http://www.icosgroup.net/ http://rss.icosgroup.net/news/logo http://www.icosgroup.net/ ICOS (The International Council on Security and Development) is a policy think tank working to combine grassroots research and policy innovation at the intersections of security, development, counter-narcotics and public health issues. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/afghanistan_dangers_drawdown This new ICOS report looks at the current dynamics in Kandahar and Helmand provinces, southern Afghanistan, in the context of the United States' announced plan to begin drawing down military forces in Afghanistan in five months. The surge of 30,000 additional US forces has changed the security dynamics on the ground significantly, with the additional troops making major gains in clearing districts previously held by the Taliban. http://www.citizenship.icosgroup.net The ICOS Security and Citizenship programme launches its new website today. The ICOS Security and Citizenship programme combines innovative research and policy analysis to promote pragmatic responses to today's most pressing social challenges. The website contains information on ICOS’s Urban Labs programme as well as books, events and security news. http://www.citizenship.icosgroup.net http://tinyurl.com/6kmu4dh The Netherlands can provide concrete and positive assistance in training a more effective Afghan civilian police force one step at a time. Within the international framework of our commitments to NATO and the European Union, this police training mission can make an important contribution to public security, while keeping our promise to the Afghan people of creating a safer and more stable Afghanistan. http://tinyurl.com/6kmu4dh http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/afghanistan_transition_missing_variables In October 2010 ICOS interviewed 1500 Afghan men in southern and northern Afghanistan. The ICOS research in these southern provinces provides a unique insight into the most relevant cohort of the Afghan population, in the most relevant areas of the country. The questions assessed a range of subjects including interviewees’ perceptions of NATO-ISAF and the wider international community, their attitudes towards the Taliban, and their opinions on international development efforts in their community. The report is out today http://tinyurl.com/3y9zr5u http://www.globalfoodsec.net The Global Food Security Initiative portal is now online. The Global Food Security portal has the aim of offering a "one stop shop" for information on food security around the world. This is achieved through the management and organisation of information regarding food security policy and related issues comprehensively in one place. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/afghanistan_relationship_gap As the war in Afghanistan enters another summer of increasing violence, the international community is focusing its attention on Kandahar province, the spiritual and political heartland of the Taliban insurgency. At the same time, there is growing pressure for a withdrawal among the public in the member countries of the NATO-ISAF coalition is growing. To assess the attitude of the Afghan people towards key issues, ICOS interviewed 552 Afghan men across Kandahar and Helmand provinces in June 2010. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/uae_unemployed_youth In collaboration with the Emirates Foundation for Philanthropy, ICOS conducted an extensive fieldwork study with Emirati youth in 2009 producing analysis on the perceptions of unemployed youth on the causes, effects and solutions to their unemployment. http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/02/08/is_operation_moshtarak_a_fool_s_mission We should be asking some critical questions about the now, much-publicized NATO and Afghan forces operation to take Marjah district in Helmand. For starters: How does this operation fit into the overall strategy for Afghanistan -- why Marjah and why now? http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/operation_moshtarak NATO‟s Operation Moshtarak, launched in February 2010 in Helmand province, was the first deployment after the beginning of the much-debated surge of 30,000 additional US troops. It was billed as the largest military operation since the invasion of 2001. The planning for the operation emphasised the needs of the Afghan people, and the importance of winning hearts and minds as part of a classic counter-insurgency operation. However, the reality on the ground did not match the rhetoric. Welcome improvements in the size and conduct of military operations were undermined by a lack of sufficient corresponding measures in the political and humanitarian campaigns. This report reviews the local perceptions of the operation from more than 400 Afghan men from Marjah, Lashkar Gah and Kandahar, interviewed by the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) in March 2010. http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/02/02/the_devil_is_in_the_details_dissecting_karzais_plan_to_fix_afghanistan What really happened at the London Conference on Afghanistan? Sadly, not much. There was a real sense of déjà vu -- much the same has been said in Bonn, Tokyo, Kabul, Berlin, London, Rome, Paris, and the Hague -- and these conferences all seem divorced from the real facts on the ground. http://www.publicsecurity.icosgroup.net/modules/books/?langue=en The presentations from the International Symposium on Public Security and Drug Policy, Rio de Janeiro 25-27 February 2008, are now available online. The Symposium brought together national and international authorities, as well as specialists and policy makers to discuss the challenges of public security with professionals from the field. In particular, the discussion worked to understand the ways in which the problem of drugs impacts on public security, and the inter-relationships between drug policies and public security policies. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/political_quagmire Afghanistan’s election paralysis shows no sign of ending. The presidential election on August 20 was marked by heavy fraud and widespread manipulation. Nearly a month after the first round of voting, the independent Election Complaints Commission - tasked with investigating the irregularities – has ordered a partial recount and audit, of 2500 polling stations. ICOS believes an interim government is the only workable alternative, with international auditors appointed to enforce government accountability in the interim period. