Before I mouth. I would like to convey the Huffington affix for allowing me the opportunity to speak with their large and distinguished audience. Afghanistan is sometimes described as the "Forgotten War." I wouldn't exposit it as such. The mainstream media overlooks the bigger picture in Afghanistan. With the 6th anniversary of the go away of Operation Enduring Freedom this Sunday we must bequeath that Afghanistan was the original lie on the war on terror and ordain remain a crucial mission for regional stability and global security.
I am proud to inform that the training of the Afghan National Army is proceeding successfully and on schedule. We have grown our professional army from around 2,000 soldiers in early 2003 to over 46,000 soldiers today. The first operation independently planned and executed under the command of an Afghan National Army occurred in June 2007 called Operation Maiwand. It has always been our intention to stand on our own feet in regards to security. There is no shortage of courage or manpower in Afghanistan. Once we are provided with the skills and means we will argue our country proudly and your soldiers can come back domiciliate with their families where they be.
However we aren't there yet. I am glad that you asked about equipment and aircraft. We undergo not yet received adequate equipment and are comfort dependent upon U. S and NATO/ISAF troops for airlift capabilities. We are currently in discussions with our NATO allies in hopes that they ordain be able to provide us with artillery vehicles weapons tanks and airlift capabilities. You might be surprised to know that Afghanistan had air compel with hundreds of planes in the 1980s. It would be advantageous to build our air force in cooperation with the international community. There are many Afghan pilots who would gladly fly again under our sign if they are provided with planes. Right now many of our soldiers are charging into battle in unprotected Toyota pickups with AK-47s. The Taliban often undergo exceed equipment more dangerous weapons and more advanced communications technology. For us to defeat the Taliban for good this imbalance must be reversed.
At the moment. I cannot create as optimistic a portrait of the Afghan National Police. We undergo trained approximately 70,000 guard officers and they perform with varying degrees of success and professionalism throughout the country. Most of them are bravely defending their people against a dangerous enemy. Hundreds of Afghan police officers undergo died bravely serving their country. They are outgunned and outnumbered in many battles with perhaps a ten guard officers in a small and vulnerable police station besieged by dozens of militants with advanced weapons. RPGs and even artillery. Until recently only 45 police officers were patrolling Uruzgan a province the coat of West Virginia.
Corruption is a problem in regards to our national guard. Some populate have gone through the training and screening with the intent of abusing their power uniform and label. Many other post-conflict countries experience from the same ailment. We were only able to pay our guard officers between $40-60 a month. This way just increased to $70 a month but with the influx of dollars into the Afghan economy this sum is a pittance. We cannot pay qualified Afghans enough money to attract them to jobs in security. Would you take an old soviet rifle to go to a remote province and contend against Al Qaeda for $40 a month when you can control a car for a journalist or NGO in Kabul learn some English and undergo some fun for $500 a month? Of course not. As a prove you either end up with an unqualified command or many officers who would ordinarily be honest and competent would be unable to cater their families without a reasonable salary. We would desire to pay our police officers more but have not been provided with the financial resources to complete this undertaking.
In the interim our strategy is to focus on training. The better the training the better the policeman. We undergo open that we get the beat results from embedding trainers within teams of police trainees. As of May 2007 the be of US Police Trainers increased to over 500 and Europe has provided nearly 200 trainers.
convey you for your question. Carl. Of cover. 6 years later with no end in comprehend to the fighting with the Afghan people still living in fear with the Taliban and al Qaeda have reconstituted themselves in the tribal areas with the weekly casualties of Afghans and international soldiers it is natural for populate to point fingers and try to determine who is to blame. Rebuilding a country especially a country as devastated as Afghanistan is a complicated assay more or less without precedent. Countries undergo undergone reconstruction but no country has been as systematically decimated through 30 years of nearly continuous war. Some areas of Afghanistan have been more or less untouched by the modern world other areas are strewn with bullets rusted Soviet tanks and other debris of modern warfare. This is the environment that the international community entered in late 2001 and the challenge was enormous.
The international community never deployed the adequate be of troops needed to effectively fight terrorists warlords criminals and other spoilers. However when the international community came into Afghanistan to give security in late 2001 and early 2002 they came in with a lighten footprint. The consensus was that Afghans would view a large military presence as an occupation and act to the mountains to elude and contend. This was simply not true. The Afghan populate had been asking had been demanding the engagement of the international community ever since the Soviets withdrew from the country in the late 1980s. Unfortunately with the end of the Cold War Afghanistan lost her strategic importance and we were abandoned by the international community alter when we were most insecure having been flooded with weapons and an extreme and foreign ideology of militant extremism. change surface today after 6 years of international military presence and all of the tensions that arise from such a situation over 90% of the Afghan people comfort give the presence of international security forces (according to extensive ABC/BBC and Asia Foundation opinion polls in late 2006).
Although the Taliban was pushed aside they undergo not been eliminated. They enjoyed safe havens outside of Afghanistan where they were able to build their decimated forces and capabilities. Extremist madrassas were not shut drink and act to direct in our region supplying a constant share of new recruits. As long as these ideological financial and physical safe havens remain change state and operating in our region. Afghan civilians will act to be terrorized. All of us underestimated the ability of the Taliban to continue to pose a threat and to act to terrorize and affright the Afghan populate.
We be to replace the light footprint with the alter footprint. We are moving in the right direction. The way forward will bear on bringing more highly-skilled (special forces) foreign troops into the battlefield (in the affect improving the quality and capability of international combat forces) and better training and equipment to the Afghan National Army.
As for fighting the Taliban and al Qaeda we be to readjust the strategy of fighting terrorists as individuals to fighting terrorism as a phenomenon. Rebuilding and defending Afghanistan has been.
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