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NATION/WORLD
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Thursday, November 29, 2018 5A
AFGHANISTAN
Rise in US deaths clouds outlook for peace
PATRICK SEMANSKY I Associated Press
A U.S. Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of
Sgt. Leandro A. Jasso, at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Nov. 26.
BY ROBERT BURNS
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A rash
of American combat deaths in
Afghanistan is putting a spotlight
on a stalemated 17-year war that is
testing President Donald Trump’s
commitment to pursuing peace with
the Taliban.
Trump has acknowledged that
his original instinct was to withdraw
from Afghanistan, but last week he
suggested he is willing to stick it out,
asserting that the U.S. is in “very
strong negotiations” — an appar
ent reference to U.S. envoy Zalmay
Khalilzad’s efforts to get the Taliban
to agree to peace talks.
On the other hand, Trump indi
cated he had little confidence the
talks are going to succeed. “Maybe
they’re not. Probably they’re not,”
he said.
The human cost of the conflict
rarely makes headlines in the U.S.,
leaving Trump with political room
to maneuver. But that might be
changing.
In early November, Brent Taylor,
the mayor of North Ogden, Utah,
and a major in the Utah National
Guard, was killed by an Afghan
soldier in Kabul. Last Saturday, Sgt.
Leandro Jasso, a 25-year-old Army
Ranger from Leavenworth, Wash
ington, was mortally wounded in
southern Afghanistan. On Tuesday,
U.S. officials said they had deter
mined that Jasso probably was
accidentally shot by an Afghan sol
dier during battle with an al-Qaida
fighter.
The U.S. military headquarters
in Kabul announced Tuesday that
three U.S. servicemembers were
killed and three wounded by a
roadside bomb in Ghazni province,
south of Kabul, where the Taliban
has been resurgent. It was the dead
liest attack on U.S. forces in Afghan
istan this year.
The Taliban, who ruled Afghani
stan before U.S. forces invaded in
October 2001, carry out near-daily
attacks on Afghan army and police
forces, and in August the insurgents
overran parts of Ghazni, leading to
days of intense fighting before they
were driven out. Ghazni was the
only one of Afghanistan’s 34 prov
inces where parliamentary elec
tions could not be held in October
because of security worries. Vot
ing there has been postponed for a
year.
Stephen Biddle, a professor of
international and public affairs
at Columbia University who has
closely tracked the war from its
beginning, said little that has hap
pened in Afghanistan in recent
years has grabbed the American
public’s attention, including a death
toll since 2001 that now exceeds
2,400.
“The war hasn’t produced torch-
lit marches on the Pentagon or for
that matter any meaningful effect
on any election campaign,” Biddle
said. “What (the uptick in casual
ties) could do is change the mind of
Donald Trump. At a minimum, he is
erratic and clearly doesn’t like the
war.”
In a Washington Post interview
Tuesday, Trump called the latest
deaths “very sad” and said he was
keeping troops there only because
“experts” told him it was necessary.
In Geneva on Wednesday,
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani
urged a gathering of U.S., Russian
and other diplomats to continue
support for his government, and
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov expressed hope for an “end
to this fratricidal war.” In Ghani’s
absence, Kabul, the Afghan capi
tal, was hit Wednesday by a coor
dinated insurgent attack against
security forces, and in the southern
province of Helmand, local offi
cials said at least 30 civilians and 16
Taliban fighters were killed in over
night fighting.
Trump’s predecessor, Barack
Obama, ended the U.S. combat
mission in Afghanistan in 2014 with
the aim of compelling the Afghans
to provide for their own defense.
Trump came to the White House
having called the war a waste, but in
August 2017, he announced he was
recommitting U.S. forces to winning
in Afghanistan while revealing that
his first instinct had been to pull the
plug. Over several months, the Pen
tagon sent an additional 3,500 troops
and changed the way it advises
Afghan forces. There are now about
15,000 U.S. troops in the country.
Trump’s strategy in Afghanistan
is built on hope that the Taliban can
be drawn into peace talks. That has
not yet happened, but some U.S.
analysts say prospects are better
than at any time in the war. A sec
ond pillar of the strategy, ending
Pakistan’s tactical support for the
Taliban, has proved ineffective.
David Sedney, who has worked
on Afghan issues as a diplomat
and civilian policy official since
the war began, said he believes the
chances for successful peace talks
with the Taliban are low but are
better than at any other time in the
long conflict. Sedney said he heard
encouraging words from Afghans
— supporters of the government as
well as those who favor the Taliban
— during a visit to the county in late
October and early November.
“There’s a growing expectation
that peace is possible,” Sedney said.
Further complicating the outlook
is the presence in eastern Afghani
stan of an Islamic State affiliate.
Both the Taliban and the IS affiliate
want to overthrow the Afghan gov
ernment and impose a harsh form
of Islamic rule. But they are bitterly
divided over leadership, ideology
and tactics.
CONNECTICUT
Ban on parents at school
lunchrooms roils town
BY MICHAEL MELIA
Associated Press
DARIEN — One mother
shed tears when she read the
superintendent’s announce
ment. Another said it felt like
a body blow.
After struggling with grow
ing numbers of parents in
school cafeterias, the Darien
school system said parents
and guardians would no lon
ger be welcome to visit with
their children during lunch
at the town’s elementary
schools.
The decision has stirred
strong emotions in Darien,
a wealthy shoreline com
munity that prides itself on
its high-performing public
schools. While some parents
said it was time to stop a dis
ruptive practice, others have
protested at town meetings
and in online forums that the
change has deprived them of
cherished time to check in
on their children and model
good social behavior.
“It feels like a punch in
the gut,” parent Jessica Xu,
whose oldest child is in first
grade, said in an interview.
