The Current Plea To Keep The Afghanistan Money Pipeline Flowing

[unhappycamper]

Literacy As a Matter of Life and Death
Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell, IV
Command of the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan
Posted: September 13, 2010 02:15 PM


If you have never been taught your numbers, you cannot read a map. In war, if you cannot read a map to relay your location, you are dead. When I visited Western Afghanistan a few weeks ago a soldier's story made this very point. An Afghan unit, capable of operating independently, was ambushed in a remote valley. They knew exactly where they were...they had been patrolling this area for years...some of them had grown up there...but when they needed artillery and air support...when they needed to evacuate their wounded...they could not provide their location. Not a single soldier could read their map to provide their location.

Literacy, a basic element of education that we take for granted, is a matter of life and death in Afghanistan. When you consider the average literacy rate for an entry level soldier or policeman in Afghanistan is about 14% across the entire Afghan National Security Force, literacy becomes a major challenge in training, education, and even performance of the basic skills required by a professional security force. As I wrote recently in an article for the Wall Street Journal, literacy should not be confused with intelligence, nor illiteracy with a lack of it. The Afghan soldiers and policemen that I interact with every day are quick, witty, and experienced. But literacy is a major challenge to professionalizing their force.

The #1 challenge to building a self-sustaining Afghan National Security Force that can serve and protect its people, and thereby transition into the lead for security, is developing professionalism within its ranks. Professionalism, and the enduring benefits it provides to security forces like the Army and Police, is why literacy development is so important. This skill is the essential enabler that addresses not just life and death issues, but the cornerstone elements of professionalism: the ability to enforce accountability, the opportunity to attend professional military and law enforcement education, particularly specialized skills taught in technical schools and continued education, and the knowledge to combat corruption.

How can personnel provide oversight for all aspects of the force, from equipment to personnel, and regulations to training, if they cannot read? How can an illiterate soldier know what equipment he is supposed to have and to maintain if he cannot read the list? How can a policeman who does not know his numbers read and understand the serial number on his own weapon? Literacy is required to enforce accountability.

Additionally, literacy develops technical competency through professional education. The ability to read provides soldiers and policemen the ability to attend these schools and learn enabling skills such as logistics, maintenance, intelligence and communications. These skills are required to sustain a professional force in the field, as well as build enduring capacity for the future.



unhappycamper comment: First of all General, I think you are correct. No literacy means no Afghan army.

But.....

We are currently spending at least $100 billion dollars a year in Afghanistan. How many hundreds of billions of United States taxpayer's dollars will it take to teach Afghans to read?

The last I heard, we were in Afghanistan to 'get' bin Laden.

Sir, mission creep and military obfuscations are killing the United States economy in the process.

[saigon68]

1. Clueless Fucking War Criminals

We have no business there