(Afghanistan army) Losing a Few Good Men

[realFedUp]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-army27nov27,1,5613451.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Losing a Few Good Men

Many of those who signed up to be trained for Afghanistan's fledgling army have quit, saying the pay isn't worth the risk.

By Paul Watson
Times Staff Writer

November 27, 2003

GALA-I-FAIZ, Afghanistan — To serve his country in the new Afghan National Army, Saifullah Jan first had to find himself an assault rifle.

The weapon was required for admittance to the Kabul Military Training Center, where Americans and other Westerners have been struggling to build an army for a year and a half.

By accepting only those volunteers who were already armed, the U.S.-led coalition hoped to solve two problems at once: Each recruit would be another Afghan soldier in the fight against the Taliban, Al Qaeda and their allies, and each rifle delivered to Kabul would be one less gun in the service of warlords undermining the central government.

The large number of dropouts — and the griping soldiers who say they're going to follow them out the door — has slowed the effort to replace ethnically based militias with a cohesive force that answers to President Hamid Karzai.

The rifles many handed in were worthless, so the army eventually dropped the requirement. But it was still in effect in March when Jan left his village north of Kabul, the capital, and reported for training.
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