Afghan Defense Minister Worried About Cut In Size of Afghan Security Forces

The Afghan Defense Minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak, has expressed his concern about proposed plans to cut spending on Afghanistan's security forces and reducing the strength from 352,000 to 230,000.  Along with the withdrawal of ISAF combat formations over the next two years there will be a reduction in funds for the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).  Read more in "Afghan general sounds alarm on US plan to cut local security forces", Fox News, February 18, 2012.  Gen Wardak's concerns are misplaced.  Instead of worrying about whether 230,000 personnel is enough to fight the insurgency perhaps he could do more to ensure that size force is managed and trained to do the job.  The first step would be to replace high-ranking officers who are holding positions based on political connections and loyalty to Karzai with trained officers who are willing to fight the insurgents.  A second step would be to curtail the wide-spread corruption within the ANSF - and learning to make do with the $4 billion year given to them by the international community.  Of course, there are more measures the general could take to correct the obvious inefficient and ineffective processes of the ANSF but . . . it would take a book to list them.