Afghan Army thread

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Desertions blow hits Afghan army
BY Roland Buerk
BBC News, Kabul

Hundreds of soldiers have deserted the Afghan National Army complaining of poor conditions and fierce resistance from the Taleban, US officials say.

It is a blow to the Afghan government which wants to increase the size of the force so the numbers of international troops in the country can be reduced.

The corps affected is the first to be deployed in the field.

Officials say another reason for men going absent is the difficulty they experience in dealing with their pay.


This is exactly what happened during the initial Russian invasion. It happened again with during the occupation. Al-Qaeda's 55th Brigade was originally an Afghan Army organization. History seems to be repeating itself in, "The Graveyard of Imperialism."
The 205th Corps of the Afghan National Army is based around the city of Kandahar.

The south of Afghanistan has seen some of the fiercest fighting against remnants of the Taleban and their al-Qaeda allies.

Members of the corps are in combat most days.

A US military spokesman told the BBC that around 300 men have deserted.

That is one in 12 of the entire force.

Soldiers are paid around $75 a month - a good wage in Afghanistan - but the absence of a banking system prevents them from sending money to their families.

The news comes as American troops take more casualties.

On Wednesday two US soldiers were killed and eight others wounded in a rocket attack near the border with Pakistan.

The Afghan government's long term plan is for the numbers of international troops in the country to be reduced and for Afghanistan's own army to shoulder more of the burden of the fighting.

To do that numbers will need to be nearly tripled to around 70,000 by 2007.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4078118.stm

 

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I'll keep you "neocons" up to speed and give some pics as well...

 

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Yes the ANA now has M-113s... as well as the normal rank of BMPs, BTRs and T-55/T-62s...

 

[Shek]

Desertions blow hits Afghan army
BY Roland Buerk
BBC News, Kabul

Hundreds of soldiers have deserted the Afghan National Army complaining of poor conditions and fierce resistance from the Taleban, US officials say.

It is a blow to the Afghan government which wants to increase the size of the force so the numbers of international troops in the country can be reduced.

The corps affected is the first to be deployed in the field.

Officials say another reason for men going absent is the difficulty they experience in dealing with their pay.


This is exactly what happened during the initial Russian invasion. It happened again with during the occupation. Al-Qaeda's 55th Brigade was originally an Afghan Army organization. History seems to be repeating itself in, "The Graveyard of Imperialism."
The 205th Corps of the Afghan National Army is based around the city of Kandahar.

The south of Afghanistan has seen some of the fiercest fighting against remnants of the Taleban and their al-Qaeda allies.

Members of the corps are in combat most days.

A US military spokesman told the BBC that around 300 men have deserted.

That is one in 12 of the entire force.

Soldiers are paid around $75 a month - a good wage in Afghanistan - but the absence of a banking system prevents them from sending money to their families.

The news comes as American troops take more casualties.

On Wednesday two US soldiers were killed and eight others wounded in a rocket attack near the border with Pakistan.

The Afghan government's long term plan is for the numbers of international troops in the country to be reduced and for Afghanistan's own army to shoulder more of the burden of the fighting.

To do that numbers will need to be nearly tripled to around 70,000 by 2007.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4078118.stm

Chicken Little, the sky is falling!!!!

 

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Afghan Army Gets Armored Personnel Carriers
South Carolina National Guard troops are tasked to
train Afghan soldiers to operate and maintain the new vehicles.

By U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Mack Davis
Office of Military Cooperation-Afghanistan Public Affairs
KABUL, Afghanistan, April 28, 2005 — The Afghan National Army is getting a new look over the next few months. As a result of a recent equipment donation, they will appear a little less Soviet and a little more like their Coalition partners.

The Afghan National Army recently took delivery of 10 M113A2 armored personnel carriers from the United States at Camp Pol-e-Charkhi, on the outskirts of Kabul. This was the first shipment of vehicles with more to follow.

Lt. Col. David Braxton, logistics operations chief at the Office of Military Cooperation-Afghanistan, said, “Based on the force structure designed for Afghanistan’s internal threat, armored personnel carriers were identified as a requirement for the Afghanistan National Army.

