Afghanistan's problems in a nutshell

[Skybird]

A company named Knowledge Limited has done this work. The name is program.

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Photo/2009/December/091202/091203-engel-big-9a.jpg

Now we know what when where to do!

We need the same diagram to understand the diverse nature of the various fighting groups. :D

[mookiemookie]

When I saw the thread title, I was half expecting to see this video. It shows what the U.S. trainers are having to deal with when it comes to Afghani army recruits:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWWWotuUwd0&feature=player_embedded

[Snestorm]

mookiemookie's video fitts the thread title to a T.

[OneToughHerring]

I cringe when I listen to that military trainer in that video. Spouting off to a translator who presumably does his best to translate only the 'smart part', good luck finding it.

If the Americans don't know how to train soldiers or are unable to set up any kind of stability in Afghanistan, they should gtfo immediately. Any time they spend getting it wrong will only add more gasoline to the fire.

And it's interesting although not surprising to see the 'left' in US agreeing that the Afghanis are 'bad soldiers'. How can they be bad when they're whooping your butts when it comes to the war?

[Snestorm]

If the Americans don't know how to train soldiers or are unable to set up any kind of stability in Afghanistan, they should gtfo immediately. Any time they spend getting it wrong will only add more gasoline to the fire.

Agreed!

[mookiemookie]

If the Americans don't know how to train soldiers or are unable to set up any kind of stability in Afghanistan, they should gtfo immediately. Any time they spend getting it wrong will only add more gasoline to the fire.
It's a two way street. You can't train someone who has no interest in being trained or pride in what they do.

[Snestorm]

It's a two way street. You can't train someone who has no interest in being trained or pride in what they do.

Exactly!
And that re-inforces OTH's point: "GTFO".
Why waste american (and others, danes included) lives protecting people who have no interest in learning how to protect themselves?
The recruits seem to be living in Never Never Land, with no intension of leaving.

[Skybird]

I was surprised to learn earlier this weak that Afghanistan has one of the highest birth rates in the world, and that since 30 years, despite Soviet war and supression, civil war, warlords battling, and now the current war, and despoite the constant fall of the country since 30 years - the population numbers have constantly grown. Not only does this mean that there are much more afghans today than there have been 30 years ago, it also means that the average age is somewhere around 17.5 years.

A classical case of a so-called youth bulge. If being confronted with youth bulges in more primitive societies than your own, I can give you only just one advise: Run.

The American trainers I must defend. I have no doubt that they are cmpetent in training soldiers, but the recruits are the material they have to work with, and if this material is bad, and minimum preconditions are not fulfilled, then the best trainer cannot acchieve much in learning successes. Mentality, culture, 30 years of social tear-down and destruction, lack of perspectives, and - as the video said - many people in the Afghan "army" being outlaws who had been chases away in their home villages - all this adds together into one despriction, that in the end cokmes down to this: the trainers have to deal with unmotivated, undisciplined, incapable, dumb people who for the ost belong the the loosers even accoridng to Afghan standards.

Every trainer must expect to fail, if needing to work with such bad human material. Von nichts kommt nichts. And when watching that video, I repeatedly saw some of the guys struggling to do something (how to best carry that medium machine gun hanging on the shoulder, for example) , and I realisded that right now I would not know many of these soldiering things, too - but that after several months in training I am damn sure that I would have learned them, meanwhile.

---

However, guys, this was not meant to be another debate thread on Afghanistan, but it was meant as a joke. That original diagram this thread was about is something that makes me laughing, and shows me how totally disconnected from reality some of our wise planners, analysts and commanders are. there are many geniusses s work, it seems - but geniusses only as long as they must not leave their office and their desktop.