May 11 2009
Controversial General Appointed to Head Afghanistan Operations
Below are a series of articles and a wikipedia entry on Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the new general in charge of Afghanistan. His appointment makes Afghanistan Obama's war. It will be a controversial selection as McChrystal was in charge of a special task force that engaged in torture interrogation. Indeed, five Army officers were convicted on charges of abuse in a unit where two detainees died. His unit's slogan was "If you don't make them bleed, they can't prosecute for it." So, Obama is now in the position of not only not prosecuting torturers, but promoting their commander. And, McChrystal was implicated in the cover-up of the friendly fire killing of Pat Tillman.
It's Obama's War Now
The ouster of Afghanistan commander David McKiernan could make—or break—the Obama presidency.
By Fred Kaplan
Slate
Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced this afternoon that he has "asked for the resignation" of Gen. David McKiernan, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, and that he plans to replace him with Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
This is a very big deal.
McKiernan's ouster signals a dramatic shift in U.S. strategy for the war in Afghanistan. And it means that the war is now, unequivocally, "Obama's war." The president has decided to set a new course, not merely to muddle through the next six months or so.
First, let's clarify a few things. When a Cabinet officer asks for a subordinate's resignation, it means that he's firing the guy. This doesn't happen very often in the U.S. military. McKiernan had another year to go as commander. (When Gen. George Casey's strategy clearly wasn't working in Iraq, President George W. Bush let him serve out his term, then promoted him to Army chief of staff.) Gates also made it clear he wasn't acting on a personal whim. He said that he took the step after consulting with Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command; Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and President Barack Obama. According to one senior official, Gates went over to Afghanistan last week for the sole purpose of giving McKiernan the news face-to-face.
Gates emphasized at a press conference today that McKiernan didn't do anything specifically wrong but that "fresh thinking" was needed urgently. The United States couldn't just wait until the current commander's term ran out.
An intellectual battle is now raging within the Army between an "old guard" that thinks about war in conventional, force-on-force terms and a "new guard" that focuses more on "asymmetric conflicts" and counterinsurgency.
McKiernan is an excellent general in the old mold. McChrystal, who rose through the ranks as a special-forces officer, is an excellent general in the new mold. He has also worked closely with Gates and Petraeus. (In his press conference, Gates referred to McChrystal's "unique skill set in counterinsurgency.") For the past year, McChrystal has been director of the Pentagon's Joint Staff. More pertinently, for five years before that, he was commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, a highly secretive operation that hunted down and killed key jihadist fighters, including, most sensationally, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
Last fall, Bob Woodward reported in the Washington Post that JSOC played a crucial, unsung role in the tactical success of the Iraqi "surge." Using techniques of what McChrystal called "collaborative warfare," JSOC combined intelligence intercepts with quick, precision strikes to "eliminate" large numbers of key insurgent leaders.
This appointment will not be without controversy. McChrystal's command also provided the personnel for Task Force 6-26, an elite unit of 1,000 special-ops forces that engaged in harsh interrogation of detainees in Camp Nama as far back as 2003. The interrogations were so harsh that five Army officers were convicted on charges of abuse. (McChrystal himself was not implicated in the excesses, but the unit's slogan, which set the tone for its practices, was "If you don't make them bleed, they can't prosecute for it.")
Gates also announced yesterday that he would nominate Gen. David Rodriguez to be the deputy commander in Afghanistan, a newly created position. Rodriguez is currently Gates' military assistant and, before that, was commander of U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan. These forces, which are separate from those under NATO command, spend most of the time going after Taliban fighters.
McChrystal and Rodriguez are close friends. They have both been in Washington for more than a year. And Geoff Morrell, Gates' press secretary, said in a phone interview this afternoon that they're both "chomping at the bit" to get back on the front lines. "They're rested and raring to go," he said. "They understand the strategy. They're determined to win. They will do what is necessary to win."
We've heard this kind of talk before, of course. Fresh, new, and determined don't necessarily add up to victory. But the shift in command does mark a dramatic change from the uncertain muddle we've seen up to now. And Obama's whole presidency may rise or fall on whether it succeeds.
