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Afghanistan, U.S. reach pact on post-2014 American support
By Kevin Sieff, The Washington Post
KABUL — After more than a year of negotiations, U.S. and Afghan officials reached an agreement Sunday affirming the United States’ commitment to Afghanistan for a decade after its formal troop withdrawal in 2014.
The document, which must be reviewed by the Afghan parliament and U.S. security agencies and signed by both nations’ presidents, does not specify troop numbers or funding levels, but it offers a broad guarantee that the U.S. role here will not end as abruptly as some feared it might.
For months, Afghan President Hamid Karzai refused to consider the agreement until American-led night raids were halted and the United States handed over its main military prison to Afghan officials. Those roadblocks were removed with the signing of recent deals, which cleared the way for the partnership agreement before a key NATO summit next month.
“The document finalized today provides a strong foundation for the security of Afghanistan, the region and the world, and is a document for the development of the region,” said Afghan national security adviser Rangin Dadfar Spanta.
The document pledges American financial support for Afghanistan through 2024 and refers to the ongoing U.S. role in bolstering Afghan democracy and civil society.
But the specifics of the U.S. commitment have yet to be formally outlined and could be governed by future agreements.
In the past, American officials have described the strategic partnership agreement as a key signal to the Afghan government and the insurgency that the United States will not suddenly abandon its fight against the Taliban. But at this stage, the document provides only a vaguely worded reassurance, leaving many to guess at what the U.S. commitment means in practice.
“The nature, function and size of the U.S. security commitment still has to be worked out,” said a U.S. official who is familiar with the negotiations but is not authorized to discuss details of the pact.
Just last week, Karzai publicly asked the United States to include the precise amount of annual financial support it would offer Afghanistan after 2014, suggesting “at least $2 billion a year.”
U.S. negotiators refused to do so, telling Karzai that the process of congressional appropriation made the request impossible to fulfill.
Still, U.S. and Afghan officials said, the document is a testament to the resilience of the relationship, which has been tested not only by the painstaking negotiations, but also by a string of recent events that appeared to threaten the fabric of the partnership.
Some of the most significant progress on the agreement occurred not long after U.S. service members burned a pile of Korans on an American base here and in the wake of Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales being charged with 17 counts of murder over the massacre of Afghan villagers in the southern province of Kandahar last month.
“Our goal is an enduring partnership with Afghanistan that strengthens Afghan sovereignty, stability and prosperity and that contributes to our shared goal of defeating al-Qaeda and its extremist affiliates,” said Gavin A. Sundwall, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy. “We believe this agreement supports that goal.”
Afghanistan and U.S. agree on strategic pact text
By Rob Taylor
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan and the United States on Sunday agreed on a draft of a long-awaited deal that will define the scope and nature of a U.S. presence in the country for up to a decade after the pullout of most NATO combat troops in 2014.
The U.S. Ambassador to Kabul, Ryan Crocker, and Afghan national security adviser, Rangin Spanta, initialed copies of the agreement, paving the way for President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, to review it.
"After much hard work together, we are pleased that we are close to completing negotiations on (the) Strategic Partnership," a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Kabul told Reuters.
"Our goal is an enduring partnership with Afghanistan that strengthens Afghan sovereignty, stability and prosperity and that contributes to our shared goal of defeating Al Qaeda and its extremist affiliates. We believe this agreement supports that goal," he said.
The deal, under negotiation now for more than nine months, comes at a time when relations between Washington and Kabul remain badly strained by a number of incidents involving U.S. soldiers that have infuriated public opinion.
It spells out the framework for a future U.S. role in Afghanistan, including aid assistance and governance advice.
But it will not specify whether a reduced number of U.S. troops - possibly special forces - and advisers will remain in the country after NATO's 2014 withdrawal deadline, with that issue to be covered in a separate status of forces agreement.
Negotiations on the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) were delayed for months until U.S. negotiators agreed to Karzai's demands to hand over operation of American prisons in the country to Afghan control and to hand over leadership of night raids on homes to Afghan forces.
DEADLINE FOR FINAL DEAL NEAR
Both sides have been keen to allay Afghan fears that they are about to be abandoned by clinching a deal that they hope will calm nerves ahead of NATO's planned pullout and a phasing out of Western aid.
