U.S. Enlists Ex-Foes for Afghan Army

WSJ ^ | * FEBRUARY 9, 2010 | YAROSLAV TROFIMOV

[One_Upmanship]

KABUL—The fledgling Afghan National Army has been created from scratch by the U.S. and its allies. But, at least in its senior ranks, it increasingly resembles an Afghan army of old—one the U.S. helped rout two decades ago.

The Afghan government is dominated by former mujahedeen guerrillas; both the minister of defense and the army chief of staff are former anti-Soviet insurgents. Most ANA generals and colonels appointed to serve just below them, however, are veterans of the Soviet-built Afghan military that hunted these insurgents through the 1980s.

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[One_Upmanship]

[SunkenCiv]

The Afghan government is dominated by former mujahedeen guerrillas; both the minister of defense and the army chief of staff are former anti-Soviet insurgents. Most ANA generals and colonels appointed to serve just below them, however, are veterans of the Soviet-built Afghan military that hunted these insurgents through the 1980s.

Politics make strangebedfellows, and its even stranger when it happens in a Moslem country -- has to do with the raw materials... Thanks One_Upmanship.