Indiana. Also the cato institutes ian vasquez looks at the future of u. S. cuban relations in a trump administration. Postfidel castro. And Boston University assistant professor linda spraug martinez looks at a new report looking at the safety of young people of color and what impact the lack of access to overall support and opportunity has on them. Cspans washington journal. Live beginning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern saturday morning. Join the discussion. At a pentagon briefing today, Afghanistan MilitaryOperations Commander general John Nicholson wrapped up 2016s military operations and counterterror efforts in the country. This is about an hour. Folks, weve got about 45 minutes and ten minutes of opening comments. Ill be calling questions for general nicholson. Sir, all yours. Thanks, jeff. Good morning, everyone. Great to be back with you all again. Want to thank you for covering our mission in afghanistan. What id like to do this time since my last update in september is review 2016 and where weve come and a little bit about the way forward. Our Main Objective inning if is to prevent the country from being used as a safe haven for terrorists to attack the u. S. Or our allies. We execute two missions. First is the u. S. Mission, which is a Counterterrorism Mission called Operation Freedom Sentinel and second is the Nato Resolute support mission which is primarily to train, advise and assist the Afghan Security forces. So in the u. S. Mission, freedom sentinel, were focusod ct operations for the central asia, south asia region, hence the name casa ct. Two lines of effort. The first is unilateral. This is where the u. S. Is focused on al qaeda and Islamic State in particular. The second is with our Afghan Special forces. Whom we advise and assist as they conduct operations against these ct threats to their country. Our shared goal with our afghan partners is the defeat of al qaeda and Islamic State cores inside afghanistan. There are 98 u. S. Designated terrorist groups globally. 20 of them are in the afpak region. This represents the highest concentration of terrorist groups worldwide. While some may have larger numbers other in countries like isil in syria, for example, the number of groups in one region is the highest conistration in the world. The danger is these groups mix and converge. Islaj state corazon today is formed of members of the tereki taliban pakistan, the Islamic Movement of uzbekistan and former members of the afghan taliban. This year our u. S. Ct forces conducted operations against the enemy across the country all year. They conducted over 350 operations against al qaeda and Islamic State in 2016. Nearly 50 al qaeda and aqis leaders, this is al qaeda india subcontinent. They were killed or captured and when they are captured, they go to the afghan judiciary and detention system. Additionally, about 200 other members of al qaeda, al qaeda Islamic State were killed or captured as well. Our ct forces rescued the son of the former pakistani Prime Minister in a raid against al qaeda in eastern afghanistan. We have kills a total of five amirs of these terrorist groups, of these 20 terrorist groups in afghanistan. On october 23rd, u. S. Forces kills farouk al katari, the aq amir. Also their external operations director. These individual are droectly involved in planning threats against the United States in the last year. Also the strike in pakistan against mullah mansour, the amir of the taliban and designated terrorist. We killed the amir of the islaj jihad union and omar halifah, the guidar group amir. That group perpetuated the attacks against a Peshawar School where they killed over 100 people and the university where they killed dozens of professors and students as well as a Pakistani Air force base. With respect to isk, weve conducted operations this year we call a green sword series of operations. They specifically have targeted this isil affiliate in afghanistan. These operations have been led by u. S. Ct forces working with our afghan allies. These operations so far this year have killed the top 12 leaders of Islamic State corazon, including their amir khan back in july. We reduced their force by roughly 25 to 30 or roughly 500 Islamic State corazon casualties. About two dozen command and control flts, traacilities, tra facilities, financial courier networks were disrupted and the isk sanctuary that was once nine districts has been shrunk down to three. All of these actions are integral to our mission in afghanistan. Were focused on keeping military pressure on these networks. Likewise, were focussed on helping the Afghan Security forces to build their capability to defend their own country. So as we shift now to resolute support, which is the train, advise and assist part of our mission, this is the largest and longest nato operation in our history of nato. It is primarily focused on training, advising and assisting the Afghan Security forces. Its been particularly important as their Security Forces have taken over responsibility since the end of isf at the end of 2014. Onequarter of the worlds nations have been together in the region for more than ten years helping our afghan partners. In july at the warsaw summit, these nations reaffirmed their commitment to afghanistan. 