Source: Slate
US replaces Afghanistan general
BBC News
The US is to replace its military commander in Afghanistan as part of a new strategy for fighting the country's Taleban insurgents.
Gen David McKiernan is to be succeeded by Gen Stanley McChrystal, a senior Pentagon official told the BBC.
The official said Gen McChrystal had a better understanding of the nature of the conflict in Afghanistan.
Gen McKiernan has been US commander in Afghanistan for less than one year, a period marked by an surge in violence.
Source: BBC News
Controversies Around General McCrystal
Below is an excerpt from Wikipedia on General McChrystal highligting some of the controversies in his career.
As head of what Newsweek termed "the most secretive force in the U.S. military," McChrystal maintained a very low profile until June 2006, when his forces were responsible for the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. After McChrystal's team successfully located Zarqawi and called in the airstrike that killed him, McChrystal accompanied his men to the bombed-out hut to personally identify the body. Impressed, President George W. Bush publicly credited McChrystal and his troops by name for Zarqawi's death, breaking an Army policy against mentioning McChrystal in public. Asked to confirm that it was indeed McChrystal who had engineered Zarqawi's death, Multi-National Force - Iraq spokesman Major General William B. Caldwell IV said, "If the president of the United States said it was, then I'm sure it was."
McChrystal's Zarqawi unit, Task Force 6-26, became notorious for its interrogation methods, particularly at Camp Nama, where it was accused of abusing detainees. After the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal became public in April 2004, 34 members of the task force were disciplined; five Army Rangers were ultimately convicted of prisoner abuse at Camp Nama.
McChrystal was also criticized for his role in the aftermath of the 2004 death by friendly fire of Ranger and former professional football player Pat Tillman. The day after approving a posthumous Silver Star citation for Tillman that included the phrase "in the line of devastating enemy fire," McChrystal sent an urgent memo warning senior government officials not to quote the citation in public speeches because it "might cause public embarrassment" if Tillman had in fact been killed by friendly fire, as McChrystal suspected. McChrystal was one of eight officers recommended for discipline by a subsequent Pentagon investigation but the Army declined to take action against him.
According to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, beginning in late spring 2007 JSOC and U.S. intelligence agencies launched a new series of highly effective covert operations that coincided with the Iraq War troop surge of 2007. Woodward reported that McChrystal employed "collaborative warfare" to integrate a range of tools from signal intercepts to human intelligence to find, target, and kill insurgents. Woodward's sources claimed that it was JSOC, not the much-touted surge, that was responsible for the drop in violence in 2007–2008. Asked for comment, President Bush said simply, "JSOC is awesome."
* News
* World news
* US foreign policy
Top general sacked as US bids to turn around Afghan war
By Ewen MacAskill
The Guardian
Barack Obama yesterday replaced his top general in Afghanistan in an attempt to turn round a war that has been going badly for the US and to step up the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
General David McKiernan, who was in overall command of all Nato forces, including the British, lost the job after only 11 months in command.
Taliban forces have been making steady advances in Afghanistan, in a war that the US had thought it had won in 2001.
McKiernan is to to replaced by Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal, a soldier who has spent most of his career in one of the most secretive forces in the US, specialising in counter-insurgency.
The Pentagon declined to say why McKiernan was being replaced. But the change comes as General David Petraeus, who oversees military strategy for the region, is implementing Obama's new strategic plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The US defence secretary, Robert Gates, announcing the change at a Pentagon press conference, said there was a time for "new thinking" on Afghanistan.
Gates said McKiernan had done nothing wrong, but there was a feeling that there was a need for a fresh look. His removal came a week after at least 100 Afghan civilians died in a US air strike in Farah province.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who attended the press conference with Gates, said McKiernan would have been rotated anyway at the end of 18 to 24 months.
McKiernan had been repeatedly asking for a significant increase in US or other Nato forces in Afghanistan, saying he needed at least 30,000 more troops for what he warned was going to be a tough 12 months.
