25 March 2002

U.S., Coalition to Begin Training New Afghan National Army

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld March 25 announced plans for U.S. and coalition forces to begin training a national Afghan army.

Speaking at a Pentagon briefing, Rumsfeld said that although a training schedule is still being worked out, current plans call for training cycles of approximately 10 weeks each to be held over a period of about 18 months for the first units.

"Training will include both individual military training as well as training at the squad, platoon, company and battalion levels. A cadre of commissioned and non-commissioned Afghan officers ... [to] assume the responsibility of training future Afghan soldiers will also be formed. We anticipate that the Afghans might take charge of this program by the end of the year," said Rumsfeld.

Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added that training a national army is directly related to a principal U.S. goal: to prevent Afghanistan from being "a safe haven for terrorists, especially organizations like the al-Qaida."

"Training the Afghan army will serve as a positive step to help ensure that there is a better chance for peace and security in Afghanistan," Myers said.

In a separate news release, the Defense Department stated that training would begin in four to six weeks, and that it would be led by 125-to-150 U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers. Current plans are the result of recommendations made by an assessment team composed of U.S. experts from the Defense and State departments, and was a collaborative effort with Afghan military and interim government members, the news release said.

On other Afghanistan matters:

• Myers announced that U.S. forces searching cave complexes over the March 23-24 weekend had found computers, manuals, passports, phone lists, maps and bomb-making notes, along with small arms, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns.

• Rumsfeld said he believed that the United States would enter into an agreement with Turkey similar to the one it now has with the United Kingdom when Turkey takes over leadership of the International Security Assistance Force. Myers noted, however, that the process of working out those arrangements is only just beginning.

• Rumsfeld said the United States has "a very active interest in there not being a successful poppy crop this year that reaches the market." However, he noted that no one has asked the U.S. military to take a role in preventing the poppy crop from reaching the illegal drug market.

"Certainly the United States is leaning forward to want to be helpful with that, because it's just an enormous amount of money involved that will end up funding crime, terrorism, various things to destabilize the interim government," Rumsfeld added.

• Myers noted that some equipment was found at a lab in Kandahar "that was indicative of perhaps manufacturing anthrax. Not all the equipment you would need was there, but there was some of the equipment." No obvious large quantities of anthrax were found, Myers said, but swabs were taken and will be analyzed.

• Rumsfeld said there are no plans to send U.S. troops across the border into Pakistan in pursuit of Taliban or al-Qaida forces. He reiterated that the Pakistani government has been very cooperative in placing forces along that border and arresting those who have come across.