Thursday, 24 March 2016

Frankly Speaking With Jola Sotubo2016 budget; budget of corruption or budget of change?

President Muhammadu Buhari had presented the proposal to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 22, 2015, terming it the “Budget of Change.”
President Muhammadu Buhari delivering the 2016 budget at the National Assembly in Abuja, Nigeria December 22, 2015.


The National Assembly, on Wednesday, March 23, 2016, finally passed the 2016 budget.

President Muhammadu Buhari had presented the proposal to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 22, 2015, terming it the “Budget of Change.”
However, the budget has been the centre of controversy since it was reported missing from the Assembly premises in January 2016.
Senate President, Bukola Saraki later said that two different versions of the document had been submitted to the legislative house.
The controversy was further deepened when details of large sums attached to ridiculous items were released to the media leading some Nigerians to call the 2016 budget the “Budget of Corruption.”
The budget provided the sum of N795 million to update the website of the Federal Ministry of Solid Mineral Development, N30.8 million to rent the State House in the Presidential Villa and N46.5 billion for the purchase of vehicles, computers and furniture, an item which was replicated 24 times in the document.
Infographic of item on 2016 budget play Infographic of item on 2016 budget
(BudgIT)

The situation led Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose to urge Buhari to withdraw the budget.
“The President should admit that there were avoidable errors in the budget and since he is human and not immune to errors, he should simply do the needful by presenting a new and credible budget to the National Assembly,” Fayose said on February 9 via a statement.
Buhari eventually wrote a letter to the National Assembly officially requesting the withdrawal of the budget in order to make changes.
He also admitted that the proposal which was, at the time, being debated by the Assembly was different from the one he had submitted.
Buhari however blamed the scandal on a “budget mafia” and said it was the work of saboteurs within his government.
The controversy led to the sacking of the Director General of the budget office, Yahaya Gusau and the redeployment of 22 officials from the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.
The errors found in the budget also led to a delay in its passage. The Senate had promised, in January, that the budget would be passed before the end of February, but this didn’t happen.
In explaining the delay, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje said, on February 9, that the budget couldn’t be passed yet because it contained too many errors.
“We want to remove all ambiguities, we want to remove all paddings. We want to produce a budget that is in line with the constitutional provision. During the budget defence, a lot of issues based on the padding of the budget, arising from over-bloated overheads and in some instances cases of over-bloated personnel cost,” he said.
“So in summary, the time-table for passage of the budget is no longer realistic because as appropriation committees of both chambers of the National Assembly, we need additional time to do a thorough job for the 2016 budget,” he added.
The Senate then promised to pass the budget on March 17 but again could not fulfill this pledge due to a delay in the presentation of the budget report by the Joint Committee on Appropriation
The report was eventually presented on March 22 leading to the passage of the budget on March 23.
 
The passing of the budget, while important, is however a minor issue when compared to the implementation of same.
The Buhari administration has hinged many of its promises on the budget and its implementation is expected to bring Nigerians the change they’ve been screaming for.
“I want to assure the people that immediately the budget is passed into law, we will zoom into action and all our promises will be fulfilled,” Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo said in February.
“…We are waiting for the budget. Don’t forget that we are not the ones that appropriate funds but the National Assembly. We have given them budget, done some alterations and amendments as needs be in areas where some people try to mutilate and we are waiting for now. Once they approve the budget as proposed, we roll out our programmes,” Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige also said during an interview with the Daily Sun.
The 2016 budget has been described as both the “Budget of Change” and the “Budget of Corruption”, hence, it is now up to President Buhari and his cabinet to prove which cap really fits.
Is the 2016 budget a budget of change or a budget of corruption?»
  • Vote »

Author

'Jola Sotubo 'Jola Sotubo is a Senior Associate at Pulse. ‘Jola is a lawyer by profession, a photographer by training and a writer at heart. She believes that the status quo is never good enough and that life is best lived to the fullest. Email: monjola.sotubo@ringier.ng.

Posted by at No comments:

In Abuja Inside the FCT's disabled colony

The disabled in Nigeria's capital city, are facing horrible challenges in a colony carved out for them at Karamajiji. Sunday Isuwa spends some days studying their condition, lifestyle and reports.

Unlike other privileged Nigerians living in Abuja, the disabled men, women and children have no decent houses. They live in thatched houses prepared with old zinc roofing sheets, made without blocks.

