300 new members of the territorial army will be soon deployed in the western Afghan provinces of Herat and Ghor, Major General Noorullah Qaderi, commander of 207 Zafar Military Corps, stressed on January 14.
“You are familiar with the landscape and know about the areas. Also, people are with you and if you want to gain people’s support, many people will support you,” Qaderi told the soldiers, according to TOLOnews.
“The situation will change one hundred percent. The reason is that they are from those areas and they are familiar with the landscape. They will use all their abilities to support government forces,” Mohammad Haseb Akhundzada, commander of the 1st regiment of the military corps stressed on the same issue.
This group of soldiers passed a 3-month training course only, but Kabul officials are optimistic about their deployment.
“They have received general information about mines, unexploded devices, practical works and leadership taught by foreign advisors and after completing the training, they received graduation certificates,” Colonel Nazir Ahmad, commander of the training battalion of 207 Zafar Military Corps said.
The Kabul government formed the ‘territorial army’ in 2018. The formation, which is designed to support the existing pro-government forces, is expected to include up to 36,000 fighters.
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Great idea to give away free AK-47 to the Taliban. Way to go! Soon enough “free” Afghanistan will extend to surroundings of US embassy in Kabul and than we will have history repeating in evacuation of US personnel and stooges from the rooftop of embassy http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2193614.1429655191!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/apr-06.jpg
I do hope so :)
That would really be a sight to watch again.I recall the ‘ measured and very orderly,very orderly withdrawal’ from Vietnam when the panic was palpable and the US sailors were pushing aircraft over the sides of their carriers to make room for those whom rightly feared for their lives due to their association with the US. :)
and who is going to pay for these 36000 so called fighters that would much prefer to be home with a cuppa in the hand and the taliban settling old scores in Kabul. seems a tad bit useless having a 36000 men army fighting an elusive army of talibans that more or less single-handed has beaten the desperate moronic states of A, Vietnam anyone!!
Who is going to pay for them? Same people who are currently paying for the Afghan National Army, the US taxpayers.
It seems like the Afghan government is copying what happened in Syria, where the government encouraged and paid for local militias to augment the national army. And who have proven effective locally, as locals are far more motivated to defend their own villages then fight in some far away province. On the flipside, it did tie down a lot of manpower locally that the SAA could have used elsewhere.
Yes, in Syria the ‘ territorial Wahabi terrorist ‘ system was in reality,armed gangs of local warlords in many cases and they were often fleshed out with advisers from far off lands to fight the elected Syrian government.
The Afghan model appears to be suggesting that the current Afghan government in power is actually the aggressor who is backed by the USA/NATO and that the Taliban are the popular forces who seek to remove the US puppet regime.
The US tactic of paying local warlord (territorial) gangs to terrorise their local fiefdoms seems like a desperate throw of the dice by the US I think. :)
“The reason is that they are from those areas and they are familiar with the landscape.”……….. 10-1 the majority defect.
South Vietnam had millions of troops also and became world’s 5th strongest army with US weapons left behind when it was about to disappear.