The scheduled date for an American pullout in Afghanistan grows closer and so do worries that it may be premature; that the troops we have trained and will be leaving behind to carry on may not be ready, quite yet, to handle the job. As Gopal Ratnam of the FP reports:
The top commander overseeing the international military effort in Afghanistan, U.S. Army Gen. John Campbell, is assessing whether more coalition troops should stay in the country to train Afghan troops for longer than would be allowed under the Obama administration’s current plans for a complete withdrawal in 2016.
In a phone interview from Kabul, Campbell said he was “beginning now to take a hard look” at what effect delays in concluding a bilateral security agreement between the United States and Afghanistan and the months of uncertainty over the country’s presidential elections have had on the preparedness of the Afghan military. Afghan forces have been taking heavy casualties in recent months while they battle the resurgent Taliban.
In a phone interview from Kabul, Campbell said he was “beginning now to take a hard look” at what effect delays in concluding a bilateral security agreement between the United States and Afghanistan and the months of uncertainty over the country’s presidential elections have had on the preparedness of the Afghan military. Afghan forces have been taking heavy casualties in recent months while they battle the resurgent Taliban.
The qualms Campbell feels can’t be eased by the situation in Iraq where the army that had been trained and equipped by the U.S. could not hold against the forces of ISIS. Now, we are told, it will take “months” to bring the Iraqi army back to the state in which we thought we had left it when we pulled out of that country. As David Zucchino of the Los Angeles Times reports:
American commanders say the Iraqi army won’t be ready to mount operations to retake Islamic State-controlled cities such as Mosul for many months. Meanwhile, Iraq’s government has turned to Shiite militias and Sunni tribesmen as it scrambles to keep the Sunni militants from advancing on Baghdad and its airport.
The U.S. military has not explained how few more months of “advise and assist” will create a functional army after years of training was followed by wholesale desertions in Mosul and in Anbar province to the west of Baghdad. Soldiers and police seeking to avoid mass executions if they were captured left behind weapons, ammunition, vehicles and other U.S.-supplied equipment now used by Islamic State to attack more government positions.
The U.S. military has not explained how few more months of “advise and assist” will create a functional army after years of training was followed by wholesale desertions in Mosul and in Anbar province to the west of Baghdad. Soldiers and police seeking to avoid mass executions if they were captured left behind weapons, ammunition, vehicles and other U.S.-supplied equipment now used by Islamic State to attack more government positions.
And it will likely be harder the second time around. If, that is, it is not impossible.
