March 28, 2008
U.S. COMMANDER OF COALITION FORCES
Note: the following statements are paraphrased from his statements in a Canwest Global article March 27.
Gen. Dan McNeill, the commander of the coalition forces in Afghanistan, believes International troops will need to assist the Afghan Government with security and stabilization efforts until at least 2012. If the Afghan Police can catch up to the rate of The Afghan Army it may not take 5 years.
Gen. McNeill commanding the 47,000 troops from 39 countries also stated requests from Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and his top Gen. Bishmullah Khan, along with many others in the Afghan Government, “to be patient with the training of the National Army and Police.” Government sources echo Gen. McNeill’s timeframe of 2012 before the army and police are fully capable to stabilize and defend the nation.
This is understandable after an entire generation-plus of war; invasion and insurgency have destroyed any semblance of government, infrastructure and society. Coalition governments must arm, equip, train and supply a national army of 80,000 men and a national police force of a further 82,000 men.
Comment:
Coalition forces, combined air and ground, will be required for decades to assist with potential security threats. To properly defend itself, in this region of the World, any country requires air power. This takes long term training to establish an air corps, put in place training schools, airfields, etc. It will require long-term security arrangements with a variety of governments, key being the U.S. and NATO. The provision of arms and equipment will be a large but necessary expenditure for all involved.
