'Afghan National Security Forces: Shaping The Path To Victory', Center for Strategic and International Studies, 27 July 2009
EXCERPT: "Military action is only a part of the strategy needed to win in Afghanistan, but no other effort towards victory will matter if the Afghan people cannot be given enough security and stability to allow successful governance, the opportunity for development, and an established civil society and rule of law that meets Afghan needs and expectations. NATO/ISAF and US forces cannot win this kind of military victory on their own. Their success will be determined in large part by how well and how quickly they build up a much larger and more effective Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) first to support NATO/ISAF efforts, then take the lead, and eventually replace NATO/ISAF and US forces. No meaningful form of success can occur without giving the development of ANSF forces a much higher priority. The US and other NATO/ISAF nations need to act immediately begin to support and resource NTM-A/ CSTC-A plans to accelerate current ANSF force expansion plans."
To continue reading the article, click here [pdf].
See also:
Lack of Afghan troops hamstrings NATO efforts', Reuters, 27 July 2009
'Escalation and appraisal in Afghanistan', Asia Times Online, 27 July 2009
'NZ PM rules out SAS training Afghan troops', The New Zealand Herald, 27 July 2009
'Afghan force patchy, eight years on', ABC News, 23 July 2009
Related posts:
'Handover in "three to four" years: Australia', 21 July 2009
'Afghan forces expansion needed for victory: US commander', 10 July 2009
'The long march: Building an Afghan national army', 29 May 2009
'Expansion of security forces fraught with challenges', 25 March 2009
'Sustainable security in Afghanistan', 24 March 2009
