* US military leaders submitted a new proposal to the White House keeping 10,000 troops in Afghanistan until 2015, but then dropping to just a few hundreds by 2016.
* Israel and Kazakhstan signed a defense cooperation agreement. Among Central Asian countries, Israel has already built a strong relationship with Azerbaijan.
* Russia and Central Asian countries may have overblown concerns of Islamist spillover outside of Afghanistan, but there are other sources of instability in the region.
* The CSIS think tank conducted a press briefing [PDF] yesterday to discuss the security implications of the coming Winter Olympics in Sochi, South-Western Russia. The US may help with some high-end equipment.
Baltic Concerns
* Estonia would like the US to strengthen their military presence in their country, though their International Centre for Defence Studies think tank knows that’s not looking like a hot priority from the US perspective.
Taiwan Cuts Back
* Taiwan’s Defense Minister Yen Ming announced a further reduction in the country’s armed forces, from 215,000 today to around 180,000 by 2019. Ming was appointed in August last year to clean up the mess.
Learning from Friends
* The Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute thinks [PDF] Canada could learn a thing or two from Australia to prioritize defense industry capabilities.
Protest Denied
* The US GAO rejected DynCorp’s protest of an Air Force logistics award for C-20s and C-30s logistics support to Gulfstream.
* Items stolen from the UK’s Ministry of Defence in recent years include Viagra pills. It’s less crazy than it sounds.
Driving Instruction
* Today’s video comes from the JIEDDO (Joint IED Defeat Organization) and quickly presents the instruction they give to MRAP drivers:
