Afghan Forces Are Proving To Be Surprisingly Effective

U.S. special forces soldiers assist Afghan security forces as they move toward insurgents who attacked them en route to their objective in the Gelan district in Afghanistan's Ghazni province, Feb. 8, 2014. The U.S. soldiers are assigned to Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Afghanistan. The combined forces cleared a village where the harassing fire originated, causing the insurgents to retreat. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. David Devich

Afghan Forces Have Proved Surprisingly Effective -- Jim Michaels, USA Today

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — It was a tactic that surprised the Americans almost as much as the Taliban.

Afghan soldiers in two single-file columns picked their way through a minefield, got behind Taliban positions and launched their attack. The panicked insurgents were forced to flee through their own minefield, which was seeded with improvised explosives.

The last-minute change was cooked up by the Afghans, reversing a plan earlier developed with U.S. advisers.

"They completely fooled everyone," said British Army Col. Baz Bennett, the director of Afghan security force assistance in Regional Command Southwest, headquartered in Helmand province, a former Taliban stronghold. It worked, Bennett said.

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My Comment: The problem has never been the Afghan Army .... granted that there are many `bad apples`.... but there are also many good soldiers. The problem in Afghanistan has always been the government and the culture of corruption that permeates much of it. If the focus was on fighting the Taliban and building up the country and not enriching themselves and their friends.... Afghanistan would not be in the mess that it is in today.

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Tuesday, February 18, 2014