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Obama bristles at suggestion he’s shifted on snooping

Alexander told a Senate committee last week that the surveillance programs helped stop dozens of terror plots, but he was unable then to provide classified details.

Under pressure from Rogers and other legislators, Alexander joined law enforcement officials Tuesday in making public some declassified details of the Patriot Act provisions.

In recent years, Alexander said, information “gathered from these programs provided government with critical leads to prevent over 50 potential terrorist events in more than 20 countries around the world.”

Details of most of the thwarted terrorism acts remain secret, but national security officials said they were working on declassifying more information and could have a report to Congress as early as this week.

Sean Joyce, the deputy FBI director, detailed how email surveillance of foreigners under one program helped authorities discover the two New York City plots.

In the fall of 2009, Joyce said, the NSA intercepted an e-mail from a suspected terrorist in Pakistan. That person was talking with someone in the United States “about perfecting a recipe for explosives,” he said.

Authorities identified Afghan-born Najibullah Zazi of Denver. The FBI followed him to New York and eventually broke up planning to attack the city’s subway system. Zazi pleaded guilty and is currently in prison.

Snowden claims online Obama expanded ‘abusive’ security

In the other New York case, the NSA was monitoring a “known extremist” in Yemen who was in contact with a person in the United States, Joyce said. The FBI detected “nascent plotting” to bomb the stock exchange, long considered a target of terrorists, and the plotters were later convicted, according to Joyce.

He also said e-mail surveillance disrupted an effort to attack the office of a Danish newspaper that was threatened for publishing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed in 2006.

The plot involved David Headley, a U.S citizen living in Chicago. The FBI received intelligence at the time regarding his possible involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack that killed 164 people, Joyce said.

The NSA, through surveillance of an al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist, found that Headley was working on a plot to bomb the newspaper.

Headley later confessed to conducting surveillance and was convicted. He also pleaded guilty to conducting surveillance in the Mumbai case.

In a fourth case, secret surveillance “tipped us off” to a person who had indirect contacts with a known terrorist group overseas, Joyce said.

“We were able to reopen this investigation, identify additional individuals through the legal process and were able to disrupt this terrorist activity,” Joyce said.

In an exchange with Joyce, Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas said the case involved someone financing a designated terrorist group in Somalia.

Rogers, who scheduled the hearing in recent days after Alexander pledged to declassify information on terror plots thwarted by the secret programs, said it was necessary to clear up public confusion caused by misinformation.

“If half the things I read in blog and other places were true, I wouldn’t support it,” the Michigan Republican said, later adding that skeptics “have no understanding” of what is going on.

In particular, he said Snowden disclosed only a sliver of information about the programs without knowing the full extent of what they did and the strict regulation and oversight of them.

“None of the things he talked about were accurate,” Rogers said of Snowden.

The hearing came one day after Snowden defended his actions in leaking classified documents to Britain’s Guardian newpaper and the Washington Post.

In a series of blog posts on the Guardian website, the 29-year-old Snowden said he disclosed the information because Obama worsened “abusive” surveillance practices instead of curtailing them as he promised as a presidential candidate.

The former NSA contractor insisted that U.S. authorities have access to phone calls, e-mails and other communications far beyond constitutional bounds. While he said legal restrictions can be easily skirted by analysts at the NSA, FBI and CIA, Snowden stopped short of accusing authorities of violating specific laws.

Instead, he said toothless regulations and policies were to blame for what he called “suspicionless surveillance,” and he warned that policies can be changed to allow further abuses.

At Tuesday’s hearing, officials detailed how the programs operate and the judicial and legislative oversight involved, repeating several times how access to the content of e-mails or telephone calls — or even the names of people involved — required authorization.

Deputy Attorney General James Cole noted that basic phone records collected under Section 215 of the Patriot Act were not protected by Fourth Amendment rights to privacy, citing a 1979 Supreme Court ruling.

In the case, Smith v. Maryland, the justices ruled that information about telephone calls — such as their time and duration — was different from the content of the calls and therefore not protected under the Fourth Amendment.

Cole also provided a detailed description of the legal framework of the programs, noting that the anti-terrorism surveillance effort is not “off the books” or “hidden away.”

“This is part of what government puts together and discusses,” he said. “Statutes are passed. It is overseen by three branches of our government — the Legislature, the Judiciary, and the Executive Branch.”

He described the U.S. phone records collected under Section 215 as basic information “just like what you would get in your own phone bill.”

“It is the number that was dialed from, the number that was dialed to, the date and the length of time. That’s all we get,” he said. “We do not get the identity of any of the parties to this phone call. We don’t get any cell site or location information as to where any of these phones were located. And, most importantly, and you’re probably going to hear this about 100 times today, we don’t get any content under this. We don’t listen in on anybody’s calls under this program at all.”

Tech companies jockey to seem the most transparent

Instead, it takes permission from a special court to get access to further information, based on a verifiable link to a terrorism investigation, Cole explained. Such links have mostly come from another surveillance program that collects communications information of foreign terrorism suspects living overseas.

Critics question the need to store the vast amount of U.S. phone records, saying it creates a database prone to abuses and provides little return for the risk and privacy concerns.

Alexander said Tuesday the phone database played a role in stopping 10 terrorist acts since the 9/11 attacks. At the same time, he and other officials said there were no cases they knew of in which anyone willfully misused the system to access information.

“If you’re looking for the needle in a haystack,” Cole said, “you have to have the haystack.”

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/politics/nsa-leaks/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/Uyo0e5ms5f0/feds-spying-thwarted-50-attacks

Editor’s note: Bruce Schneier is a security technologist and author of “Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust Society Needs to Survive.”

(CNN) — Today, the United States is conducting offensive cyberwar actions around the world.

More than passively eavesdropping, we’re penetrating and damaging foreign networks for both espionage and to ready them for attack. We’re creating custom-designed Internet weapons, pre-targeted and ready to be “fired” against some piece of another country’s electronic infrastructure on a moment’s notice.

