Russia Sees Interests 'Coincide' with Taliban on Fighting IS - Agence France-Presse

Russia is exchanging information with the Taliban and sees shared interest with the insurgents when it comes to counteracting the spread of the Islamic State group, a senior Russian diplomat said Wednesday.

"Taliban interests objectively coincide with ours," Zamir Kabulov, head of the department at the Russian foreign ministry responsible for Afghanistan who is also a Kremlin special representative in the country, told Interfax news agency.

"I have said before that we have communication channels with the Taliban to exchange information," he said.

"Both the Taliban of Afghanistan and the Taliban of Pakistan have said that they don't recognise (IS leader Abu Bakr) Al-Baghdadi as a caliph, that they don't recognise ISIL,"…

Read on.

Dear Mad Scientist Community,

I would like to offer a great opportunity to you all to continue to help the army think about the future and the capabilities needed to allow us to remain the preeminent land force. The U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) G-2 will host a Mad Scientist Conference at Arizona State University (ASU), Phoenix, Arizona from 21-22 April 2016, with a specific focus on Megacities and Dense Urban Areas in 2025 and Beyond.

The Mad Scientist Initiative is a TRADOC G-2 initiative that enables continuous dialogue between Joint military, international partners, academia, policy institutions, and private sector organizations to help the Army explore the evolution of the Operational Environment (OE) through the year 2040.  Mad Scientist also seeks to examine the effects of all aspects of technology on the far future of armed conflict. 

The Mad Scientist Initiative allows for continuously learning, adaptation, and innovation and allows for broader engagement in problem solving.  Mad Scientist supports understanding the future OE and the underlying technology evolution to support the Campaign of Learning, 2025 Maneuvers, science and technology (S&T) investments, and capability development for the Army.

TRADOC G-2 is soliciting papers from your community that address one or more of the following objectives of the Megacities/Dense Urban Areas theme:

(1) Situational understanding:  What emerging concepts and capabilities will enable Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB); Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities; Mission Command Systems; electronic warfare (EW), and a human, demographic, and cultural understanding within Megacities/Dense Urban Areas?

(2) Freedom of movement and protection:  What emerging concepts and capabilities will enable access and freedom of movement in, above (buildings and airspace), below (sub-terrain), and around Megacities? What new capabilities for Decentralized Urban Logistics can improve sustainment efficacy in urban areas? What will protect vehicles and Soldiers, while enabling freedom of movement, from multitude of advanced and conventional military technologies as well as environmental threats (e.g., water, sanitation, air pollution; etc.)?

(3) Expeditionary operations:  What emerging concepts and capabilities will enable expeditionary maneuver; evolve Army Health Support of Operations; enhance the ability to manage or influence large population centers, and offer solutions for achieving partner interests and strategic objectives throughout a range of military operations (during peace and combat operations)?

(4) Future training challenges: What emerging technologies and capabilities must the Army explore and adopt in order to realistically represent the complexities of a Megacity to a training audience (home station and Combat Training Centers) allowing the development of cohesive teams that thrive in ambiguity, austerity, or chaos within OE of 2025 and Beyond (Human Dimension Strategy Strategic Objective #2).

As we are seeking emerging concepts, capabilities, or technologies we do not expect this to be a strictly technical paper, but we do not discourage this if there is data available. There is not constraint on the length but something less than 10 pages is appropriate. There is also publication potential with either Military Review or Small Wars Journal. If you are a Department of Defense employee, please seek your appropriate review and release channels (e.g., Public Affairs Office) before submitting content for publication.       

Submissions should cover the above objectives and questions, targeted at both an S&T and non-S&T audience. General questions to consider when writing your submission are: What is the technology or technology-based capability? How could it change warfare? Why should a decision maker care?

Please note that the conference will be conducted at the unclassified level. Papers are due 11 February 2016.  There is not set format for the papers.  All appropriate papers will be published in the proceedings and several will be selected for presentation.    

Please send your submissions or questions to the TRADOC G2 attn: Mr. Joel Lawton joel.b.lawton.civ@mail.mil and Dr. Kira Hutchinson kira.d.hutchinson.civ@mail.mil.

INFORMATION PAPER

SUBJECT:  Mad Scientist Conference: Megacities and Dense Urban Areas

1.  Purpose.  To provide information on the upcoming Mad Scientist Conference to be held at Arizona State University (ASU), Phoenix, Arizona from 21-22 April 2016, with a specific focus on Megacities and Dense Urban Areas in 2025 and Beyond.

2.  Facts. 

     a. Mad Scientist (MS) is a TRADOC G2 initiative that enables continuous dialogue between Joint military, international partners, academia, policy institutions, and private sector organizations to help the Army explore the evolution of the Operational Environment (OE) through the year 2040.  Mad Scientist also seeks to examine the effects of all aspects of technology on the far future of armed conflict. 

     b. MS allows for continuously learning, adaptation, and innovation and allows for broader engagement in problem solving.  MS supports understanding the future OE and the underlying technology evolution to support the Campaign of Learning, 2025 Maneuvers, science and technology (S&T) investments, and capability development for the Army.

     c. By 2030, 60% of the world’s population is expected to reside in cities. Adversaries are increasingly moving to environments where U.S. advantages in detection, standoff, and precision firepower may be constrained. Further, the potential for Army involvement within cities may be exacerbated by global challenges including: liberal trade and economic coordination; climate change; nuclear proliferation; responsibility to protect, and failing states and ungoverned areas.

     d. The types of tasks that the Army may be required to perform in a megacity or in dense urban areas include:  Non-combatant evacuation; humanitarian assistance disaster relief (HADR) missions; raids; deny adversary objectives; counter weapons of mass destruction operations; conduct military engagement and security cooperation; provide a global stabilizing presence; provide support to civil authorities, and counter terrorism/counterinsurgency missions.

     e. Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) G-2 in collaboration with ASU, Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) and Intelligence Center of Excellence (ICOE), will address four primary objectives:

           (1) Situational understanding:  What emerging concepts and capabilities will enable Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB); Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities; Mission Command Systems; electronic warfare (EW), and a human, demographic, and cultural understanding within megacities/dense urban areas?

          (2) Freedom of movement and protection:  What emerging concepts and capabilities will enable access and freedom of movement in, above (buildings and airspace), below (sub-terrain), and around megacities? What new capabilities for Decentralized Urban Logistics can improve sustainment efficacy in urban areas? What will protect vehicles and Soldiers, while enabling freedom of movement, from multitude of advanced and conventional military technologies as well as environmental threats (e.g., water, sanitation, air pollution; etc.)?

          (3) Expeditionary operations:  What emerging concepts and capabilities will enable expeditionary maneuver; evolve Army Health Support of Operations; enhance the ability to manage or influence large population centers, and offer solutions for achieving partner interests and strategic objectives throughout a range of military operations (during peace and combat operations)?

          (4) Future training challenges:  What emerging technologies and capabilities must the Army explore and adopt in order to realistically represent the complexities of a megacity to a training audience (home station and Combat Training Centers) allowing the development of cohesive teams that thrive in ambiguity, austerity, or chaos within OE of 2025 and Beyond (Human Dimension Strategy Strategic Objective #2).

     f. If you cannot physically attend the conference, we invite you to join us remotely on the TRADOC Watch website at:  http://www.tradoc.army.mil/watch/

     g. Remote attendees will also be able to participate in the discussions via an online chat room and will be provided an opportunity to provide questions that will be proposed to conference speakers.

     h. Please join the All Partners Access Network (APAN) to receive updates on the conference, to include list of speakers, agenda, and related information at: https://community.apan.org/wg/tradoc-g2/mad-scientist/