Phantom Forces
Over at “The Skeptics” blog at The National Interest Online, I wrote a short piece detailing the abysmal state of the Afghan army and police — you know, the institutions that are supposed to take over responsibility for security and allow U.S. forces to being to come home?
“From illiteracy and corruption to poor vetting and low pay, the current training effort has yielded a force of compromised caliber.” What’s more: “An AP reporter on patrol with Americans at Combat Outpost Ware in the Arghandab Valley found that when the Afghans go on patrol they are treated as outsiders. “When they see us, the old men say, ‘They are the sons of the British,’ ” Lt. Haskar said, explaining that the villagers equate both the Americans and the Afghan soldiers with the British attempt to colonize Afghanistan in the 1800s.”