The Emir of the disabled in a photo play The Emir of the disabled in a photo
(pulse)
At the colony, they are made up of people without limbs, legs, eyes and other conditions. They are from different parts of the country and speak different languages.

They live with their wives, husbands and children. Some women, who are physically impaired, keep producing children without legal husbands.

In the colony, located at the back of Nigeria Military Cemetery, Karamajiji, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), they have different leaders, unions and a local chief.

People who have had limbs amputated have separate leaders from others with challenges of eyesight, hearing and other people with special need. But they all give their allegiance to the local traditional ruler called, "Emir of the disabled."
 
The Emir of the disabled in the FCT, Alhaji Muhammed Sulaiman Katsina, always holds meetings with the people at the colony and updates them with government policies. His responsibility also includes preaching to the disabled on the need to live peacefully and how to move their society forward.

In his absence, other leaders can assemble at the palace to discuss vital issues. A stranger is neither allowed to take pictures nor conduct interviews with residents of the colony.

"These members can be dangerous so, you need to do all that you are doing here with tact. If they are angry, it will be difficult for someone to calm them down. We have a peculiar situation. Whenever we are angry, we can do anything," one of the disabled said in confidence.
"Just like the politicians, those with disability are not precluded from politics. We have leaders in the colony. We have various camps, unions and allies. Money could be embezzled by anyone that has the opportunity. Our psychology is different. We have lots of angry people because of our situation," he added.

One of the disabled with a National and International connection, Miss Omotunde Allen Thomson, has built a primary school in the colony where both the old and young attend school.
The school is made up of mostly disabled children, old and young. They have five classes with eight teachers.
Some children at the colony play Some children at the colony
(pulse)

A woman with children at the disabled colony school, Binta Abdullahi, said she was not opportuned to go to school but will ensure that her children get a formal education.

"Since my children started attending this school, they are learning fast. I was not privileged to attend this kind of school. But I have made up my mind that all my children must go to school. This is the only way they can better our condition," Binta said.
Binta Abdullahi says her children must go to school play Binta Abdullahi says her children must go to school
(Pulse)
Speaking to Pulse, the school's head teacher, Malam Shuaibu Ahmed, said the children are doing well despite their ‘special’ situation.
He said even though the students are brought from the slums and mostly school drop outs, the dedicated ones are doing well.
"Most of the students we have here are school dropouts. Most of them don't like coming to the school but the performance of those who have been attending classes has been impressive," Ahmed said."

It is not only the primary school located at Karamajiji that the disabled have. According to Miss Omotunde Allen Thomson, the deaf are also not left behind when it comes to education.

"We also embarked on so many projects if you talk about the deaf people, particularly; we are commencing a project in one of the New Karu villages called "Koya." We will start educational programmes. If you visit the vicinity, you will know that education there is what they can afford with ease," Omotunde said.
Miss Omotunde and teachers of the school. play Miss Omotunde and teachers of the school.
(pulse)


People from different parts of the country always pass the night at the colony whenever they are in Abuja for a programme, it was gathered.

Pastor Ayuba Yakis Balewa who had his leg amputated since 2005 said he left Bauchi State for Abuja following an invitation with a promise that he will get a prosthetic leg free of charge.
"My challenge began in 2005. I had an accident and my leg was amputated above the knee. Since then, we've been looking for assistance," Ayuba said.

One of the disabled who has turned her world around into ability, Omotunde, has gone into partnership with a foreign charity organization Tolaram, which provides artificial limbs free of charge to these set of special people.

The programme to provide these services holds annually depending on the number of people with disability they are able to get. Sometimes the programme holds twice a year.
Some of the victims living at the disabled colony and others who come from different parts of the country were not born disabled. Many of them just like pastor Ayuba encountered such challenge through an accident

Umar Idris Lere from Bauchi state said he had an accident in 2009 on a motorbike and his leg had to be amputated.
"The business I do cannot buy me artificial leg but here we are in Abuja to get it free," Umar said. "Most of us you are seeing in this condition are facing serious psychological trauma," he added.

Some of them have spent 20 years living in such conditions without help. They beg, while others engage themselves in menial jobs to take care of themselves and their family members.

Abubakar Hassan Yusuf had an accident 20 years ago. Even though he has been farming, because of his condition, the farm produce is not enough for him to take care of his family and has to beg to take care of his three wives and 23 children.