Obama gave him only two thirds of that, and this included troops who would not have a combat role but instead are to train Afghan forces. It may be that it was felt that McKiernan was too old-fashioned in his thinking.
Lieutenant-General McChrystal, his replacement, has spent most of his career behind the scenes in special forces and has led operations aimed at targeting particular individuals, such as the one that resulted in the killing of the al-Qaida leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in 2006.
McChrystal has built his reputation on coordinating various strands of intelligence in a ruthless pursuit of enemies.
The switch comes only weeks after Obama announced the outcome of a review of policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
As part of that, Obama indicated he wanted a more focused counter-insurgency approach, which would suit McChrystal more, and is sending an extra 21,000 US troops to Afghanistan.
The coming months are potentially fraught for US and Nato forces as the Taliban in past years have used spring and summer to mount their offensives, and the Afghanistan election scheduled for later this year gives them even more of an incentive to create chaos.
McChrystal's role in Zarqawi's killing was revealed by President George Bush, who gave him public credit for the attack. He could turn out to be a controversial choice. He faced a Senate confirmation hearing last year, with senators asking about alleged mistreatment of detainees by special forces under his command in Iraq and Afghanistan. McKiernan, who had been a top commander in Iraq, was appointed to the Afghanistan job by President Bush. He had led US forces on the ground in Iraq during the 2003 invasion.
He said last year that the problem posed by Afghanistan was tougher than Iraq. He described Afghanistan as "a far more complex environment than I ever found in Iraq". The country's mountainous terrain, rural population, poverty, illiteracy, 400 major tribal networks and history of civil war all made for unique challenges, he said. Obama, since becoming president, has overseen a shift in US priorities away from Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But in the few months he has been in power, the security situation in both countries has deteriorated, particularly in Pakistan.
He argued that the military alone could not win the war and there is a need to build up the civilian infrastructure, particularly along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Source: The Guardian
Double Edged Sword
He ran a secret camp that tortured prisoners, and they were implicated in at least two detainee deaths during torture sessions.
Registan.net
The Pentagon just announced the surprise replacement of General David McKiernan with Lt. General Stanley A. McChrystal, who commanded JSOC from 2003-2008. The replacement, which comes eleven months into a typically 24-month tour for McKiernan, is very sudden, and potentially indicative of a serious lack of confidence in McKiernan’s abilities by the Obama administration.
LTG McChrystal received much praise for his command of the Joint Special Operations Command, which was credited with the capture of Saddam Hussein in December of 2003, and the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006. As such, he carried a great deal of clout for his methods in prosecuting what many saw as the somewhat scattered successes of pre-Surge Iraq. Bob Woodward also credits JSOC under McChrystal’s command with lowering violence before and during the Surge.
General McChrsytal carries with him a dark side as well. One unit under his command, the now-notorious Task Force 6-26, which was assigned to find HVTs, or High Value Targets in Iraq, is credited with the ultimate death of Zarqawi. The problem is, along the way they faced accusations of running a secret camp that tortured prisoners, and they were implicated in at least two detainee deaths during torture sessions. Their camp, called Camp Nama, became something of a lightning rod after a “computer malfunction” destroyed upwards of 70% of their records and an investigation into their conduct stalled out.
More relevant to Afghanistan is GEN McChrystal’s involvement in the shameful coverup of Pat Tillman’s friendly-fire death. While he was named among the list of high-ranking military personnel believed to have covered up the circumstances of Tillman’s death, GEN McChrystal was “spared because he had apparently drafted a memo urging other officials to stop spreading the lie that Tillman died fighting the Taliban. He drafted that memo, however, after signing the award for Tillman’s posthumously-awarded Silver Star, the commendation for which claims, in part, that he was leading the charge against a Taliban assault. GEN McChrystal has never clarified why he signed an award for Tillman dying under enemy fire right before begging his colleagues and superiors to stop lying about Tillman dying under enemy fire.
