The U.S. hopes to double the size of the Afghan national army within the next two years. Above, Afghan recruits shortly before graduation from the Kabul Military Training Center. Yochi Dreazen/The Wall Street JournalFrom The Captain's Journal:
The Strategy Page gives us an account of an ambush by Taliban on a U.S. convoy in which both U.S. SOF and elements of the Afghan Army fought back. Concluding the account:
The quick reaction force called for air support, but the warplanes scanned the area with their targeting pods and reported that the Taliban had collected most of the local civilians and were holding them at gunpoint, as human shields.
The Afghan commandos of the quick reaction force then crossed the river and forced the Taliban out of the village, and away from their human shields. The villagers, once free of their captors, told the Afghan troops where the Taliban had set up more fighting positions, and the Afghan soldiers soon chased the Taliban away. Meanwhile, other Afghan and U.S. troops of the Quick Reaction force went ahead to where the supply convoy was still pinned down. The Afghans, and a team of U.S. Special Forces troops, outmaneuvered the ambush force, killed five of the Taliban, and captured six of those they had wounded. Several other Taliban got away.
Read more ....
My Comment: SKY TV and other British TV publications have revealed the lack of discipline and heavy drug use among many in the Afghan Army. I am sure that there are a number of professional soldiers in the ranks .... but I have read many accounts that do not portray Afghan's security forces in a positive light. I have a two friends who have served in Afghanistan as Canadian soldiers. Their comments are blunt in describing the unreliability of the Afghan military. The Captain's Journal is right .... there is trouble in the Afghan Army, and it is going to ruin any plan that Washington may have on how to manage this war.
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