Afghanistan 'unable to pay for troops for 15 years'

[tekisui]

Source: BBC

Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, has warned that it will take 15 years before it is able to pay for the costs of maintaining its own security forces.

After talks with visiting US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Mr Karzai said he hoped the US and the international community would continue funding them.

Mr Gates said the US would not turn away from Afghanistan and abandon it.

His unannounced arrival in Kabul came a week after US President Barack Obama said he was sending 30,000 more troops.

Nato member states have agreed to deploy another 7,000 soldiers between them.

On Sunday, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm Mike Mullen, bluntly told troops in Kentucky: "We are not winning, which means we are losing."

"As we are losing, the message traffic out there to recruits keeps getting better and better and more keep coming," he said.

more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8400806.stm

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

1. They should just sell poppies.

Evidently, floral arrangements can be quite a lucrative business.

[unhappycamper]

2. Afghanistan is a gigantic cluster-fuck.

I really cannot think of a more appropriate term.

[sarge43]

4. For Afghanistan SNAFU works, too.

Trained, armed, unpaid soldiers: Yeah, that always ends well.

[secondwind]

3. my husband says they have literally "no tax base"..........same problem in Africa