Word: afghanistans
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...challenges of rebuilding an Afghan national army of any size - for the fourth time in 150 years - are daunting. Afghanistan, torn by war over a generation, has missed the computer revolution that most militaries now take for granted. The Hindu Kush mountain range splinters much of the country into isolated valleys run by warlords, marginalizing any central government authority. And as the 219th poorest nation among the world's 229, Afghanistan simply can't afford to pay for a big military. Afghan forces today are largely slipshod and corrupt, U.S. officers who have served with them say. Technically they seem...
...Obama's message to West Point cadets was less specific: "We must strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan's security forces and government so that they can take lead responsibility for Afghanistan's future." McChrystal issued a statement endorsing Obama's plan, saying its push to train Afghan fighters "will be the main focus of our campaign in the months ahead." The Afghan national army, which jumped from 6,000 troops in 2003 to 24,000 in 2004, has been growing by about 1,500 troops monthly over the past year. (Iraq's security forces, protecting a smaller population than Afghanistan...
While President Obama is setting timetables for Afghanistan, hoping to start bringing U.S. troops home by 2011, Mackenzie's words note that the very concept of deadlines is largely foreign to Afghans. "Time is not seen as a valuable resource in Afghan society," he wrote. "Correspondingly, the use of calendars at all levels is virtually nonexistent...
President Obama's first speech about Afghanistan back in March took place in a government office building on a stage lined with bureaucrats at 9:40 in the morning, when most Americans focus on coffee, not TV. In its wake, polls showed that somewhere between 60% and 70% of the country supported his plan to send more troops to fight a seven-year-old war in a distant desert...
...proud Army leaders in training. In a steady, grim cadence, Obama made the case for putting yet another 30,000 Americans in harm's way. "If I did not think that the security of the United States and the safety of the American people were at stake in Afghanistan, I would gladly order every one of our troops home tomorrow," he said. "This is no idle danger, no hypothetical threat...