But Ibrahim Mohammed who said he had his physical challenge for seven years now, is lucky to have an extended family that takes care of his needs and that of his children. His desire has been that he gets an artificial leg. "If I have an artificial leg, it will help me to do jobs I was unable to do before."

Several women are not left behind as some of them have had their legs amputated following domestic accidents.

Daso Musa from Gusau Zamfara state, who said she had her leg amputated a few months ago, disclosed further that she never knew what disability entails until that fateful day. "I fell inside a fire while cooking. They took me to a hospital and the leg has to be amputated," she said.

Unlike Daso's tale, Hajiya Kalka Shehu from Gusau said she has been living in that condition for 12 years. According to her, since she had her leg amputated, it is like the world has come to an end. "I thank God, I am getting out of that stigma now. I just came to Abuja to get the free artificial leg," she said.

A 15 year old Ummi Rabiu from Misau said they had an accident on a bike when she was just six years old.  "The leg broke. I was taken to so many places but the leg did not heal. Part of the leg was gangrened and it had to be amputated at a hospital in Misau, Bauchi State."

Author

Sunday Isuwa Sunday Isuwa is an Associate Editor at Pulse. A holder of MSc in Mass Communication, Sunday spends his free time listening to news, watching football and making friends.

Top 3


1 Frankly Speaking With Jola Sotubo Why US, UK didn’t save Chibok Girlsbullet
2 Kemi Adeosun Nigeria plans to spend $1.7B in next quarter to revive...bullet
3 In Kaduna Gunmen kidnap 3 pastors, demand N100m ransombullet

Local

President Muhammadu Buhari delivering the 2016 budget at the National Assembly in Abuja, Nigeria December 22, 2015.
Frankly Speaking With Jola Sotubo 2016 budget; budget of corruption or budget of change?
Nasir El-Rufai
NLC Union gives El-Rufai 7 days to revert policies
Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir Elrufai
Kidnappings Kaduna community under siege
The GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER
Nigerian Papers Today Read today's newspaper headlines [Thursday, March 24 2016 ]

Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, 15 October 2015

As hotel project went far over budget, insiders pointed to role of CEO’s wife.

Part 3: Dow Chemical asked Paula Liveris to advise on the renovation of a company-owned hotel. Then a $13 million cost overrun spurred delicate questions about how the project was run.


POWER COUPLE: Dow CEO Andrew Liveris and wife Paula at a charity dinner in 2006. Paula Liveris served as her husband’s representative during renovations of the H Hotel. REUTERS/Washington Life Magazine/Handout

MIDLAND, Michigan – When Dow Chemical Co began renovating the hotel it owns here, the industrial giant spared little expense.
From 2006 through 2008, Dow turned the former Ashman Court Hotel into a luxury destination. Out went the tile in the lobby. In the rebranded H Hotel, guests walk on Crema Marfil marble from southeast Spain.
Also gone are the old restaurant and its $9.95 lunch buffet with dessert bar. Now the hotel boasts a fine-dining establishment where, planning documents show, prices would be “2 notches up” from what the market will bear. The H has a private dining room with bullet-proof glass, where CEO Andrew Liveris, a regular visitor to the White House, can entertain VIPs.
By most accounts, the H Hotel is a source of pride here in Dow’s hometown of Midland, population 42,000.
The remodeling didn’t go off without a hitch, though. At completion, it exceeded its $25 million budget by an estimated $13 million. This year, the company settled a lawsuit by one of its former investigators, Kimberly Wood. She alleged she was fired years after she investigated the H Hotel and other spending issues relating to CEO Liveris, according to documents filed in her case.
Wood was assigned to scrutinize the renovation after a senior manager complained about the role of a person who figured large in the project, but was neither an employee of Dow nor its contractors: the wife of Andrew Liveris, Dow’s chief executive.
In a whistleblower-retaliation complaint filed last year, Wood claimed that the “H Hotel cost overrun was the direct result of the meddling by the CEO’s wife, Paula Liveris.”
That view is rejected by Dow and by an outside law firm it hired to examine the matter in late 2009. After a three-week inquiry, the lawyers cleared the company of violating any of its own policies.
The firm disputed the notion that Paula Liveris exercised undue influence on spending decisions. Rather, its report concluded there were “misperceptions by some Dow employees about the role and authority of Ms. Liveris.”
Other project participants, including the chief architect, offer a different perspective.
“Once Paula became involved, the budget was taken off the table and we didn’t really talk about it anymore,” said David Greusel, a former principal at a unit of global architecture firm HOK, which headed up the renovation. “There was clearly a difference in the design direction. Paula Liveris definitely made choices that we had not made at the outset.”
A former Dow executive involved in the project kept for his own use a timeline that he said he created to chart cost increases. By his accounting, decisions advocated by Paula Liveris and a friend who assisted her, local artist Maria “Mica” Jones, led to cost increases totaling about $5.8 million.