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/press_releases/eight_years_after_911 The Taliban now have a permanent presence in 80% of Afghanistan, up from 72% in November 2008, according to a new map released today by the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS). According to ICOS, another 17% of Afghanistan is seeing "substantial" Taliban activity. Taken together, these figures show that the Taliban has a significant presence in virtually all of Afghanistan. http://www.icosgroup.net/static/podcast/Raymond_Kendall-09-07-29.mp3.mp3 Raymond Kendall, former Secretary General of Interpol and Chair of the ICOS Advisory Board, talks about recent changes in US drug policy in Afghanistan and at home. http://www.icosgroup.net/static/podcast/SirKeith_Morris.mp3 Sir Keith Morris, former UK ambassador to Columbia and member of the ICOS Advisory Board, talks about his experiences in Columbia and how they have led to his interest in global drug policy. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/Guns_and_Money_Afghanistans_Election Afghanistan’s presidential elections, to be held on 20 August 2009, will be a critical moment for a country struggling to deal with a violent Taliban insurgency and a crisis of legitimacy. After eight years of working to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for terrorist groups, the international community’s best bet for achieving this goal lies in a stable Afghan government led by a capable, legitimate Afghan president. As such, the success or otherwise of this election will prove crucial. Yet promises of legitimate, transparent elections may prove more difficult to fulfil than had been hoped. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/press_releases/us_makes_historic_shift ICOS hailed on the first of July the monumental move by the US to stop the failed policy of poppy crop eradication in Afghanistan, and it called on the US, UK and the rest of the international community to back its Poppy for Medicine proposal in the war-torn country. On Saturday, the US announced that it would withdraw its support for efforts to eradicate opium cultivation in Afghanistan. Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said that eradication "didn't reduce the amount of money the Taliban got by one dollar.” Shortly after the Taliban fell in 2001, the US-led international community in Afghanistan adopted eradication as part of their counter-narcotics policy in an attempt to curtail the opium crisis. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/press_releases/icos_joins_ead ICOS announced on the 26th of June its commitment to the European Action on Drugs (EAD), a new and innovative European Commission initiative on drug policy that seeks to implement pragmatic and effective science-based policies on drugs, in an effort to bring Europe closer to a more humanitarian and health-based drugs policy. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/press_releases/rome_consensus_europe_conference The Spanish Red Cross is hosting the Rome Consensus Europe Conference in Madrid from the 26-27th March 2009. The Conference, titled “Rising to the Challenge of Drug Use in Europe”, is an initiative of the Rome Consensus for a Humanitarian Drug Policy, supported by the European Commission and ICOS. After five regional meetings and a World Congress in Barcelona last year, the Rome Consensus is moving to a new level of action. It will now directly mobilise the experience and networks of the Red Cross to implement projects and take concrete actions in the field of humanitarian drug policy. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/power_to_the_people This new ICOS report examines the key dynamics and personalities at play in the run up to the Afghan presidential election, which will determine the future course of Afghanistan. It details some recommendations for the conduct of the election, and possible scenarios that might shape its outcome. In February 2008, ICOS released a report called Decision Point 2008. This report listed the names of individuals listed by Afghans as potential Presidential candidates and examined the issues facing Afghanistan in the run-up to Presidential election. This report updates that list and reports on key dynamics and issues at play in Afghanistan in the run up to the election. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/press_releases/unodc_who_win_icos_award The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) today received the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) Award for Innovative Drug Policy, in recognition of the UNODC-WHO Joint Programme on Drug Dependence Treatment and Care. The Award was presented on the Occasion of the 52nd Session of the United Nations’ Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), where UNODC and WHO unveiled their groundbreaking project. The Joint Programme aims to promote and support provision of humane, effective and accessible treatment and care for more people suffering from drug use disorders. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/struggle_for_kabul/press_release The Taliban now holds a permanent presence in 72% of Afghanistan, up from 54% a year ago, according to a report released today by the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS), an international policy think tank. According to ICOS, Taliban forces have advanced from their southern heartlands, where they are now the de facto governing power in a number of towns and villages, to Afghanistan’s western and north-western provinces, as well as provinces north of Kabul. Within a year, the Taliban's permanent presence in the country has increased by a startling 18%, according to ICOS research on the ground in Afghanistan. