Pakistan to train Afghan military officials

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Karzai accepts Kayani's offer​

By: Kaswar Klasra | Published: July 02, 2010

ISLAMABAD – A limited number of Afghan military officials are set to travel to Pakistan in the second week of September for training as Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai has made up his mind to accept Pakistan’s offer to train Afghanistan’s forces, diplomatic sources informed TheNation on Thursday.

According to the official sources from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan and Afghanistan have not communicated formally in this regard so for however, they confirmed that the Afghan military officials would be travelling to Pakistan soon in this connection.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan has long been aspiring to train Afghan forces as a part of reconstruction and rehabilitation process in Afghanistan.

On 19th February this year, General Kayani had offered Afghanistan to train recruits for its newly proposed army and the police force.

When asked to comment on this development, an Islamabad-based diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity said that the training of Afghan army and police by Pakistan “is better for both short and long terms. It is a win-win for ISAF (International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan), the US, Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

He further said that Pakistan’s military officials also wanted to establish close links with Karzai government and the top hierarchy of a new Afghan national army to neutralise the growing hostility towards the country and that training of Afghan officials in Pakistan would establish good contacts between both the countries. “Pakistan is obviously keen to emerge with a stabilising role in Afghanistan,” the diplomat added.

Despite trying several times, this correspondent could not contact Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan for his comments regarding this news story.

Karzai accepts Kayani's offer | Pakistan | News | Newspaper | Daily | English | Online

 

[ghazi52]

If it is true, it is a great move. more officer rank interaction will create an understanding and friendly approach.
It is a long term..

 

[Ahmad]

^hope this is true, because the afghans are being 'pulled' from all sides - iran, russia, india, china, and now pakistan - they have to now 'decide' what is in their best interest, and pakistan shd facilitate that (which unfortunately in the past has not been the case) - internally the afghans must accept a larger 'role' for the pashtun populations and the influence of the northern alliance of tajiks, uzbeks, hazaras etc must be 'capped'.

what makes you think the taliban are representatives of the pashtoons? pashtoons have the largest role in present gov compare to the other ethnic groups. The so called NA is also in opposion, not in the government.

 

[Aslan]

Hmm....so whats great in that....this is a basic human value...I would fee the same when a common Pakistani gets hurt....and I am a Hindu....


No need ...I believe you when you say that.


Oh...puhleez spare me of this religious crap....



Ask Arabs...and someone form Indonesia and Malaysia......and someone from Somalia....the answer will be ...its every man for himself in this world.....

I would recommend that you either respect others religions and not use the word crap with it, or just dont indulge in the debate when you dont have the appropriate answer. And watch your mouth a little.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

Great news.

Pakistan Army training program is among the best in the world. I know this; the people know it. I look forward to our capable hands imparting new skills and sharing experiences with the Afghan military.

 

[Sudesh Lahri]

Pakistan to train Afghan military officials

This is just a symbolic ritual meant for the appeasement of pakistan. Training like 6-8 officers will not alter anything catastrophically in the geo-strategic playboard. However it would make paksiatn feel relevant and not left out and maybe that can be the prime objective of this move.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

This is just a symbolic ritual meant for the appeasement of pakistan. Training like 6-8 officers will not alter anything catastrophically in the geo-strategic playboard. However it would make paksiatn feel relevant and not left out and maybe that can be the prime objective of this move.

Sahi bhai.. kuchh bhi ho , Reason to tum dhoondh hi lete ho. mast hain .

Why do you think the program will remain restricted to '6-8' officers?

NATO is struggling to train the required number of ANA and ANP, so there is a huge space that can be filled by Pakistan and other nations. Pakistan has already been filling that space in terms of civilian and police training programs. The size of the military training program will likely depend upon the state of Afghan-Pak relations, and the resources available to Pakistan to dedicate to such a program.

 

[Sudesh Lahri]

The current move seems symbolic considering the very few number of personel involved.

And it can wonderfully pacify one of the main concerns of pakistan that it is being left out of the matrix. What else can be expected from the host president? A smart move indeed.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

This is just a symbolic ritual meant for the appeasement of pakistan. Training like 6-8 officers will not alter anything catastrophically in the geo-strategic playboard. However it would make paksiatn feel relevant and not left out and maybe that can be the prime objective of this move.

BTW, this comes on the heels of the 'firing' of two extremely anti-Pakistan Afghan officials, Amrullah Saleh and Hanif Atmar, so taken in concert with other events in Afghanistan and the Afghan-Pak relationship, its a little bit more than just 'token appeasement'. Saleh especially was very close to NATO, CIA and the Indians.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

The current move seems symbolic considering the very few number of personel involved.

The current move is also the 'beginning' of the training program, in case you missed that part. The size of the program will depend on the reasons I mentioned in my earlier post.

 

[Sudesh Lahri]

Saleh especially was very close to NATO, CIA and the Indians.

And this is why I think this could be appeasement policy. The purpose is to avoid a scenario which shows diverging interests viz a viz India, AFG and pakistan. Ultimately catering to common goal of eradication of Talban.

A disgruntled pakistan means a stronger AT.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

And this is why I think this could be appeasement policy. The purpose is to avoid a scenario which shows diverging interests viz a viz India, AFG and pakistan. Ultimately catering to common goal of eradication of Talban.

A disgruntled pakistan means a stronger AT.

With some very significant changes in Afghan policy towards Pakistan, perhaps you should suggest the Afghan government take it easy on this 'appeasement policy', since right now it looks like being a lot more than that.

'Appeasement' was a good argument when all Karzai was doing was making statements about Afghanistan and Pakistan being 'conjoined twins' and 'promising to consider the possibility of Pakistan training the Afghan military'. Its gone quite a bit beyond that now. Secondly, Pakistani officials are not dumb enough to take statements about 'conjoined twins' as equivalent to tangible changes in Afghan policy, so appeasement only works for a shot amount of time .

Of course only time will tell whether the military training program turns into something substantial or not - so wait till then before making pronouncements of 'appeasement'. The next big hurdle that needs to be crossed is finalizing the Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

And this is why I think this could be appeasement policy. The purpose is to avoid a scenario which shows diverging interests viz a viz India, AFG and pakistan

Karzai himself has called the ''taleban'' his brothers and is genuinely hoping to build a consensus among all factions and tribes.

He also realizes that he no longer wants his land to be abused by your hindustany countrymen to wage anti-Pakistan activity

In other words, he's awoken from his 8 year sleep

A disgruntled pakistan means a stronger AT.

A Pakistan which is being taken advantage of means we will take all action to ensure that we, as stakeholders, will not tolerate indian bullshit.




put bluntly.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

The next big hurdle that needs to be crossed is finalizing the Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement.

AOA bro,

Yes I agree with you completely. Inshallah it will be.

Did you read this recent article

DAWN.COM | World | Pakistan wants early transit trade accord with Afghanistan


$1.5b represents only official trade. I'm sure informal (undocumented) trade per annum is almost the same number, if not more.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

And this is why I think this could be appeasement policy. The purpose is to avoid a scenario which shows diverging interests viz a viz India, AFG and pakistan. Ultimately catering to common goal of eradication of Talban.

A disgruntled pakistan means a stronger AT.

No dudes , The Nato will eventually withdraw. What it best wants is , somehow the whole architecture of the Afghan National institutions remains with/without Karzai and they dont let alqaida finding refuge here.
As for Talibans, maybe you missed out the news of Karzai talking to talibans to integerate them in the current afghan set up just the way Gulbudeen Hikmatyar was approached.