Dow’s former top auditor, Doug Anderson, testified in Wood’s wrongful-termination lawsuit against the company that he grew concerned about the hotel project in 2009. That year, Wood and a supervisor reported at the time, a Dow manager involved in the hotel came forward to voice concern about the role Paula Liveris had played. He claimed that two employees had been pulled off the project and later left Dow, Wood reported, one after trying to limit the role of Paula Liveris and the other for proving “ineffective” in dealing with her.
Dow’s external report concluded that no employees were retaliated against. One of the two employees removed from the project provided Reuters with a statement saying he retired voluntarily. The external report also said that “Ms. Liveris did not exercise any authority, implied or actual, over the project budget, and that any perception to the contrary is erroneous and is not supported by the evidence.”
“COMPLETELY FALSE”
The H project provides insight into the way the Dow CEO’s personal life has intersected with his role as head of the company. Liveris, 61 years old, has led Dow for 11 years.
Cost overruns are common in construction, and the H’s were readily absorbed by Dow, with $58 billion in annual revenue in 2014. Still, governance specialists said it is rare for the CEO of a large publicly traded company to let a spouse play a prominent part in a deca-million-dollar capital project.
“I can’t think of a similar example,” said Robert Daines, co-director of the Rock Center on Corporate Governance at Stanford University. “The governance concern is whether she was picked for her expertise, or as sort of a perk for the CEO to give his wife a position of prominence.”
Former auditor Anderson said in his deposition that he believed the presence of Paula Liveris put other participants in a predicament. “Who is going to tell the CEO’s wife you don’t belong here, get out of here, I’m not going to do what you say, when by all appearances and everything else, she’s there with the blessing of the CEO?” he testified.
Anderson, who left Dow in 2013, said he was barred by a confidentiality agreement from commenting about the company.


UPGRADING MAIN STREET: H Hotel planners chose to upgrade the Main Street facade with brick and stonework encompassing two restaurants, a bar and an enclosed clock tower – an integration of the former Ashman Court Hotel into Midland's downtown business district. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

“Once Paula became involved, the budget was taken off the table and we didn't really talk about it anymore. There was clearly a difference in the design direction.”


David Greusel, lead architect on H Hotel project
Dow says the company has a tradition of inviting executive spouses to pitch in on community projects. Members of the planning group that handled the renovation say Paula Liveris herself never signed off on expenditures. Those were submitted by the project team and approved by David Kepler, the Dow executive who was supervising the project.
Kepler, now retired, told Reuters that blame for going over budget rested with others, including two of his subordinates and outside architects.
Any notion that “there was significant overspending and that it was due to interior design choices made by Paula Liveris and Mica Jones is completely false,” Kepler said.
Documents detailing Dow’s handling of the renovation are among thousands of pages of records subpoenaed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Reuters reported in June that the SEC is investigating allegations that CEO Liveris may have misused company funds for personal benefit.
Previously, Reuters reported about disputes Liveris had with Anderson and Wood over his spending, including Super Bowl getaways with family and friends.
Dow disclosed in 2011 that Liveris reimbursed the company $719,923 for expenses described as “not primarily business related,” without detailing them.
According to two people familiar with the matter, the SEC has sought information regarding the CEO’s spending. It has also inquired in recent months about the terms of confidential severance agreements that Dow has required former employees to sign. The agency, the people said, has asked whether these agreements contain provisions which could impede potential whistleblowers from bringing concerns to the SEC.
Dow declined to comment on the SEC investigation.
ADVISORY TEAM
About 130 miles northwest of Detroit, Midland is a prosperous community, thanks primarily to Dow, its largest employer.
But the city is served mainly by chain hotels and casual restaurants. Andrew and Paula Liveris, according to planning documents and interviews, wanted to create a first-class facility in line with Dow’s global stature and the couple’s exacting standards.