This is much worse than what we’re accusing China of doing to us. We’re pursuing policies that are both expensive and destabilizing and aren’t making the Internet any safer. We’re reacting from fear, and causing other countries to counter-react from fear. We’re ignoring resilience in favor of offense.

Welcome to the cyberwar arms race, an arms race that will define the Internet in the 21st century.

Presidential Policy Directive 20, issued last October and released by Edward Snowden, outlines U.S. cyberwar policy. Most of it isn’t very interesting, but there are two paragraphs about “Offensive Cyber Effect Operations,” or OCEO, that are intriguing:

“OECO can offer unique and unconventional capabilities to advance U.S. national objectives around the world with little or no warning to the adversary or target and with potential effects ranging from subtle to severely damaging. The development and sustainment of OCEO capabilities, however, may require considerable time and effort if access and tools for a specific target do not already exist.

“The United States Government shall identify potential targets of national importance where OCEO can offer a favorable balance of effectiveness and risk as compared with other instruments of national power, establish and maintain OCEO capabilities integrated as appropriate with other U.S. offensive capabilities, and execute those capabilities in a manner consistent with the provisions of this directive.”

Opinion: Cyber arms control? Forget about it

That’s what Obama directed the U.S. Cyber Command to do. We can see glimpses in how effective we are in Snowden’s allegations that the NSA is currently penetrating foreign networks around the world: “We hack network backbones — like huge Internet routers, basically — that give us access to the communications of hundreds of thousands of computers without having to hack every single one.”

The NSA and the U.S. Cyber Command are basically the same thing. They’re both at Fort Meade in Maryland, and they’re both led by Gen. Keith Alexander. The same people who hack network backbones are also building weapons to destroy those backbones. At a March Senate briefing, Alexander boasted of creating more than a dozen offensive cyber units.

Longtime NSA watcher James Bamford reached the same conclusion in his recent profile of Alexander and the U.S. Cyber Command (written before the Snowden revelations). He discussed some of the many cyberweapons the U.S. purchases:

“According to Defense News’ C4ISR Journal and Bloomberg Businessweek, Endgame also offers its intelligence clients — agencies like Cyber Command, the NSA, the CIA, and British intelligence — a unique map showing them exactly where their targets are located. Dubbed Bonesaw, the map displays the geolocation and digital address of basically every device connected to the Internet around the world, providing what’s called network situational awareness. The client locates a region on the password-protected web-based map, then picks a country and city — say, Beijing, China. Next the client types in the name of the target organization, such as the Ministry of Public Security’s No. 3 Research Institute, which is responsible for computer security — or simply enters its address, 6 Zhengyi Road. The map will then display what software is running on the computers inside the facility, what types of malware some may contain, and a menu of custom-designed exploits that can be used to secretly gain entry. It can also pinpoint those devices infected with malware, such as the Conficker worm, as well as networks turned into botnets and zombies — the equivalent of a back door left open…

“The buying and using of such a subscription by nation-states could be seen as an act of war. ‘If you are engaged in reconnaissance on an adversary’s systems, you are laying the electronic battlefield and preparing to use it’ wrote Mike Jacobs, a former NSA director for information assurance, in a McAfee report on cyberwarfare. ‘In my opinion, these activities constitute acts of war, or at least a prelude to future acts of war.’ The question is, who else is on the secretive company’s client list? Because there is as of yet no oversight or regulation of the cyberweapons trade, companies in the cyber-industrial complex are free to sell to whomever they wish. “It should be illegal,’ said the former senior intelligence official involved in cyberwarfare. ‘I knew about Endgame when I was in intelligence. The intelligence community didn’t like it, but they’re the largest consumer of that business.’”

That’s the key question: How much of what the United States is currently doing is an act of war by international definitions? Already we’re accusing China of penetrating our systems in order to map “military capabilities that could be exploited during a crisis.” What PPD-20 and Snowden describe is much worse, and certainly China, and other countries, are doing the same.

All of this mapping of vulnerabilities and keeping them secret for offensive use makes the Internet less secure, and these pre-targeted, ready-to-unleash cyberweapons are destabalizing forces on international relationships. Rooting around other countries’ networks, analyzing vulnerabilities, creating back doors, and leaving logic bombs could easily be construed as an act of war. And all it takes is one over-achieving national leader for this all to tumble into actual war.

It’s time to stop the madness. Yes, our military needs to invest in cyberwar capabilities, but we also need international rules of cyberwar, more transparency from our own government on what we are and are not doing, international cooperation between governments and viable cyberweapons treaties. Yes, these are difficult. Yes, it’s a long slow process. Yes, there won’t be international consensus, certainly not in the beginning. But even with all of those problems, it’s a better path to go down than the one we’re on now.

We can start by taking most of the money we’re investing in offensive cyberwar capabilities and spend them on national cyberspace resilience. MAD, mutually assured destruction, made sense because there were two superpowers opposing each other. On the Internet there are all sorts of different powers, from nation-states to much less organized groups. An arsenal of cyberweapons begs to be used, and, as we learned from Stuxnet, there’s always collateral damage to innocents when they are. We’re much safer with a strong defense than with a counterbalancing offense.

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter.

Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Bruce Schneier.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/opinion/schneier-cyberwar-policy/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/QBs6tF1QnlQ/has-u-s-started-internet-war

Obama bristles at suggestion he’s shifted on snooping

CNN poll: Obama numbers plunge into generation gap

Snowden said he leaked details of the surveillance programs because Obama campaigned for the presidency on a platform of ending abuses.

However, Obama “closed the door on investigating systemic violations of law, deepened and expanded several abusive programs, and refused to spend the political capital to end the kind of human rights violations like we see in Guantanamo, where men still sit without charge,” a blog post said.

Snowden also said that he had to get out of the United States before the leaks were published by the Guardian and Washington Post to avoid being targeted by the government.

Details on NSA-thwarted plots coming, lawmaker says

The blog post rejected accusations that he had or might provide classified information to China, saying he only leaked to journalists and calling such a charge a smear tactic intended to turn public opinion against his effort to provide Americans with full information about how their government monitors them.

A CNN/ORC International poll released Monday showed 54% of respondents didn’t approve of Snowden’s admitted actions, while 44% backed the leaks.

