Atlantic Community:Global Must Read Article " Training Locals So Troops Can Go Home"

Editorial, The New York Times | May 4, 2010

The way to expedite the removal of American troops in Afghanistan is to train locals to assume peacekeeping responsibilities. ++ “A smaller number [of troops] would mold Afghan recruits into an indigenous Army and National Police force that could in time assume responsibility for protecting their country so the Americans and NATO allies could go home.”++ NATO has been reluctant to send more trainers to the area despite the fact that; “Obama’s strategy, has little chance of succeeding unless NATO gets more military trainers on the ground."

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Sat, May 8th 2010, 16:56

Martin Scott Milinski, Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, Silver Contributor (27)

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True, training and teaching is often a thankless and less glamorous task. I can imagine the military has a similar culture.
With all that I have heard criticizing the US military as 'cowboys without any skills' and all that I have heard about the flexibility and civil-capabilities of European mid-level forces, I'd really expect to see them step up in this role. Well, that and the fact that they said they would.
Nonetheless, I can still fault the civilian leadership who failed to 'sell' many European nations on the importance of the task in Afghanistan. To me, therein lies the problem.