays off," Park said. "The soldiers might not have used a specific individual task during that firefight, but the trust and teamwork that these men have learned from each other during all the training we've had to do was essential".