“I chose the town for the
schools. I’m so frustrated the
schools don’t want me there. ”
Elementary schools gen
erally set their own rules for
parent visits, and policies
vary widely. Some allow it on
children’s birthdays or other
special occasions. In some
areas districts say it’s not an
issue because parents do not
or cannot visit because of
work or other obligations.
In a Darien, a town of
Colonial-style homes behind
stone fences where the
median household income
exceeds $200,000, so many
parents had begun attending
lunch that principals felt they
were affecting the day-to-day
running of the elementary
schools, according to Tara
Ochman, chairman of the
Darien Board of Education.
On a typical day, Xu said,
six or seven parents were in
the cafeteria of her child’s
school.
“We believe that schools
exist for children, and we
work to develop the skills
necessary for students to
grow into engaged members
of society,” Ochman said in a
written statement. “We work
every day on this mission so
that our students embrace
their next steps confidently
and respectfully.”
The Darien superintendent
and elementary school prin
cipals declined to comment,
but a veteran of school lunch
rooms in the nearby town of
Weston, Kelly Ann Franzese,
said parent visits can be tax
ing because children become
upset when their parents
leave and school staff mem
bers feel their every move
is being scrutinized. Some
Weston parents visited their
children every week, she
said.
“From a professional per
spective, when we’re the ones
left dealing with your child
when you leave, it wasn’t
good,” said Franzese, who
worked for eight years as a
special education therapist in
Weston until earlier this year.
“We would call them helicop
ter moms.”
One Darien mother, Beth
Lane, said at an education
board meeting last month
that she welcomed the
change.
“It was good because kids
have to be able to learn how
to work with each other and
socialize with each other, and
putting a parent in changes
the dynamic dramatically,”
she said.
But others who spoke up
at the meeting said the mid
day visits allowed them to see
how their children were far
ing and to help them resolve
friction with other children.
For the youngest children,
they could offer helping open
ing milk cartons and finding
items in the lunchrooms.
Terry Steadman, a par
ent, told the board she was
shocked and driven to tears
by the news.
“To just ban parents from
the lunchroom, which is
effectively what you’re doing
with this email, I don’t think
it’s right. I don’t think it’s in
the spirit of a collaborative
environment,” she said.
Other districts have
wrestled with lunchroom
visitation policies including
Beaverton, Oregon, where
restrictions were added last
year because many Indian
and Pakistani families were
bringing warm lunches from
home daily for their chil
dren. The elementary school
added a rack where parents
can drop off lunches, and the
district assesses visit requests
on a case-by-case basis, dis
trict spokeswoman Maureen
Wheeler said.
“It’s about managing the
numbers in the school,” she
said. “You just can’t have par
ents hanging out at the school,
just watching.”
The practice is unheard
of in many urban and poor
areas where parents may not
have the same engagement
with schools.
“In some schools it’s not
really an issue at all because
based on the population, par
ents aren’t able to come and
have lunch. It’s something
maybe parents aren’t able
to do,” said Tanya Arja, a
spokeswoman for schools in
Hillsborough County, Florida.
Officials: Inmates ran S560K
online dating extortion scheme
BY MEG KINNARD
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Five inmates in
the Carolinas extorted more than half a
million dollars from military personnel
throughout the country, using illegal cell
phones to pose as women on dating sites,
authorities said Wednesday.
Standing in front of a state prison in
Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. Attor
ney Sherri Lydon told reporters that
five inmates had been indicted on fed
eral charges including extortion and
wire fraud. Ten others throughout the
Carolinas have been charged with help
ing inmates collect extortion payments
via services including Western Union or
PayPal.
According to court documents, inmates
used contraband phones to join dating
websites, contacting and exchanging nude
images with service members across the
country.
Once the targets had been reeled in,
Drew Goodridge of the Naval Criminal
Investigative Service said, inmates then
posed as an authority figure, like a father
or police officer, claiming the girl with
whom the victim had been communicat
ing was underage and demanding money
to keep the exchanges private.
Fearful they’d be accused of dissemi
nating child pornography, possibly los
ing their military careers, more than 442
service members handed over more than
$560,000 total, authorities said.
Lydon said the victims come from
all branches and ranks of the military.
According to Goodridge, more than 250
other cases were being investigated for
potential extortion as part of “Operation
Surprise Party,” which his agency began
in January 2017.
“This operation will continue until we
break the back of these criminal net
works,” he said.
Inmates aren’t allowed to have cell
phones behind bars, although thousands
are smuggled inside each year. Correc
tions Director Bryan Stirling has long
called illegally obtained cellphones the
No. 1 security threat inside his institutions,
as they allow inmates the unmonitored
ability to communicate and potentially
continue their criminal endeavors.
Officials have said a deadly riot earlier
this year at Lee Correctional Institution
was in part a turf war over contraband
including cellphones.
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Greater Hall Chamber's Annual Legislative Forum
Thursday, December 13
7:30 am - 9:30 am
neW Lanier Technical College
Ramsey Conference Center
2535 Lanier Tech Drive in Gainesville
Special Guest Governor Nathan Deal
and the Hall County Legislative Delegation
Governor Nathan Deal
Butch Miller
49th State Senate
John Wilkinson
50th State Senate
Lee Hawkins
27th House District
$25 Chamber Members | $35 Non-Members | $350 Reserved Table
Reservations Required | Non-Refundable | Includes Full Buffet Breakfast
Gerri Collins: 770-532-6206 x 106 • gcollins@ghcc.com
Online: GreaterHallChamber.com/events
Matt Dubnik Emory Dunahoo Timothy Barr
29th House District 30th House District / 03rd House District
Open to the Public
Greater Hall ^ELECTRIC MEMBERSH^SCORPORATION“
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