The U.S. M113A2s are an excess defense article, which allows them to be donated. Given the performance and popularity of the M113s around the world, it is an excellent match for the (Afghan National Army’s) (armored personnel carrier) requirement.”


“The (Afghan National Army) soldiers in the mechanized 2nd Kandak that we have been working with are just ingenious; they have the ability to take any mission and figure out a way to accomplish it. They have done phenomenal things with minimum resources,” U.S. Army Maj. Greg Cornell


The M113s already have a home. They will become part of the 2nd Kandak (Battalion) Mechanized Infantry, in the 201st Corps’ 3rd Brigade, located in Kabul.

The 218th Infantry Regiment of the South Carolina Army National Guard, part of Task Force Phoenix, has been tasked with training the Afghan National Army to operate and maintain the new vehicles.

According to 1st Sgt. Bobby Duggins, one of the kandak’s embedded training team advisors, “The (Afghan National Army) soldiers are totally excited about receiving this vehicle. The M113 is a new vehicle for them and there is always a level of excitement when you introduce something new.”

“Because this (armored personnel carrier) is so versatile, it can be used in many ways,” added Duggins. While the Afghan National Army will use the armored personnel carriers primarily to transport troops, Duggins added that the M113 “can also be used as a squad heavy weapon (to fire mortars), and it can be used by medical units and maintenance teams going into the battlefield.”

In addition to the 10 M113s that arrived recently, Braxton said, “We expect 45 M113s and 16 M577s (command vehicles) to begin arriving the second week in May. The remaining vehicles will be in country throughout the next month for a total of 63 M113s and 16 M577s.”

Because the 2nd Kandak Mechanized team was previously fielded with another armored personnel carrier, the Soviet BMP1, training on the M113 was a smooth transition.

Prior to the arrival of the U.S. M113s, the kandak soldiers were trained by the International Security Assistance Force’s Norwegian Battle Group using five modified M113s they deployed to Afghanistan earlier this year. According to Lt. Col. Jon Mangersnes, Norwegian Battle Group commander, “We conducted two weeks of practical training. This type of training cannot be conducted in a class room; you have to get hands on the vehicle.”

The training covered the basic operation and maintenance of the M113, including how to start, steer and maneuver, and how to manipulate the operator switches. “It was a lot of fun for my guys,” added Mangersnes. “The Afghan soldiers were very receptive to the training and the younger soldiers are extremely proud to be in the Afghan Army.”

This is not the first time the Norwegians have worked with the Afghan National Army. The battle group provides security in the Kabul area and often trains and works with the Afghan National Army.

Future training on the M113s will be provided to new soldiers during basic training at the Kabul Military Training Center by U.S. and Coalition mobile training teams.

The total donation, including repair parts, is estimated to be worth $10 million.

The U.S. is the only country providing the M113s, ensuring that all the M113 variants are the same so they will be less expensive to maintain.

“To sustain the M113s here in country, the Afghan National Army’s 3rd Brigade is receiving a one-year stock level of repair parts,” said New Hampshire Army National Guardsman Chief Warrant Officer Gill Colon, the Task Force Phoenix logistics officer and embedded training team advisor to the 3rd Brigade.

In order to support the M113s in Pol-e-Charkhi, several changes had to be made. “We have converted our warehouse to accommodate the (armored personnel carrier) spare parts and have converted some of the Quonset huts into maintenance bays,” said Colon.

The maintenance for the M113 fleet will be conducted by Afghan National Army mechanics who will be trained by U.S. mobile training teams.

An Afghan National Army soldier looks out from the driver’s hatch of a recently donated M113A2 armored personnel carrier. Office of Military Cooperation-Afghanistan photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Mack Davis


The South Carolina Army National Guardsmen who normally train the 2nd Kandak will be leaving Afghanistan in a few months.

According to the unit’s executive officer, Maj. Greg Cornell, “We want to get the (Afghan National Army) mechanized team at least to team-level proficiency on the M113 before we leave. A special range is being prepared so that we can work on maneuvers and team-level live-fire exercises.”

