re: Pentagon blames Afghan army in closed House briefing: 'You can't buy willpower'

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Your issue is with a very short-sighted Secretary of Defense who was a micro-manager to the nth degree. It did in fact produce serious shortfalls in subsequent rotations (which he helped to create). That does not speak to your disparagement of the National Guard in your initial post. If you understood the Total Force (something few Active Component officers do) then you can see how they were poised to contribute to the fight but were frittered away (as was all Reserve Component strength at that time).

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I never spoke disparagingly toward any individual NG Soldier. I spoke about them conducting a mission that they were not train to conduct. It was done by the Leadership at NGB and the Pentagon. They were poised to contribute to the fight in other capacities. But the Pentagon did not trust the NG to work above the Battalion level to contribute to this fight until 2007. The line you always heard was the GAARNG Armor unit from the first Gulf War. Again, this was a case of NGB wanting to get its Sr Officers into the fight, so they pushed for this mission. Just stating the facts. It also showed how much of a emphasis the Pentagon placed on training the ANA.

Never answered the question on the Taliban in 2004. We knew from the beginning that we were not going to create a Western style Army, but many third world countries have a security force that can protect it interest. The argument about the Afghans being tribal in nature and unable to progress is the same we have heard about Arab Countries for years. It is short-sighted and is part of the ignorance of American Policy over the years. You think the woman of Afghanistan want to return to Taliban rule ?

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Afghanistan isn't an Arab country. Arab countries have a literacy rate between 70-90%. Afghanistan under the Taliban had a literacy rate of 25%. When so few can read and write, they rely on their tribal and spiritual leadership.

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True, but they use the same policy approach to both. p.s I am Arab-American.

Milley and Austin oversaw the withdrawal from Afghanistan with the same policies that Biden used at our southern border. There are those who saw this coming.

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We discussed my background. Let’s see your ORB.

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Rank?

And on a positive note I did CLOAC back in the day.

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More proof of my point: LINK

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Not sure what your point is. We have known for years this was going to happen. They would not stand and fight. The fact that senior leaders refused to acknowledge it hardly proves your point.

Fair enough.

The Taliban were inconsequential by the conclusion of 2003. We had done an exceptional job in engaging and defeating them on their ground. We were actually focusing on lesser insurgent groups at that point.

And then we invaded Iraq.

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Not blaming the rank and file

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Aren't you the one that shite on the Guard?

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Aren't you the one that shite on the Guard?

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No dumbass, I shite on the Leadership of the Guard. There is a difference.

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Aren’t you the one that shite on the Guard?

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You make the call.

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The ANA was trained by a patchwork group of American Military (mainly the NG). We were too busy trying to win battles that we didn't think beyond the near term. The NG wanted skin in the game so their middle to Sr Officers could get combat time, because they knew it would be a big part in promotions in the future. They had Aviators and Logistic Officers teaching Security and Infantry tactics. That needs to be explained to the American People.

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