Obama’s War: Afghanistan’s failing army
My new film “Obama’s War: Afghanistan’s failing army” is up now on The Guardian’s site.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/mar/27/obama-afghanistan-military
Just hours ago, President Obama announced an additional 4,000 US troops for the Afghan War, and their job is to train the Afghan National Army. This comes just weeks after he announced 17,000 extra soldiers for combat operations in Afghanistan.
Created in 2001, after the fall of the Taliban regime, the Afghan National Army has been plagued with problems. It is seen as a bastion of corruption and nepotism. Desertion is also rife, and they are regularly accused of being more interested in collecting a paycheck than protecting their country.
The Afghan soldiers in this film were some of the worst I’ve seen, and the Marines mentoring them were extremely frustrated. After 8 months living with them and training them, it was obvious to the Marines that there are fundamental problems that must be addressed at a much higher level if the Afghan National Army is to improve.