30 nations pledged roughly 800 million annually to support the Afghan Security forces through 2020. And we still have significant commitments to troops in afghanistan. About 6,000 from our allies, which complement the u. S. Contribution. So this essentially gives us four more years of funding, time and advising for the Afghan Security forces. In october, International Donors met at brussels and expressed an intent to commit another 15. 2 billion in support of developmental needs in afghanistan. So if i were to sum all that up, id say these events represent both progress and protection in terms of our way forward. So the first we just discussed, the protection through u. S. Counterterrorism efforts in afghanistan. Help protect our homeland and prevent future attacks against the u. S. And our allies. Essentially to prevent another 9 11. The second reason were there is progress. The evolution of the Afghan Security forces during this past year. So its important to remember that five years ago, we started building the Afghan Security forces. We had about 140,000 u. S. And Coalition Troops in the country. Were now down to less than onetenth of that. Today its the Afghan Security forces who are responsible for securing their own country with the assistance of our advisory and ct effort. We have seen definitive growth and progress in a couple of areas in the last year in particular. First, the Afghan Special forces. So 17,000 special forces arguably the best in the region, and they conduct about 70 of the afghan armys offensive operations. They operate independently of the u. S. About 80 of the time. So when i mention the ct operations, many of those are conducted with the afghans but the majority of conducted on their own. These troops are specially selected and trained. This also includes the special mission wing, which is an Afghan Air Force wing, which is fully capable of night flying operations, goggle operations and they provide the day and night operations. The Afghan Air Force is rapidly gaining capability as well. Theyve effectively incorporated the helicopter in to their daily ops and are conducting most of their escort and supply missions. This is something that previously was exclusively done by u. S. Or coalition forces. So before march of this year, before march of 2016, the Afghan Air Force had no ground attack aircraft. Beginning in april, they added eight aircraft and have also, more impoorntly, added about 120 afghan air tactical air controllers. So not only are they adding the attack aircraft but the capability to control those on the ground. So they ran their first a29 strike combat mission in april. But nearly 20 air crews have been added since we began fielding this. This is going to continue to grow over the next years in the future. If i were to characterize how the Afghan Security forces performed this year, i would say they were tested and they prevailed. So they were tested and they prevailed. This year they went into the year with a Campaign Plan which last year was more of a reaction to enemy activity. This year they went in with a Campaign Plan, executed it largely through the end of july and beginning in august, we saw the enemy try. Made eight attempts to seize provincial capitals inside the country. Every one of these attempts failed. President ghani calls 2015 the year of survival as the government Security Forces did not have this coherent strategy, but 2016 was more of an anticipatory year or in some respects than 2015. So this took the form of what we call a sustainable Security Strategy which the afghans developed for this year. And it identified a fight, hold, disrupt strategy. Identified areas of the population that they would hold. Areas they would fight for and other areas where they were doing an economy of force and merely disrupt the enemy. A very deliberate strategy. The eight attempts to seize the city. This was three times in kunduz, twice in helmand, twice in terenkat and ferrah city and province. On the 6s of october, the afghans faced four simultaneous attacks on their cities and they defeated each one of these attacks. Now this ability to deal with simultaneous crises as a military professional, i can tell you this is a sign of an army thats growing in capability, thats maturing in terms of its ability to handle simultaneity. They were tested. Its obvious they were and they prevailed in terms of defending their cities and continuing to secure the majority of the population of the country. So shifting to that, when i look at my security assessment at the end of 2016 Going Forward, i believe that what were seeing right now is what i would call an equilibrium but one in favor of the government. The Afghan Security forces have a hold, approximately 64 of the population. Now this was down slightly from my 68 i talked about in september. The decrease has not meant more control to the taliban. We see them Still Holding less than 10 of the population. More of the country, slightly more, is now contested. So we say they still hold roughly twothirds of the population. The enemy holds less than 10 and the balance is contested. Since the start of the talibans campaign in april, the Afghan Security forces have prevented them from accomplishing their strategic objectives. Theyve been unable to mask because of the air power, both afghan and Coalition Air power and, therefore, resorted to smallscale attacks on checkpoints around cities in an attempt to isolate the cities and create panic. This did not succeed in causing any cities to fall. Theyve also conducted highprofile attacks that resulted in high numbers of civilian casualties. But the overall number of highprofile attacks is lower than last year. So inside kabul, for example, we had 18 highprofile attacks at this time last year attributed to the taliban in kabul. This year, only 12. So reduction of about onethird. Now we have seen a new element this year which is Islamic State corazon province conducting highprofile attacks. Five or six that have occurred this year. Again, overall reduction in taliban attacks. So despite taliban promises to safeguard civilians, the vast majority of civilian casualties have been caused by the insurgency. 