In either case, GEN McChrystal’s appointment is a jarring shift for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, which are currently transitioning commands between the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions. It is unclear what having a Special Operations commander in charge will do the overall country strategy, just as it is unclear what two major changes of commands in a short period of time will do to the current units who are deployed there. As more information becomes available about this, we’ll post updates.
Source: Registan.net
It's Obama's War Now
The ouster of Afghanistan commander David McKiernan could make—or break—the Obama presidency.
By Fred Kaplan
Slate
Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced this afternoon that he has "asked for the resignation" of Gen. David McKiernan, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, and that he plans to replace him with Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
This is a very big deal.
McKiernan's ouster signals a dramatic shift in U.S. strategy for the war in Afghanistan. And it means that the war is now, unequivocally, "Obama's war." The president has decided to set a new course, not merely to muddle through the next six months or so.
First, let's clarify a few things. When a Cabinet officer asks for a subordinate's resignation, it means that he's firing the guy. This doesn't happen very often in the U.S. military. McKiernan had another year to go as commander. (When Gen. George Casey's strategy clearly wasn't working in Iraq, President George W. Bush let him serve out his term, then promoted him to Army chief of staff.) Gates also made it clear he wasn't acting on a personal whim. He said that he took the step after consulting with Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command; Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and President Barack Obama. According to one senior official, Gates went over to Afghanistan last week for the sole purpose of giving McKiernan the news face-to-face.
Gates emphasized at a press conference today that McKiernan didn't do anything specifically wrong but that "fresh thinking" was needed urgently. The United States couldn't just wait until the current commander's term ran out.
An intellectual battle is now raging within the Army between an "old guard" that thinks about war in conventional, force-on-force terms and a "new guard" that focuses more on "asymmetric conflicts" and counterinsurgency.
McKiernan is an excellent general in the old mold. McChrystal, who rose through the ranks as a special-forces officer, is an excellent general in the new mold. He has also worked closely with Gates and Petraeus. (In his press conference, Gates referred to McChrystal's "unique skill set in counterinsurgency.") For the past year, McChrystal has been director of the Pentagon's Joint Staff. More pertinently, for five years before that, he was commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, a highly secretive operation that hunted down and killed key jihadist fighters, including, most sensationally, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
Last fall, Bob Woodward reported in the Washington Post that JSOC played a crucial, unsung role in the tactical success of the Iraqi "surge." Using techniques of what McChrystal called "collaborative warfare," JSOC combined intelligence intercepts with quick, precision strikes to "eliminate" large numbers of key insurgent leaders.
This appointment will not be without controversy. McChrystal's command also provided the personnel for Task Force 6-26, an elite unit of 1,000 special-ops forces that engaged in harsh interrogation of detainees in Camp Nama as far back as 2003. The interrogations were so harsh that five Army officers were convicted on charges of abuse. (McChrystal himself was not implicated in the excesses, but the unit's slogan, which set the tone for its practices, was "If you don't make them bleed, they can't prosecute for it.")
Gates also announced yesterday that he would nominate Gen. David Rodriguez to be the deputy commander in Afghanistan, a newly created position. Rodriguez is currently Gates' military assistant and, before that, was commander of U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan. These forces, which are separate from those under NATO command, spend most of the time going after Taliban fighters.
McChrystal and Rodriguez are close friends. They have both been in Washington for more than a year. And Geoff Morrell, Gates' press secretary, said in a phone interview this afternoon that they're both "chomping at the bit" to get back on the front lines. "They're rested and raring to go," he said. "They understand the strategy. They're determined to win. They will do what is necessary to win."
We've heard this kind of talk before, of course. Fresh, new, and determined don't necessarily add up to victory. But the shift in command does mark a dramatic change from the uncertain muddle we've seen up to now. And Obama's whole presidency may rise or fall on whether it succeeds.
Source: Slate
US replaces Afghanistan general
BBC News
The US is to replace its military commander in Afghanistan as part of a new strategy for fighting the country's Taleban insurgents.
