U.S. Sees Three More Years in Building Afghan Army

[sabra]

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=1950766&C=navwar

U.S. Sees Three More Years in Building Afghan Army

It will take three more years for the U.S.-trained Afghan army, intended to assume security responsibilities now shouldered by foreign forces in Afghanistan, to reach the planned goal of 70,000 soldiers, a U.S. commander said on July 13.

Army Maj. Gen. Robert Durbin, who heads the U.S. effort to train and equip Afghan government security forces, said the national army numbers "a little bit over 30,000," and that it is growing at a rate of 1,000 per month, with a plan to reach 70,000 in roughly three years.

As in Iraq, U.S. officials have emphasized the importance of forming capable government security forces to take up the task of bringing law and order to a war-ravaged country. U.S. commanders in Iraq have pledged to have a 137,500-strong Iraqi army fully manned by the end of this year.

It has been almost five years since U.S.-led forces toppled Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders, blamed for harboring the al-Qaida network responsible for the 2001 attacks on America, and U.S. forces have been helping build a new national army from scratch in a country battered by decades of strife.

[maddezmom]

1. duplicate topic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2387743