Training Afghan soldiers can be a violent endeavour

The Dutch government is divided about extending its military presence in Afghanistan. Sending instructors to train Afghan soldiers is an option under consideration. But training and fighting go hand in hand.

The recruits hadn’t washed in days. They were wearing sneakers and carrying old Kalashnikovs bought at the Tarin Kowt market in Uruzgan. This was the state of affairs in the summer of 2007, when Dutch soldiers began training their Afghan colleagues. They faced a daunting task, they said. Once on the offensive, Afghan soldiers proved uncontrollable. If their leader was killed in the midst of combat, they would be so overcome by grief they would be unable to select a new one who could bring their mission to a successful end.

Now, three years later, the Afghan brigade is at full strength, at least in terms of numbers. The sneakers have been replaced by real boots and uniforms. Today, the Afghan National Army (ANA) also carries out independent operations in Uruzgan, and is gaining more trust with the locals.

“The ANA is our exit-strategy,” a Dutch military officer had said back in 2007. But three years later, the Afghan military is still not ready to hold its own in the fight against the Taliban. It is also struggling to retain soldiers. For those reasons, about 50 Dutch soldiers are still busy training ANA recruits, as are representatives of other nations participating in the Nato-led mission in Afghanistan.

An alternative to fighting?

On Tuesday, the Dutch government announced that it is considering an extension of the current deployment in Afghanistan, which is scheduled to end this year. Nato has filed an official request for this extension. The government said sending instructors for the Afghan armed forces, military or police would be a possibility.

The British Nato general, Simon Levey, offered this option in an interview with the Dutch daily, De Volkskrant, published last Saturday. Instructors are desperately needed all over Afghanistan, not just in Uruzgan, where the Dutch are now based. The international coalition involved in Afghanistan is aiming to increase the number of Afghan soldiers from the current 100,000 to 134,000 by next October. The Dutch governing coalition seems in favour of transforming the current deployment into a training mission, but that does not mean an agreement has already been finalised.

In a radio debate with other political leaders, Mariëtte Hamer, the chair of the Dutch Labour party in parliament, called a training mission an “interesting option”, but she emphasised that she was opposed to a new “combat mission”.

However, for the most part, Afghan security forces are not trained in safe classrooms. This would be pointless, since nine out of ten Afghan soldiers cannot read or write. An Afghan soldier learns his trade during patrols and operations, under the watchful eye of the Dutch Operational Mentor and Liaison Team. They patrol Afghanistan’s valleys side by side with their local recruits, joining them in battle wherever necessary. This is why mainly experienced soldiers, such as marines, are deployed as military instructors. There is no line in the sand separating training duty from combat.

Dutch already train police

Training Afghan police officers is another alternative. Unlike with the army, police training often takes place within the perimeter of military bases. A police training camp has already been set up alongside Camp Holland, the Dutch headquarters in Afghanistan. The base features a shooting range, an athletic field, and barracks. Afghan officers are taught to use violence appropriately, how to arrest suspects and do their rounds. The European Union’s police training mission EUPOL is in charge of instructing local officers. The Netherlands already participates in EUPOL.

But even in police training, combat and instruction cannot be seen as entirely separate. Once trained, officers are not only deployed in Camp Holland’s vicinity, but also on the periphery of the Dutch zone of influence. Dutch instructors then need to follow their trainees to their posts to coach them l. The road between these far flung outposts and Camp Holland is anything but safe. Roadside bombs may litter it, and the Taliban have been known to carry out ambushes there.

Instructors cannot be deployed alone. They will need a military escort to protect them. The question remains: who will provide that?