the ARVN's were braver and better soldiers than 99% of the Afghan/Iraqi areSeems 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."
You cannot make 7th century barbarians free.
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.
the ARVN's were braver and better soldiers than 99% of the Afghan/Iraqi are