By Jim Krane
The Associated Press, 19 November 2006
The U.S.-backed Afghan army will step up counter-Taliban offensives this winter, which could see heavy fighting during a period traditionally used by Afghan fighters for rest and resupply, a U.S. general said here Sunday.
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Douglas Pritt, who oversees the U.S.-led effort to train the Afghan military, said Afghan forces have tripled the number of forward bases to more than 60 and plan to spend the winter harassing Taliban and gathering intelligence from combat outposts deep inside rebel strongholds.
"They're much better equipped for winter operations than the Taliban. I'm hoping for a lot of snow this winter," Pritt said during a visit to The Associated Press bureau in Dubai.
Pritt said most Afghan troops that have emerged from training still cannot operate independently, but he noted that five battalions of Afghan National Army troops, numbering 300 to 600 soldiers each, were nearly ready to mount offensives on their own.
But even those top battalions will continue to operate in tandem with U.S. and NATO troops, he said.
Afghanistan's winters normally bring months of rain and snow, turning dusty roads into impassable muck and rendering most warfare impossible. The country has traditionally seen winter breaks in its decades of conflict, where fighters return home to families or hunker down on bases until fighting resumes in spring.
Snowfall is already hampering Taliban supply lines, making it tougher for the rebels to resupply, Pritt said. The Afghan National Army, backed by U.S. and NATO airlifts, are less restricted by cold and mud.
Afghan troops are being readied for "extended patrols" in the combat zones of the east and south that border Pakistan.
"We want to be in the right places," he said. "If the Taliban is trying to rearm, refit and wait out the winter, then we'll know they're there."
The Afghan National Army remains hamstrung by desertion rates of around 15 percent, Pritt said, little different from its rate in May. The previous year, the desertion rate peaked above 25 percent, according to U.S. military figures.
Afghan soldiers recently received a raise for their tiny salaries, from $70 to $100 a month, Pritt said, a decision that followed the revelation that AWOL soldiers could earn $70 a month as day laborers without facing combat.
The general said his goal was to bring the desertion rate below 10 percent, a figure that has already been reached in one Afghan corps.
U.S. and Afghan officials have said soldiers abscond for several reasons, including a reluctance to fight alongside foreigners against countrymen and a need to bring money to families in remote villages or help at harvest time.
The Afghan army's screening process has blocked the type of insurgent infiltrators that have hampered the Iraqi military. Pritt said only three Taliban have thus far been found in the ranks.
"They were trying to get information that was inappropriate for their job descriptions," he said.
The American force training Afghan troops — chiefly made up of U.S. Army National Guardsmen — is expected to rise from 2,900 now to around 3,600 by April, to comply with an Afghan government directive to increase recruiting to 2,000 Afghan soldiers per month, Pritt said.
Overall, he said 5,200 foreign trainers would be working with the Afghan army, which the government wants to increase from its current 35,000 troops to 50,000 or perhaps 70,000.
"We believe this is the main effort in Afghanistan," Pritt said.
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By Jim Krane
The Associated Press, 19 November 2006
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