Thousands of soldiers forsake new army

More than a quarter of the newly-trained 10,000-strong Afghan National Army (ANA) have left the service since its formation in mid-2002, officials at the Afghan Ministry of Defence told IRIN on Sunday. "Around two to three thousand soldiers have fled the ANA so far," General Zahir Azimi a spokesperson for the ministry said. The widespread desertion of so many new troops is a serious challenge to the internationally-trained and supervised ANA, seen as critical to the country's future peace and stability. Azini said tough training, low wages, factional links and forced recruitment were the key causes behind the decision of so many new soldiers to foresake the force. The new army is scheduled to grow to 70,000-strong and replace the armed private militias - said to number around 100,000 - currently being disarmed by the Afghan government. In the beginning, local commanders were instructed to send their troops to join the national army, and this element of compulsion appears to have spurned some recruits to leave. "More than 80 percent of those who have escaped, had been forcibly sent to join the ANA by local commanders and they were mostly the weak and lazy ones who could not take the tough training," Azimi said, adding, that the process had stopped, "Now it is a totally voluntary recruitment system." Recruits receive about US $70 per month during training and in the first year of service with newly-established ANA battalions. "They were paid less than what they could earn in private business, so this could also be a reason why they left," Azimi noted. Kabul is clearly concerned about the walkout at a time when poor security is hampering preparations for elections scheduled for later this year. A recent announcement on state-run Afghan television told deserters to come back and join the army, otherwise they would have to pay for the cost of their training. But officials at ANA high command in Kabul told IRIN only less than a thousand soldiers from the central corps had fled, but that half had returned. "All together, 800 people had left the army, some before training, some during the training and a very limited number of them fled after they had joined the central corps here," Major General Mohammad Mu'een Faqir, commander of ANA central corps told IRIN. Faqir said often absent soldiers had problems in their localities and some could not rejoin the fledgling army due to poor security in their provinces. "We sent letters to their community elders and solved their problems and 388 of those who escaped, came back from different provinces and rejoined the army," the general maintained, adding in recent months they had no absenteeism. But the army believes poor pay is not the primary reason new recruits are leaving. According to ANA central corps, soldiers receive a daily food allowance, in addition to their monthly wage. "This reaches 6,000 Afghanis [around $110] per month which is a decent salary for a soldier in my years of experience in the army," the commander ascertained. However, an ANA soldier contacted by IRIN, said unfair treatment by commanders had had a negative impact on morale. Pay was less of an issue, the recruit said his current salary in the ANA was more than what he earned in a factory when he was a refugee in neighbouring Pakistan. The ANA has been supervised by the US army, with the assistance of Britain, New Zealand, France and Germany. Technical assistance to the new army - envisaged to provide security to Afghanistan's emerging post-Taliban government - has been provided by Bulgaria, Romania, Canada, South Korea and Mongolia. Disarming private militias and forming an ethnically balanced, professional army is one of the priorities of the internationally-supported Afghan government. A loyal armed force is key to Kabul extending its authority to the provinces which have been troubled by factional fighting and rights abuses by warlords in the north and a resurgence of the ousted Taliban and Al-Qaeda in the south and east.