An Afghan National Army soldier practices drills at an outpost in Maiwand District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, on January 29, 2013. (Andrew Burton/Reuters)
Afghanistan Is Not Ready To Take Over -- Richard H. P. Sia, The Atlantic
A special inspector general discloses that as U.S. forces head for the exit, the Pentagon has not met its goal for enlarging the Afghan force left behind.
Since the United States first sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001, a signature goal of the war has been to increase the size of Afghan national security forces and give their members the skills to vanquish domestic terrorist groups and other security threats on their own.
But as the Obama administration prepares to pull 34,000 U.S. troops out of the country by February and most of the remaining troops by the end of 2014, estimates of the size of the Afghan force trained to take over this lead security role have suddenly grown fuzzy and possibly unreliable.
Read more ....
Update: Audit casts doubt on number of Afghan troops U.S. has trained -- McClatchy News
My Comment: After analyzing and covering the Afghan war for almost 11 years .... I have learned that when it comes to Afghanistan nothing ever appears to be what Washington wishes it to be. In short .... our Afghan allies are not even remotely ready, and this auditor's report is a red flag.