MULTINATIONAL: Dow headquarters in Midland, Michigan. The renovation of the H Hotel was meant in part to offer a more cosmopolitan experience for visitors to the global company. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

“Ms. Liveris did not exercise any authority, implied or actual, over the project budget, and … any perception to the contrary is erroneous and is not supported by the evidence.”


Report by the Cadwalader law firm for Dow on the H Hotel project
The H would aid in revitalizing downtown Midland, wooing hires to the area and entertaining Dow clients and employees from around the world. The renovation also would accommodate a leadership training facility Dow wanted. That facility now occupies a wing of the H.
The initial scope was relatively modest. After architects were solicited to bid in January 2006, the estimated cost was less than $16 million. The proposal focused on Dow’s training academy and one “fine dining” restaurant.
Ahead of the first design meeting in February 2006, Liveris told project managers that his wife would act as his representative.
Her appointment wasn’t the CEO’s idea, according to the outside attorney’s review. It was suggested by Dow’s former head of human resources, Julie Fasone-Holder, who felt Liveris would be too busy to keep close watch over the project. In his stead, she recommended that Paula Liveris volunteer her time and talents.
The CEO endorsed the idea. A friend of the couple, Mica Jones, described by Dow as a “well-known local artist,” also joined the effort.
Paula Liveris attended the initial design session for the H in February 2006, meeting minutes show. In one early 2006 memo, she and Jones are listed as members of the “Design Advisory Team.”
Kepler told top architects and designers “to feed design information to Paula and Mica who will provide their perspective and counsel,” according to minutes from a June meeting. “Paula wants two to three options for the restaurant along the lines of the best restaurants from Chicago or New York.”
A NEW DESIGNER
That summer, Paula Liveris and Mica Jones recommended hiring a new design architect, according to Greusel: Mark Johnson, based in suburban Detroit.
“Once Mark Johnson was on the job, the design just became very different,” said Greusel, the lead architect. “To my impressions and tastes, we had gone up a notch from upscale. And it still went higher.”
The hiring of Johnson alone, according to the project timeline kept by the former Dow executive, cost an estimated $300,000 more in design fees. Johnson took on the key role of designing the restaurants and executive dining areas, “per Paula Liveris’s request,” the former executive wrote in an August 2006 entry in his timeline.
The former executive provided the information to Reuters on condition of anonymity, saying the severance agreement he signed contains a clause that bars him from discussing his experience at Dow.
Johnson declined to comment.
Dow says it concluded that more design expertise was needed because HOK’s team specialized in sports facilities.


BUFFET BUSTERS: Buffets were banned at the H Hotel's restaurant and cafe, according to brainstorming documents. Gone is the $9.95 lunch buffet, which included a dessert bar, that was at the hotel’s former restaurant.
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, 9 October 2015

Britain’s Chevening Scholarship Removes Diezani’s Name From Honours List

The United Kingdom-based Chevening Scholarship has removed the embattled former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, from its list of female achievers, according to a report by Sahara Reporters.

Chevening is an international scholarship scheme which enables students with leadership qualities from 144 countries and territories to undertake postgraduate study or courses in universities in the UK.
After receiving a Chevening scholarship in 2002, Diezani attended Cambridge University for her MBA and then returned to Nigeria where she became the first female Executive Director of Shell Petroleum Development Company.
After emerging as the first woman to hold the position of Minister of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria and the first female President of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Chevening on its website, listed her as one of its best female alumni in commemoration of the March 8 International Women’s Day.

Diezani was listed among other international and accomplished women like the Vice President, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Wang li; a former Minister for Social Development in Jordan, Hala Bsaisu Lattouf; and a Deputy Minister of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Hertzegovina, Denisa Sarajlic-Maglic.
Posted by at No comments:

No politician is worth losing blood for,2face advises kogi youths.

Fri, 09 Oct 2015
Popular musician, Innocent Idibia aka 2Face, has advised youths in Kogi not to engage in violence before, during and after the Nov. 21 goveYou are here : Home » Entertainment » Music »
No politician is worth losing your blood for, 2Face advises Kogi youths
October 09, 2015  in Music, News FacebookTwitterSMSWhatsApp
Lokoja – Popular musician, Innocent Idibia aka 2Face, has advised youths in Kogi not to engage in violence before, during and after the Nov. 21 governorship election.
He gave the advice on Thursday in Lokoja during the

