Officials Focused on Afghan Transition Meet at Quantico

By Cedric Leighton

Quantico, Va. –– On the same day that Americans awoke to the news that this August was the bloodiest month ever in our almost 10-year-long war in Afghanistan, the Marine Corps University at Quantico hosted a symposium on the coming transition in that war-torn land. A total of 66 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines have made the ultimate sacrifice so far this month, surpassing the previous high of 65 in July 2010.

The two-day symposium, entitled “Shaping for Successful Transition in Afghanistan,” is tackling the complexities of the regional security environment in South Asia, where the competing interests of countries as diverse as India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Russia, and Iran collide.

The Commander of the U.S. Central Command, Marine General James N. Mattis, gave the opening day’s keynote address. In wide-ranging remarks, General Mattis stated that the U.S. goal of making Afghanistan “inhospitable” to the remnants of al Qaeda is within reach before the planned withdrawal of US troops in 2014. Whether or not that timeline can be met will depend upon conditions in Afghanistan and whether or not Afghan National Army and Police forces prove to be ready to conduct autonomous operations by then.

To achieve this goal, the U.S. and its NATO partners must integrate military and civilian efforts to train Afghan forces and civil servants in modern governing techniques, said Mattis.

Mattis, who replaced U.S. Army General David Petraeus as the Commander of American fighting forces in the Middle East, felt the US military has never been stronger. “The families are frayed a bit… (but) the troops are eager to fight” and to accomplish the mission in Afghanistan, said Mattis.

The difficulty of accomplishing that mission was brought home by some of the other conference participants. In relaying his experiences as a Regimental Commander in Helmand Province, Marine Brigadier General-select Paul Kennedy said that the goals of the NATO coalition and the Afghan forces often diverged. Americans never fully understood the motivations of their Afghan counterparts.

“Personalities counted” for the Afghan forces, he said.

While the Afghans were likely to follow charismatic leaders, the Americans were too focused on the structure of a military organization. Organizational structure did not count for much to the Afghans, but the Americans often failed to understand the importance placed on personalities and personal relationships in the Afghan culture, added Kennedy.

In spite of these issues, significant progress is being made in training Afghan security forces. U.S. Army Major General Gary Patton, who led that training effort, cited the lack of formal education, an 86 percent illiteracy rate and an abysmal 35 percent weapons qualification rate, as some of the biggest issues facing the Afghan Army and Police when he took over the training function there. By the time he left Afghanistan, General Patton said he got 90 percent of Afghan troops to read at least to the first grade level and 95 percent of them were able to qualify on the weapons they would take into battle.

Efforts to stabilize Afghanistan are not limited to just the military. The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development are working with U.S. Central Command and NATO on a “New Silk Road Initiative”, which is designed to integrate Afghan road and rail links with those of its neighbors to facilitate trade in one of the world’s poorest and least trade-friendly regions. The hope is that initiatives like this one will mitigate the negative economic impact of a U.S. and NATO troop withdrawal, which could run into the billions of dollars for Afghanistan, the fifth poorest country in the world.

Cedric Leighton is the president of a Washington area consultancy firm, Cedric Leighton Associates, and each week pens PotomacLocal.com’s Intel Insights column.