Karzai and his conscripts

The fashion model president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai wants to bring in conscription to the war torn country to make the Afghan army large enough for him to manage the country beyond Kabul (the presidential palace really). He wants a 300,000 strong Afghan army by 2012 so that his security is "no longer a burden on the shoulders of the international community". It is public knowledge that President Karzai and his cabinet of crooks has survived last few years under the protection of US Marines. Had he left the security in the hands of his Afghan comrades he and his ministers would by now either be trying to bribe an exit out of hell or would be back living in their villas in Quetta.

Afghan government does not need more soldiers, let alone conscripts. It needs loyal soldiers that serve and protect a credible government backed by its people. Majority of Afghan soldiers are not in it to serve the "queen and country" but for economic sustenance that is not available to common Afghans. They lack the pride that soldiers serving a sovereign state carry and that makes them give their lives to save the motherland.

Unfortunately, for Afghanistan that pride and passion appears to be among those who are fighting the occupation, or among the terrorists - don't mix the two. Not every Afghan is a terrorist - we must realise that picking up arms and giving life to fight against tyranny and especially foreign occupation has been a favourite Afghan past time for centuries. Invaders and their puppets just don't learn from history, do they!

General Kayani, head of Pakistan army recently concluded that "until the Afghan government improved its credibility and governance record and until the Afghan population began to change its perception that Isaf is not winning, the Afghan government would not be able to establish its writ and the local Taliban would not be “weaned off”.