Cornell added, “The range training will teach the (Afghan National Army) soldiers to take two vehicles, placing one in an overwatch (security) position, and the other in a position so that the dismounts can flank the enemy and engage. We also want the (Afghan National Army) to be able to move and provide weapons fire.”

Cornell said, “The (Afghan National Army) soldiers in the mechanized 2nd Kandak that we have been working with are just ingenious; they have the ability to take any mission and figure out a way to accomplish it. They have done phenomenal things with minimum resources. As we (coalition partners) are able to provide more resources and support, there won’t be much they will not be able to accomplish.”

The Afghan people will get their first look at their army’s newly painted M113s at the Afghan National Day Parade, scheduled for April 28 in Kabul.

 

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Yes Afghan soldiers deserting is not a new thing...


Afghan National Army

President Karzai reviews the first soldiers of the Afghan National Army.The Afghan National Army (ANA) is being developed by the United States, France and United Kingdom to take primary responsibility for land-based military operations. The United States has provided uniforms and other basic equipment, while weapons have come from former Soviet bloc countries. To thwart and dissolve localized militias, the Afghan government offers cash and vocational training for members to disarm.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai set a goal of an army of 70,000 men by 2009. By January, 2003 just over 1,700 men in five battalions had completed the 10-week training course, and by June 2003 a total of 4,000 forces had been trained. Initial recruiting problems lay in the lack of cooperation from regional warlords and of committed international support. However, the CIA continues to fund some warlord militias as part of the War on Terrorism. Another problem has been soldiers abandoning their posts after their initial training. A mid-March, 2004 estimate suggested that 3,000 soldiers had done so. In the summer of 2003, the desertion rate was ten percent.

Different members of the U.S.-led coalition have different responsibilities through the process of training the ANA. The U.S. is training the army. Germany is training the police force. Italy is responsible for legal reforms. Japan is responsible for disarming the warlord militias. The U.K. is leading the anti-narcotics effort.

In attempts to create an army that is ethnically balanced, regional commanders were asked to contribute recruits. However, Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ismail Khan were unwilling to make such concessions. In spite of promises for decent salaries, soldiers in the new Army initially received only $30 a month during training and $50 after graduation, although pay for trained soldiers rose to $70. Some of the recruits were under 18 years of age and most could not read or write. Recruits who spoke only Pashto had difficulties because instructions were given through interpreters who spoke Dari (the national language).

Growth continued, however, and the ANA expanded to 5,000 trained soldiers that July. On July 23, about 1,000 ANA soldiers, together with U.S.-led coalition troops, were deployed in Operation Warrior Sweep, marking the first major combat operation for the Afghan troops.


Growth
On September 29, 2003, a new battalion (the 11th) was ready, boosting the force to about 6,000. The 11th battalion was a combat support battalion for the army's 3rd Brigade, and was capable of providing engineering, medical and scout skills.

By February 2004, the U.S. government had spent $US500 million on ANA and police force training. The ANA troop count reached 7,000.

On April 30, 2004, Army reached 8,300 soldiers, with another 2,500 in training.

On January 10, 2005, an American general announced that the ANA comprised of 17,800 soldiers with another 3,400 in training.

By March, 2005, the Afghan National Army had reached a strength of 20,694 soldiers in 31 battalions. The problems of desertion and difficult recruitment that had earlier dogged the ANA had been largely overcome, and there roughly 4,000 soldiers in training.

 

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Afghan Army's strength risen to over 31,000

The strength of the under training Afghan National Army (ANA) has risen to 31,000-strong force, Defense Ministry spokesman said Sunday.

"The building of our armed forces is going on smoothly and so far its strength has risen to over 31,000 troops," Zahir Azimi told newsmen at a press briefing here.

The process of recruiting was going on as per plan as 6,000 more persons are waiting to join the army, he added.

Under the historic Bonn agreement signed in Germany in late 2001, the post-Taliban Afghanistan would have 70,000-strong new brand army by the end of 2007.

However, the newly established army would not include the air force, as the post-war country under the agreement would not have the airpower in near future.

