The Afghan National Security Forces: A Progress Report
By Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell, IV
Thursday, October 6, 2011 - 5:14 PM
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Over the past two years, the Afghan military and police have grown from a poorly trained and ill-equipped force of 191,000 to an increasingly effective counterinsurgency force of 305,000 volunteers who represent all ethnicities and tribes. Afghans are now responsible for security in seven areas of their country, and will assume lead security responsibility for 50 percent of the population by year's end. To ensure Afghanistan has the capabilities and capacity it needs to assume security responsibility from the international community, NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan (NTM-A) personnel are working hard with Afghans to develop the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), and help them overcome leader shortfalls and the barriers posed by Afghanistan's high rates of illiteracy. Due to unifying efforts under the NATO flag in November 2009, one-sixth of the world's countries are working together shoulder-to-shoulder to enable Afghans to achieve the security they deserve, the prosperity they desire and a future they determine for themselves.
Since the first day NTM-A began operations in November 2009, developing Afghan leaders has been and remains the command's number one priority. Over the past two years, officers and non-commissioned officers in the Afghan Police grew by nearly 20,000 and will grow another 22,000 by November 2012. The same is true in the Afghan Army; officers and non-commissioned officers grew by 26,000 and are on a path to grow another 20,000 in the next year. Partnering with coalition units is key to the professionalization of these units, but growth could not have been achieved without establishing an indigenous training base and a standardized training and education curriculum. Major General Zamary, who leads the Afghan National Civil Order Police, recently told me "we need leaders who are educated because educated leaders are the key to an enduring force."
Ethnic balance, leader development and specialty training and education are shared Afghan and Coalition priorities. The Afghan Minister of Defense assigned two general officers to the Afghan army's 205th and 215th Corps in the country's south, which is having a positive impact on Southern Pashtun recruiting. Over the past three months, recruitment of Southern Pashtuns has exceeded previous goals, and reinforces the Pashtun plurality of 44 percent in the army.
Providing training opportunities for Afghan military and police has always been a key focus area of NTM-A. At first, this was limited to infantry skills required for counterinsurgency. However, we quickly learned what the late Ambassador Richard Holbrooke told me before taking command -- literacy education is the key to training success. Over the past two years, we have embraced the importance of literacy. NTM-A now employs over 3,000 Afghan teachers, who provide all military and police recruits with a basic literacy education for just $37 per person per month. The results continue to prove Holbrooke's sage advice. Literate Afghan police have the means to read and understand the law they are expected to enforce, identify license plates of suspected vehicle-borne explosive devices, and verify identification cards at checkpoints. Likewise, numerate soldiers can inventory their issued gear, read a map, and have the basis for specialty training. Now that the literacy program has been established, we anticipate Afghan military and police will have a literacy rate twice as high as that of the general population by the end of this year.
Prior to the creation of NTM-A, there were disparate international efforts to train and equip the Afghan Army, Air Force, and Police. Numerous reports documented the shortcomings of the result, which still resonates in spite of substantial change. However, once training efforts were unified under a NATO flag, international commitment to develop the Afghan National Security Force grew from two countries providing 30 trainers in 2009 to 37 countries providing 1,800 trainers today with more having been pledged. Through the combined efforts of 37 nations working in NTM-A partnered with the European Union Police and German Police Project Team, the geographic transition that began in July validates the increasing capabilities and professionalism of the Afghan security forces. We also see this in international opinion polls that underscore growing Afghan confidence in their Army and Police and the more than 8,000 young Afghans who voluntarily report to recruiting stations every month.
Through enduring partnerships with the international community, Afghans will have the means to provide for their own security. To make the most of precious resources, we continue to promote an ethos of stewardship and selfless service to overcome decades of service to self. By emphasizing stewardship, Afghanistan will reap the return on the international investment and has the potential one day to become a net contributor to international security. This takes time and requires patience, but development must continue to avoid repeating mistakes of the past. Afghans show a willingness to assume security responsibility, a dedication to a unified country, and an increasing commitment to serve. We are realistic about the challenges facing the ANSF, but optimistic about the future that we and the Afghans are charting together.
Lieutenant General William B. Caldwell, IV., United States Army, has served as the commander of NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan since November 2009.
NEXT: Omar Samad, Afghanistan at a Critical Juncture
America’s enemy is sheltered and protected by Pakistani State
All the U. S. efforts to build up Afghan national security forces will come to nothing as long as U. S. continues to mollycoddle Pakistan.
Even after Mullen’s latest testimony to Senate Armed Services Committee, if U. S. does NOT wake up as to the roots current Taliban insurgency, then U. S. indeed would deserve to repeat its Vietnam history in Afghanistan.
