Further to this post,

What kind of Afghan National Army? Doing Realpolitik right/Ouch! Update

I’m increasingly thinking BruceR. is really on to something at Flit:

1) Today’s essential Afghan reading: Tim Lynch

More of this please:
…
Look, it’s real simple: you don’t need to “arm the tribes.” You don’t need to train the Afghans to fight our way, either. You just need to train those willing to fight for the central government enough to be able to explain what they need from us, and then train a (much smaller) number of our soldiers to fight alongside them, in a manner that doesn’t get in their way, bringing all of our nifty technological enablers along to ensure a victory. And that’s a lot simpler challenge… if only because more of ours can read the manual, be it 3-24 or Seven Pillars. It worked in 2001, and it can work again. We really seem to be overthinking this thing.

2) Today’s essential Afghan reading: Bernard Finel

A must-read for would-be nation builders:

…In growing the security forces so large, and attempting to extend the central government’s reach, we have created a state so entirely dependent on cash transfers from foreign countries to continue that it is clearly unsustainable, even to its strongest supporters among its own people. The Afghan GDP will never, ever rise to the point where it can pay the army we’ve created for them at the wage levels we’ve set. Because it is clear the good times cannot last, it is only rational for the key players to be focussed on shorter-term profit-taking…

Now I’ve been very critical of our government for its unwillingness to continue any CF mission in Afstan post-2011, even a non-combat one training the ANA. But if training a seemingly ever-larger ANA is not the right way to go, then one might argue the government is making the correct decision.

Quite so. Except that the government has not made any case for its complete withdrawal position based on the argument that such training is not in fact what is needed. In fact I do not think the government has made any argument about its decision related–one way or another–to things military in Afstan. It’s been simply: “Out we go cause Parliament said so.”

Mark
Ottawa