Snowden’s father told Fox News that he hoped and prayed his son “will not release any secrets that could constitute treason.”

The father, Lon Snowden, also said he wanted his son to return to the United States “and face this,” adding “I love my son.”

Snowden, 29, worked for the NSA through a private contractor firm until May, when he decamped to Hong Kong. He went public earlier this month as the source of articles by the newspapers, saying the agency’s efforts pose “an existential threat to democracy.”

The revelations about the NSA’s collection of millions of records from U.S. telecommunications and technology firms have led to a furious debate within the United States about the scale and scope of surveillance programs that date from the days after the 2001 al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.

Opinion: Did NSA snooping stop ‘dozens’ of terrorist attacks?

Defenders say the programs — approved by Congress after a warrantless surveillance effort under the Bush administration was revealed in 2005 — have protected American lives by helping agents break up terrorism plots. And they argue that the program is under close oversight by all three branches of government, including the congressional intelligence committees and a court set up under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that hears cases in secret.

But Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian columnist who broke Snowden’s story and moderated the chat, said the safeguards placed on the program is “a very symbolic and empty oversight that really ought not to give the assurances to anybody that these powers aren’t being abused.”

“They go once every six months to the FISA court,” he said. “The FISA court rubber-stamps these vague guidelines that the NSA says they’re using to make sure they’re complying with the law. And once that happens, the NSA can force telecoms and Internet companies to give them whatever they demand under the guise that the FISA court has blessed their guidelines.”

Bigger threat: Snowden or NSA?

Critics call the programs an unconstitutional overreach of authority under the Patriot Act, the law that authorized increased government surveillance in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

In a new development, the Guardian reported Sunday that Britain’s electronic intelligence agency monitored delegates’ phones and tried to capture their passwords during an economic summit held there in 2009.

Targets included British allies such as Turkey and South Africa, the newspaper reported. The Guardian cited documents provided by Snowden.

According to the newspaper, the documents show that the British “signals intelligence” agency GCHQ used “ground-breaking intelligence capabilities” to intercept calls made by members of the G-20 conference delegations at meetings in London.

Facebook, Microsoft disclose information on user data requests

Analysts received round-the-clock summaries of calls that were being made, and GCHQ set up Internet cafes for delegates in hopes of intercepting e-mails and capturing keystrokes, the Guardian reported.

One briefing slide explained the intercepts would give intelligence agencies the ability to read delegates’ e-mails “before/as they do,” providing “sustained intelligence options against them even after (the) conference has finished.”

GCHQ is Britain’s equivalent of the secretive NSA in the United States.

The Guardian reported that the NSA had attempted to eavesdrop on then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during the conference as his phone calls passed through satellite links to Moscow and briefed its British counterparts on the effects.

The latest report was published on the eve of a smaller economic summit hosted by the British government — the Group of Eight gathering in Northern Ireland.

Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said Sunday he was aware of the Guardian’s latest report but declined to comment on it.

“What we should be focused on is how irresponsible and egregious these recent leaks are,” he told CNN. “It’s impossible to know exactly how much damage is being done by these disclosures, but they will have an effect on our counterterrorism efforts.”

Cheney defends NSA, calls Obama’s credibility ‘nonexistent’

Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, a former NSA director, said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” that what the agency collects are “essentially billing records” that detail the time, duration and phone numbers involved in a call.

The records are added to a database that agents can query in cases involving a terror investigation overseas, and agents can’t eavesdrop on Americans’ calls without an order from a secret court that handles intelligence matters, he said.

If a phone number related to an investigation has links to a domestic phone number, “We’ve got to go back to the court,” he said.

GOP tries to keep focus on IRS targeting scandal

However, critics such as Sen. Mark Udall, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had raised questions about the scale of the program even before Snowden’s leak.

Udall said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he doesn’t believe the program is making Americans any safer, “and I think it’s ultimately, perhaps, a violation of the Fourth Amendment.”

“I think we owe it to the American people to have a fulsome debate in the open about the extent of these programs,” said Udall, a Colorado Democrat. “You have a law that’s been interpreted secretly by a secret court that then issues secret orders to generate a secret program. I just don’t think this is an American approach to a world in which we have great threats.”

Obama does not feel that he has violated the privacy of any American, his chief of staff, Denis McDonough, said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”

McDonough said the president will be discussing the need to “find the right balance, especially in this new situation where we find ourselves with all of us reliant on Internet, on e-mail, on texting.”

Hong Kong rallies in the rain for Edward Snowden

CNN’s Paul Steinhauser, Matt Smith and Jessica Yellin contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/17/politics/nsa-leaks/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/pawhVe9nuso/snowden-answers-reader-questions

Obama bristles at suggestion he’s shifted on snooping

CNN poll: Obama numbers plunge into generation gap

Snowden said he leaked details of the surveillance programs because Obama campaigned for the presidency on a platform of ending abuses.

However, Obama “closed the door on investigating systemic violations of law, deepened and expanded several abusive programs, and refused to spend the political capital to end the kind of human rights violations like we see in Guantanamo, where men still sit without charge,” a blog post said.

Snowden also said that he had to get out of the United States before the leaks were published by the Guardian and Washington Post to avoid being targeted by the government.

Details on NSA-thwarted plots coming, lawmaker says

The blog post rejected accusations that he had or might provide classified information to China, saying he only leaked to journalists and calling such a charge a smear tactic intended to turn public opinion against his effort to provide Americans with full information about how their government monitors them.

A CNN/ORC International poll released Monday showed 54% of respondents didn’t approve of Snowden’s admitted actions, while 44% backed the leaks.

Snowden’s father told Fox News that he hoped and prayed his son “will not release any secrets that could constitute treason.”

The father, Lon Snowden, also said he wanted his son to return to the United States “and face this,” adding “I love my son.”

Snowden, 29, worked for the NSA through a private contractor firm until May, when he decamped to Hong Kong. He went public earlier this month as the source of articles by the newspapers, saying the agency’s efforts pose “an existential threat to democracy.”

