Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Afghanistan - 3,400 more trainers sought for Afghan Army and police - International Herald Tribune

NATO defense ministers meeting in Canada have agreed to a new plan to deploy more than 3,400 trainers for Afghan Army and Police forces. The IHT article gave a reference point for the scale of the proposed deployment- the equivalent of increasing the international military commitment by 10%

Would be curious how this political commitment will be translated into reality- already much of these training roles have been farmed out to Private Security/Military Contractors. Will the various NATO ministers involved be willing to perpetuate the same approach, or will they be willing to put in harm's way their Mounted Police and other national resources?

Defense Secretary Gates made the US position quite clear:
"Where you have nations that are not willing to put combat troops in, it is an area where those who are not willing to do that or able to do that may be able to pick up the slack in this area," he continued. "Those of us who are contributing most of the combat forces don't have additional forces available."