Kerry on training Afghan police and failure of private contractors

[ProSense]

Afghanistan needs more than trainers

By SEN. JOHN F. KERRY

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.

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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.

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Fortunately, there are some positive signs. The president and the Pentagon understand that our efforts must go beyond training, to mentoring and partnering with Afghan soldiers on the battlefield. This does not mean doing the job for them, as we have done all too often in the past, but it does require genuine partnerships. A high percentage of the 30,000 additional troops in the coming months will be trainers and advisers who will embed with the Afghan army. We may also get some welcome help from our NATO partners, who have agreed to increase their trainers and coordinate better with the American program.

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.

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[theoldman]

1. One thing that has always amazed me about Iraq and Afghanistan

is that we have such a hard time training an army. Each country has a hard core of fighters that are as tough a nails. For some unknown reason the people that are recruited into the army are wimps and cannot stand up to the enemy even though they outnumber them. BTW, in WWII training in the US was about 90 days and many of us had never fired a gun.

[karynnj]

3. It always seemed weird to me in Iraq

Here, Kerry, at least offers some particulars in what has to be done. It almost seems the need is to assist them in organizing their process of developing their forces. The US comparison is unfair as they are starting from near scratch, where the US upper ranks were there as was a skeleton of what needed to be fleshed out. In addition, they knew what they had to teach. I would assume that it is not so much the fighting they needed to teach.

The one really troubling comment Kerry makes is he calls the police force development a "failure" and speaks of the State Department having used contractors. (I hesitate to think the names of the companies - but suspect they have appeared in various DU posts.) I like Kerry's idea of having the UN train them - especially if they could get trainers from Muslim countries. In 2005, both Jordan and Egypt told Kerry they would train Iraqis in their counties, so that might be possible. Diminishing how prominent the US is would have to reduce their legitimate concern of US occupation.

[Cha]

2. And, then we have people like Senator Kerry

who understand the situation and give solid advice to assist in accomplishing our goals instead of people like kucinich who go out and whine on the Ed show that Pres Obama is taking orders from McCrystal.

And, in the process showing he either hasn't been paying attention or he's a liar.

[Duende azul]

5. Ok, now you are filling in the vacant post of Kucinich basher since the original left us?

"give solid advice to assist in accomplishing our goals "

Hollow soundbites without substance on your own. Yes, that was in the job application. You got it right.

[Cha]

6. I'm opting for ..dennis just an opportunistic

liar.

[karynnj]

7. There are many of us who see Kucinich as often counterproductive

This can be done without bashing him - just criticizing his positions.

[Undercurrent]

4. I trust John Kerry on this.

(I trust the President on this issue too, but that is frowned upon by some around here. Even when the President and Kerry say the same thing.)