The revelations about the NSA’s collection of millions of records from U.S. telecommunications and technology firms have led to a furious debate within the United States about the scale and scope of surveillance programs that date from the days after the 2001 al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.

Opinion: Did NSA snooping stop ‘dozens’ of terrorist attacks?

Defenders say the programs — approved by Congress after a warrantless surveillance effort under the Bush administration was revealed in 2005 — have protected American lives by helping agents break up terrorism plots. And they argue that the program is under close oversight by all three branches of government, including the congressional intelligence committees and a court set up under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that hears cases in secret.

But Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian columnist who broke Snowden’s story and moderated the chat, said the safeguards placed on the program is “a very symbolic and empty oversight that really ought not to give the assurances to anybody that these powers aren’t being abused.”

“They go once every six months to the FISA court,” he said. “The FISA court rubber-stamps these vague guidelines that the NSA says they’re using to make sure they’re complying with the law. And once that happens, the NSA can force telecoms and Internet companies to give them whatever they demand under the guise that the FISA court has blessed their guidelines.”

Bigger threat: Snowden or NSA?

Critics call the programs an unconstitutional overreach of authority under the Patriot Act, the law that authorized increased government surveillance in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

In a new development, the Guardian reported Sunday that Britain’s electronic intelligence agency monitored delegates’ phones and tried to capture their passwords during an economic summit held there in 2009.

Targets included British allies such as Turkey and South Africa, the newspaper reported. The Guardian cited documents provided by Snowden.

According to the newspaper, the documents show that the British “signals intelligence” agency GCHQ used “ground-breaking intelligence capabilities” to intercept calls made by members of the G-20 conference delegations at meetings in London.

Facebook, Microsoft disclose information on user data requests

Analysts received round-the-clock summaries of calls that were being made, and GCHQ set up Internet cafes for delegates in hopes of intercepting e-mails and capturing keystrokes, the Guardian reported.

One briefing slide explained the intercepts would give intelligence agencies the ability to read delegates’ e-mails “before/as they do,” providing “sustained intelligence options against them even after (the) conference has finished.”

GCHQ is Britain’s equivalent of the secretive NSA in the United States.

The Guardian reported that the NSA had attempted to eavesdrop on then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during the conference as his phone calls passed through satellite links to Moscow and briefed its British counterparts on the effects.

The latest report was published on the eve of a smaller economic summit hosted by the British government — the Group of Eight gathering in Northern Ireland.

Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said Sunday he was aware of the Guardian’s latest report but declined to comment on it.

“What we should be focused on is how irresponsible and egregious these recent leaks are,” he told CNN. “It’s impossible to know exactly how much damage is being done by these disclosures, but they will have an effect on our counterterrorism efforts.”

Cheney defends NSA, calls Obama’s credibility ‘nonexistent’

Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, a former NSA director, said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” that what the agency collects are “essentially billing records” that detail the time, duration and phone numbers involved in a call.

The records are added to a database that agents can query in cases involving a terror investigation overseas, and agents can’t eavesdrop on Americans’ calls without an order from a secret court that handles intelligence matters, he said.

If a phone number related to an investigation has links to a domestic phone number, “We’ve got to go back to the court,” he said.

GOP tries to keep focus on IRS targeting scandal

However, critics such as Sen. Mark Udall, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had raised questions about the scale of the program even before Snowden’s leak.

Udall said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he doesn’t believe the program is making Americans any safer, “and I think it’s ultimately, perhaps, a violation of the Fourth Amendment.”

“I think we owe it to the American people to have a fulsome debate in the open about the extent of these programs,” said Udall, a Colorado Democrat. “You have a law that’s been interpreted secretly by a secret court that then issues secret orders to generate a secret program. I just don’t think this is an American approach to a world in which we have great threats.”

Obama does not feel that he has violated the privacy of any American, his chief of staff, Denis McDonough, said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”

McDonough said the president will be discussing the need to “find the right balance, especially in this new situation where we find ourselves with all of us reliant on Internet, on e-mail, on texting.”

Hong Kong rallies in the rain for Edward Snowden

CNN’s Paul Steinhauser, Matt Smith and Jessica Yellin contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/17/politics/nsa-leaks/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/pawhVe9nuso/snowden-answers-reader-questions

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Palestinian children play football in front of the Israeli security fence in the West Bank village of Abu Dis, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Organizations such as Mifalot help bring Palestinian and Israeli kids together through the power of football.

Mifalot is a non-government organization in Israel which brings together children from all sections of society and provides education and training through football.

Mifalot operates over 300 programs across the world working with Israelis and Palestinians as well as leading projects in Cameroon, Rwanda, Angola, Benin, Germany, India and Haiti.

Mifalot works with local schools and youth clubs to provide facilities and finance for local children to get degrees in sports coaching and helps them find work after finishing their education.

Children with mental and physical difficulties are given the care and support they need to succeed in sport. Several have gone on to become qualified coaches and lead sessions for the next set of kids coming through.

The charity prides itself on integrating children, youth and young adults with special needs into wider society.

Last January, Mifalot held its first joint Palestinian-Israeli tournament under the banner of “Neighbors United” — a venture backed by the European Union Partnership for Peace Program. Five teams took part, with two of those made up of Israeli and Palestinian girls only.

Last year, a team of nine Palestinians and nine Israelis traveled to Los Angeles where they met players of Spanish club Real Madrid and L.A. Galaxy. The children played in front of 27,000 fans during the halftime interval as part of the Children United Initiative.

Kids work their way through the years until they’re 18, when most Jewish youths go into the Israeli Army. The scheme offers a voluntary civil service for Israeli-Arabs, ultra-orthodox Jews and those who are unsuitable for the army, which is a two-year course helping them attain employment.

Abbas Suan, one of the finest Israeli Arab players to have played for the country, believes his dramatic late goal in the 2006 World Cup qualifier against Ireland helped change perceptions within Israeli society.

Israel’s Jewish player Eran Zahavi (L) and Muslim player Beram Kayal (R) pray before the start of a Euro 2012 qualifier in 2011. The Under-21 squad which competed in this year’s European Championship Finals included five Israel-Arabs, two Ethiopians and a Bedouin.

