2006-11-24

 

Afghan Equation

We've finally got some figures on the new Afghan army, here.

"Even with the desertion, the training program that has created the current 35,000 man army, has been a success. The troops are effective, and only a handful were found to be working for the Taliban, despite energetic Taliban efforts to infiltrate the armed forces. There are some 5,000 foreign trainers working with the Afghan army, and 2,000 new recruits are being turned into soldiers each month. The government wants an army of at least 50,000 troops, or 75,000, if they can get enough foreign aid to pay for it."

Which sounds very promising. 1 year away from having a full complement of Afghan soldiers. Soldiers defending human rights and freedom of speech, as opposed to oppressing the people. Isn't that just so beautiful? I am really wrapped by soldiers who VOLUNTEER to defend liberty. Afghanistan had such an army of liberators waiting for the coalition to come and release them from captivity. It was there all along. Our allies-in-waiting. There are people like this in every country, and we need to release them from bondage. All they need is a bit of air support.

By the way, Waheed from Afghan Warrior has been writing for the New York Times. I can't be sure that this is the right link, because I'm not a subscriber, but try this. Perhaps the left-wing media is not so bad after all, if they are willing to show the opinions of a pro-war Afghan. I know I should wash my mouth out with soap, but there you have it.

Honestly, I can't possibly express how happy I am to see FREE people speak out. I was so happy when I was able to speak to free Russians and Poles as well. I just don't have the words to describe it, I am so happy. If it all goes horribly wrong and we don't get to liberate the rest of the world, I am so happy that we at least have free Russians, Poles, Afghans and Iraqis. But we really need to work on the Russians while they still have freedom of speech. I have spoken at length with a Russian to try to understand what the problem is with them not joining our side. I thought we had a good exchange of ideas, but it was apparently not enough to fix the problem.

I had a recent email exchange with a Canadian too. He was nice and intelligent, but was skeptical that the US was allowing the Iraqis to do whatever they wanted. But he seemed convinced after I asked him if he thought that the US had set the political agenda for all 300 political parties in Iraq. There's a lot of work cut out for us to get people to trust Americans, especially Republicans. To me it is blindingly obvious that these people deserve sainthoods. But I have learnt that what is blindingly obvious for me is fiercely rejected by others. It's a very strange world. An interesting but frustrating environment. But Waheed's voice is a flame in the darkness. Let it light the world. Thanks New York Times. You deserve credit where credit is due.

UPDATE: I should have given this too.

"There are 32,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan (72 percent of them U.S.). That force will increase about 20 percent, as more NATO troops arrive. There are only a few thousand Taliban active, facing over 100,000 Afghan police and troops, plus the foreigners."

UPDATE 2: You can find strength levels in the Wikipedia article here and a prediction of being up to strength by the end of 2008 here.



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