WASHINGTON – A brigade of seasoned American soldiers has arrived inAfghanistan in recent days on a much-trumpeted mission to offer a new typeof training — as well as motivation — to beleaguered Afghan partners.
Pentagon officials hope the deployment of hundreds of battle-hardened,expert troops across the country will help turn the tide in the war, butAfghanistan watchers are skeptical about how much difference they can makein the 16-year-old conflict.
Most of the troops in the so-called Security Force Assistance Brigade, orSFAB, have multiple Afghanistan combat deployments under their belts, speaksome level of Pashto or Dari and — after having themselves undergonespecial training — have now volunteered to return.
“They are coming here because they are passionate about the mission,” NavyCaptain Tom Gresback, a spokesman for NATO’s Resolute Support mission inKabul, told AFP.
The United States and NATO have already tried various training models forAfghan security forces, but even after all these years many units remainbeset by corruption and desertions and are suffering horrendous casualtyrates.
US officials have also tracked dozens of cases of reported human rightsviolations in Afghan security units, including several involving childsexual assault.
The Pentagon has been training partner forces in various conflicts fordecades, and the approach has been buoyed in recent years by local forces’successes against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
What differentiates the SFAB from other Afghan missions is not just the USsoldiers’ experience, but the fact they will be patrolling closer to theconflict’s front lines than trainers have done in recent years — puttingthem at greater risk.
They will help Afghans hone a variety of skills including marksmanship andweapons training, and combat medics will teach Afghan partners how tobetter handle battlefield trauma.
And, vitally, the Afghans will learn how to call in air strikes and how toconduct ground-clearing operations.
“The goal is to not fight for the Afghans, but to train these proudsoldiers to see that they can fight for themselves,” Gresback said.
– Training shortcomings –
Squads of about 10 US soldiers will embed at the “kandak” level — anAfghan term for battalions typically made up of 300-400 men — and theywill deploy across Afghanistan, including in volatile southern Helmandprovince and in eastern Nangarhar province, where the Taliban and IslamicState are fighting.
The NATO and US training of Afghan troops has recently been largelyconducted by commandos and focused on Afghanistan’s special forces, ratherthan on its conventional units.
Up until the end of 2014, NATO troops provided most of the security inAfghanistan, but in 2015, after the drawdown of Western forces, Afghantroops were tasked with the job themselves.
The results were disastrous, with thousands killed each year as the Talibanresurged. Officials have acknowledged training has sometimes fallen short.
A US government watchdog last year blasted the military as being woefullyunprepared to take on the challenge of creating security forces of the sizeand scope needed in Afghanistan.
Bill Roggio, an Afghanistan expert and senior fellow at the Foundation forDefense of Democracies, said the SFAB deployment is a step in the rightdirection but may ultimately have limited impact.
“Does it improve things on the margins, or does it actually make a realdifference in that (the Afghans) are either going to be able to stop theTaliban’s gains or beat them back? I am skeptical,” he told AFP.
US commanders say the SFAB, along with an increased tempo of air strikesand a broader strategy for the region including Pakistan, will help theAfghans push back the Taliban.
Officials say 64 percent of the Afghan population lives in areas currentlycontrolled by the Afghan government, with 12 percent in Taliban-controlledareas and the rest living in “contested areas.”
They have set the seemingly modest goal of increasing those undergovernment control to 80 percent within two years.
“I’ve looked at the training regime,” US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis saidrecently.
“First of all, the quality of these troops, in terms of their experienceand their selection, and second, the training, gives me a lot ofconfidence.” – APP/AFP