Setbacks for New Afghan Troops

Plans to rapidly transition Afghanistan's security to a homegrown police and military force may be a pipe dream, according to American reviews of training programs. While Gen. Stanley McChrystal has recommended the Afghan Army be expanded to 134,000 from 90,000 in just one year, training is slow going and marred by corruption, illiteracy, and incompetence, the New York Times reports. Other problems include difficulty building barracks to house new recruits thanks to a lack of engineers. “Nothing in our experience over the last seven to eight years suggests that progress at such a rapid pace is realistic,” Rep. John Tierney (D-MA), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on national security, told the Times.