The United States, Britain and France are the lead nations in assisting the post-war nation to build its national army.

Seven battalions of the fledgling troops of the ANA, according to Azimi have been assisting the US-led collation forces in war against Taliban and associated groups in Afghanistan.

Five more battalions of the ANA would be deployed in all the country's 34 provinces ahead of the September 18 elections to ensure security on the voting day.

The spokesman also added that hundreds of students are under training in military training centers to boost the ANA after graduation.

Source: Xinhua

 

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Afghan army 'kills 21 militants'
The Afghan army has killed 21 suspected Taleban militants in two operations in Zabul and Uruzgan provinces, the defence ministry in Kabul says.

Defence Ministry spokesman Gen Azimi said 16 fighters were killed on Sunday in Zabul, including a key Taleban figure, Mullah Nasrullah.

Five more were killed in the Dhirawood district in Uruzgan, he said.

Afghanistan has recently seen a rise in violence, amid preparations for September's parliamentary elections.

Paktia arrests

Gen Azimi told the BBC the Zabul operation was in the Khajab Agh Razi.

One suspected Taleban fighter was also captured and weapons seized, he said.

Gen Azimi said five more Taleban insurgents were arrested in a third operation, in the south-eastern province of Paktia.

There have been no reports of any casualties among the Afghan forces and the Taleban have not commented on the defence ministry's claims.

However, a Taleban spokesman said it had kidnapped a Lebanese engineer working for an international construction company in Zabul province.

Officials in the province confirmed the kidnapping on Sunday night near the provincial capital, Qalat.

Meanwhile, the US military has said operations are continuing in the Korengal Valley in eastern Kunar province, where militants are believed to have shot down a special forces helicopter in June.

US military spokesman Col James Yonts said the forces were making progress in the operation to flush out rebel fighters, but predicted it may take a long time.

"That area, as we all know, has historically been a safe haven for enemy forces. It is no secret that they still remain there."

Three Navy SEALs died in an ambush in Kunar in June and 16 troops on the Chinook helicopter sent to rescue them were killed when it was shot down.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4153374.stm

Published: 2005/08/15 15:49:56 GMT

© BBC MMV

 

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Afghan army troops complain of low wages, equipment shortage

Monday August 15, 2005 (1506 PST)


KABUL: Afghan army officials based in the nsurgency-plagued Zabul province have complained to top US commander Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry they lack equipment and support for operations against militants.

They said the Afghan troops had to fight 500 Taliban fighters and up to 150 al-Qaeda militants in the troubled region, which has seen a surge in bloody attacks in recent months.

As the US commander Saturday visited the area, the head of the Second Brigade of Army Corps No 205 in Kandahar, Major Habibullah asserted they were still in control of the entire province despite the increasing insurgency. However, he added, they needed greater support.

His subordinate, Colonel Hassan Gul - garrison commander of the brigade - said: "Our brigade is directly engaged in fighting against the enemy, but has inadequate heavy arms. Our soldiers are not well-equipped in terms of latest military gizmos like weapons and vehicles."

He went on to demand a pay raise for the soldiers involved in anti-insurgency operations, saying two dollars a day were far from adequate. He suggested the brigade force should be changed every six months to give the troops a breathing space and some respite from hectic duties.

For his part, the American general hailed the progress in raising and training the Afghan army and other positive developments over the last three years. However, he called on the troops to make do with the available resources as the ANA creation and recruitment process was still on.

"We have decided to speed up the raising of the Afghan National Army, therefore, there would be logistical problems like shortage of weapons," Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry observed, adding time was needed to tackle these problems.

Zaher Azemi, spokesman for the defence ministry in Kabul, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the newly-formed units were usually caught in logistical and equipment problems.

 

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move the thread please...

Afghani commandos from the new commando battalion

 

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.......

 

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move this thread to the OEF section please....

 

[Feanor]

Some of the earlier pictures look like a colored mess. Could you fix the links pleasE?

 

[gunnut]

Some of the earlier pictures look like a colored mess. Could you fix the links pleasE?

