New national army coexists with local forces

Following a two-day conference on the future of the Afghan army, during which local and regional commanders agreed to help the government set up a national army, the government has expressed concern that local forces remained empowered while the Afghan National Army itself was still in its infancy. "The process of the creation of the Afghan National Army [ANA] is very slow, and unfortunately the local powers still exist and are being further strengthened," Gen Atiqullah Baryalai, the deputy defence minister and chairman of the commission for the rehabilitation and creation of the ANA, told IRIN in the capital, Kabul. "We predicted to end the local powers in one year and come up with a national army within two years," said Baryalai, asserting that the defence ministry's proposal was not accepted by the United Nations and the United States, which was playing a key role in the creation of the ANA. "According to our draft plan, the process of [setting up] the ANA, as well as the Disarmament Demobilisation and Reintegration [DDR] programme, should have started at the same time and in parallel to each other," he said, noting that no measure had been taken to end the local powers at a time that the ministry was establishing the first division of the ANA, to be based in Kabul. "I am sure the UN and US will realise the effectiveness of our proposal, but it will be very late by then," Baryalai said. But for many Afghans a nationally accepted army remains an age-old dream, requiring more caution and planning. "We have not had a national army for over a decade," Mohammad Sharif, a retired colonel of Afghan defence ministry, told IRIN, stressing that the Afghan nation wanted a national army manned by neutral and non-partisan volunteers. "The new recruits should be volunteers introduced by local shuras [elders' councils], not forced or inspired by local commanders," said 50-year-old Sharif, who served in the army for 27 years. Meanwhile, Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum, a powerful military and ethnic commander in the north, as well as deputy defence minister in the transitional government, believes that in order to attract non-partisan volunteers for the ANA, the public should be briefed on the nature and role of the ANA. "I recommend [for] the defence ministry to launch a big public awareness campaign to introduce the new army process to very local, simple and rural Afghans," the ex-communist general and Karzai's representative in the north told IRIN while visiting the Kabul Military Training Centre (KMTC). Dostum said he had learned during his one-decade-plus military experience that only volunteer soldiers could propel an army towards a sustainable future. "I am sure that tens of thousands of volunteers will be interested to join the new army if it is explained to them as it was explained visually and verbally to us here today," he observed, stressing that he was capable of successfully persuading people to join the ANA if such an awareness campaign was launched. The current national army, which does not exceed 4,000 trained troops in eight battalions, is to replace the Kabul-based central military division led by Haji Shir Alam. The ex-mujahid commander of 22,000 troops told IRIN that most of his soldiers would welcome the DDR programme, but warned of the danger of leaving the demobilised soldiers without a clear destiny. "Everyone is too exhausted and will welcome a sustainable alternative," Shir Alam said, noting that in order to pre-empt a possible regrouping of the local armies the DDR should be launched immediately. Responding to Shir Alam's concerns, Baryalai pledged that the mujahidin fighters would be given priority in joining the ANA, and that any of them who could not be absorbed by it would be steered towards sustainable civilian activities through the DDR. "It does not mean we are ignoring the mujahidin: some of them who meet the conditions will be given priority in the new national army and a great number of them will reintegrate in civil life with good working opportunities supported by the United Nations," he said. Now that a trained soldier in the ANA is paid US $70 per month with good food and strong logistical support, most of the ex-combatants will opt to join up. For men like Mohammad Amin, who used to be under commander Mullah Taj Mohammad (now governor of Kabul), being a member of the disciplined and well-equipped ANA is like being in a new world. "I feel great changes," the new recruit and ex-combatant, who joined the eighth battalion of the ANA two months ago, told IRIN. "It was a bit strange during the first days with the strict military role and discipline," the 27-year-old recruit said, noting that he had found friends from different parts of the country. "We have classmates from different ethnic groups," Amin said, declaring that it was encouraging to be with them, all with a common goal for the sake of whole country, and "not for a particular party or person".