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/iraq_angry_hearts/press_release LONDON - ICOS calls for a reengineering of the international community's mechanisms for responding to global security crises. The Council's new research in Iraq demonstrates that current policies in the country are producing a generation of angry young men who are easy prey for recruitment to extremist insurgencies. The new Iraq findings show one striking similarity with The Council's previous research in Afghanistan and Somalia: the intense anger of the country's young men. "This crescent of anger that runs through all three of the main theatres of the War on Terror conflict is not being effectively responded to," said Norine MacDonald QC, President and Lead Field Researcher of ICOS. "We need to win over these young men's hearts and minds in order to starve the insurgents of recruits and support." http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/press_releases/paris_conference PARIS - Donors at the International Conference in Support of Afghanistan must focus their attention on tackling Afghanistan's burgeoning illegal opium economy instead of making generous but ineffective aid pledges that fail to address this major crisis, said ICOS on Thursday. Empty promises from previous donor conferences have done nothing to improve the everyday situation in the war-torn country, while the illicit opium economy continues to hamper Afghanistan's reconstruction, development and stabilisation efforts. Criticising ineffectual aid delivery mechanisms, ICOS called for the international community to harness market forces to address the country's illegal opium problem, by adopting pragmatic initiatives like Poppy for Medicine projects. By stimulating the creation of a sustainable economy, such projects can wean Afghanistan off its reliance on international aid. http://www.publicsecurity.icosgroup.net/ ICOS' Centre of Excellence on Public Security now has a website online. Based in Rio de Janeiro, the Centre of Excellence on Public Security provides innovative research, advocacy and policy analysis to promote pragmatic responses, supporting states to solve public security crises and pave the way for social and economic development. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/press_releases/insite Raymond Kendall, Honorary Secretary General of Interpol, and ICOS' President, Norine MacDonald QC, on Tuesday urged Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to keep Vancouver's Insite safe injection centre open, citing in particular its significant positive impact on public security aside from its proven health benefits. In a piece published as the Globe and Mail's exclusive commentary on its website on Tuesday, Kendall and MacDonald wrote that Insite and other sites like it "neither increase drug-related crimes, nor attract criminals to the site". http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/chronic_failures_war_terror The conflict theatres of Somalia and Afghanistan share a number of similarities, not least regarding the tactics, techniques and motivations utilised by their respective insurgencies. Field research undertaken by ICOS in both countries has enabled the identification of shared dynamics and the interplay between various levels of actor engaged in both conflicts. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/Afghan_Somali_Views With both Afghanistan and Somalia strongly affected by US policy, the results of this year’s US Presidential elections are critical for both countries. In March and April 2008, a series of interviews were carried out in Afghanistan and Somalia to gauge the extent to which the United State Presidential Candidates were known in each of these countries, which candidates were favoured and why. http://www.cic.nyu.edu/afghanistan/docs/counternarcoticsfinal.pdf ICOS wishes to draw your attention to an important report by the Center on International Cooperation of New York University - "Counter-narcotics to Stabilize Afghanistan: the false promise of crop eradication" - released in the run-up to a major international meeting on Afghan policy in Tokyo, warns that U.S.-driven efforts to eradicate the country's opium crop, rather than deprive the Taliban of funding, will instead make more drug money available to fund insurgency, terrorism, and corruption. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/press_releases/save_a_mate On the occasion of the 51st Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, ICOS on Wednesday presented The Australian Red Cross save-a-mate (SAM) program with the inaugural Award for Innovative Drug Policy. Initially launched in 1999, the save-a-mate program's peer education comes in direct contact with more than 40,000 young people in Australia each year, and delivers training to more than 10,000. The initiative addresses the young in all communities, including vulnerable populations such as the Aboriginals, the prisoner population and sex workers. With over 300 volunteers nationally delivering training and first-aid services on a wide range of drug use and alcohol issues, the peer-to-peer campaign has been highly successful in Australia. "This initiative powerfully illustrates the effectiveness of health-based approaches to drug issues, and sends a strong message on the need for more realistic and humanitarian measures," said Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of ICOS, who presented the award to Shaun Hazeldine, National Manager of save-a-mate, at a dinner in Vienna which was attended by delegates from the Commission on Narcotic Drugs... http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/us_policy_afghanistan ICOS releases its latest recommendations to the US government concerning Afghanistan. It urges the United States Government to halt plans for forced poppy crop eradication in Afghanistan, and encourages George Bush to support a Poppy for Medicine initiative, which would see Afghan farmers licensed to grow their poppy for morphine. http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/us_policy_afghanistan/press_release ICOS on Monday urged the United States Government to halt plans for forced poppy crop eradication in Afghanistan, citing the drastically deteriorating security situation in the country. With the US set to restart manual crop eradication any time now, ICOS said a continuation of this failing policy would undermine NATO's efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.