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Conference Call with Task Force Phoenix
By John
This morning I had the opportunity to listen in on a blogger conference call with Col. David B. Enyeart, Deputy Commander, Task Force Phoenix. Phoenix's responsibility is in training the Afghan National Army. From my notes below, you can see how that's not an easy task.
A quick word on how I did this. I was basically the type clerk in the courthouse for this call. I typed as quickly as I could, but I did miss things. Couldn't get the blogger who was asking each question in, although I do remember that Glenn Reynolds asked about the Drug War vs. the War on Al Qaeda, and the corruption issue (which I thought was a terrific question.) And I had to paraphrase Colonel Enyeart's responses. So reading the interview will seem much shorter than the actual 20 minute phone call.
Interview below the fold. All of the bullet points are from Col. Enyeart.
Update: If I knew Instapundit was going to record the whole thing, I wouldn't have bothered. Lesson learned. Here's the link to the Glenn & Helen Podcast, which includes the entire interview. Really, really interesting stuff.
Glenn Reynolds asks: the biggest complaint that I've heard in Afghanistan is that we've placed the Drug War on the top of the list, not fighting Al Qaeda.
I don't think that's true at all for the Afghan National Army, they're concentrating on Al Qaeda.
They afghan army is growing stronger in size, but also smarter in the way they do things. They used to rely on coalition support, now they're operating on their own with minimal support.
We're getting better caliber recruits. The Afghan national army hasn't missed any recruiting goals. Many are illerate.
One of the things we do is literacy training in the boot camp course.
It's good to have the NATO comrades supporting us. We're requesting more and more NATO troops to come in and assist.
When recruits come in, they go into a holding area. We hold them there until we get the right ethic balance. The entire Afghan army is ethnically balanced. Before a battalion can start in the Kabul training center, they need to have the right ethnic balance.
If a commander or key leader is removed, then they have to be replaced by a member of the same tribe. So if a Pashtun commander is relieved, a Pashtun will take his place.
They had an Afghan army go up into a village up into the center of Afghanistan. It was the first time they had seen their Army. They were amazed that they could tell which different ethnic groups were present and that they had a true national army.
Corruption is a way of life here. It's not like we see in the United States were it's wrong, it's a matter of survival. It's our responsibility as mentors to teach them that this is wrong, and to make sure that [the average soldier] gets paid.
We know there's going to be a spring offensive, there always is. They survive the winter, train up, and come into a spring offensive. We believe this is going to be the worse one that they've had in a while. And also, if the Taliban does not make it through this offensive they may lose their ability to fight in Afghanistan.
We're fighting in new areas that we haven't been before.
This is a winnable war over here, and everyone is positive about that. It used to be that the US wanted the war to be over with, now it's the Afghans who want the war to be over and to have their own country.
End Interview.
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Second try:
Reminds me of a recent conversation I heard about Iraq.
The liberals were stateing they want the US to win, but since they could see no winnable solution forthcoming it would be better to just quit this unwinnable fight.
Okay... there is some logic to this liberal argument. But then a lone conservative reminded them this isn't about the US winning so much as it is about the Iraqis winning.
This got me to thinking:
We are the Good Samaritans in this scenario. We did not have to stop and help Iraq rebuild after the war, but we did.
We have picked up the wounded man and have him half-way back to town. There are few others willing or capable of shouldering this load. Let us not abandon him now just because the road is a bit rougher and the load is a bit heavier than we first anticipated.
I still can't spell correctly today. Sorry.
Sounds like the situation in Afghanistan is better than when I left it. The corruption the colonel mentions is part of the culture - a formal, cultural methodology for doing business. When I left, the ANA wasn't capable of operating on its own and no one knew which way the ANA would jump in combat.
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Reminds me of a recent conversation about Iraq.
The liberals were stateing they want the US to win, but since they could see no winnable solution forthcoming it would be better just an unwinnable fight.
Okay... there is some logic to this liberal argument. But then a lone conservative reminded them that this isn't about the US winning so much as it is about the Iraqis winning.
This got me to thinking:
We are the Good Samaritans in this scenario. We did not have to stop and help Iraq rebuild after the war, but we did.
We have picked up the wounded man and have him half way back to town. And there are few others willing or capable of shouldering this load. Let us not abandon him now just because the road is a bit rougher and the load is a bit heavier than we first anticipated.