After 10 Years, No Security Unit is Fit to Take Over From Coalition in Afghanistan

[tekisui]

Source: The Independent

Not a single Afghan police or army unit is capable of maintaining law and order in the war-torn country without the support of coalition forces, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. Almost a decade after international troops were sent in to overthrow the Taliban and help to establish a functioning democracy in Afghanistan, a combination of poor training, lack of numbers, corruption and illiteracy has left the country unable to protect its own people.

The grim official assessment of the capabilities of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) is a major blow to the hopes of a troop withdrawal by 2014, a timescale that assumes the ANSF will be able to start taking the lead in fighting the Taliban from next month. The commander of Nato's mission to train the ANSF has admitted the task will not be complete until at least 2016.

This comes after a decade in which tens of billions of dollars have been spent building up the Afghan army and police. Yet they remain too dependent on coalition forces, according to the latest progress report on Afghanistan from the US Department of Defense. It cites assessments made in February that show how, of more than 400 Afghan units, none is rated as independent – defined as capable "without assistance from coalition forces".

The International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) will release another assessment this week, but experts are not expecting any major change. There are some signs of progress, with army units deemed effective "with advisers" up 45 per cent (from 42 to 61) and those effective "with assistance" rising by 73 per cent (from 49 to 85) between September 2010 and February 2011. But more than half of all police and army units need coalition soldiers to fight alongside them. Only a third are effective with just military advisers in support.

more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/after-10-years-no-security-unit-is-fit-to-take-over-from-coalition-in-afghanistan-2296527.html

[Poll_Blind]

1. These guys will, though:

PB

[WinkyDink]

5. Guess again.

[WinkyDink]

2. Who could not and did not predict this? "The Graveyard of Empires."

The greatest massacre of British soldiers in the history of the British empire happened in Afghanistan.

"Slaughter in the Mountain Passes

A magazine based in Boston, the North American Review, published a remarkably extensive and timely account titled “The English in Afghanistan” six months later, in July 1842. It contained this vivid description (some antiquated spellings have been left intact):

On the 6th of January, 1842, the Caboul forces commenced their retreat through the dismal pass, destined to be their grave. On the third day they were attacked by the mountaineers from all points, and a fearful slaughter ensued…

The troops kept on, and awful scenes ensued. Without food, mangled and cut to pieces, each one caring only for himself, all subordination had fled; and the soldiers of the forty-fourth English regiment are reported to have knocked down their officers with the butts of their muskets.

On the 13th of January, just seven days after the retreat commenced, one man, bloody and torn, mounted on a miserable pony, and pursued by horsemen, was seen riding furiously across the plains to Jellalabad. That was Dr. Brydon, the sole person to tell the tale of the passage of Khourd Caboul.

More than 16,000 people had set out on the retreat from Kabul, and in the end only one man, Dr. William Brydon, a British Army surgeon, had made it alive to Jalalabad. The garrison there lit signal fires and sounded bugles to guide other British survivors to safety, but after several days they realized that Brydon would be the only one. It was believed the Afghans let him live so he could tell the grisly story. "

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081222202100AAALz0a
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's always been about natural gas, oil, gems, and opium/heroin.

http://www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/kissingerunocal.htm

[unhappycamper]

11. 'The Remnant of an Army'

Lady Elizabeth Butler's painting 'The Remnant of an Army' depicts Dr William Brydon, sole survivor of the British retreat from Kabul in 1842


Too bad our hubris gets in the way and we cannot learn from history.

[MadHound]

3. Of course not, that's not what we've been doing in Afghanistan

We haven't been training security forces, or nation rebuilding, no, not really. Instead we've simply been blowing shit up and running up the body count.

Frankly, I don't care what the current situation is, we need to leave, now. The hard truth of the matter is that it doesn't matter when we leave, there is going to be a massive explosion in the country whenever we leave, be it tomorrow or in another decade. So we might as well bite the bullet and do it now.

[NNN0LHI]

4. Sometimes its hard to train people to be prepared to kill their own family members

I can see why.

Don

[KG]

6. Afghanistan is not a country ready to be led by a centalized gov't.

democratic or otherwise. it is the height of folly to continue to pretend it is.

[xchrom]

7. How much did it cost to try to train these units?

The government wants to fuck w/ programs I need - cause of money.
Well there's a bunch of money right there.

[dkf]

8. Biggest waste of taxpayers dollars ever.

This whole idea of nation building is ridiculous. We need o leave people alone.

[Obamanaut]

9. The last sentence in your message block sums it nicely "We need to leave people alone." nt

[Warrior Dash]

10. Did you expect a different answer?

[QuintanarooBoy]

12. And the same will be true a century from now

Which is why we need to GFTO. Declare victory, declare defeat, declare our love for Dolly Parton, I don't give a shit. Let's just GO!