The Afghan Government Created a 30,000 Man Militia To Fight the Taliban

MAJ Ken Landgren — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 14:06:37 -0400

This is what I read: Imagine a 30,000 strong militia loyal to the government is a good thing. A group with passion and will to fight for their country. There is one catch, they are undisciplined, commit torture, breaking many laws, and raping women.

Response by SCPO David Lockwood made Jun 4 at 2015 2:08 PM

SCPO David Lockwood — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 14:08:55 -0400

Being loyal is one thing but being undisciplined will have a negative effect on the overall outcome of what the administration is trying to do.

Response by Maj Chris Nelson made Jun 4 at 2015 2:38 PM

Maj Chris Nelson — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 14:38:22 -0400

And this is new and/or different how?? They just have another banner to operate under...

Response by SSG Trevor S. made Jun 4 at 2015 2:44 PM

SSG Trevor S. — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 14:44:00 -0400

The undisciplined, torturing, law breaking, raping bad(ish) guys will fight the other bad guys in Afghanistan. So what your saying is - Situation Normal.

Response by CW2 Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2015 2:55 PM

CW2 Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 14:55:34 -0400

You actually bring up a strong topic but I believe some of your point are invalid.
1. In my experience, very few of the actual Afghanistan Army Soldiers are well trained.
2. Raping women and torturing victims seems to be common practices in this region, therefore it doesn't seem to me that this is any different than the current situation. I've witnessed torture by the afghan police and again, I'll simply lable this as "common practice" for that region of the world.
3. You mention that they are loyal to the government. The only loyalty that I've seen in that country falls on financial gain. If I'm wrong please correct me but I have spent my fair share of time over there and I've only met a handful of Afghans who are loyal to anything but family and money.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2015 3:06 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 15:06:51 -0400

The biggest flaw I see with this statement is the assumption that you can just stamp these notions onto them. Nationalism, discipline, honor, integrity, these are all ideals that we value because our culture values them. Theirs does not.

It is very patriarchal and generally follows the rule of "the eldest male is right." Rather than some sort of socially adopted ideal.

We can just make them like us. It has to be a growth process. We are expecting them to make the same 250 years of social change we did under extremely different circumstances and reasons over night.

It's both unreasonable and just plain setting yourself up for failure. Instead of trying to bash these notions into their head they need to be shown, taught, and, tempered. Otherwise they'll never learn and people will always scratch their heads wondering why they are so socially different from us.

Response by MAJ James Woods made Jun 4 at 2015 6:03 PM

MAJ James Woods — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 18:03:28 -0400

That's not a militia but a gang of thugs working for the government.

Response by 1SG Michael Blount made Jun 5 at 2015 4:51 PM

1SG Michael Blount — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 16:51:42 -0400

MAJ Ken Landgren - correction, sir. That's 30,000 nationwide loyal to fight for their towns or tribes. That's a damn sight different than a similarly sized Army unit. In addition to the shortcomings you already cited, there's the additional potential of some warlord or another carving out a piece of Afghanistan for himself and defending it with the weapons the Government already provided

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 6 at 2015 11:25 AM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 06 Jun 2015 11:25:46 -0400

I am guessing you are referring to the Afghan Local Police (ALP) program. When you look at cost to benefit the ALP program was a large scale success in stabilizing districts via buy in by the locals living there. Building off the US model in Afghanistan has failed over and over, this helps build in line with Afghan culture and lineage. No man fights harder than he does for his own land that his family lives on.
Are there shortfalls? Of course there are but the program did exactly what it was meant to do and it does it for a fraction of what it costs to run the ANA and ANP. Not sure what article you read all of this in but, with the last sentence you mention if you dropped the line about torture you could also be referring to many professional athletes or even members of congress.

Response by SrA Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 11 at 2015 1:01 AM

SrA Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 01:01:42 -0400

That sounds like someone was describing the ANA, ANP, ALP, AUP, and ABP all together. Everyday life