Choudhury Zafor Sadeque :
(From previous issue)
Obama inherited the Afgan mess from his predecessor in 2009. Presidential candidate Obema had pronounced Afghanistan as the good war., unlike the Iraq war which he had termed as a war of choice. Soon after taking office he realized the political objective of the Afgan war was unachievable and he seriously considered a phased drawdown. His military commander fervently believed that if given additional troops US military was capable of achieving the target. They urged to grant troop surge. Obama reluctantly caved in but gave half the numbers they have requested for and set a deadline after which the troop withdrawal would be initiated.
Towards the end of his term Obama’s Afgan policy had pivoted from a “good war” to “Afghanistan good enough”that echoed the sentiments and war fighting strategy of the president Geor Bush. By the time his tenure was drawing to a close combat operations by ISAF had been brought to end but the US air armada remained in position -it was a case of too little and too late .
How bad is the state of affairs in the ANA and ANSF ? A few excerpts from American and Afgan investigative journalists and Generals would illustrate the fatal flaws that afflict both ANA and ANSF.
Jessica Donati and Ehsanullah Amiri for the Wall Street Journal state, “US military wipes out 30,000 names of suspected ghost Afghan soldiers. The move is a part of a broader effort by the US military to take more drastic approach to corruption in Afghanistan. Half of US purchased fuel in Afghanistan is being siphoned off by senior Afgan military commander. General Moin Faqir of ANA fired and is under investigation. “
US funds fed corruption in Afghanistan eroding security fighting Taliban, corruption undermines the US mission in Afghanistan by fuelling grievances against Afghan government and channeling support to the insurgency, reports Sune Engel Rasmussen, quoting the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan.
Sayed Sarwar Aman and Andrew Macaskill writing for World Newsopine the United stade has spent around 65 billion Dollar preparing fledging afghan security forces, intended to number about 350,000 personnel, for when it leaves. In 2015, the Afghan Army had to replace about a third of its roughly 170,000 soldiers because of desertion, casualties and low re-enlistment rates, according to figures released by the U.S. military last month.
That means a third of the army consists of first year recruits fresh off a three-month training course.
U.S. General Joha Campbell, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told Congress in October high attrition rates are because of poor leadership and soldiers rarely getting holiday. In some areas, soldiers”have probably been in a consistent fight for three years ,” he said.
Afghans of all eithnicity-Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras et al. -are renowned warriors historically acknoledged for their bravary and tenacity in the battlefield. Have the American scholars wondered why their Afghans equipped with modern weaponry with the massive US airpower at their beck and can are fairing so poorly against the other regtag Afghans equipped with World War ll vintage weaponry ? The simple answer is the very poor top leadership in ANA and ANSF.
The magnitude of corruption at the highest levels of ANA and ANSF is unprecedented. Their top brass entich themselves at the cost of the combat troops who are ill equipped and ill trained to confront a resilient enemy. The higher echeion ANA/ANSF commanders are rarely seen in the forefront leading their charges; instead they prefer to manage the fighting from the safety of their hideouts and bunkers. The Taliban leadership on the other hand, true to the Afghan and universal war fighting traditions actively live and fight along with their rank and file.
The Taliban top and mid-level leadership draw inspiration from the concept of Jihad against the foreign “infidels” . The irony is that while the Taliban demand the ouster of all foreign forces from Afghanistan in public, in private reportedly agree their presence gives them the leverage to recruit and motivate Afghans to join them and confront the enemy despite heavy odds.
A final word in order about US legislators who repeatedly berate Pakistan, holding it responsible for the Afghanistan debacle -some under the influence of the strong lobby and others on the basis of the oft repeater assumption that Pakistan and the Pak army has full controle over the Talibans.
That Pakistan and premier intelligence agency the much feared ISI have channels of communication with the top Taliban leaders is true but all other players in the region including the Afghan government and USA have similar openings. If Pakistan had exercised the degree of control the Taliban when in power ? Pakistan’s repeated request to the Taliban Govt. in the 1990s to hand over the sectarian militants and terrorist who had taken refuge in Afghanistan were bluntly rejected.
The truth is that Afghan Talibans are fiercely independent and they do what they consider are in their interest. You can hire an Afghan but you can not buy him.Pakistan does not control the Taliban and its influence is at best limited . Pakistan can urge the Taliban to come to the negotiating table but final decision rests solely with the latter.
Basing conclusions on the sweeping assumption that Pakistan has control over the Taliban is faulty, such absurd suppositions are the bread and butter of the conspirators -very inappropriate in any reasonable discourse.
The Indian media had reported thirteen Indians who had joined the militants were among those obliterated by the US MOAB attack in Afghanistan. How did the thirteen manage to smuggle themselves into Afghanistan ? The land routes through Pakistan via Iran both very difficult, given the current level of tension in the region. The million dollar question is how could the Indian media find out about the thirteen Indian casualties within a few days of the bombing ? As Brig.(Rtd.) Shaukat Qadir observes – unless they were flown under the Indian diplomatic cover for some nefarious activity (Daily Times, April, 30,2017).
Andrew Korybko a Russian political analyst and journalist in his incisive article RAW +DAESH= JUNDALAH argus that RAW the Indian equivalent of Israeli Mossad is actively engaged with Daesh (ISIS) in an effort to ruin Iran-Pakistan relationship and sabotage CPEC. He goes on to postulate “For reasons best understood through the prism of Modi-Doval’s zero sum” mentality vis-a-vis Pakistan and China as well as India’s related military -strategic partnership with the US, CPEC must be stopped at all cost, and destabilization of the project’s terminal point of Pakistani Belochistan is accordingly seen as the solution.
Pakistan is too minor a player to be held responsible for sabotaging the US Afghan policy. It is time USA reassess of what actually has gone wrong in their Afghan policy. Only through an honest assessment and diagnosis of the affliction that ail US- Afghan- Pak policy, effective remedial measures to rescue the sinking US ship in Afghanistan can be implemented.
(Concluded)