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“It’s why I do what I do. It’s why Mifalot is here.”

Action

Mifalot, an initiative backed by one of the biggest club sides in Israel, Hapoel Tel Aviv, brings together children from all backgrounds — not just across Israel and the Palestinian territories, but from countries across the world.

The non-governmental organization, which has a center at Hapoel’s training ground, runs over 300 projects across the globe including Angola, Benin, India, Rwanda, Cameroon and Haiti.

Backed by Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Israeli parliament, and funded by a host of charities from around the world, Mifalot uses the power of football to educate the next generation.

It offers a civil service program for those who are not able — or allowed — to enter the Israeli Army at the age of 18, instead giving them the opportunity to earn a qualification as a sports coach and secure employment.

Arabs, Jews, Bedouins, Druze all take part, while there is a program dedicated to those members with special needs.

The scheme has won great acclaim and has given hope to those who grew up when the idea of such a scheme would have seemed like a far-fetched dream.

Time for change

“I think the younger generation wants to make a change,” Lee-Weiss said.

Another group bringing communities together is the New Israel Fund (NIF), which works alongside the Israeli Football Association (IFA).

Founded in 2003, the NIF’s Kick Racism and Violence out of Soccer scheme has flourished, with the charity supporting civil society organizations working towards social justice, women’s rights and environmentalism.

Back in 2007, a survey it carried out concluded that 60% of Israelis believed more needed to be done to tackle racism in football, while 37% said they would attend more games if the situation improved.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/sport/football/football-israel-palestine-peace/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/G3aIGDkjokw/israeli-palestinian-peace-by-soccer

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Palestinian children play football in front of the Israeli security fence in the West Bank village of Abu Dis, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Organizations such as Mifalot help bring Palestinian and Israeli kids together through the power of football.

Mifalot is a non-government organization in Israel which brings together children from all sections of society and provides education and training through football.

Mifalot operates over 300 programs across the world working with Israelis and Palestinians as well as leading projects in Cameroon, Rwanda, Angola, Benin, Germany, India and Haiti.

Mifalot works with local schools and youth clubs to provide facilities and finance for local children to get degrees in sports coaching and helps them find work after finishing their education.

Children with mental and physical difficulties are given the care and support they need to succeed in sport. Several have gone on to become qualified coaches and lead sessions for the next set of kids coming through.

The charity prides itself on integrating children, youth and young adults with special needs into wider society.

Last January, Mifalot held its first joint Palestinian-Israeli tournament under the banner of “Neighbors United” — a venture backed by the European Union Partnership for Peace Program. Five teams took part, with two of those made up of Israeli and Palestinian girls only.

Last year, a team of nine Palestinians and nine Israelis traveled to Los Angeles where they met players of Spanish club Real Madrid and L.A. Galaxy. The children played in front of 27,000 fans during the halftime interval as part of the Children United Initiative.

Kids work their way through the years until they’re 18, when most Jewish youths go into the Israeli Army. The scheme offers a voluntary civil service for Israeli-Arabs, ultra-orthodox Jews and those who are unsuitable for the army, which is a two-year course helping them attain employment.

Abbas Suan, one of the finest Israeli Arab players to have played for the country, believes his dramatic late goal in the 2006 World Cup qualifier against Ireland helped change perceptions within Israeli society.

Israel’s Jewish player Eran Zahavi (L) and Muslim player Beram Kayal (R) pray before the start of a Euro 2012 qualifier in 2011. The Under-21 squad which competed in this year’s European Championship Finals included five Israel-Arabs, two Ethiopians and a Bedouin.

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“It’s why I do what I do. It’s why Mifalot is here.”

Action

Mifalot, an initiative backed by one of the biggest club sides in Israel, Hapoel Tel Aviv, brings together children from all backgrounds — not just across Israel and the Palestinian territories, but from countries across the world.

The non-governmental organization, which has a center at Hapoel’s training ground, runs over 300 projects across the globe including Angola, Benin, India, Rwanda, Cameroon and Haiti.

Backed by Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Israeli parliament, and funded by a host of charities from around the world, Mifalot uses the power of football to educate the next generation.

It offers a civil service program for those who are not able — or allowed — to enter the Israeli Army at the age of 18, instead giving them the opportunity to earn a qualification as a sports coach and secure employment.

Arabs, Jews, Bedouins, Druze all take part, while there is a program dedicated to those members with special needs.

The scheme has won great acclaim and has given hope to those who grew up when the idea of such a scheme would have seemed like a far-fetched dream.

Time for change

“I think the younger generation wants to make a change,” Lee-Weiss said.

Another group bringing communities together is the New Israel Fund (NIF), which works alongside the Israeli Football Association (IFA).

Founded in 2003, the NIF’s Kick Racism and Violence out of Soccer scheme has flourished, with the charity supporting civil society organizations working towards social justice, women’s rights and environmentalism.

Back in 2007, a survey it carried out concluded that 60% of Israelis believed more needed to be done to tackle racism in football, while 37% said they would attend more games if the situation improved.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/sport/football/football-israel-palestine-peace/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/G3aIGDkjokw/israeli-palestinian-peace-by-soccer

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Abu Dhabi and its lesser-known sibling, Ras Al Khaimah, are battling it out with Doha to get the rights to build the largest Angry Birds theme park in the world.

While Dubai may not be a contender, it has other ambitious plans in the works, including IMG Worlds of Adventure (a working title). The theme park is set to be the largest temperature-controlled indoor theme park, and will open in the long-delayed Dubailand development. Zones dedicated to animatronic dinosaurs and Marvel comic and Cartoon Network characters are in the works.

Dubai has long been obsessed with unusual theme parks. One of the city’s landmark tourist destinations is Aquaventure at the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm island. The Shark Attack ride — whereby visitors slide through a shark-filled aquarium — is particularly popular.

Dubai has also been an innovator when it comes to creating adventure parks within retail settings. Ski Dubai, a 22,500 square-meter indoor ski resort, is a a feature inside the Mall of the Emirates.

