US Expects to Subsidize Afghan Training09/06 09:49

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States expects to spend about $6 billion a 
year training and supporting Afghan troops and police after it begins pulling 
out its own combat troops in 2011, The Associated Press has learned.

   The previously undisclosed estimates of U.S. spending through 2015, detailed 
in a NATO training mission document, are an acknowledgment that Afghanistan 
will remain largely dependent on the United States for its security.

   That reality could become problematic for the Obama administration as it 
continues to seek money for Afghanistan from Congress at a time of increasingly 
tight budgets.

   In Brussels, a NATO official said Monday that alliance commander Gen. David 
Petraeus asked for 2,000 more soldiers, with nearly half to be trainers for the 
rapidly expanding Afghan security forces.

   The NATO official requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak 
on the subject.

   The training mission document, reviewed by the AP, outlines large scale 
infrastructure projects including a military hospital and military and police 
academies aimed at "establishing enduring institutions" and "creating 
irreversible momentum."

   Spending for training is projected to taper off from $11.6 billion next year 
to an average of $6.2 billion over the following four years. Much of the 
reduction reflects reduced spending on infrastructure.

   The administration recently announced that it intends to ramp up the total 
Afghan army and police force from nearly 250,000 today to more than 300,000 by 
late next year. The mission will be largely paid for by the United States, with 
smaller contributions from NATO allies. The projected multibillion dollar cost 
of maintaining those forces would be inconceivable for Afghanistan's small 
economy without foreign aid.

   One of the arguments against dramatically increasing the size of Afghan 
security forces, even during George W. Bush's administration, was that the 
Afghan government would be unable to pay for them for the foreseeable future. 
The NATO document shows that the U.S. will end up footing most of the bill.

   The Obama administration has boosted the training mission in preparation for 
next year's drawdown. The United States spent over $20 billion on training 
between 2003 and 2009 and expects to spend about the same this year and next 
alone.

   The head of the NATO training mission, U.S. Lt. Gen. Bill Caldwell, says 
bolstering Afghanistan's security forces is cost efficient.

   "It will always be more expensive to have a coalition force doing something 
than an Afghan counterpart," Caldwell said in a written response to questions 
from AP.

   Caldwell said that he is sensitive to the concern that the United States is 
creating dependence and is looking for ways of cutting costs.

   "This dependency is something that we think about all the time," he said. 
"We know the sooner the Afghan systems are up and running the sooner coalition 
forces can transition responsibilities to the sovereign government."

   Todd Harrison, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary 
Assessments, says it will be difficult to wean the Afghan security forces 
quickly.

   "We really do have a long way to go before this winds down," he said.

   Caldwell has said that he aims to have Afghan security forces at sufficient 
numbers to begin a U.S. withdrawal by October 2011. The mission has had to deal 
with illiteracy, corruption and desertion among Afghan forces.

   With much skepticism in Congress, the levels of financing outlined in the 
document are not guaranteed. While the roughly $6 billion annual cost would not 
be an enormous line in the defense budget, the administration is facing 
pressure to shrink the federal deficit.

   Even Caldwell has predicted that desertion and injury rates are so high 
among Afghan forces that NATO will have to recruit and train 141,000 people to 
ensure it has the 56,000 additional personnel needed next fall.

   As money for infrastructure tapers off, most of the projected spending is to 
retain forces by paying salaries, food and housing.


(KA)