The Weekly Standard – Growing the ANA

The Weekly Standard.

Here is a good (but long) post from the blog for The Weekly Standard.  It has numerous talking points that I agree with about how we need to grow the Afghan National Army.  Although I appreciate Sen. Lieberman’s support for the increase in support for the mission in Afghanistan and the growth of the Army, things look much different through the windows of the Capital Building.

He calls for an increase on the Security Forces to 450,000, at least 250,000 which should be from the Army.  For those who don’t know, we are about at 80,000 right now, and don’t plan to be to the current goal (of 134,000) until December 2011.

As many of you have learned through my writings, things move… slowly here in Afghanistan, to say the least.  To grow the Army by 500% would not be an easy task.

There are inherent difficulties with rapid expansion of any organization.  Just ask Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.  With the challenges of literacy and competence in leadership, creating such a vast army would leave a void in which corruption, laziness, and unpreparedness would run-a-muck.

Currently we train all Non Commissioned Officers and Officers to a certain standard.  They must be able to read and write, the go through several basic schools and Officer Candidate School, and they get specific branch training before being sent to serve as new Lieutenants.

As a LT myself, I can say these guys are just barely ready to head off on their career.  They are young, inexperienced, and in some cases don’t yet have the confidence to lead in battle that can only be gained through experience.  Growing the Army that fast will obviously mean that these young leaders with be thrust up the ranks to run platoons, companies and kandaks.

I know that the key to victory in Afghanistan is an Army and police force able to protect its own people.  I know that is going to take a lot of boots on the ground, but I don’t want to see corners cut and balloon  expansion to try and reach a goal set by someone who has never met an Afghan person before.  One of the things that I admire and appreciate with Obama so far is that he listens to his commanders on the ground and lets them command.  He has not tried to command wars from the White House.  I hope that he continues this and listens to the people who know.

Taliban poised at the gates of Kabul – CNN.com

Taliban poised at the gates of Kabul – CNN.com.

My Dad sent me the link to this story by CNN (Communist News Network) on the security of Kabul and the “Advancing Taliban Hordes.”

The article discusses an attack the Taliban made on a few government buildings a few weeks ago.  Everything they say in the article is true, to the best of my knowledge (I wasn’t there).  It was probably the largest orchestrated attacks the Taliban have committed in the city since the US occupation.  But, the article glosses over the fact that it was Afghan Police officers that eliminated the insurgents and ended the fight, preventing a much greater incident.

Another important factor is that this is one of the only incidents that we have had in the city in a while.

Basically my point is this: although I agree that over the past few years security in Afghanistan has been slipping away from us, we are not in a Vietnam type situation.  The Taliban is not knocking on the doors of Kabul and the city is still a safe haven for peaceful citizens.  With 17,000 more security troops on their way and coalition forces likely to step up as well, we will regain lost ground soon.

Don’t let the media hype scare you.  I predict a large increase of articles like this as the focus is directed away from Iraq and the economy and towards Afghanistan this spring and summer.