He can't. I don't think anyone can.

The server housing the data for this entire site crashed. Posts were recovered but not pictures.

 

[S2]

Moderators?

Moderators?

Is there some reason for this thread here instead of OEF?

 

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US to speed up Afghan weapons supplies: minister
Updated at 1830 PST
KABUL: The United States will speed up the supply of 50,000 assault rifles to the Afghan army, boosting its ability to take on the Taliban, Afghanistan's defence minister said Saturday,

Abdul Rahim Wardak told reporters that he convinced US officials during a recent visit to accelerate supplies after delays caused by demand for guns in Iraq.

The new weapons will phase out old Russian and Chinese-made arms.

"This issue was very sensitive to us. There are lots of complaints about weapons in the army. The weapons in hand are very old, some 30 years," Wardak added.

The first batch -- some 5,000 assault rifles -- is scheduled to arrive in January and a further 10,000 each month until the target of 50,000 is met.

"I think when the snows have melted and the fighting season arrives, a vast majority of the Afghan army will be armed with M-16s instead of AK-47s," he said.

Wardak said US authorities had also pledged thousands of armoured vehicles. Meanwhile, more than two dozen military aircraft, most of them Russian-made helicopters donated by the United Arab Emirates, were due to start arriving in batches of around three from next month, he said.

Building up the air force is the "only factor which has prevented us from independent operations," Wardak said.

Development of Afghanistan's security forces is part of an international commitment to the war-torn country made after a US-led invasion drove out the 1996-2001 Taliban regime, which had sheltered Al-Qaeda.

The army numbers about 50,000 soldiers and is scheduled to reach 64,000, with an additional 4,000-strong air force, by the end of next year. However, Wardak has said the forces would need to be significantly larger to secure Afghanistan, where the Taliban insurgency is gaining pace.

Afghanistan's international allies, which have about 55,000 soldiers in the country, are also keen for the Afghan forces to become established since this would allow them to withdraw from intense and costly battles.
Send this story to Friend | Print Version

 

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Afghan security forces recapture district
(AFP)

24 November 2007


HERAT, Afghanistan - Afghan forces and foreign troops recaptured a district Saturday that had been taken by Taleban militants twice in the past month, officials said, accusing police of abandoning the area in fear.

Afghan police and army teamed up with soldiers from NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to take back remote Gulistan district in the western province of Farah around noon, provincial governor Mohaiyudin Baluch told AFP.

‘There was no fighting. The Taleban did not resist and left the area,’ he said.

The rebels first took Gulistan on October 29, killing seven civilians and a policeman. Afghan and ISAF forces drove them out 10 days later.

The insurgents however moved back in Friday with no resistance.

A defence ministry official said that authorities had left 250 police in the district after reclaiming it earlier this month.

However the official, speaking under cover of anonymity, said that ‘as soon as the ISAF contingent and ANA (Afghan National Army) forces left the area, the police force also left the district in fear.

‘The Taleban came and claimed control.’

The extremist Taleban movement were in government between 1996 and 2001 and are trying to take back power.

They claim to ‘capture’ remote districts from time to time but are easily ejected by Afghan forces backed by the superior ISAF, which has about 40,000 soldiers in this country.

Musa Qala, a district in Helmand province that neighbours Farah, has however been in rebel hands for months.

A report released Wednesday by a European think-thank, The Senlis Council, claimed that insurgents controlled vast areas of Afghanistan.

This was dismissed as baseless by the chief ISAF spokesman, Brigadier General Carlos Branco.

‘They control not more than a handful of districts, even less,’ he told AFP Friday, adding these were ‘very small pockets without territorial continuity.’

The police are regarded as the weakest of the security forces in Afghanistan but are in some of the most vulnerable areas. They are also the most often attacked, with about 700 killed this year.

 

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British soldiers coach Afghan police on the frontline

2 days ago

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (AFP) — British soldiers prod tiny packets of white powder lying in the dirt of an outbuilding at a small police station on the barren outskirts of Afghanistan's southern town of Lashkar Gah.

Outside they find discarded syringes, vials, packets of pills and a small tin containing green-brown powder.

