Non-Subscriber Extract
Interview: General Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, Chief of General Staff, Afghan National Army
By Anthony Davis
18 January 2008
As the tempo of combat increases across southern and eastern Afghanistan, the role of the fledgeling Afghan National Army (ANA) can be expected to assume greater prominence in 2008, according to General Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, ANA Chief of General Staff.
Indeed, given the multiplicity of threats facing the country, the emphasis should be on building up the ANA at a faster rate to reach an overall strength of at least 100,000 personnel.
"The National Army has developed, but frankly not fast enough. We're facing terrorists, the Taliban and interference from Pakistan and we cannot yet control our own borders," said Gen Bismillah. "There's a real need to increase numbers. The force strength of 70,000 troops planned for the end of [2007] is not going to be sufficient."
In October 2007 the ANA had an operational strength of slightly less than 50,000 troops with a further 10,000 undergoing training. Efforts were under way to push numbers up to nearly 70,000 by the end of 2007 - a force level UN planners initially projected in 2002 as the ANA's full complement. "We're recruiting in all provinces and training is improving both at the Kabul Military Training Centre [KMTC] and at regional basic training centres," Gen Bismillah said.
A veteran of more than 20 years of guerrilla conflict, Gen Bismillah joined the anti-Soviet resistance in the Panjshir Valley in 1979 and rose to prominence as a close associate of mujahideen chief Ahmadshah Massoud. Six years after leading Northern Alliance troops into Kabul in November 2001, he remains today one of the few Panjshiris still holding a senior position in the political and military establishments under President Hamid Karzai.