Insurgents staged coordinated attacks in Kabul and elsewhere a week ago that paralyzed the capital's centre and diplomatic area for 18 hours. The Taliban claimed the attacks, but U.S. and Afghan officials blamed the militant Haqqani Network.
The U.S. embassy spokesman said the agreed wording of the deal would now enter "internal consultation processes" on both sides and would be examined by the U.S. Congress if needed before finally being reviewed by President Obama.
"Both President Obama and President Karzai have said they hope to sign this agreement before the NATO Summit in Chicago," the spokesman said.
The late May Chicago summit will see Western leaders try to agree on future funding and support for the 352,000-strong Afghan police and army. That support is expected to amount to $4 billion a year, with the Afghan government contributing around $500 million a year of that.
The Afghan government is separately negotiating similar deals to SPA with other NATO member states and U.S. allies, who contribute to the 130,000-strong coalition force.
Karzai recently said he wanted the United States to contribute $2 billion a year under the U.S.-Afghan SPA, but an Afghan government source said on condition of anonymity that the deal negotiated by Crocker and Spanta contained no firm numbers.
Until the agreement is finalized, the U.S. embassy spokesman said he could not discuss its content.
(Editing by Andrew Osborn)
Karzai must confront Pakistan for aiding terrorists
Examiner.com By Michael Hughes Afghanistan Headlines Examine April 22, 2012
After Afghan security forces busted yet another Pakistan-linked terrorist cell on Saturday, Afghan policy expert Khalil Nouri declared it was time for President Hamid Karzai to genuinely confront Afghanistan’s wayward neighbor.
Mr. Nouri, who is the president of a native Afghan think tank called the New World Strategies Coalition (NWSC), posted the following statement on his Afghanistan National Reconciliation (ANR) Facebook page:
Pakistan must be held liable for directing and coordinating these attacks. Mr. Karzai needs to tell his Pakistani friends to stop their attacks or he needs to step down for being an ineffective and weak leader.
During yesterday’s arrest 11 tons of explosives were discovered which the terror suspects planned on using to launch large-scale attacks in Kabul. The suspects also said they planned on assassinating Afghanistan’s second vice-president Abdul Karim Khalili.
National Directorate of Security (NDS) spokesman Shafiqullah Tahiri said the five men confessed to receiving training from Pakistan intelligence.
Last Sunday the Taliban launched a wave of coordinated attacks across Afghanistan, hitting seven sites in four cities, which were planned in Pakistan according to Afghan intelligence.
The offensive was reminiscent of last fall’s 20-hour siege of Kabul, which was executed by a North Waziristan-based Taliban affiliate called the Haqqani Network.
Dawn.com reported that Pakistan’s military denied accusations that it sees the Haqqanis as a counterweight to the growing influence of India in Afghanistan.
The U.S. has been asking Pakistan to shut down terrorist sanctuaries for the past decade to no avail. Nouri said the Afghans must take responsibility for this issue, especially considering NATO forces will be pulling out in 2014.
But Nouri also believes the Afghans will never see peace until the country is ruled by a strong, legitimate and uncorrupt leader who is not afraid to deal with Pakistan firmly.
Flood kills 7 in Afghanistan's northern Baghlan Province
Puk-e-Khumri (Afghanistan), April 22 (Xinhua-ANI): Heavy rains and floods have claimed the lives of at least seven people and destroyed dozens of houses in Baghlan province, 160 km north of Kabul over the past two days, a local official said Sunday.
"At least seven people have lost their lives in Burka and Dahnai Ghori districts over the past two days due to heavy rains and flooding," head of Natural Disaster Department in Baghlan province Mohammad Nasim Kohzad told the media.
More than 100 houses have also been damaged in both districts, he said, adding heavy rain is still continuing.
The rain and flood have also damaged the properties in the neighboring Kunduz province, according to an official.
Some 500 houses have been damaged and hundreds of people are left homeless in Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province, due to heavy rains and flooding in the past two days, district governor Imamudin Qurishi said Sunday.
Strong Food improves health of Afghan women and children
Examiner.com By Susy Raybon Military Community Examiner April 21, 2012
Thanks to a product introduced into the poorest Afghan provinces back in 2008, the country’s youngest citizens are now showing an improvement in their health.