The visitors have reason to be suspicious: this is Helmand, which as a province produces the most opium in the world, second only to the entire nation of Afghanistan.

It is an unpromising start to the surprise British visit.

Summoned, the commander of the mudbrick police post says the white powder is something he and his men drink to settle their stomachs. The initially suspicious brown powder turns out to be snuff.

The other items are medicines, including aid for bullet wounds from a Taliban attack a few days back, says commander Agha Wali, whose arm is in a sling.

Lashkar Gah is the capital of the province that has seen some of the worst fighting between the Taliban and the international coalition opposing them.

The Britons -- from a police mentoring task team -- don't make too much of the powders and bottles but slip them into plastic bags for later inspection.

They also quiz the commander about a messy pile of new uniforms on the dirt floor of the same outhouse.

"If we had a room, we would hang them up," Wali -- who is not in uniform, although his men are -- nonchalantly offers as an excuse, music blaring from the tape deck of his solitary police vehicle near his rough and ready bunch.

The British team, one of two operating in Helmand, needs to find out what the police have, what they need, how capable they are -- and then assess how to help.

"This is only the second time I have seen evidence of drugs," says Major Erik Bengtsson, who has visited two dozen police stations. "They tried to tell us it that it was medicine but I don't believe it for one minute."

The British aim here is to coach the Afghans in survival and basic law enforcement tactics.

"We teach them to stay alive," Bengtsson says at a base of the 37-nation International Security Assistance Force.

"The police are dying at a much higher rate than ANA (Afghan National Army) and ISAF. Sometimes it is because suicide bombers are walking right up to them," he says.

"We teach them how to search people and vehicles, how to spot an IED (improvised explosive device)."

The mentoring also covers more mundane tasks such as how to write a patrol report, preserve evidence and run a police station.

In Afghanistan the police are more fighting soldiers than British bobbies. Around 700 have been killed this year in attacks, the highest toll among the various security forces.

There is new emphasis on building up the police and army which were in a shambles at the end of the Taliban regime in late 2001 and are still understrength and underequipped.

Afghanistan's allies have stepped up sporadic efforts to help: Britain will install more mentoring teams in Helmand; elsewhere police training is being carried out by the European Union and US security group DynCorp.

The Afghan National Police is seen as the least professional of the security forces, accused of setting up checkpoints to extract "baksheesh" or bribes, transporting opium and tipping off the Taliban, among other offences.

"The corruption needs to be stamped out, the drug abuse needs to be stamped out, all the nefarious activities. But there are some good eggs out there," Bengtsson says.

"There is no reason they cannot be dragged up by the bootstraps."

Meanwhile, about 50 kilometres (35 miles) south, in the town of Garmser, five neatly uniformed policemen are at the first session of training by British soldiers, separate from the work of the mentoring team.

A young captain, who has just returned to a heavily barricaded post after an encounter the Taliban, gets the men to strip their rifles and practise their shooting stances.

He needs to assess their professionalism as -- with no Afghan army in town -- the police will have to take part in operations side-by-side with foreign soldiers.

The training will be a "safety net for us so we know their skills and drills are at a level where we would have confidence in them when we go out on patrol with them," says Major Rupert Lewis, another trainer.

Policeman Mohammad Zaman, whose post is inside the fort, recalls when Taliban -- several hundred of them, he says -- overran Garmser town 18 months ago.

"They came from about four or five directions. We resisted them for one and a half days and then we withdrew," he says.

"We had no ammunition, no reinforcement," he says, adding that 16 of his colleagues were killed.

ISAF forces -- then not based in the town -- arrived about four days later and pushed out the attackers from the northern part of Garmser. But his family plot is in the southern part, which is still in Taliban hands.