Not content to reside in Dubai’s adventurous shadow, in 2010 Abu Dhabi opened Ferrari World, the first Ferrari theme park and the largest indoor park in the world. Features include a children’s speed-racing school and Formula Rossa, the fastest roller coaster in… (you guessed it) the world.

Just next door to Ferrari World, visitors can cool off at Yas Waterworld, the largest water park in Abu Dhabi.

Ras al-Khaimah — Abu Dhabi and Dubai’s often overlooked neighbor — is no stranger to wacky tourist attractions. Ice Land Water Park, which claims to be the largest theme park in the region, offers visitors a a variety of rain showers, including ones that double as a disco and another as a soccer pitch. There is also a fictional backstory to explain all the penguin sculptures (the penguins were moored at the park after climate change melted their home).

Jordan, meanwhile, is hoping to corner the geek market with the Red Sea Astrarium, a $1 billion, 184-acre resort that is partially dedicated to Star Trek. The sci-fi portion of the park will feature a space-flight adventure.

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Read more: The Middle East’s changing butler class

“They all want to find a space for it, and to do it as soon as they can. They all want to be first.”

As one of the most downloaded apps of all times (the game has amassed 1.7 billion downloads since launching in 2010), Angry Birds’ name recognition is almost unbeatable.

Though is a global phenomenon, it’s proved particularly popular in the region. Over a fifth of all downloads come from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Rovio Entertainment, the developers of the game, are even toying with the idea of creating a localized version of the game.

“Everyone recognizes the game, from little kids to adults,” notes Cann. “It’s a brand new concept to the region. No one has it, and everyone wants it. They want to be ahead of their neighbors all the time — they want to beat them at everything.”

At $60 million, the budget for Angry Birds Land is fairly modest, by entertainment complex standards. According to John Gerner, a theme park consultant and the managing director at Leisure Business Advisors, it makes for a fairly inexpensive investment.

“It’s really a great concept for the Middle East, especially for areas looking to grow their attractions,” he says. “The scale is small, but it still has a brand name associated with it, and a very current one at that. It gives [whoever wins it] a name attraction without the risk of a more expensive brand.”

Read more: Dubai cops have Lamborghinis

Angry Birds Land is just one of several ambitious projects proposed in the region. Other cities are starting to come up with theme park concepts that are either branded, big, or bizarre. In addition to courting Angry Birds, Abu Dhabi has expressed interest in a Michael Jackson-themed resort.

According to Abu Dhabi newspaper The National, Jermaine Jackson has been in talks to build it on Yas Island, adjacent to Ferrari World.

Jordan, a country who relies more on cultural tourism than man-made gimmicks (UNESCO-listed Petra is the most popular destination, attracting over 600,000 visitors in 2011), seems to be taking a tip from its neighbor. RGH Themed Entertainment are developing a $1.5 billion entertainment resort in Aqaba, complete with Star Trek themed rides and a flight simulator attraction.

Before the 2008 recession, Dubai had several entertainment-themed developments in the pipeline, mainly slated for the still undeveloped neigborhood of Dubailand. Though some — like the largest Six Flags theme park outside of the United States — were shelved in the downturn, others have found their legs in Dubai’s recent economic resurgence.

One of these projects includes IMG World of Adventure, which has a soft launch scheduled for December as part of the City of Arabia residential and commercial development. It plans to usurp Ferrari World as the world’s largest indoor theme park, and will include four zones, which, separately, would be a massive undertaking. Perhaps the most unique is The Lost Valley, a Jurassic-themed segment that will include animatronic dinosaurs. Two other zones are dedicated to the characters of Marvel Comics and Cartoon Network.

“We want this park to be one of the center points in the future of Dubai,” explains Adam Alexander Page, the vice president of marketing for IMG Group, the developer behind the project.

“As such, you don’t want to build something that won’t get global attention, and if that means it’s big, that’s what you do. There’s no point in building it small.”

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/travel/middle-east-battle-angry-birds/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/PIGaobEEgKE/the-mideast-war-for-angry-birds-rights

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Abu Dhabi and its lesser-known sibling, Ras Al Khaimah, are battling it out with Doha to get the rights to build the largest Angry Birds theme park in the world.

While Dubai may not be a contender, it has other ambitious plans in the works, including IMG Worlds of Adventure (a working title). The theme park is set to be the largest temperature-controlled indoor theme park, and will open in the long-delayed Dubailand development. Zones dedicated to animatronic dinosaurs and Marvel comic and Cartoon Network characters are in the works.

Dubai has long been obsessed with unusual theme parks. One of the city’s landmark tourist destinations is Aquaventure at the Atlantis Hotel on the Palm island. The Shark Attack ride — whereby visitors slide through a shark-filled aquarium — is particularly popular.

Dubai has also been an innovator when it comes to creating adventure parks within retail settings. Ski Dubai, a 22,500 square-meter indoor ski resort, is a a feature inside the Mall of the Emirates.

Not content to reside in Dubai’s adventurous shadow, in 2010 Abu Dhabi opened Ferrari World, the first Ferrari theme park and the largest indoor park in the world. Features include a children’s speed-racing school and Formula Rossa, the fastest roller coaster in… (you guessed it) the world.

Just next door to Ferrari World, visitors can cool off at Yas Waterworld, the largest water park in Abu Dhabi.

Ras al-Khaimah — Abu Dhabi and Dubai’s often overlooked neighbor — is no stranger to wacky tourist attractions. Ice Land Water Park, which claims to be the largest theme park in the region, offers visitors a a variety of rain showers, including ones that double as a disco and another as a soccer pitch. There is also a fictional backstory to explain all the penguin sculptures (the penguins were moored at the park after climate change melted their home).

Jordan, meanwhile, is hoping to corner the geek market with the Red Sea Astrarium, a $1 billion, 184-acre resort that is partially dedicated to Star Trek. The sci-fi portion of the park will feature a space-flight adventure.

1

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3

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7

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Read more: The Middle East’s changing butler class

“They all want to find a space for it, and to do it as soon as they can. They all want to be first.”

As one of the most downloaded apps of all times (the game has amassed 1.7 billion downloads since launching in 2010), Angry Birds’ name recognition is almost unbeatable.