Strong Food, locally known as Qavi Ghiza, is an edible paste made of flour, sugar, vegetable oil, and essential vitamins. The paste must be mixed with Clean Water* before consumption.
Introduced to Zabul Province in mid-2008, the nutritious paste was first tried at the hospital in Shajoy where it was used to treat some 400 malnourished children. The results were overwhelming.
Strong Food was initially developed for children under the age of 5 and also for nursing mothers.
Sadly, it’s not unusual for children in remote parts of Afghanistan to look at least two years younger than their chronological age due to poor nutrition, unsanitary practices and contaminated drinking water.
Nearly 80% of children in these areas also have intestinal worms that contribute to poor health.
It’s common for Afghan women to have dangerously low hemoglobin numbers due to lack of meat in their diet. Typically, men in the family eat what meat is available, often leaving women without meat and few other options for protein.
The Strong Food programs were introduced by U.S. led Provincial Reconstruction Teams but now the programs are managed, and the product is manufactured, by local Afghans.
Strong Food is produced locally for several reasons. It stimulates local economies by using local products and creating jobs, there are no shipping costs and U.S. led reconstruction teams are already looking ahead to the 2014 exit date from Afghanistan.
Local Afghans feel like this program is the beginning of building their own system of healthcare.
Strong Food is not a revolutionary concept. A similar product which is basically fortified nut-butter has been used by relief organizations in African countries for many years.
In Africa they call the product "Plumpy Nut". The worldwide medical organization Doctors Without Borders has been distributing it in foil packets to mothers of malnourished children in Malawi, Sudan, Niger and Darfur prior to 2005.
The upside to the nut-based product is that it doesn’t require a clean water source to be used for preparation.
Examiner’s Note: Clean Water* is basically a hypo-chlorite solution (bleach) that is run through an ionizer with common table salt. Using Clean Water with the Strong Food paste is as important as the nutritional paste itself.
The National Military Examiner publishes military-related content. For instant updates, please use the SUBSCRIBE icon on this page and read more military articles here on Facebook.
Group swiftly gets crucial supplies to troops in Afghanistan
TroopsDirect provides such items as stretchers, stethoscopes, communication gear and protective eyewear. It has sent more than 10 tons of supplies to Marine battalions and an Army unit.
Los Angeles Times By Maria L. La Ganga and Tony Perry April 22, 2012
OAKLAND - Aaron Negherbon remembers the plaintive email he received from a Marine sergeant in Afghanistan.
"Aaron, I don't know if you can do this," it read. "Our supply truck was blown up and all the gear from my nine medics was destroyed."
The sergeant was requesting surgical kits, gauze, equipment for cutting into tracheas and "all the etc."
Negherbon, 38, founder and president of TroopsDirect, a nonprofit organization, had the supplies gathered, shipped and in the hands of front-line troops within 10 days.
"That's what we do," Negherbon said as he walked through his group's flag-draped warehouse at the back of a defunct auto dealership.
Numerous groups, including several in Orange County with an affinity for Camp Pendleton, send troops goodie boxes filled with snack food, toilet paper, crackers, chewing tobacco, magazines and more.
TroopsDirect is different. Yes, it sends sun block, bug spray, toothbrushes, energy bars, packages of drink powder and other things meant to make deployment to a war zone less torturous.
But the group's main goal is to send items of a more critical nature, including stretchers, stethoscopes, gauze, medical ointments, communication gear, protective eyewear, tourniquets and special chalk to warn troops about the threat of buried roadside bombs.
TroopsDirect has sent more than 10 tons of supplies to Afghanistan for Marine infantry battalions from Camp Pendleton, the Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms and Camp Lejeune, N.C., and for an Army supply unit from Ft. Drum, N.Y.
The Marines, Negherbon found, are particularly needy, given the Marine Corps' "first to fight" culture of doing more with less. "The Marines go without a lot of things compared to an Army unit," he said.
Department of Defense rules require military units to keep nonprofit organizations at arm's length, lest they appear to endorse the groups. But that has not kept Marine officers and "grunts" on the front line from expressing their appreciation to TroopsDirect.
"I'm always a bit uneasy when we go outside the established military supply system," said Col. Willy Buhl, former commander of the 5th Marine Regiment, which has seen some of the toughest fighting of the 10-year war in Afghanistan.
