U.S.: Afghan forces will be ‘good enough’

Afghan forces will be “good enough” to take over from the American-led coalition as the U.S. and its allies pull out troops over the next two years, the second-ranking U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday.

Army Lt. Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti criticized a highly critical and downbeat assessment of the state of Afghan forces in a military studies journal as merely “one person’s view.”

“I can tell you personally from experience and from feedback from others, these [Afghan] soldiers will fight,” Gen. Scaparrotti told reporters at the Pentagon. “There’s no question about that. And they’re going to be good enough as we build them to secure their country and to counter the insurgency.”

The NATO transition plan says that Afghan forces will need to take the lead in operations next year, ahead of the final pull-out of most forces in 2014.

The downbeat assessment, written by Army Lt. Col Daniel L. Davis in the Armed Forces Journal, says that U.S. and coalition leaders are misleading the public about progress in the Afghan war.

The article has gone viral among Afghan watchers in Washington’s military and foreign policy community since it was published over the weekend.

Gen. Scaparrotti defended the public assessments that say progress is being made but the enemy remains resilient and gains are fragile.

But he also acknowledged challenges with getting the rapidly expanding Afghan National Security Force (ANSF) up to standard.

“We have an ANSF that has doubled in size in 18 months, and we’re presently building,” the general said. “Will they be at the standard that we have for our soldiers? No. Not, at least, the conventional forces.”

He said Afghan special forces would be trained to a higher level.