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Ext. U.S. training Afghan Military now
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Ext. U.S. training Afghan Military nowThe U.S. has stepped up Afghan military training now Rod Nordland, 10 – Chief Foreign Correspondent for “Newsweek” magazine (January 15, “U.S. Approves Training to Expand Afghan Army”, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/world/asia/15afghan.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print) KABUL, Afghanistan — The Pentagon has authorized a substantial increase in the number of Afghan security forces it plans to train by next year, in time for President Obama’s deadline for United States combat forces to begin withdrawing from the country, military officials said Thursday. Meanwhile, a suicide bomber struck a marketplace in southern Afghanistan and killed 20 people, including children, and NATO officials reported that 23 soldiers had died so far this year. The new training goals would increase the size of the Afghan Army from its present 102,400 personnel to 171,600 by October 2011, according to Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the American officer who leads NATO’s training mission in Afghanistan. Addressing a group of Afghan National Army cadets on Thursday, General Caldwell said the Pentagon had made the decision to increase its training commitments at a meeting the night before in Washington. “The coalition forces want to grow the Afghan forces,” General Caldwell told the cadets, in response to a question from one about whether the coalition should not give more responsibility to Afghan forces. “We want to do just what you’re saying,” he answered. “We are here as guests of Afghanistan. We want to support your army to take control.” The Afghan National Army is already planning to increase in size to 134,000 by Oct. 31 of this year, General Caldwell said. Presently there are a record 18,000 fresh recruits in training, encouraged by pay increases of up to 30 percent. The recruits undergo an eight-month-long course run by NATO. The Pentagon decided Wednesday to further raise the army’s size to 171,600 by October 2011. Additionally, Afghan police forces, which now number 96,800, would increase to 109,000 this year, and American officials hope to further increase that to 134,000 by the following year, General Caldwell said. Previously the goals had been to increase Afghan forces to 159,000 soldiers and 123,000 police officers by 2011. The American military’s proposed budget for training Afghan forces is now at $11.6 billion for the fiscal year 2011, and the increase in personnel would be paid for out of that, according to Col. Gregory T. Breazile of the United States Marine Corps, a spokesman for the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan. “We’ve been talking about these numbers for some time, but we didn’t have approval until last night,” Colonel Breazile said, referring to the Pentagon session. President Obama has ordered an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan by this summer, which would bring the United States’ troop strength to about 100,000. With other coalition contributions, also expected to increase but at a slower rate, that would bring the total NATO troop strength to at least 145,000 by the end of 2010. By comparison, American troop strength in Iraq has already dropped below 140,000 and is scheduled to fall to 50,000 by August. The United States military has projections of increasing the Afghan Army and police forces to 400,000 by 2013, Colonel Breazile said, but he added that the growth might not be necessary. “It’s all conditions-based,” he said. “If they need it, we can do it.” Training key to stabilityAfghan Army only needs training to become efficient. Shanker and Cushman, 9 – Shanker is a correspondent for The New York Times, Cushman an editor in the Washington bureau of The New York Times (Thom, 5, “Reviews Raise Doubt on Training of Afghan Forces”, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/world/asia/06training.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1) WASHINGTON — A series of internal government reviews have presented the Obama administration with a dire portrait of Afghanistan’s military and police force, bringing into serious question an ambitious goal at the heart of the evolving American war strategy — to speed up their training and send many more Afghans to the fight. As President Obama considersSkip to next paragraph his top commander’s call to rapidly double Afghanistan’s security forces, the internal reviews, written by officials directly involved in the training program or charged with keeping it on track, describe an overstretched enterprise struggling to nurse along the poorly led, largely illiterate and often corrupt Afghan forces. In September, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top American and allied commander in Afghanistan, recommended increasing the Afghan Army as quickly as possible — to 134,000 in a year from the current force of more than 90,000, instead of taking two years, and perhaps eventually to 240,000. He would also expand the police force to 160,000. The acceleration is vital to General McChrystal’s overall counterinsurgency plan, which also calls for more American troops but seeks more protection against the Taliban for the Afghan population than the Pentagon could ever supply. While General McChrystal knew of the latest assessments when he wrote his plan, their completion just as President Obama considers the general’s proposal has given fresh ammunition to doubters. “Nothing in our experience over the last seven to eight years suggests that progress at such a rapid pace is realistic,” said Representative John F. Tierney, the Massachusetts Democrat who is the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on national security. The latest