(By: Robert J. Galbraith in Kabul,
Afghanistan)
20/9/05
In a mountainous region 5 miles of east Kabul, 450
Afghani Army recruits are being indoctrinated into the ways of modern warfare
by Canadian and US Armed forces. Their training ground is a desert boot camp
known as the Kabul Military Training Centre.
Both forces are playing an integral role in training
the fledgling Afghani Army, as part of their contribution to 'Operation
Enduring Freedom.'
Surrounded by the skeletons of hundreds of Soviet-era
military wreckage, the recruits are spread out over a large sweltering valley,
where anti-personnel mines and the relentless heat are the only enemy to be
challenged at this time. The recruits, in groups of fifty to a hundred men,
have fanned out over the valley, practicing war games with their AK 47's
clutched in hand.
"Because most of them don't read (the illiteracy rate
in Afghanistan is around 80%), these exercises are to give demonstrations ,"
says Major Michael Sullivan, of the 2nd Regiment, Royal Canadian
Horse Artillery Regiment, based in Petawawa, Ontario. "We are training by
example. They respond very well to this type of hands-on experience."
The role of the coalition troops in these 12-day-long
collective training exercise (it takes 14 weeks of training to turn a raw
recruit into a soldier), is to train the Afghans in platoon movement, hasty
attack and counter attack strategy, and conduct security defense of forward
operations base checkpoints (F.O.B.s).
"There is a great difference between a guerilla
movement and an army. You don't build an army overnight, and the secret to
training the recruits is youth, to train them at a young age," says Sullivan,
who is just one of the approximately 1000 Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Youth
certainly is the case at the
training centre, where most of the young Afghanis sport a halo of peach fuzz
upon their well-tanned faces.
Sullivan says that the biggest obstacle to training
the Afghans is the culture differences between eastern and western
civilizations. He quotes from the book, Lawrence of Arabia, to describe this
difference. "It is better to let them do it imperfectly than to do it perfectly
yourself for you. Time is short and it is their army."
The Canadian Forces have a solid reputation amongst
the coalition forces. "We're known as one of the best and experienced at what
we do."
This sentiment is endorsed by the American allies, who
work hand-in-hand with the 15 Canadian specialist who are helping train the
young warriors. "You got a great bunch of guys here, real professionals, very
competent," commented Major David
Wunibald, of the US Ops Tag unit.
The importance of the training and dedication of the
Canadians does not fall short on any of the recruits (who earn the equivalent
of $70 US a month). "The foreign people are here to bring stability and to
bring our army to the level of other armies," explained 25-year-old Mhamad
Sabar, a former shop keeper. "It has always been my dream to join the army, to
help defend my country, until we can stand on our own two feet."