Though is a global phenomenon, it’s proved particularly popular in the region. Over a fifth of all downloads come from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Rovio Entertainment, the developers of the game, are even toying with the idea of creating a localized version of the game.

“Everyone recognizes the game, from little kids to adults,” notes Cann. “It’s a brand new concept to the region. No one has it, and everyone wants it. They want to be ahead of their neighbors all the time — they want to beat them at everything.”

At $60 million, the budget for Angry Birds Land is fairly modest, by entertainment complex standards. According to John Gerner, a theme park consultant and the managing director at Leisure Business Advisors, it makes for a fairly inexpensive investment.

“It’s really a great concept for the Middle East, especially for areas looking to grow their attractions,” he says. “The scale is small, but it still has a brand name associated with it, and a very current one at that. It gives [whoever wins it] a name attraction without the risk of a more expensive brand.”

Read more: Dubai cops have Lamborghinis

Angry Birds Land is just one of several ambitious projects proposed in the region. Other cities are starting to come up with theme park concepts that are either branded, big, or bizarre. In addition to courting Angry Birds, Abu Dhabi has expressed interest in a Michael Jackson-themed resort.

According to Abu Dhabi newspaper The National, Jermaine Jackson has been in talks to build it on Yas Island, adjacent to Ferrari World.

Jordan, a country who relies more on cultural tourism than man-made gimmicks (UNESCO-listed Petra is the most popular destination, attracting over 600,000 visitors in 2011), seems to be taking a tip from its neighbor. RGH Themed Entertainment are developing a $1.5 billion entertainment resort in Aqaba, complete with Star Trek themed rides and a flight simulator attraction.

Before the 2008 recession, Dubai had several entertainment-themed developments in the pipeline, mainly slated for the still undeveloped neigborhood of Dubailand. Though some — like the largest Six Flags theme park outside of the United States — were shelved in the downturn, others have found their legs in Dubai’s recent economic resurgence.

One of these projects includes IMG World of Adventure, which has a soft launch scheduled for December as part of the City of Arabia residential and commercial development. It plans to usurp Ferrari World as the world’s largest indoor theme park, and will include four zones, which, separately, would be a massive undertaking. Perhaps the most unique is The Lost Valley, a Jurassic-themed segment that will include animatronic dinosaurs. Two other zones are dedicated to the characters of Marvel Comics and Cartoon Network.

“We want this park to be one of the center points in the future of Dubai,” explains Adam Alexander Page, the vice president of marketing for IMG Group, the developer behind the project.

“As such, you don’t want to build something that won’t get global attention, and if that means it’s big, that’s what you do. There’s no point in building it small.”

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/travel/middle-east-battle-angry-birds/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/PIGaobEEgKE/the-mideast-war-for-angry-birds-rights

During his State of the Union address in January, President Barack Obama said, of the approximately 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, more than half — 34,000 — will come home in the next year and the country’s war in Afghanistan would be over by the end of 2014.

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan was sheltering al Qaeda when the terror network launched attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. The next month, the United States cranked up military operations that led to the toppling of the Taliban government.

Ever since, international forces have been fighting radical Islamic militants in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.

What does this news mean for Afghanistan and the United States? Here are some key questions that will be asked in the coming months:

1. Are the Afghan troops up to the task?

There are certainly doubts.

A Pentagon review in December found that only one of 23 Afghan army brigades was capable of functioning on its own.

Meanwhile, literacy rates are low, desertion rates are high, and many deserters have joined the insurgency. There also have been a troubling number of “green-on-blue” attacks: Afghan troops attacking their American comrades.

But then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke positively about the progress Afghans had made in growing their army, reducing violence and becoming more self-sufficient. At the time, Afghan forces were leading nearly 90% of operations across the country.

“We’re on the right path to give (Afghanistan) the opportunity to govern itself,” Panetta said.

Karzai has said he welcomes the U.S. troop withdrawal and insists his army can defend the country against the Taliban.

“It is exactly our job to deal with it, and we are capable of dealing with it,” Karzai said during an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

2. What are the biggest challenges?

The main fear among Afghans is that the country could revert to another civil war once the United States withdraws its combat troops.

“Some people we’ve spoken to sort of take it for granted that there’s going to be a civil war when the United States leaves,” said CNN’s Erin Burnett on a trip last year to Afghanistan. “It happened before when the Soviet Union left (in 1989).”

Above all, Karzai said the Afghan army needs the tools to battle the insurgents, namely more equipment and firepower. He came to the Pentagon in January with a wish list asking for more helicopters, drones and other hardware, according to a senior defense official.

“We need an air force. We need air mobility,” Karzai told Amanpour. “We need proper mechanized forces. We need, you know, armored vehicles and tanks and all that.”

Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, once America’s top commander in Afghanistan, said the Afghan people are “terrified.”

“They’re terrified because they think they have something to lose,” McChrystal said. “There has been progress made. There is a better life. There are girls in school. There are things that are better than they were and opportunities potentially ahead.

“But they’re afraid that if we completely abandon them in 2014, as they perceive we did in 1989, (things) would all go back.”

And in Washington, there are worries that the wrong move could put the United States right back where it started, with nothing to show for a bloody conflict that started in 2001.

3. How big a threat does the Taliban still pose?

The Taliban are still “resilient and determined,” according to a recent Pentagon report, and pose a major security threat.

The Taliban continues to carry out high-profile attacks in the capital, Kabul, even targeting the Afghan Supreme Court during a suicide attack in June. Another strike targeted a building near Kabul airport.

On Tuesday, a suicide bomber attacked the convoy of Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, a member of parliament, killing three people and wounding 21 others. Three bodyguards were among the injured. Mohaqiq — a Shiite and an ethnic Hazara — is a member of Afghanistan’s political opposition.

Despite the ongoing insurgency, Karzai seems eager to resume stalled peace talks with the Taliban and include them in the political process.

The High Peace Council of Afghanistan will go to Qatar and participate in talks with the Taliban, Karzai said Tuesday.

