ASIA PACIFIC
Date Posted: 12-Mar-2010
Jane's Defence Weekly
Afghan president dismisses Pakistani training offer
Farhan Bokhari JDW Correspondent - Islamabad
Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, has dismissed a proposal by Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, to train recruits for the nascent Afghan National Army and police force, highlighting the underlying frictions between the two neighbours.
Speaking to a select group of journalists on 11 March on his first trip to Pakistan since his re-election last year, Karzai said his country continued to struggle with the legacy of its days under the former Soviet Union.
"Let me be very, very frank and clear here with you," said Karzai. "Afghanistan has an experience of training its troops with a neighbour and that neighbour was the Soviet Union and, in the memory of the Afghan people, training troops with neighbours mean subsequent trouble."
In February Gen Kayani for the first time publicly offered to train Afghan troops, signalling Pakistan's intention to become a key player in a future Afghan security regime.
Pakistani military and civilian government officials said after Gen Kayani spoke that Pakistan was keen to become involved in the establishment of a new Afghan security arrangement, in part to block any attempt by its arch-rival, India, to become more closely involved with Afghan security.
In response to Pakistan's concern over India's activities in Afghanistan, Karzai said his government will make certain that Afghan territory is not used to undermine Pakistan's interests. A senior official travelling with the Afghan delegation told Jane's that Karzai and other members of his regime saw closer Pakistani military involvement with the new Afghan security apparatus as a concern, since they believe it could facilitate the return of Islamic militants such as the Taliban.
In 1978 a communist coup in Afghanistan, which brought down the monarchy of Sardar Mohammad Daud, was widely seen to have been instigated in part by Soviet-trained Afghan army officers. The coup was followed just a year later by an invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet troops.
In the 1990s Pakistan's intelligence and military were widely seen to have created the Taliban, which subjected Afghanistan to six years of puritanical rule. The Taliban were ultimately ousted by the US-led intervention in Afghanistan that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
so much for the 'twin-brother' theory!:rofl: