Meet the Afghan Army
Afghans do not think or act like Americans. Yet Americans in power refuse to grasp that inconvenient point. Full Story »
Posted by Chris FinnieReview
How would you feel if the police in your community were turned loose, heavily armed, after three weeks of training? And how would you feel if you were given a three-week training course with a rubber gun and then dispatched, with a real one, to defend your country?
In a country where 40 percent of men are unemployed, joining the ANA for ten weeks is the best game in town. It relieves the poverty of many families every time the man of the family goes back to basic training, but it’s a needlessly complicated way to unintentionally deliver such minimal humanitarian aid. Some of these circulating soldiers are aging former mujahideen—the Islamist fundamentalists the US once paid to fight the Soviets—and many are undoubtedly Taliban.
A theme Jones will return to later in the piece.
American trainers have taken careful note of the fact that, when ANA soldiers were given leave after basic training to return home with their pay, they generally didn’t come back.
Not the first time I’ve read this, but Jones gives it some good context.
Afghans are world-famous fighters, in part because they have a knack for gravitating to the winning side, and they’re ready to change sides with alacrity until they get it right.
Okay, I admit it. I included this one just because I laughed out loud at it! However, it also highlights how our basic lack of cultural understanding is hurting our efforts. We consider this dishonorable. Afghans think it smart. It is doubtful we will change centuries of culture.
Recently Karen DeYoung noted in the Washington Post that the Taliban now regularly use very sophisticated military techniques—“as if the insurgents had attended something akin to the US Army’s Ranger school, which teaches soldiers how to fight in small groups in austere environments.” Of course, some of them have attended training sessions that teach them to fight in “austere environments,” probably time and time again. If you were a Talib, wouldn’t you scout the training being offered to Afghans on the other side? And wouldn’t you do it more than once if you could get well paid every time?
Again, not the first time I’ve read that this is happening. Americans used to complain that all Japanese looked the same to them. And now say that the only way to tell the Taliban is by the color of their turbans. Certainly not a very reliable way to stop infiltration for a military machine that is supposed to be the world’s most sophisticated.
Chris posted this story.
Jones has clearly spent enough time in the country to understand the people and culture in a way our military planners do not. Though some of her information is not new, she puts it together to paint a full and convincing picture of why American efforts are not working. Highly recommended.