The move coincides with the Taliban opening an office in the Gulf nation of Qatar. The council is a body that Karzai appointed to work toward ending the fighting and seeking peace with militants.

“With the opening of the Taliban office in Qatar, we hope peace talks will start soon,” Karzai told reporters in Kabul.

The Taliban pulled out of talks last year, but Karzai said in January that they “are very much conveying to us that they want to have peace talks. They’re also people. They’re also families. They also suffer, like the rest of Afghans are suffering.”

Javid Ahmad, a Kabul native now with the Asia Program of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said he believes revitalized peace talks are essential to Afghanistan’s future and to the legacy of America’s war.

4. What support will the United States and allies provide?

American forces, now at about 66,000, are expected to dip to 32,000 by the end of the year and further throughout 2014.

The plan is to withdraw all combat troops but keep a residual force in the country to help train Afghans and carry out counterterrorism operations when needed.

The size of that force is still being discussed.

Gen. John Allen, the former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, recommended between 6,000 and 15,000 troops. But that figure was lowered to a range between 2,500 and 9,000, according to a defense official.

The United States and NATO have pledged to continue to support and train Afghan forces in what Rasmussen deems a “new relationship,” starting in 2015.

Acknowledging that there is still much to do in the interim 18 months, Rasmussen said, “Today, our shared goal is in sight.”

CNN’s Joe Sterling contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/world/asia/afghanistan-handover/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/AXtTYGJCgHU/afghan-forces-take-over-now-what

During his State of the Union address in January, President Barack Obama said, of the approximately 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, more than half — 34,000 — will come home in the next year and the country’s war in Afghanistan would be over by the end of 2014.

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan was sheltering al Qaeda when the terror network launched attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. The next month, the United States cranked up military operations that led to the toppling of the Taliban government.

Ever since, international forces have been fighting radical Islamic militants in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.

What does this news mean for Afghanistan and the United States? Here are some key questions that will be asked in the coming months:

1. Are the Afghan troops up to the task?

There are certainly doubts.

A Pentagon review in December found that only one of 23 Afghan army brigades was capable of functioning on its own.

Meanwhile, literacy rates are low, desertion rates are high, and many deserters have joined the insurgency. There also have been a troubling number of “green-on-blue” attacks: Afghan troops attacking their American comrades.

But then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke positively about the progress Afghans had made in growing their army, reducing violence and becoming more self-sufficient. At the time, Afghan forces were leading nearly 90% of operations across the country.

“We’re on the right path to give (Afghanistan) the opportunity to govern itself,” Panetta said.

Karzai has said he welcomes the U.S. troop withdrawal and insists his army can defend the country against the Taliban.

“It is exactly our job to deal with it, and we are capable of dealing with it,” Karzai said during an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

2. What are the biggest challenges?

The main fear among Afghans is that the country could revert to another civil war once the United States withdraws its combat troops.

“Some people we’ve spoken to sort of take it for granted that there’s going to be a civil war when the United States leaves,” said CNN’s Erin Burnett on a trip last year to Afghanistan. “It happened before when the Soviet Union left (in 1989).”

Above all, Karzai said the Afghan army needs the tools to battle the insurgents, namely more equipment and firepower. He came to the Pentagon in January with a wish list asking for more helicopters, drones and other hardware, according to a senior defense official.

“We need an air force. We need air mobility,” Karzai told Amanpour. “We need proper mechanized forces. We need, you know, armored vehicles and tanks and all that.”

Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, once America’s top commander in Afghanistan, said the Afghan people are “terrified.”

“They’re terrified because they think they have something to lose,” McChrystal said. “There has been progress made. There is a better life. There are girls in school. There are things that are better than they were and opportunities potentially ahead.

“But they’re afraid that if we completely abandon them in 2014, as they perceive we did in 1989, (things) would all go back.”

And in Washington, there are worries that the wrong move could put the United States right back where it started, with nothing to show for a bloody conflict that started in 2001.

3. How big a threat does the Taliban still pose?

The Taliban are still “resilient and determined,” according to a recent Pentagon report, and pose a major security threat.

The Taliban continues to carry out high-profile attacks in the capital, Kabul, even targeting the Afghan Supreme Court during a suicide attack in June. Another strike targeted a building near Kabul airport.

On Tuesday, a suicide bomber attacked the convoy of Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, a member of parliament, killing three people and wounding 21 others. Three bodyguards were among the injured. Mohaqiq — a Shiite and an ethnic Hazara — is a member of Afghanistan’s political opposition.

Despite the ongoing insurgency, Karzai seems eager to resume stalled peace talks with the Taliban and include them in the political process.

The High Peace Council of Afghanistan will go to Qatar and participate in talks with the Taliban, Karzai said Tuesday.

The move coincides with the Taliban opening an office in the Gulf nation of Qatar. The council is a body that Karzai appointed to work toward ending the fighting and seeking peace with militants.

“With the opening of the Taliban office in Qatar, we hope peace talks will start soon,” Karzai told reporters in Kabul.

The Taliban pulled out of talks last year, but Karzai said in January that they “are very much conveying to us that they want to have peace talks. They’re also people. They’re also families. They also suffer, like the rest of Afghans are suffering.”

Javid Ahmad, a Kabul native now with the Asia Program of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said he believes revitalized peace talks are essential to Afghanistan’s future and to the legacy of America’s war.

4. What support will the United States and allies provide?

American forces, now at about 66,000, are expected to dip to 32,000 by the end of the year and further throughout 2014.

The plan is to withdraw all combat troops but keep a residual force in the country to help train Afghans and carry out counterterrorism operations when needed.

The size of that force is still being discussed.

Gen. John Allen, the former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, recommended between 6,000 and 15,000 troops. But that figure was lowered to a range between 2,500 and 9,000, according to a defense official.

The United States and NATO have pledged to continue to support and train Afghan forces in what Rasmussen deems a “new relationship,” starting in 2015.

Acknowledging that there is still much to do in the interim 18 months, Rasmussen said, “Today, our shared goal is in sight.”

CNN’s Joe Sterling contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/world/asia/afghanistan-handover/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/AXtTYGJCgHU/afghan-forces-take-over-now-what