Gen David McKiernan is to be succeeded by Gen Stanley McChrystal, a senior Pentagon official told the BBC.
The official said Gen McChrystal had a better understanding of the nature of the conflict in Afghanistan.
Gen McKiernan has been US commander in Afghanistan for less than one year, a period marked by an surge in violence.
Source: BBC News
Controversies Around General McCrystal
Below is an excerpt from Wikipedia on General McChrystal highligting some of the controversies in his career.
As head of what Newsweek termed "the most secretive force in the U.S. military," McChrystal maintained a very low profile until June 2006, when his forces were responsible for the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. After McChrystal's team successfully located Zarqawi and called in the airstrike that killed him, McChrystal accompanied his men to the bombed-out hut to personally identify the body. Impressed, President George W. Bush publicly credited McChrystal and his troops by name for Zarqawi's death, breaking an Army policy against mentioning McChrystal in public. Asked to confirm that it was indeed McChrystal who had engineered Zarqawi's death, Multi-National Force - Iraq spokesman Major General William B. Caldwell IV said, "If the president of the United States said it was, then I'm sure it was."
McChrystal's Zarqawi unit, Task Force 6-26, became notorious for its interrogation methods, particularly at Camp Nama, where it was accused of abusing detainees. After the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal became public in April 2004, 34 members of the task force were disciplined; five Army Rangers were ultimately convicted of prisoner abuse at Camp Nama.
McChrystal was also criticized for his role in the aftermath of the 2004 death by friendly fire of Ranger and former professional football player Pat Tillman. The day after approving a posthumous Silver Star citation for Tillman that included the phrase "in the line of devastating enemy fire," McChrystal sent an urgent memo warning senior government officials not to quote the citation in public speeches because it "might cause public embarrassment" if Tillman had in fact been killed by friendly fire, as McChrystal suspected. McChrystal was one of eight officers recommended for discipline by a subsequent Pentagon investigation but the Army declined to take action against him.
According to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, beginning in late spring 2007 JSOC and U.S. intelligence agencies launched a new series of highly effective covert operations that coincided with the Iraq War troop surge of 2007. Woodward reported that McChrystal employed "collaborative warfare" to integrate a range of tools from signal intercepts to human intelligence to find, target, and kill insurgents. Woodward's sources claimed that it was JSOC, not the much-touted surge, that was responsible for the drop in violence in 2007–2008. Asked for comment, President Bush said simply, "JSOC is awesome."
* News
* World news
* US foreign policy
Top general sacked as US bids to turn around Afghan war
By Ewen MacAskill
The Guardian
Barack Obama yesterday replaced his top general in Afghanistan in an attempt to turn round a war that has been going badly for the US and to step up the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
General David McKiernan, who was in overall command of all Nato forces, including the British, lost the job after only 11 months in command.
Taliban forces have been making steady advances in Afghanistan, in a war that the US had thought it had won in 2001.
McKiernan is to to replaced by Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal, a soldier who has spent most of his career in one of the most secretive forces in the US, specialising in counter-insurgency.
The Pentagon declined to say why McKiernan was being replaced. But the change comes as General David Petraeus, who oversees military strategy for the region, is implementing Obama's new strategic plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The US defence secretary, Robert Gates, announcing the change at a Pentagon press conference, said there was a time for "new thinking" on Afghanistan.
Gates said McKiernan had done nothing wrong, but there was a feeling that there was a need for a fresh look. His removal came a week after at least 100 Afghan civilians died in a US air strike in Farah province.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who attended the press conference with Gates, said McKiernan would have been rotated anyway at the end of 18 to 24 months.
McKiernan had been repeatedly asking for a significant increase in US or other Nato forces in Afghanistan, saying he needed at least 30,000 more troops for what he warned was going to be a tough 12 months.
Obama gave him only two thirds of that, and this included troops who would not have a combat role but instead are to train Afghan forces. It may be that it was felt that McKiernan was too old-fashioned in his thinking.