"I am looking every day for a chance to go back to my farm. I am here to smash the enemy," he says, when asked why he is a policeman.
AFP: British soldiers coach Afghan police on the frontline

 

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NATO and Afghan forces kill 65 Taliban - ministry
Sun Nov 25, 2007 5:10am EST
KHOST, Afghanistan, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Afghan and NATO-led forces killed 65 Taliban rebels when they called in air strikes as the insurgents smuggling weapons across the border from Pakistan, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

Afghanistan has seen a steady escalation of violence this year with up to 30 percent more clashes with hardline Islamist Taliban insurgents fighting to overthrow the pro-Western Afghan government and eject 50,000 foreign troops from the country.

Afghan and Western military officials say the Taliban arm and train in Pakistan's restive border region, largely outside the control of the Pakistani government.

The Paktia provincial governor's office said 72 insurgents were killed in Saturday's air strike near the Pakistani border, but a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said that number was "way too high".

It is not ISAF's policy to release Taliban casualty figures.

The group was smuggling weapons on horses and in two saloon cars when Afghan and foreign forces engaged them and called in air support, the Interior Ministry said.

Elsewhere in Paktia province, Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces killed four insurgents and detained seven others, the Afghan Defence Ministry said in a statement.

And near the provincial capital Gardez, ISAF troops called in an air strike to kill three insurgents after they were spotted planting a roadside bomb, ISAF and the Interior Ministry said.

While Afghan and foreign forces have killed large numbers of insurgents in clashes this year, there has been no let up in Taliban attacks and the rebels have extended their attacks to parts of the country previously considered safe.

NATO commanders admit the conflict cannot be won simply by killing insurgents.

Instead, they say, more Afghan soldiers and police need to be trained to bring security in order for development to be speeded up and undercut Taliban support. (Reporting by Elyas Wahdat; Writing by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Jerry Norton)

 

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Gen.: Training is key to war in Afghanistan
Alliance’s top commander asks NATO nations to deploy more teams
By Charlie Coon, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, November 26, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan — NATO’s leaders have for years asked member nations to ante up more troops, aircraft and other military assets for its war in Afghanistan.

But six years into the war against the Taliban and other insurgents, what are most needed now are trainers, according to the alliance’s top military commander.

There is no shortage of Afghans asking to become soldiers and police officers, said Gen. Bantz J. Craddock. But there is a lack of training teams to embed with raw Afghan recruits and help turn them into stand-alone forces.

“We (NATO force) are short maneuver battalions, we’re short intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, we’re short enablers, helicopters, lift,” Craddock said.

“But the best investment we can make right now is to train the Afghan national security forces to get a face out and to take over their own security requirements.”

Craddock and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Sheffer and their entourages visited Afghanistan Wednesday through Friday.

There are about 47,000 foreign forces deployed to Afghanistan, including approximately 22,000 U.S. troops.

The Afghan National Army currently numbers about 41,000 troops, with a goal of 78,000, according to Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Bartelle, the senior noncommissioned officer for NATO’s Command Allied Operations.

Those forces, he said, vary in ability from raw to ready.

Training of the Afghan police forces, which would handle local law enforcement, is going more slowly, Bartelle said. Training both the army and police, he said, takes a special talent.

“It’s an acquired skill,” Bartelle said. “And not necessarily based on an individual’s proficiency in their (military specialty).

“It takes an ability to relay information clearly and concisely, so that the individual receiving it translates it into action.”

A training team can consist of 10 to 20 people, sometimes more, and its makeup is the same as a military unit: one commander, several junior officers, and a variety of senior and junior sergeants and other enlisted troops.

The trainers pair off with their Afghan counterparts and train them in tasks ranging from commanding a military unit to firing a rifle straight.

Good training teams are not readily available, Craddock said, even from the U.S. military, and especially not from units based in Europe. Trainer-candidates would typically be removed from their units and assembled into a team, then deployed to Afghanistan.

“Those type of leaders by and large are not available in U.S. forces in Europe, because U.S. forces in Europe are either deployed, preparing to deploy, or are returning from deployment and in their dwell (non-deployable) time,” Craddock said.

Craddock proposed a simple-sounding solution to lessen the shortage of trainers.

“We need 26 more teams between now and this time next year, and there are 26 (NATO) nations,” Craddock said. “If each nation would give one more … then we would have filled up the need and we would, I think, be able to generate greater Afghan (security) participation.”