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| Afghanistan |
| NATO advises Afghan forces to do less defending, more attacking |
| 2016-02-24 |
| [Khaama (Afghanistan)] NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... advisers want Afghan soldiers to spend less time manning checkpoints and more taking the fight to Talibs, a key tactical shift the coalition hopes will enable local forces to quell a rising insurgency, Rooters reports. With NATO's combat mission officially over, and only a few thousand foreign troops left, the onus has fallen on the Afghan army and police to impose stability, and the military alliance is looking for ways to use those resources more effectively. Reducing reliance on thousands of poorly defended checkpoints that dot towns and roads across the country is a priority for NATO heading into summer, when fighting is expected to intensify as the Taliban renews its push to seize back power. "They've got way too many soldiers on checkpoints," said Brigadier-General Wilson Shoffner, front man for the NATO-led training mission known as Resolute Support. "There's an old military saying that if you defend everywhere you defend nowhere, and it's very much true for them (Afghan cops)." There are early signs the idea is catching on. Over the past week, army units in the embattled province of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... abandoned their outposts in several of the most disputed areas, a move officials said would allow them to consolidate forces for renewed attacks on hard boy strongholds. "We have decided to pull out our troops from their defensive role and prepare them for an aggressive role in the coming year," said General Murad Ali Murad, commander of the Afghan army's ground forces. "We are providing them with serious training and better equipment in order to prepare for a spring offensive." But countrywide, obstacles remain to changing tactics long favored by security forces. Despite providing the enemy with an obvious target, checkpoints are still simpler to defend than launching mobile operations, which require logistics and air support often beyond the reach of limited Afghan resources. Politics can also complicate efforts to change strategy, Shoffner said. "If you're a local chief of police or village elder, you want as many checkpoints as you can get around your village. So we often have conflict between the Afghan army that is trying to reduce checkpoints and the (local) leaders ... |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 The best defense is a good offensive. Words to live by. |
| Posted by: Sven the pelter 2016-02-24 15:05 |