Another step to help Afghan National Army training

We certainly are trying to do our bit:

Defence Minister Peter MacKay spent two days this week speaking to Afghan and Canadian officials in Kandahar where he announced that Canada will pay for the establishment of a military training centre in Afghan capital of Kabul.

Mr. MacKay, who arrived Monday with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, said the new Staff and Language Training Centre, which will cost $16-million, will be used to upgrade the skills of junior officers in the Afghan National Army.

The Afghan security forces need to be enhanced so they can “walk on their own, defend their own sovereignty and borders, have the ability to repel the threats of the Taliban that continue to plague this country, (and) have the ability to work interoperably with NATO forces, which again will figure prominently in the training,” Mr. MacKay told reporters during a brief press conference at the Kandahar Air Field.

“All of this leads to the ability for Afghanistan to establish that necessary security so we can get on with the important humanitarian and reconstruction work that will lead to a more prosperous and safe country.”..

Mr. MacKay “there is no question that this has been a tough season, very difficult sledding for our forces as well as our allies” [refreshing frankness - MC] and he has been pressing all NATO forces for additional troops. The Americans are widely anticipated to make an announcement about enhancing troop strength [and maybe Brits too].

Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, who also attended the press conference, said military independence remains his country's primary goal.

“We are quite together confident that we are engaged in a just cause, in a noble endeavour against an evil that is threatening the whole human civilization and nobody will be safe against these threats no matter what part of the planet they are situated,” he said.

“It is also our intention that we should not be a burden on our Canadian friends and allies or the rest of the international community forever so, with their help, I think we will stand on our own feet and I think we will take on our physical security ourselves and gradually allow the reduction of the reduction of the forces of our friends and allies.”..

The exit strategy. The question is still how much can be done at Kandahar by 2011. More on training the Afghan National Army in the second part of this post, and at this post, and on Canadians training Afghan police here.

Here's an interesting point I've heard about the greater problems in training police than the army. Foreign troops can fill in, as it were, for the army whilst they are being trained; foreign police cannot operationally do the same for the police. Quite. Mounties (or bobbies or flics) can't pound a beat--wherever the beat may be, for linguistic reasons if nothing else.