2face Idibia
official launch of “Vote Not Fight; Election No Be War” Campaign.
The campaign was organised by 2Face Foundation, Youth Emancipation for the Society and the Centre for Human Rights and Conflicts Resolution.
Idibia urged the youths to see the forthcoming election as sport where one candidate must win and another would lose and urged them to cultivate the spirit of sportsmanship toward the poll.
“No politician is worth losing your blood for.
“Don’t be used as instrument of destruction; there should be no killing of people nor should there be destruction of property in any community,“ Idiba pleaded.
He appealed to prospective voters present at campaign rallies to carry the message to all the nooks and crannies of the state.
He explained that the vote not fight; election no be war campaign, launched in Nov. 2014, was instrumental to the peace that reigned after the conduct of the last general elections.
“The idea is to transform Nigerian youths into peacemakers and ambassadors in their communities for the promotion of a conflict-free environment during the electoral process,” he said.
Mr Machill Maxwell, an official of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) commended 2Face Foundation and other partners for initiating the campaign.
He noted that the campaign had helped to promote peaceful conduct of elections in the country.
“It is therefore imperative that Kogi youths should embrace the spirit of peaceful participation and promote a conflict-free environment during the governorship election and stand up against violence before, during and after the poll’’ he said.norship election.
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, 6 October 2015

Air strike on Afghan hospital was mistake: US commander

Washington: The deadly American air strike on a hospital in northern Afghan city of Kunduz that killed 22 people, including women and children, was a mistake, a top US commander in Afghanistan on Tuesday said as he conceded that they were taken by surprise by the recent Taliban upsurge.
General John Campbell, Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, testified before a Senate committee that the investigation into the attack on a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital will be "thorough, objective and transparent."
"A hospital was mistakenly struck. We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility," he said.
"I must allow the investigation to take its course and, therefore, I'm not at liberty to discuss further specifics at this time. However, I assure you that the investigation will be thorough, objective and transparent," he said three days after the medical clinic strike.
The MSF has branded the attack a war crime, and has pulled out of the Afghan city in the aftermath of the attack.
Campbell also told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he thinks US President Barack Obama should revise the plan to cut US forces from 9,800 to about 1,000 in Afghanistan by 2016.
He warned that the "tenuous security situation" in Afghanistan might require a reversal of that drawdown.
Campbell said "based on conditions on the ground, based on the transitions I have talked about, I do believe that we have to provide our senior leadership options different than the current plan that we're going with, absolutely."
He has said the airstrike on the hospital was requested by Afghan forces who reported being under Taliban fire.
The US has launched an investigation into the October 3 incident. NATO and the Afghan Government too have launched their parallel investigations.
Campbell conceded that not only the Afghans but also the Americans were taken by surprise when the Taliban took control of Kunduz, which has been the scene of heavy fighting between the Taliban and Afghan authorities in recent days.
"A lot of reasons why the Afghans are taking a hard look as well to make sure they do after action on this. Part of the reason, they didn't have key leaders in place," he said.
He, however, said that the Taliban is unlikely to get control over Afghanistan. "I do not believe that the Taliban would take over the government."
But the Afghan security forces' inconsistent performance in Kunduz underscores several of their shortcomings, he said.
"They must improve their intelligence fusion, command and control, utilisation of their forces," he said.
Referring to the Taliban advances in Kunduz, Senator John McCain, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, too called for a review of Obama's decision on troops drawdown.
"A robust and adaptive US troop presence, based on conditions on the ground, not on a calendar, is essential to ensuring that these gains endure. Failure to adopt such a conditions-based plan, these experts have warned, would invite the same tragedy that has unfolded in Iraq since 2011," McCain said.
Posted by at No comments:

NATO warns russia after jet strays into Turkey

NATO has condemned Russian incursions into Turkish airspace as an “extreme danger” and demanded that Moscow halt all attacks against the Syrian opposition and civilians.
The alliance summoned the ambassadors of its 28 member states on Monday for an emergency meeting to respond to what Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called “unacceptable violations of Turkish airspace”.
“[We] strongly protest these violations of Turkish sovereign airspace and condemn these incursions into and violations of NATO airspace. [We] also note the extreme danger of such irresponsible behaviour,” NATO said after the emergency meeting.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said his country was “greatly concerned” about the incursion over the weekend.
“We are greatly concerned about it because it is precisely the kind of thing that, had Turkey responded … it could have resulted in a shootdown, and it is precisely the kind of thing we warned against,” Kerry said during a visit to Chile.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)