61 to 72 , depending on which International Organization you use. But these statistics are compiled by unama and United Nations high commissioner for refugees. The taliban have intentional destroyed bridges and roadways rurlting in serious disruption of civilian trade routes and the countrys economic development. The taliban has destroyed afghans infrastructure while the government seeks to build it. So while the enemy controls slightly more terrain than before, they do not control more of the population than they did in april. Additionally, the Afghan Security forces have inflicted high casualties on the enemy during this year. So as we look forward to 2017 and areas for improvement, one of the important areas is that were looking at are the two areas are leadership and corruption. So these do plague some portions of the Afghan Security forces and what it has led to is a poor sustainment of soldiers in the field. Because of some ineffectiveness and corruption in the supply system, young soldiers out there on outpost dont always get the ammunition, the water, the food they need in order to conduct the fight. This is a specific area of focus over the winter that were working closely with the afghan leadership on. Ive spoken frankly to them about these issues. President ghani is very serious about addressing these issues over the winter. As we go into this winter campaign, the Afghan Police and army will focus on replacing ineffective or corrupt leaders. President ghani and his administration are dead kated to this. And they are acting quickly and systematically to make necessary leadership changes. Recently the Afghan Government arrested a senior official in ministry of interior for bribery and susresponded another for corruption. Theyve referred this to the Anticorruption Justice Center and its tried its first cases to root out corrupt government leaders and to improve the security institutions. As i look forward to the next year, what are the things were mohr most concerned about in terms of risk . In addition to improofg the corruption and leadership situation, we also, obviously, are concerned about the stability of the Afghan GovernmentGoing Forward. Youve all been tracking closely with the ongoing political evolution. My message to our African Partner afghan members is that we respect your political process but dont at lorks it to undermine security gains which have been made this year at such great cost. And one possible risk of afghan political instability is a fracture, but we have not seen this happen within the Security Forces. Second concern will be the malign influence of external actors and particularly pakistan, russia and iran, and were concerned about the external enablement of the insurgent or terrorist groups inside afghanistan, where they enjoy sanctuary or support from outside governments. Finally, were concerned about the convergence of these terrorist groups. I mentioned the 20 groups, 13 in afghanistan, 7 in pakistan. The morphing of these groups into more virulent strains or the fact that sometimes they cooperate and then the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts. These groups participate from a complementary alliances or capabilities in networks and it requires continuous pressure on them to prevent them from becoming something worse than they already are. We also, obviously, track very closely the nonsecurity factors which affect afghanistans future and again were encouraged by the 15. 2 billion pledged from the brussels conference. This will go to focus on the afghan economy. We closely track their population growth and demographics. The impact of the narcotics trade on the insurgency in the economy is a concern. Corruption again. And, of course, taliban reconciliation and reintegration. Or reconciliation, reintegration of any of the blij rants. We dont directly control or influence these factors as a security lead, they all have anm pact on the success of our Mission Going forward. In conclusion, the capable Afghan Security forces and a continued u. S. Ct presence will help protect our homeland and of that our allies from any terrorist attacks or disruption emanating from the region. A secure afghanistan coupled with regional and International Development efforts also helps insure regional stability. Were stabilizing what was once a deteriorating situation and have the International Support to progress even further in the coming years. The afghan leadership remains focused on the future as the men and women of the Security Forces fight daily for a safe and stable afghanistan. Their resolve is bolstered by our continued commitment. We have great partners and president ghani and the leaders of the security ministries and enjoy a close working relationship Going Forward. Our dedication to them sends a clea