But TroopsDirect, Buhl said, has gotten crucial supplies to the troops "much faster than we could otherwise hope."
As for Negherbon, Buhl said, "he is just a great man, a very generous and committed patriot who has no other agenda than to help our Marines forward deployed."
Lt. Col. William Vivian, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, said that after arriving in Afghanistan last fall, his troops needed pressure washers to clean out Humvees and showers.
"That would have been a significant contracting effort for us to do on our own," Vivian said this month. "They'd probably be arriving about now. TroopsDirect did it overnight; they're amazing."
Negherbon founded TroopsDirect two years ago after talking to a longtime friend, a Marine captain, about things that his troops needed. Negherbon put aside his job with a mortgage brokerage and now runs TroopsDirect from a small office in San Ramon, east of Oakland.
Requests come via Skype, satellite phone, Facebook and email. Negherbon travels to Southern California to meet with commanders before they deploy to better anticipate their needs when they reach Helmand province, long a Taliban stronghold.
Among the most commonly requested items are combat stretchers, made of heavy-duty nylon mesh.
"You have a son or nephew, and he gets hit, and they don't have one of these available." Negherbon said, not needing to finish his sentence.
Another common request is for pressure washers. "They use them to wash the blood and guts out of vehicles," he said.
The group, which relies on donations, raised $350,000 from July 1, 2010, to June 20, 2011, according to the most recent IRS documents on file.
But of late, contributions have decreased, probably because combat activity is winding down and the public is turning its philanthropic attention elsewhere.
"We're getting about 75 cents for every dollar we used to get," Negherbon said.
On a recent morning, Negherbon received an email asking for toothbrushes, gun-cleaning kits, eye protection, hand sanitizer and two digital watches.
"Two of my guys, 1 Marine and 1 corpsman, hit an IED," or improvised explosive device, said the email, "..shrapnel wounds etc..anyway they both had their watches cut off."
TroopsDirect had the request filled and shipped within a frantic 96 hours.
"We operate in real time," Negherbon said.
maria.laganga@latimes.com
tony.perry@latimes.com
La Ganga reported from Oakland, Perry from San Diego.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com
By Kevin Sieff, The Washington Post
KABUL — After more than a year of negotiations, U.S. and Afghan officials reached an agreement Sunday affirming the United States’ commitment to Afghanistan for a decade after its formal troop withdrawal in 2014.
The document, which must be reviewed by the Afghan parliament and U.S. security agencies and signed by both nations’ presidents, does not specify troop numbers or funding levels, but it offers a broad guarantee that the U.S. role here will not end as abruptly as some feared it might.
For months, Afghan President Hamid Karzai refused to consider the agreement until American-led night raids were halted and the United States handed over its main military prison to Afghan officials. Those roadblocks were removed with the signing of recent deals, which cleared the way for the partnership agreement before a key NATO summit next month.
“The document finalized today provides a strong foundation for the security of Afghanistan, the region and the world, and is a document for the development of the region,” said Afghan national security adviser Rangin Dadfar Spanta.
The document pledges American financial support for Afghanistan through 2024 and refers to the ongoing U.S. role in bolstering Afghan democracy and civil society.
But the specifics of the U.S. commitment have yet to be formally outlined and could be governed by future agreements.
In the past, American officials have described the strategic partnership agreement as a key signal to the Afghan government and the insurgency that the United States will not suddenly abandon its fight against the Taliban. But at this stage, the document provides only a vaguely worded reassurance, leaving many to guess at what the U.S. commitment means in practice.
“The nature, function and size of the U.S. security commitment still has to be worked out,” said a U.S. official who is familiar with the negotiations but is not authorized to discuss details of the pact.
Just last week, Karzai publicly asked the United States to include the precise amount of annual financial support it would offer Afghanistan after 2014, suggesting “at least $2 billion a year.”
U.S. negotiators refused to do so, telling Karzai that the process of congressional appropriation made the request impossible to fulfill.
Still, U.S. and Afghan officials said, the document is a testament to the resilience of the relationship, which has been tested not only by the painstaking negotiations, but also by a string of recent events that appeared to threaten the fabric of the partnership.
Some of the most significant progress on the agreement occurred not long after U.S. service members burned a pile of Korans on an American base here and in the wake of Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales being charged with 17 counts of murder over the massacre of Afghan villagers in the southern province of Kandahar last month.
“Our goal is an enduring partnership with Afghanistan that strengthens Afghan sovereignty, stability and prosperity and that contributes to our shared goal of defeating al-Qaeda and its extremist affiliates,” said Gavin A. Sundwall, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy. “We believe this agreement supports that goal.”
Afghanistan and U.S. agree on strategic pact text
By Rob Taylor
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan and the United States on Sunday agreed on a draft of a long-awaited deal that will define the scope and nature of a U.S. presence in the country for up to a decade after the pullout of most NATO combat troops in 2014.
The U.S. Ambassador to Kabul, Ryan Crocker, and Afghan national security adviser, Rangin Spanta, initialed copies of the agreement, paving the way for President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, to review it.
"After much hard work together, we are pleased that we are close to completing negotiations on (the) Strategic Partnership," a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Kabul told Reuters.
"Our goal is an enduring partnership with Afghanistan that strengthens Afghan sovereignty, stability and prosperity and that contributes to our shared goal of defeating Al Qaeda and its extremist affiliates. We believe this agreement supports that goal," he said.
The deal, under negotiation now for more than nine months, comes at a time when relations between Washington and Kabul remain badly strained by a number of incidents involving U.S. soldiers that have infuriated public opinion.
It spells out the framework for a future U.S. role in Afghanistan, including aid assistance and governance advice.
But it will not specify whether a reduced number of U.S. troops - possibly special forces - and advisers will remain in the country after NATO's 2014 withdrawal deadline, with that issue to be covered in a separate status of forces agreement.
Negotiations on the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) were delayed for months until U.S. negotiators agreed to Karzai's demands to hand over operation of American prisons in the country to Afghan control and to hand over leadership of night raids on homes to Afghan forces.
DEADLINE FOR FINAL DEAL NEAR
Both sides have been keen to allay Afghan fears that they are about to be abandoned by clinching a deal that they hope will calm nerves ahead of NATO's planned pullout and a phasing out of Western aid.
Insurgents staged coordinated attacks in Kabul and elsewhere a week ago that paralyzed the capital's centre and diplomatic area for 18 hours. The Taliban claimed the attacks, but U.S. and Afghan officials blamed the militant Haqqani Network.
The U.S. embassy spokesman said the agreed wording of the deal would now enter "internal consultation processes" on both sides and would be examined by the U.S. Congress if needed before finally being reviewed by President Obama.
"Both President Obama and President Karzai have said they hope to sign this agreement before the NATO Summit in Chicago," the spokesman said.
The late May Chicago summit will see Western leaders try to agree on future funding and support for the 352,000-strong Afghan police and army. That support is expected to amount to $4 billion a year, with the Afghan government contributing around $500 million a year of that.
The Afghan government is separately negotiating similar deals to SPA with other NATO member states and U.S. allies, who contribute to the 130,000-strong coalition force.
Karzai recently said he wanted the United States to contribute $2 billion a year under the U.S.-Afghan SPA, but an Afghan government source said on condition of anonymity that the deal negotiated by Crocker and Spanta contained no firm numbers.
Until the agreement is finalized, the U.S. embassy spokesman said he could not discuss its content.
(Editing by Andrew Osborn)
Karzai must confront Pakistan for aiding terrorists
Examiner.com By Michael Hughes Afghanistan Headlines Examine April 22, 2012
After Afghan security forces busted yet another Pakistan-linked terrorist cell on Saturday, Afghan policy expert Khalil Nouri declared it was time for President Hamid Karzai to genuinely confront Afghanistan’s wayward neighbor.
Mr. Nouri, who is the president of a native Afghan think tank called the New World Strategies Coalition (NWSC), posted the following statement on his Afghanistan National Reconciliation (ANR) Facebook page:
Pakistan must be held liable for directing and coordinating these attacks. Mr. Karzai needs to tell his Pakistani friends to stop their attacks or he needs to step down for being an ineffective and weak leader.
During yesterday’s arrest 11 tons of explosives were discovered which the terror suspects planned on using to launch large-scale attacks in Kabul. The suspects also said they planned on assassinating Afghanistan’s second vice-president Abdul Karim Khalili.
