Losing Its Few Good Men (Afghan army members quit - pay not worth risk)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-army27nov27,1,5613451.story?coll=la-home-headlines

To serve his country in the new Afghan National Army, Saifullah Jan first had to find himself an assault rifle.

The weapon was required for admittance to the Kabul Military Training Center, where Americans and other Westerners have been struggling to build an army for a year and a half.

By accepting only those volunteers who were already armed, the U.S.-led coalition hoped to solve two problems at once: Each recruit would be another Afghan soldier in the fight against the Taliban, Al Qaeda and their allies, and each rifle delivered to Kabul would be one less gun in the service of warlords undermining the central government.

As often happens in Afghanistan, things haven't worked out quite as planned. Army recruits — including Jan — have quit by the hundreds, in many cases because they don't think the pay is worth the risk.

[Gloria]

1. How much do we spend on the military? And these guys have to

find their own guns????

[ugarte]

2. U.S. troops are quitting by the hundreds, too

as soon as their tours are up.