Abstract This article summarizes recent advances in our knowledge of the past 1000 years of earthquakes in the Himalaya using geodetic, historical and seismological data, and identifies segments of the Himalaya that remain unruptured. The width of the Main Himalayan Thrust is quantified along the arc, together with estimates for the bounding coordinates of historical rupture zones, convergence rates, rupture propagation directions as constrained by felt intensities. The 2018 slip potential for fifteen segments of the Himalaya are evaluated and potential magnitudes assessed for future earthquakes should these segments fail in isolation or as contiguous ruptures. Ten of these fifteen segments are sufficiently mature currently to host a great earthquake (M w ≥ 8). Fatal Himalayan earthquakes have in the past occurred mostly in the daylight hours. The death toll from a future nocturnal earthquake in the Himalaya could possibly exceed 100 000 due to increased populations and the vulnerability of present-day construction methods.

At the end of the 13 yr war in Afghanistan and over $100 billion in development efforts, Afghanistan is beginning anew with her first peaceful and democratic transfer of political power. This transition, unfortunately, is occurring in the most fragile state outside of sub-Saharan Africa and during diminishing stability and development gains due to Islamic jihadist rebel actions in Iraq. In order for Afghanistan’s transition to the world stage to maintain a positive trajectory and be lasting, aid needs to be reformed to better meet the long-term needs of the Afghan people. Keen planning by the U.S. Army provided such an outlet for military-development assistance, the Agriculture Development Teams (2008–2014). These special teams supported Afghanistan’s primary driver of survival, employment, and productivity: water/agriculture. Using only 0.04% of U.S. development funding, these teams provided an improved approach to development by using widespread, community-accepted, sustainable projects, which included educational and training components using an “Afghan first” focus on contracting, materials, and labor. Water projects developed and implemented with the Afghan people focused on infrastructure and educational needs, providing a step forward in the progression of Afghanistan from subsistence to economic agriculture. Although these professional, egalitarian military teams are now inoperative, their efforts are being analyzed and included into new warfare expectancies. U.S. military might has become holistic and is leveraging all expertise to make future endeavors successful for the affected state. Using this improved approach to military aid, future operations should provide better, more meaningful support, increasing the likelihood of development success.

Abstract Afghanistan is a mountainous, arid country with limited surface water supplies. The complex geology in this country includes active tectonics and mountain ranges. Afghanistan is subdivided into three distinct hydrogeological areas: the Central Highlands, the Northern Plain, and the Great Southern Plain. Most groundwater is located in the Central Highlands, where water of sufficient quantity to meet the needs of the population is available primarily by digging wells into unconsolidated alluvial aquifers located in mountain valleys. A lack of sustainable, high-quality water supplies can have a negative impact on the ability to conduct military operations. An understanding of hydrogeological conditions is required in order to minimize exposures to natural and anthropogenic sources of contamination that may pose either acute or chronic health risks to military forces. This same scarcity of potable water can have a negative impact on the local population. Projects that improve the quantity and quality of water available to both military forces and the local population are important to improve the overall stability of Afghanistan.