National Directorate of Security (NDS) spokesman Shafiqullah Tahiri said the five men confessed to receiving training from Pakistan intelligence.
Last Sunday the Taliban launched a wave of coordinated attacks across Afghanistan, hitting seven sites in four cities, which were planned in Pakistan according to Afghan intelligence.
The offensive was reminiscent of last fall’s 20-hour siege of Kabul, which was executed by a North Waziristan-based Taliban affiliate called the Haqqani Network.
Dawn.com reported that Pakistan’s military denied accusations that it sees the Haqqanis as a counterweight to the growing influence of India in Afghanistan.
The U.S. has been asking Pakistan to shut down terrorist sanctuaries for the past decade to no avail. Nouri said the Afghans must take responsibility for this issue, especially considering NATO forces will be pulling out in 2014.
But Nouri also believes the Afghans will never see peace until the country is ruled by a strong, legitimate and uncorrupt leader who is not afraid to deal with Pakistan firmly.
Flood kills 7 in Afghanistan's northern Baghlan Province
Puk-e-Khumri (Afghanistan), April 22 (Xinhua-ANI): Heavy rains and floods have claimed the lives of at least seven people and destroyed dozens of houses in Baghlan province, 160 km north of Kabul over the past two days, a local official said Sunday.
"At least seven people have lost their lives in Burka and Dahnai Ghori districts over the past two days due to heavy rains and flooding," head of Natural Disaster Department in Baghlan province Mohammad Nasim Kohzad told the media.
More than 100 houses have also been damaged in both districts, he said, adding heavy rain is still continuing.
The rain and flood have also damaged the properties in the neighboring Kunduz province, according to an official.
Some 500 houses have been damaged and hundreds of people are left homeless in Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province, due to heavy rains and flooding in the past two days, district governor Imamudin Qurishi said Sunday.
Strong Food improves health of Afghan women and children
Examiner.com By Susy Raybon Military Community Examiner April 21, 2012
Thanks to a product introduced into the poorest Afghan provinces back in 2008, the country’s youngest citizens are now showing an improvement in their health.
Strong Food, locally known as Qavi Ghiza, is an edible paste made of flour, sugar, vegetable oil, and essential vitamins. The paste must be mixed with Clean Water* before consumption.
Introduced to Zabul Province in mid-2008, the nutritious paste was first tried at the hospital in Shajoy where it was used to treat some 400 malnourished children. The results were overwhelming.
Strong Food was initially developed for children under the age of 5 and also for nursing mothers.
Sadly, it’s not unusual for children in remote parts of Afghanistan to look at least two years younger than their chronological age due to poor nutrition, unsanitary practices and contaminated drinking water.
Nearly 80% of children in these areas also have intestinal worms that contribute to poor health.
It’s common for Afghan women to have dangerously low hemoglobin numbers due to lack of meat in their diet. Typically, men in the family eat what meat is available, often leaving women without meat and few other options for protein.
The Strong Food programs were introduced by U.S. led Provincial Reconstruction Teams but now the programs are managed, and the product is manufactured, by local Afghans.
Strong Food is produced locally for several reasons. It stimulates local economies by using local products and creating jobs, there are no shipping costs and U.S. led reconstruction teams are already looking ahead to the 2014 exit date from Afghanistan.
Local Afghans feel like this program is the beginning of building their own system of healthcare.
Strong Food is not a revolutionary concept. A similar product which is basically fortified nut-butter has been used by relief organizations in African countries for many years.
In Africa they call the product "Plumpy Nut". The worldwide medical organization Doctors Without Borders has been distributing it in foil packets to mothers of malnourished children in Malawi, Sudan, Niger and Darfur prior to 2005.
The upside to the nut-based product is that it doesn’t require a clean water source to be used for preparation.
Examiner’s Note: Clean Water* is basically a hypo-chlorite solution (bleach) that is run through an ionizer with common table salt. Using Clean Water with the Strong Food paste is as important as the nutritional paste itself.
The National Military Examiner publishes military-related content. For instant updates, please use the SUBSCRIBE icon on this page and read more military articles here on Facebook.
Group swiftly gets crucial supplies to troops in Afghanistan
TroopsDirect provides such items as stretchers, stethoscopes, communication gear and protective eyewear. It has sent more than 10 tons of supplies to Marine battalions and an Army unit.
Los Angeles Times By Maria L. La Ganga and Tony Perry April 22, 2012
OAKLAND - Aaron Negherbon remembers the plaintive email he received from a Marine sergeant in Afghanistan.
"Aaron, I don't know if you can do this," it read. "Our supply truck was blown up and all the gear from my nine medics was destroyed."
The sergeant was requesting surgical kits, gauze, equipment for cutting into tracheas and "all the etc."
Negherbon, 38, founder and president of TroopsDirect, a nonprofit organization, had the supplies gathered, shipped and in the hands of front-line troops within 10 days.
"That's what we do," Negherbon said as he walked through his group's flag-draped warehouse at the back of a defunct auto dealership.
Numerous groups, including several in Orange County with an affinity for Camp Pendleton, send troops goodie boxes filled with snack food, toilet paper, crackers, chewing tobacco, magazines and more.
TroopsDirect is different. Yes, it sends sun block, bug spray, toothbrushes, energy bars, packages of drink powder and other things meant to make deployment to a war zone less torturous.
But the group's main goal is to send items of a more critical nature, including stretchers, stethoscopes, gauze, medical ointments, communication gear, protective eyewear, tourniquets and special chalk to warn troops about the threat of buried roadside bombs.
TroopsDirect has sent more than 10 tons of supplies to Afghanistan for Marine infantry battalions from Camp Pendleton, the Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms and Camp Lejeune, N.C., and for an Army supply unit from Ft. Drum, N.Y.
The Marines, Negherbon found, are particularly needy, given the Marine Corps' "first to fight" culture of doing more with less. "The Marines go without a lot of things compared to an Army unit," he said.
Department of Defense rules require military units to keep nonprofit organizations at arm's length, lest they appear to endorse the groups. But that has not kept Marine officers and "grunts" on the front line from expressing their appreciation to TroopsDirect.
"I'm always a bit uneasy when we go outside the established military supply system," said Col. Willy Buhl, former commander of the 5th Marine Regiment, which has seen some of the toughest fighting of the 10-year war in Afghanistan.
But TroopsDirect, Buhl said, has gotten crucial supplies to the troops "much faster than we could otherwise hope."
As for Negherbon, Buhl said, "he is just a great man, a very generous and committed patriot who has no other agenda than to help our Marines forward deployed."
Lt. Col. William Vivian, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, said that after arriving in Afghanistan last fall, his troops needed pressure washers to clean out Humvees and showers.
"That would have been a significant contracting effort for us to do on our own," Vivian said this month. "They'd probably be arriving about now. TroopsDirect did it overnight; they're amazing."
Negherbon founded TroopsDirect two years ago after talking to a longtime friend, a Marine captain, about things that his troops needed. Negherbon put aside his job with a mortgage brokerage and now runs TroopsDirect from a small office in San Ramon, east of Oakland.
Requests come via Skype, satellite phone, Facebook and email. Negherbon travels to Southern California to meet with commanders before they deploy to better anticipate their needs when they reach Helmand province, long a Taliban stronghold.
Among the most commonly requested items are combat stretchers, made of heavy-duty nylon mesh.
"You have a son or nephew, and he gets hit, and they don't have one of these available." Negherbon said, not needing to finish his sentence.
Another common request is for pressure washers. "They use them to wash the blood and guts out of vehicles," he said.
The group, which relies on donations, raised $350,000 from July 1, 2010, to June 20, 2011, according to the most recent IRS documents on file.
But of late, contributions have decreased, probably because combat activity is winding down and the public is turning its philanthropic attention elsewhere.
"We're getting about 75 cents for every dollar we used to get," Negherbon said.
On a recent morning, Negherbon received an email asking for toothbrushes, gun-cleaning kits, eye protection, hand sanitizer and two digital watches.
"Two of my guys, 1 Marine and 1 corpsman, hit an IED," or improvised explosive device, said the email, "..shrapnel wounds etc..anyway they both had their watches cut off."
TroopsDirect had the request filled and shipped within a frantic 96 hours.
"We operate in real time," Negherbon said.
maria.laganga@latimes.com
tony.perry@latimes.com
La Ganga reported from Oakland, Perry from San Diego.
www.afghanistannewscenter.com