This is one reason why the Northerners are willing tolerate Karzai for the time being. When the West leaves, they will control a large, reasonably well armed and trained army, which they can let loose on the Pushtuns without any of that ROE nonsense.BRUSSELS (Reuters) - High drop-out and low recruitment rates have hampered NATO efforts to boost security forces to control insurgents in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. general leading the effort said on Wednesday.
Ignorance is considered a virtue among the Pashtuns. That doesn't make them good soldier material.
Lieutenant-General William B. Caldwell, who is directing an effort to increase the size of the Afghan army and police to 300,000 by 2011, said drop-out rates for the police stood at 25 percent and at 18 percent for the army. The rate for the best police unit, the paramilitary Afghan National Civil Order Police, was 60-70 percent, Caldwell told reporters. "This is absolutely unacceptable," he said.
| I disagree. Everyone who drops out will know just enough to understand they don't want to go up against trained units unless they have a significant numerical and weapons advantage... and will increase the prestige of organizations that haven't had much up 'til now. And contrast the drop-out rate to the percentage of Americans who would qualify to apply to our armed forces -- on the order of 5% of our youth even meet the physical, health, and morality requirements. Even fewer make it through basic training and the trial period. |
| It won't be soon. It was never going to be soon. Despite President Obama's promises of withdrawal, the Afghans simply won't be ready to be on their own for a decade or several... especially as they won't be fighting recalcitrant countrymen, but also the most nefarious that Pakistan can throw at them. |
That's merely reflective of the fact that it's a war by the Pashtuns against the rest of Afghanistan.
"We are not satisfied with the number of Pashtuns coming into the army from the south," Caldwell said.
I agree. Two or three percent's probably way too high.
"We are trying to change the dynamics of this country, to make the southern Pashtun feel part of this nation... we are going to have to do a better job of recruiting down there," he said.
Unlike the semi-civilized inhabitants of the northern half of the country, the Pashtuns want everybody but them to either die or to become their slaves. Why's that so difficult to understand?
The Pashtuns, who make up about 40 percent of Afghanistan's population, are the predominant ethnic group in southern provinces bordering Pakistan. It is from there that the Taliban draws the vast majority of its support.
They're the largest single ethnic group in Afghanistan, but they regard themselves as part of Greater Pashtunistan, the bulk of which is actually in Pakistain. Since ignorance is a virtue, they're perfectly willing to allow themselves to be manipulated and controlled by Arab and Punjabi supermen in return for a little tribal ego-stroking.
Caldwell said NATO planned to launch an advertising campaign to attract Pashtun recruits, and hoped the effort would be helped by a big military operation designed to reassert government control in Helmand province, in the south. Caldwell said the overall recruitment drive had been helped by increases in basic pay to $165 a month, topped up with another $45 a month in regions worst affected by the insurgency. "We are generally aware what a Taliban foot-soldier makes," he said. "We are comparable to probably what we hear most foot soldiers make doing something for the Taliban."
Caldwell said his mission, which relies on training personnel provided by NATO allies was still 1,900 short of its target strength of 5,200 trainers. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was working to persuade allies to contribute more to the training mission, which is vital for NATO's long-term exit strategy. "I feel confident we will be able to build up our training mission to the required level," he told a news briefing.