Lieutenant-General McChrystal, his replacement, has spent most of his career behind the scenes in special forces and has led operations aimed at targeting particular individuals, such as the one that resulted in the killing of the al-Qaida leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in 2006.
McChrystal has built his reputation on coordinating various strands of intelligence in a ruthless pursuit of enemies.
The switch comes only weeks after Obama announced the outcome of a review of policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
As part of that, Obama indicated he wanted a more focused counter-insurgency approach, which would suit McChrystal more, and is sending an extra 21,000 US troops to Afghanistan.
The coming months are potentially fraught for US and Nato forces as the Taliban in past years have used spring and summer to mount their offensives, and the Afghanistan election scheduled for later this year gives them even more of an incentive to create chaos.
McChrystal's role in Zarqawi's killing was revealed by President George Bush, who gave him public credit for the attack. He could turn out to be a controversial choice. He faced a Senate confirmation hearing last year, with senators asking about alleged mistreatment of detainees by special forces under his command in Iraq and Afghanistan. McKiernan, who had been a top commander in Iraq, was appointed to the Afghanistan job by President Bush. He had led US forces on the ground in Iraq during the 2003 invasion.
He said last year that the problem posed by Afghanistan was tougher than Iraq. He described Afghanistan as "a far more complex environment than I ever found in Iraq". The country's mountainous terrain, rural population, poverty, illiteracy, 400 major tribal networks and history of civil war all made for unique challenges, he said. Obama, since becoming president, has overseen a shift in US priorities away from Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But in the few months he has been in power, the security situation in both countries has deteriorated, particularly in Pakistan.
He argued that the military alone could not win the war and there is a need to build up the civilian infrastructure, particularly along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Source: The Guardian
Double Edged Sword
He ran a secret camp that tortured prisoners, and they were implicated in at least two detainee deaths during torture sessions.
Registan.net
The Pentagon just announced the surprise replacement of General David McKiernan with Lt. General Stanley A. McChrystal, who commanded JSOC from 2003-2008. The replacement, which comes eleven months into a typically 24-month tour for McKiernan, is very sudden, and potentially indicative of a serious lack of confidence in McKiernan’s abilities by the Obama administration.
LTG McChrystal received much praise for his command of the Joint Special Operations Command, which was credited with the capture of Saddam Hussein in December of 2003, and the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006. As such, he carried a great deal of clout for his methods in prosecuting what many saw as the somewhat scattered successes of pre-Surge Iraq. Bob Woodward also credits JSOC under McChrystal’s command with lowering violence before and during the Surge.
General McChrsytal carries with him a dark side as well. One unit under his command, the now-notorious Task Force 6-26, which was assigned to find HVTs, or High Value Targets in Iraq, is credited with the ultimate death of Zarqawi. The problem is, along the way they faced accusations of running a secret camp that tortured prisoners, and they were implicated in at least two detainee deaths during torture sessions. Their camp, called Camp Nama, became something of a lightning rod after a “computer malfunction” destroyed upwards of 70% of their records and an investigation into their conduct stalled out.
More relevant to Afghanistan is GEN McChrystal’s involvement in the shameful coverup of Pat Tillman’s friendly-fire death. While he was named among the list of high-ranking military personnel believed to have covered up the circumstances of Tillman’s death, GEN McChrystal was “spared because he had apparently drafted a memo urging other officials to stop spreading the lie that Tillman died fighting the Taliban. He drafted that memo, however, after signing the award for Tillman’s posthumously-awarded Silver Star, the commendation for which claims, in part, that he was leading the charge against a Taliban assault. GEN McChrystal has never clarified why he signed an award for Tillman dying under enemy fire right before begging his colleagues and superiors to stop lying about Tillman dying under enemy fire.
In either case, GEN McChrystal’s appointment is a jarring shift for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, which are currently transitioning commands between the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions. It is unclear what having a Special Operations commander in charge will do the overall country strategy, just as it is unclear what two major changes of commands in a short period of time will do to the current units who are deployed there. As more information becomes available about this, we’ll post updates.
Source: Registan.net
