"Afghanistan's Army"

[amborin]

"....goal is to quickly drive back the Taliban, hand over control to the Afghans and begin to withdraw American forces.

snip

Current plans call for increasing the Afghan Army from 90,000 troops to 134,000 by next fall. General McChrystal wants 240,000 a year later.

Highly critical reports this fall by American officials showed why this is so hard:

90 percent illiteracy levels for Afghan troops; desertion rates so high that thousands must be recruited each year to keep the force from shrinking; broken logistics; and, most tellingly, “a lack of competent and professional leadership at all levels.”

snip

Afghan soldiers get about $100 a month, a third of what some local warlords pay fighters, a major reason for desertion. This is a false, dangerous economy. The United States has spent nearly $60 billion on Afghanistan this year, and Mr. Obama’s troop increases would add at least $30 billion. Adding 30,000 Afghan Army soldiers at triple their current pay costs under $1 billion.

Most Afghan soldiers are paid in cash, which means that they often have to return home to deliver money to their families, sometimes going AWOL. A modest investment in wire or digital money transfer systems could ease that problem, reduce the desertion rate and make it harder for corrupt commanders to steal recruits’ pay.

While we have some hope for the Afghan Army, we fear the police, with members recruited from warlord and anti-Taliban militias, may have to be rebuilt almost from scratch. Too many officers have been implicated in kidnappings, burglaries and shakedowns.

snip

<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/opinion/05sat1.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=afghanistan%20editorial&st=cse>

[EFerrari]

1. I'm bookmarking this as something that will not happen.

McChrystal is an idiot and proabably a war criminal into the bargain.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. FUBAR

[amborin]

3. i'm sorry,

but what does the acronym stand for?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. It's a WWII acronym. "Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition".

It was still popular when I was a GI to describe almost anything the bosses had us do.

[amborin]

6. thanks! and that describes it exactly!

[Vinnie From Indy]

5. We are so fucked

It is simply MADNESS to buy into this gargantuan lie that America will win a "Victory" in Afghanistan. In fact, there has not been a single description of victory by any politician that supports the war that is not laughable on it's face to anyone with even a remote understanding of Afghanistan. In short, Americans are going to spend BILLIOONS and BILLIONS of additional dollars and suffer the loss of dozens if not hundreds of soldiers in a fight that will ultimately end with us leaving and the Afghanis going back to fighting between warlords and tribal factions.

All this amidst the backdrop of millions of American families sliding into the abyss of poverty. This is America's swan song!

[amborin]

7. yes!

and China gleeful to see us bogged down and declining, as they ascend to global economic and military hegemony