The talk among Pentagon officials that the Afghan military is increasingly able to operate on its own is just that, talk, as a new report includes comments from Green Berets criticizing the incompetence of the Afghan National Army.
The Green Berets complained particularly of an early June battle in the Zabul Province during which Afghan soldiers were refusing to fight and “hiding among trees and behind a rock” while they waited for the US troops to do the fighting.
Such reports aren’t normally the sort of thing that go public, and ended up in the report on a “friendly fire” airstrike that killed five US soldiers during the battle, with the report including all Green Beret comments on the matter.
The captain in the report said that Afghan National Army forces routinely show up with far fewer soldiers than promised, and are virtually unable to operate after dark. When the fighting picked up, the Afghan forces headed for the woods and waited for the fighting to end, “huddled behind a rock.”
Is this motivation? — Allowing others to enrich themselves upon your misery?
Green Beret are not the super-smart of High Society, but most certainly they are of the Country Club class, the middle-management class in an Empire where they are the heroes and gods of society. Empire USA being a paradise for high achievers, surely our Special Forces men are the most highly motivated and proficient killers the world has ever known.
Whereas, the ground troops of Afghanistan are all of the uneducated lower half of society, slow and careful thinking laboring men, surely the slaves of society in every nation on earth.
Such is man’s government in this world and why a Muslim ruled society is a better way, for laboring men that’s what I always say.
" the ground troops of Afghanistan are all of the uneducated lower half of society, slow and careful thinking laboring men, surely the slaves of society in every nation on earth."
They are "educated" enough to know better than to get their balls (legs, face, etc; and without follow-on medical care or disability or surviving-spouse payments) blown off for Halliburton, Boeing, or Raytheon's bottom line, or for Lindsey Graham's (or etc's) re-election prospects. Can you say the same for the Green Berets?
These are the same reports (tools to measure who was winning an insurgency) we had in measuring the Vietnam insurgency by our Spec Forces in Vietnam prior to and during our occupation. Just like Vietnam these green berets are referring to those fighting on our side, because those same nationals fighting on our enemy´s side stand out for bravery and are willing to get in the meat of things. The fight against ISIS is probably with similar statistics, with our allies on the ground running or not so willing to get into battle but with ISIS fighting like real warriors. It´s so convenient to drop bombs from safe distances in a war, isn´t it? Sooner or later our enemy will find the capability of shooting our planes out of the sky.
Another tool in Vietnam and other insurgencies was the ratio of weapons lost to weapons gained. In Vietnam it was 9 : 1 but I don´t know what the figure is in Afghanistan. With ISIS the ratio is probably over 1,000 : 1.
So the billions spent on training the Afghan military only success was to make the U.S. subcontractors rich. Not surprisingly Iraq experienced the same results with even larger expenditures on training.
"Afghan soldiers were refusing to fight and “hiding among trees and behind a rock”"
Gen. S.L.A. Marshall published several books of studies of how Americans behaved in combat during WW2 and the Korean War.
He found that a very high percentage of American soldiers in both wars did not fire their weapons. Since then, the Army and Marines have made major efforts to address that. It was and is very normal both to take cover under fire, and to be reluctant to kill people just like yourself.
The obvious failure of "training" these people to fight like the US fights is starting to percolate up to where it is noticeable to even the most ardent "support the troops" and "spread democracy" advocates. The reality of wasted tax dollars on a fool's errand is becoming clear to everyone.
Just like in South Vietnam. The US lavished the ARVN with all manners of supplies. But they just wouldn't fight.
During my days in the Marines- in the early 80's and being farmed out to the Philippines to help chase down rebels- I used to get a kick out of the young kids (maybe a years or two younger than me, so that made me 'salty' as hell) when they'd check in and start running their mouths. "The first one who shoots at me, I'm gonna cut his throat, drink his blood" or "Can't wait to start collecting ears" or some similar ridiculousness.
I always gave them the same speech; "No, that's not what you're going to do, THIS is what's going to happen when those first bullets go whizzing by. First, you're going to find something to hide behind- a tree, a rock, or even a bush. Second, you're going to wonder if you remembered to pack clean underwear because you WILL need some. Third, when I tell you to you're going to shoot back in the direction I tell you and move when I tell you to move. There will be no blood-drinking, no ear-collecting."
And this was to young men with at least a high-school education, 12 weeks of intense basic training and more months of skill training before hitting my unit. I can imagine what's going through the heads of some scared-to-death young Afghan kid whose entire world revolved around his little village before he's sent to Allah-knows-where to fight some of the world's most fanatic and religiously-motivated warriors?
Unless I had the benefit of a proper upbringing and education- and military training and support- I'd probably be right behind that rock with Iqbal and Akhmed, too.
To — jeff_davis
During my tour of duty in the Vietnam War, over 95% of the body bags that were sent back to the states, they were filled with a dead laboring man.
Surely, your crap comment is a stanch in the nostrils of any man with an ounce of integrity.