Politicians and policymakers love to throw around numbers.  Presented convincingly, they can mask the complexity and dismal nature of the ground reality.  Quantity and dollars spent do not necessarily equal quality, as this video shows.

The presentation, by Journeyman Pictures, shows U.S. Embedded Tactical Trainers (ETTs) and their struggle to weed Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers off of hashish and get them to approach the task of securing their own country with greater seriousness.

There are several ironies.  One, Afghanistan has a flourishing drug trade, which the ANA — ostensibly –  is to play a role in combating.  And two, the American soldiers are more keen on defending Afghanistan than the ANA soldiers.  [Notice when the American trainer tries to motivate the Afghan officer by appealing to Afghan nationalism and resentment against Iran and Pakistan.]

The American trainers are quite young themselves.  Their professionalism is visible.  So age is not a major factor.  As the Afghan officer states, the problem is with recruitment. The ANA attracts misfits and underachievers, not potential leaders.  Nor does the institution seem to be able to shape wayward youth into potential officers, let alone adequate NCOs.  These young Afghan soldiers apparently remain in the ANA (if they do not desert) because of the focus on quantity, not quality.

Without meaningful change in recruitment, the ANA will remain full of these lethargic stoners.  It will be a half-baked army unprepared to carry the baton passed on by departing U.S. troops.  Without a viable ANA, Afghanistan would require a longer foreign presence or the country will become militiastan again.