Just How Special Are Afghan Special Forces?

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Because I follow the issue of training Afghan forces very closely, I clicked on an article today from TOLONews on graduation of a new group of Afghan Special Forces soldiers. One tidbit in the article caught my eye (emphasis added):

About 200 soldiers on Thursday graduated to the special operations forces of the Afghan National Army, ready to be deployed to the frontlines of the war against insurgents, army official said.

Deputy Chief of Army Staff Gen Azal Aman said at a graduation ceremony for the new commandos that the soldiers had been professionally trained and people should trust them as they are now responsible for the security of major parts of the country.

The ANA soldiers received 12 weeks of intense training to graduate to do special operations.

Hmmm. To be in Afghan Special Forces, it only takes 12 weeks of training? Here is what it takes to be labelled Special Forces for the US:

Like all soldiers, SF candidates begin their career with nine weeks of Boot Camp. Upon completion of Basic Combat Training you will attend Advanced Individual Training. For Special Forces, you will go to Infantry School to learn to use small arms, anti-armor, and weapons like howitzers and heavy mortars. Basic Combat Training lasts 9 weeks, AIT lasts four weeks, and Airborne last 3 weeks. All take place at Fort Benning, Georgia.

After graduating AIT your training will continue with the following schools:

  • Army Airborne School – 3 weeks in Ft Benning GA
  • Special Operations Preparation Course (SOPC)  – 4 weeks in Ft Bragg NC
  • Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS) – 3 weeks in Ft Bragg NC
  • Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) – 34 -76 weeks depending upon MOS Specialty
  • Live Environment Training (LET) –  Immersion Training in foreign countries – varies in time.

Depending upon your MOS within Special Forces Training, the process of completing these schools can take 14-18 months.

Okay then. Afghan Special Forces are so special that they can get the name after only 12 weeks of training but US soldiers need up to 18 months of training to be Special Forces. And yet, as we saw above, “people should trust them as they are now responsible for the security of major parts of the country”. That should work out just swell.

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12 replies
  1. peasantparty says:

    I really want to slap my knees and bend over laughing.

    seriously though it’s not funny when you think of our military’s use of the term, “insurgents’. Heck! They call even their own country men and women insurgents if they don’t follow the kill first, ask questions later routine.

    The other thing that is so sad and blatant as to why this is being done is the fact that we’ve been in Afghanistan for over 11 years and still cannot claim victory. The indigenous people there know more about protecting themselves against invading armies than the US Military wants to give them credit for.

    So, funny yes. Very funny in a sad sort of way.

  2. What Constitution? says:

    “Special” obviously is a relative term. In Afghanistan, perhaps it is a “special” military unit that doesn’t rely upon pointed sticks. I’m just sayin’. After all, this is a country which — before the US military came in and “liberated” it with our own brand of “special forces” — had been overrun by the Taliban using two dozen AK-47s and a slingshot mounted on the back of a Toyota pick-up truck, right? In only 11 years, we have succeeded in bestowing these crack homegrown military units on Afghanistan’s population. That’s pretty special, some might say. No wonder they love us so.

  3. Who Are The Real Bad Guys??? says:

    O/T but scary / will piss you off

    New e-mails reveal Feds not “forthright” about fake cell tower devices

    According to new Justice Department e-mails obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California, federal investigators have been routinely using “stingrays” to catch bad guys. A stingray is a device that can create a false cellphone tower, and allows authorities to determine a particular mobile phone’s precise location. Stingrays aren’t new — law enforcement agencies nationwide are believed to have been using them for years.

    But one e-mail in the new trove reveals something brand-new: that the Feds were not fully clear about the fact that they were specifically using stingrays (also known as “IMSI catchers”) when asking for permission to conduct electronic surveillance from federal magistrate judges.

    Groups like the ACLU are concerned that unsupervised use of such technology can inadvertently collect information of people who are not suspected of any crime, nor under investigation.

    http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/new-e-mails-reveal-feds-not-forthright-about-fake-cell-tower-devices/

    does any reader know HOW the usa / fbi employs / uses a “stingray” (fake cellphone tower)??? do they actually BUILD a phony tower???

  4. Ben Franklin says:

    Do we really want them to have the same training as our Forces? There should always be one ingredient left off a recipe for the “green on blue’ attacks.

  5. rg says:

    I’m wondering why Afghanistan needs a special forces unit at all. What are they for? They’re having enough trouble building an army that won’t fold. Even copying the berets seems like they were told, “This is how you do it, and what you do is always secret”.

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