Pakistan is to Afghanistan as North Vietnam was to South Vietnam.
All the talk of U. S. military’s building up of South Vietnamese Army crumbled like a deck of cards once the Vietkong juggernaut rolled on after U. S. troop withdrawal in 1975.
History will repeat for U. S. in Afghanistan unless U. S. goes after Haqqani/Taliban bases in North Waziristan/Quetta-Karachi and roots them out permanently.
US has finally met the real enemy in Afghanistan after ten long years!
It turns out to be America’s primary ally in its fight against terrorism as well.
But then America has known all along the duplicitous game that Pakistani State has been playing since 2001. Bush administration just consciously decided to keep it under wraps after forcing Pakistan to join America’s fight under the threat of ‘bombing Pakistan to stone age if Pakistan refused’ by Richard Armitage in 2001.
The seeds of the ‘current Afghan tragedy’ were sowed in Washington when Bush administration decided to allow Musharraf to spirit away by airlift hundreds, if not thousands, of Taliban operatives cornered by the advancing Northern Alliance in Kunduz in November, 2001. Pakistan relocated those Taliban cadres including Mullah Mohammed Omar to Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan (now relocated to Karachi by Pakistani ISI to protect them from possible US drone attacks) and Haqqani network (HQN) to North Waziristan from where Mullah Omar’s QST and Haqqani’s HQN have been planning raids in Afghanistan ever since.
U. S. has deliberately deluded itself about Afghan Taliban’s Pakistani connections in fueling and sustaining Afghan insurgency as reported by Matt Waldman in ‘The sun in the sky‘ on 6/13/2010, corroborated by WikiLeaks leaks on 7/25/2010 and then further corroborated by Chris Alexander, Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005 and Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan from 2005 until 2009 in his article on 7/30/2010 titled ‘The huge scale of Pakistan‘s complicity‘.
Duplicitous Pakistan has U. S. under the barrel of a gun - US can NOT use its aid leverage to force Pakistan to stop supporting terrorist groups who kill US/NATO troops in Afghanistan day in and day out since 2001 because US needs Pakistan’s help in ferrying supplies to those very US/NATO troops.
You claim the Pakistanis are the ".....US Primary Ally in its war against terrorism......" In all your research you fail to acknowlege that the pakistanis never claimed to be so nor wanted to. Indeed in another post on this topic you admit the US forced Pakistan to participate. The key problem is that US ears tend to hear US voices first and foremost and sometimes only understand US voices even though others may differ. Its not that others are always right and US wrong its that others are sometimes right or are at the very least worth listening to and having their opinions considered seriously.
Your research sources are US centric. Here's a thought. If Shah Massoud had not been allowed to die and furthemore had been directly supplied by the US would the Taliban have existed as they do?
The US's overarching dominance in military tech has skewered its strategic planning and diplomatic skills (both internal and external diplomacy) of its key staff.
In these wars this dominance can avoid military defeat but not secure military victory and the end result is political failure. Afghanistan has been a political failure since it was abandoned to the ISI as the Soviets turned tail to lick their wounds.
The biggest failing is as you quite rightly point out the disconnect between rhetoric and results/reality. The war is fought without the necessary pressures for results as failures are dressed up as minor setbacks or learning opportunities and a new strategy is pulled out of the Damage limitation huddles and lauded by the politicians,press and other experts as credible even if not agreeable.
The sad reality is that the west is now seen as the devils spawn in these parts even if not openly called that. whoever clears up afghanistan will be anti west or will not be trusted. The options are limited and China or Russia will be the patron of choice. Both are on good terms with the pakistanis.
Pakistani Game: Roadblocks to Peace in Afghanistan and Kashmir
Till Pakistani Army is forced to give u their lunatic agenda to annex Kashmir and colonize Afghanistan, nothing much will change in real terms.
When paranoia and intransigence guides the goals and objective, the person needs treatment. But when we talk about a country of 180 million people instead of a single person, things get very complicated.
Unfortunately, rulers of Pakistan have pushed their country in the worst possible corner, and the much desired make over,even if it gets activated some how, will take a very long time.
After Russians went out, Pakistan was hell bent on extending the conflicts for dollars, arms and role it got attached to playing forever. ISI is believed to have hand in assassination of the Amir of Jihad, Abdullah Azzam, who wanted the fighters to go home.
Americans went in Afghanistan in 1989 for wrong reasons using lunatic strategy of promoting Jihad. Again in 2001 Americans went in a wrong country. They also overlooked the fact that ISI was always playing a double game to extend own lunatic interests, milk Americans while using resources to annex Kashmir and colonize Afghanistan.
Americans would only be jumping and tearing their hairs over strange ideals and actions of Pakistani rulers, who are totally unique breed, perennially seized of self destruction.
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