reports offer new details that show just how tough it will be to meet General McChrystal’s training goal. Among the previously undisclosed conclusions: one out of every four or five men in the security forces quit each year, meaning that tens of thousands must be recruited just to maintain the status quo. The number of Afghan battalions able to fight independently actually declined in the past six months. “The most significant challenge to rapidly expanding the Afghan National Security Forces is a lack of competent and professional leadership at all levels, and the inability to generate it rapidly,” concluded one of the reviews, a grim assessment forwarded to Washington in September from the American-led training headquarters. Another September report, the Pentagon inspector general’s annual review of the training program, warned that any acceleration “will face major challenges. ” A third assessment, a quarterly report sent to Congress last week, revealed that despite the formation of new army battalions, fewer of them were capable of operating independently. One reason may be that the Afghan Army’s jerry-built logistics system, a relic of the Soviet era and one of the training program’s orphans, has become a drag on the combat forces. The problems have been a recurring topic during Mr. Obama’s policy review, broken out for separate discussion among the president and his top advisers. Accelerated training has been one of the constants among the various options before them. “We’re aware that it’s an enormous challenge,” one senior administration official said. “We feel, though, this is essential for any strategy going forward.” Among other problems, one of the reports found, the United States military’s training headquarters simply does not have enough people to do all it is already being asked to do, a flaw that “has delayed and will continue to delay” building the Afghan forces and that unless corrected would only prolong the American presence in Afghanistan Training is key – even the Afghans say that it would help them defeat the Taliban. Michael Georgy, 10 (June 23, “Afghan police struggle ahead of U.S. pullout”, http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/127728328899.htm) GORGAN, Afghanistan, June 23 (Reuters) - Afghan policemen lie on the ground and fire ageing AK-47 assault rifles at cardboard boxes to prepare for the day, next year, when U.S. troops leave and they have to face Taliban militants on their own. "I need another year of training," said Mahmoud Nazilee, at a makeshift firing range a few feet away from the twisted remains of a U.S. army vehicle blown up by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted by suspected Taliban fighters. "We can defeat the Taliban but we need a lot more time." Afghanistan's long term stability hinges on the performance of its army and police. NATO military officials say both have come a long way and are confident they will be able to keep the Taliban from returning to power, even though the insurgency is raging after nine years of conflict. "These guys are really motivated," said U.S. Captain Kevin Krupski. "Afghans are really happy to see them." The plan is for U.S. troops to conduct joint missions with the police and keep guiding them until they can eventually carry out missions on their own. That, Afghan policemen say, requires far more extensive training and on-the-job experience ahead of the pullout, due to start in July 2011. After 45 days of training, 150 policemen graduated from the police academy and are charged with protecting all of the people in Dand district in the southern Kandahar Province, the Taliban's heartland. The stakes are high. Failure to pacify the country after a U.S. withdrawal starts next summer would deal a major blow to President Barack Obama, who has put Afghanistan on the top of his foreign policy agenda. And Afghanistan could slip into chaos once again if its army and police can't handle security. Police face far greater challenges than improving their marksmanship and getting into shape -- they need to shake off the force's reputation of being highly corrupt, abusive and inefficient. A U.N. drug report this week also said the levels of narcotics use among the police force was quite high, with between 12 and 41 percent of recruits testing positive for opium and derivates such as heroin. That was clear at a shura, or gathering of tribal elders and village leaders, this week. "If you misbehave we will not tell you when or where the Taliban are planting IEDs," a village elder told a policeman as U.S. soldiers discussed ways of improving security in the small gathering. Afghan policemen seem far less alert than army troops. On patrols, they hardly engage Afghans, many of whom are still terrified of the Taliban, even though Dand seems more stable then other parts of Kandahar. "Some of the police just don't care," said Sgt. Adam Clark, who was leading the target practice at a tall sandy hill. Asked where the policemen were just before the exercise began, a soldier said, half-kidding: "They are probably smoking hash." In order to make the police more effective, the Americans teach them how to set up checkpoints and search motorists and farmers on donkeys for weapons. It's tricky because Afghan police can't afford to alienate or humiliate the local population. Afghan policemen say they can't be expected to make rapid progress until they get more sophisticated weapons like the Americans. One said he had to stop firing at the range because his Kalashnikov jammed. "The biggest challenge is making sure they can take over security responsibilities from us," said Sgt. Mark Randall. Despite the huge challenges ahead and obstacles, some are optimistic. "As soon as my shooting gets better, I will kill the Taliban," said Faizallah, a young policeman. 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