It was almost two years ago that I (modestly) proposed to solve our geo-political difficulties by turning the Afghan militias into US auxiliaries, and legalizing drugs. Now I see (via Intel Dump) that the first part of this idea has also occurred to Roberto Bran, who recently gave a presentation sketching out the details on the model of the Gurkhas. When I said this, it was just a sarcastic expression of despair, but Bran is trying to make a constructive policy proposal, has thought carefully about issues like language training, and, again unlike me, has some idea of what he's talking about:
I spent six months as an embedded advisor under Task Force Phoenix with a Quick Reaction force kandak (battalion) and tolei asleyah (weapons company) of the Afghan National Army (ANA). Following that assignment, the 10th Mountain Division returned to Fort Drum and I was sold to Combined Forces Command - Afghanistan (CFC-A) in Kabul, where I served as the Interagency Strategic Plans Officer and worked under some of the smartest men I have ever met. I don't pretend this qualifies me for "expertise," but at least I do have some practical experience.
I'm led to believe that this could be a good thing, if well-implemented. But I really doubt it will happen, because there is simply no domestic political constituency for it. (Thanks to Captain Bran for graciously answering some questions in e-mail.)
Afghanistan and Central Asia; Modest Proposals; The Continuing Crisis
Posted at August 19, 2005 12:00 | permanent link