Welcoming 30,000 troops coupled with at least 7000 NATO forces, Afghanistan doesn’t appear at all ready for taking up the security responsibilities nor is the defense Ministry in the mood to make sure or at least trust its US trained, NATO standard soldiers.
The debate wasn’t yet over when the western backed president, in an interview, made it clear that it will take 15-20 years more for the Afghan Forces to take over the Nation’s security responsibilities. For the world it must have been a surprising confession on Karzai’s part but for the stakeholders inside Afghanistan it shouldn’t have come as a surprise as was stated by the US Defense Minister Robert Gates.
The reasons for such an arguement are clear. As the quotation goes by, “What you sow so shall you reap.” In the last 8 years of US invasion of Afghanistan on the pre-text of dismantling and defeating Al-Qaeda and its allies and bringing to justice the culprits of 9/11. US and its allies have done nothing worthy enough to tackle corruption and forces enhancing drug trades and to some extent helping US enemies indirectly.
Under the US nose did drug trade flourish so rapidly that recent reports put Afghanistan the top producer of Opium. In fact, in this year only 90% of the World’s opium was exported from Afghanistan. Further, Afghanistan produced over 2000 tones of opium more than the global needs. The money that runs in billions of dollars go directly to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda agents. On the other hand, Afghan forces continued to be trained in small numbers. So small that could be no where near the target figure set by the Bonn Conference in 2001. To add to the problems poor equipment of the trained soldiers not only resulted in the large number of deaths but also did it de-motivate the young soldiers. Another question that has put the defense Ministry and Afghan Military experts at awe is how to create a “Motive” for the soldiers in direct combat with the Taliban Militants. It’s believed that increasing the number of soldiers and training them are not the only factors needed to win the war against the Taliban Militants/Insurgents or at least end the war in a graceful manner that could guarantee a graceful exit for the western forces.
Unlike the professional and highly educated western forces, the Afghan forces comprise of uneducated, unprofessional people with strong tribal, lingual and racial affiliations. Such a pack of conjugated groups couldn’t be trusted at all. The civil war of 1992-96 is a crystal clear example of risks involved. Probably these had been the reason that US top commander in Afghanistan Gen. McCrystal had indicated the risk of Taliban take over had the US been/would be supposed to lose the war or exit before the appropriate time/comprehensive defeat of the Taliban. In addition, experts on Afghan problem have put forth the highest possibilities of Taliban intrusion into the Afghan National Army. Further, it is believed that the continuing meddling of Afghanistan’s neighbors and their spying agencies also put the weak Afghan National Army’s credibility in Question. It’s also believed that nearly 60% of the National Army personnel are either directly or indirectly serving the interests of Taliban Militants, spying agencies and forces hostile to the stability of Afghanistan.
The harsh decision of taking security responsibilities from the foreign forces in the near future won’t be a self-made decision on the part of Afghanistan but rather one enforced on them since the world is fast losing patience. In such a scenario peace and stability in Afghanistan appears a far dream.
