Hagel: Afghan training is key in war's final act

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By ROBERT BURNS

TACTICAL BASE GAMBERI, Afghanistan (AP) — It's only a slight stretch to say America's longest war stops here.

The several hundred American soldiers on this remote base in Afghanistan's wild east are the vanguard of a transformed U.S. military mission meant to avoid the kind of unraveling of security that happened this year in Iraq and ensure that the reason for invading Afghanistan in the first place — al-Qaida's haven for plotting the Sept. 11 attacks — never recurs.

These soldiers, including elements of the 3rd Infantry Division and the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, are not fighting the Taliban. They are trying to script the final chapter of the U.S. part in a conflict that seems certain to continue after the Americans leave.

Gamberi, a dusty outpost in Laghman province near the fabled city of Jalalabad, will be one of four "Train, Advise, Assist Commands" across the country, in addition to several training establishments in Kabul, the capital.

FULL story at link.


U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel speaks during his visit to American troops at Tactical Base Gamberi in eastern Afghanistan, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014. (AP Photo/Mark Wilson, Pool)


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141207/as--united_states-afghanistan-7c735ec1f4.html

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Nuts.

Afghans have two natural states:
1) At war with invaders
2) At war with each other.

It isn't gonna end. The most we can hope for is a graceful pullout and whatever we can muster in the form of face-saving. It happened to the Indians, it happened (many times) to the Russians & Brits, & now it's our turn.

I suppose the Chinese will be the next bunch to get into a misadventure there.

[Derek V]

2. Translation: Clusterfuck

[L0oniX]

3. Uhm ...there really are a lot of people in the US with more intellect than Hagel.

[sakabatou]

4. So.... we're gonna be there for another decade?

[arcane1]

5. After 12 years of "training" they should be the greatest military ever!

Although I still don't see how this will prevent people from taking flying lessons in the U.S.

[Monk06]

6. Same old same old. Invade and wreck the country then claim you are the only country that can

fix it and make it whole again.

All they need is a little more training.

Not even Alexander the Great could control more than the small colony of Bactria in northeastern Afghanistan on the border of what is now Pakistan.

As a poster below pointed out nothing has changed in 2500 years. Afghanistan isn't a country it's a tribal homeland.

[KG]

7. right. that whole training thing worked so well in iraq.

it's also time to stop propagating the bullshit story that 9-11 was planned in afghanistan.

[vlyons]

8. and so the never ending war in Afghanistan never ends

Afghanistan is not called the grave yard of armies for no reason.