Excellent Kerry editorial about how to get the mission done quicker and better.

[Mass]

(I hesitate to post that on GDP as trolls seem in force this week)

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30307.html

Afghanistan needs more than trainers

By SEN. JOHN F. KERRY | 12/8/09 5:09 AM EST


In an Ideas piece, Kerry discusses the efforts needed to meet the challenge of training Afghan security forces.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) speaks with reporters about Afghanistan.

Under President Barack Obama’s new strategy, the ability of American troops to withdraw from Afghanistan will depend heavily on training the Afghan army and police to defend their country. I support the president’s determination to devote more resources to this critical task, but meeting the objective will require more than additional trainers.

A report sent to Congress at the end of October found that the number of trained Afghan army battalions capable of operating independently had actually fallen in the previous three months by about a third. Then there is the attrition rate — roughly one in every five soldiers leaves each year. Conditions are worse for the police. We have spent $6.2 billion on police and the Ministry of Interior since 2002, but only about a third of recruits can read and write, and roughly one in 10 trained units is capable of operating independently.
...


We should insist on quality over quantity. Well-trained soldiers and police will perform better, which will allow us to shift the fight sooner to the Afghans. This requires revamping the Afghan command structures to eliminate cronyism, reduce corruption and reward performance. Too often, promotions are based on having an ally in Kabul or the right family connections. This ruins morale and discourages the best recruits.


...

The military is scheduled to take over police training next March. Private contractors working for the State Department clearly failed to develop even a rudimentary national police force, and the task will challenge the military, too. But handing the mission to the military is not the only solution. There are civilian-led alternatives, such as turning to the United Nations police, whose civilian experts have led police training in post-conflict zones like Sierra Leone, Kosovo and East Timor. If the Pentagon does take over as planned, its commanders must remember that the goal is a civilian police force, not a paramilitary adjunct for the counterinsurgency fight.

The expansion of the Afghan security forces is critical to our mission, but it must be carried out in concert with equally strong efforts to reduce corruption in all parts of the Afghan government. Effective security forces do not work in a vacuum. Police training especially must go hand in hand with a justice strategy that builds confidence in courts and prisons so Afghans have a government they can trust
...

[karynnj]

1. It really is a good, but sobering op-ed

His cautions really are worth following. The biggest difficulty may be that, in a country with a very high illiteracy rate, ONLY those close to a warlord or other official may be able to read. It is interesting though that if they succeed in bringing better people in, it could improve their reputation and maybe their status - increasing the length of time they stay.

His criticism of the state department's effort to create a police force using contractors in scary - which companies were they? There are many names I would not want to hear. His idea of the UN police is good as anything that reduces our being seen as controlling it is good.

[ProSense]

2. This is excellent.

Posted here.