NATO Set to Continue Funding Huge Afghan Army
Poised to Abandon Deal to Cut Troops After 2014
Just a week after Gen. Lloyd Austin had expressed support for such a move, NATO is moving forward with a plan to keep the massive Afghan Army, currently at 352,000, at its present size for the foreseeable future.
The problem with such an enormous military is that the Afghan government has little to no money to pay for it, and NATO is essentially on the hook for all of the funding of the Afghan military, with the US paying the vast majority.
NATO had previously agreed to reduce the size of the Afghan military by approximately a third after the end of 2014, but officials confirm a plan is being negotiated now to abandon that agreement and keep the current size through at least 2018.
Officials say the additional funding, which will have the US shelling out several billion dollars annually pretty much forever, is important for “confidence” in the Afghan government, and vital to continuing the “success” of the past 12 years of occupation.
Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz
- US Slams Russia's Missile Sales to Syria - May 17th, 2013
- Nine Killed, 70 Wounded in Bombings Near Kandahar - May 17th, 2013
- Envoy: Russia May Deploy Troops to Tajik-Afghan Border - May 17th, 2013
- Pentagon in Afghan Budget Crisis, Seeks to Shift $10 Billion in Funds - May 17th, 2013
- Nigeria Launching Massive Offensive Against Boko Haram - May 17th, 2013
richard young
February 21st, 2013 at 10:09 pm
No. Not simply no, but hell no. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has no business in Afghanistan in the first place; and after more than a decade of NATO warfare resulting in no visible improvements, the time is long past for US taxpayers to subsidize further wasteful and counterproductive NATO operations.
ubikwitus
February 22nd, 2013 at 8:32 pm
Where does it say NATO's going to be paying for more boom-boom? While some of our NATO allies like Bulgaria and gallant little Georgia are hot to trot out some rent-a-troops, they can't afford the cost of that deployment. So like the drone program – hiring some mercs is a cheap out for America. Whiler American might see some sense in destroying Afghanistan in order to rebuild it, or even worse rebuilding Afghanistan only to knock it down, the Euros won't be coughing up more to have NATO doing kinetic, the reconstruction has cost a fortune already..
In fact, if all that money had been given to the Taliban they'd have been too busy spending it to be a threat to anybody.