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August 31, 2005
Slow But Sure Progress In Afghanistan
Austin Bay reports on the slow but sure rise of of democracy in Afghanistan and on the vital efforts to create and train the Afghan National Army(via Instapundit):
Part of the "much to do" is creating and training the new Afghan National Army (ANA). The U.S.-led Coalition Joint Task Force-76 (CJTF-76) has that responsibility. Coalition officers rate the ANA as "very effective at the platoon level" (30 to 40 troops). As in Iraq, the goal is to build effective combat battalions (600 troops).
But training isn't a one-way experience. "The Afghan soldiers are able to teach us how the enemy fights," CJTF-76 commander Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya told me. "The Afghan troops are also very physically fit -- and they will work the daylights out of us."
Kamiya, a 101st Airborne Division vet, also praised their morale. "They have enormous fighting spirit, and when they are in contact (with the enemy), they do not let up."
Emphases are mine.
It's interesting to compare how the two new armies, Iraqi and Afghan, are progressing. It seems that both are currently more successful at the small-unit level. I don't know about the Afghans, but I've read the larger problem in Iraq is with the officers: they are not used to taking responsibility. But these successes at the bottom of the pyramid are encouraging; that's the place to start, in any event.
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