Posted on 10/27/2014 6:24:19 AM PDT by servo1969
Elite Army Green Berets are knocking the performance of the Afghan National Army, telling war tales of its soldiers hiding and quitting the fight.
The Green Beret criticisms, contained in a U.S. Central Command “friendly fire” investigative file, provide a window into the flaws of a national army more than a decade in the making.
The Special Forces soldiers gave poor marks to the institution that is supposed to keep Afghanistan’s democratically elected governments in power. The security force must rebuff an expected Taliban offensive, on its own, once all American troops leave after 2016.
The soldiers gave statements to investigators after going into battle June 8-9 in the Gaza Valley of Zabul province, northeast of Kandahar. The Green Berets told of Afghan soldiers refusing to fight and hiding among trees and behind a rock.
The Afghans had no ability to fight at night, a hallmark of American forces. Green Berets had to take the lead in clearing villages controlled by Taliban militants, even though the steady withdrawal of U.S. forces is at the stage where Afghans are supposed to be “on point” — that is, the first to engage the enemy.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Seems like Afghani’s only like to fight when the enemy is weak or unarmed....
I think their loyalty is to an individual, not to an institution. This will always be a country ruled by warlords until that changes.
You can fight it or recognize it and adjust your plans accordingly.
They fight about as well as any Arab army, which is basically, unless they have a gun at their backs making sure they won’t run away, they do.
This isn’t exactly news people, this is pretty much how its always been.
A poll replaces military intelligence, eh?
It would seem to me that one thing that is lacking in both Afghanistan and Iraq is something to fight for. Why should the troops be willing to die for a corrupt central government or for a country that they don’t really belive in? And there is nothing the U.S. can do to change that.
"It took a few tense seconds for U.S. and Afghan soldiers to realize that a sudden burst of gunfire and explosions one recent afternoon wasn't aimed at them but at a different patrol a mile away.
Everyone relaxed. A U.S. lieutenant resumed chatting with village elders. And four Afghan soldiers leaned back on some idle farm equipment and lit up a joint in full view of U.S. troops and an American reporter.
Use of marijuana, opium and heroin among Afghan troops, even while on patrol, is just one of the challenges coalition forces face in working with the Afghan National Army as they begin a major push against the Taliban in and around the southern city of Kandahar.
U.S. soldiers complain that poor discipline, drug use, a trigger-happy attitude and general carelessness by Afghan soldiers are putting American lives in danger and could ultimately undermine efforts to win over wary Afghans, the main aim of the campaign."
Clueless and stoned: how US forces see their local comrades (subscription required)
"As insurgent gunfire spat overhead, some soldiers stared listlessly at the sky, their hands pressed to their ears. Others crawled among the vines, huddling among the roots, dazed and disorientated, their weapons useless in their hands.
Befuddled on hash, one machinegunner dozed off, oblivious to the firefight around him. A junior officer appeared briefly to chastise another group of troops for getting stoned, before he too wandered off and fell asleep, ignored by his men."
Are we referencing Afghanistan or the US?
The Hashish Army (2009): As Barack Obama announces more US troops to train the Afghanistan army, John D McHugh reports on how US soldiers view their Afghan counterparts as ill-disciplined, badly led, and with a crippling taste for hashish.
'It's like having 26 kids' says one officer. Building up the Afghan army is one of the mainstays of the US exit strategy. But after several years of training, they still lack basic soldier skills. 'You can't really call it an army' one Afghan admits. Populated by young apathetic drifters, the Afghan army needs as much help as it can get against a well-trained, highly motivated enemy.
Precisely! The vast majority of peoples in the ME are tribal in their loyalties. They find the concept of a Nation to be incomprehensible and therefor have no loyalties to it. They have no foundational document with which to support or defend that is greater than their tribe or family unit. The mob is their strength and bravado so they rely upon it. While there are individuals with remarkable bravery and the feeling of national loyalty, they are the minority and often looked upon with derision.
The concept of a nation is foreign to them since they have never had to build one.
Israel stands alone in this regard.
Until one goes in and destroys the old and build the new for many decades and a few generations it well not change.
You cannot make 7th century barbarians free.
I think Muhammed correctly identified the limits of what they will fight for: rape, slavery, and thievery.
We are doing something wrong if, after ten years of US military training, the Afghan Army still can’t execute small unit, light Infantry operations.
We are grinding-up good young Soldiers and their families in these wars that our political leadership wage in a half-assed manner. Does anybody in the world think that this Democrat administration is serious about winning any of these conflicts our country is in? Do our enemies think the Democrats are serious? Do our allies think the Democrats are serious about winning? Then what the hell are these Democrats doing?
This fighting and killing and dying is serious business and these Democrats f**king around with no intent to win is the cruelest thing imaginable. The Democrats go all to pieces about how cruel it is to not let homosexuals walk down the aisle in a white dress, and then they are OK with f**king around and getting people killed and destroying countries.
Or they just don’t like to fight at all
I’ll agree but would add that Islamist militaries like the Taliban and ISIS gain their discipline through their religous ferver. Secular and corrupt governments attempting to rule over assorted tribes don’t give their militaries anything to fight for. Even to most brutal dictator will fail against the Islamist rebels as the Arab Spring has shown.
I agree, they are still basically nomads.
“Drug-addled armies’
God’s way of getting people to stop fighting...
Agreed. It plays into two rudimentary issues, that of the violent nature of humans and their desire to fulfill a bloodlust, and that of fear. They are the yin and yang of Islam.
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