KABUL, Afghanistan, June 8 (UPI) -- U.S. efforts to mold an effective fighting force in Afghanistan have been plagued by lack of resources and shaky loyalty among troops, interviews show.
Interviews with U.S. trainers and Afghan senior officers as well as evidence gathered from accompanying soldiers on dozens of patrols over a two-year period revealed short-staffed training units, mass illiteracy and crime among Afghan troops and American worries about loyalty and information leaks, The New York Times reported Monday.
The questions come at a time when the Obama administration is planning to perhaps double the current roster of 170,000 Afghan soldiers and police officers as part of its plan to battle Taliban insurgents in the country, analysts said.
U.S. officers throughout the ranks told The Times Afghan self-sufficiency for Afghan security forces is years off.
"I think if you come back in a couple of years, you should see advances," Brig. Gen. Anthony Ierardi, deputy commander of the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, told the newspaper. "I wouldn't tell you that the (Afghan army) is going to be ready across the board in a couple of years. I don't think that's a true statement."
