Loot For Troops: More Pay Means More Afghan Enlistment

Washington Post:

A recent pay increase for Afghan troops and police appears to have resulted in a surge of applicants, said the top U.S. military official for Afghan security training.

Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, citing Afghan statistics, said 2,659 Afghans had applied to join the security forces in the first seven days of this month, about half of the month's recruiting objective. In the three previous months, recruiting fell short of targets, with only 830 applicants in September, he said.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[Okieborn]

09:07 AM on 12/10/2009

Just simply another band aid payoff !!

[Paulo1]

07:40 AM on 12/10/2009

Hmmm, somehow the story implies that the Afghans are fighting for mercenary reasons. However the article fails to mention the recruiting pages the US military uses to entice young Americans. Yes a large number of young people sign up for Patriotism and a Just Cause, but then why does the military need to hype the benefits packages? Face it, our military takes advantage of young people looking for a job as much as these Afghans looking for work as well.

[JohnFromCensornati]

06:12 AM on 12/10/2009

i wonder if the opium dealers will raise their pay rates in response.

[RudyHaugeneder]

02:55 AM on 12/10/2009

What happens when the checks finally bounce? Will they be mad as hell and kill more Americans, or just go home and farm?

[Manx]

02:35 AM on 12/10/2009

Under Petraeus and McChrystal­, we will now buy off the insurgents as we did in Iraq. We don't need soldiers anymore, just cashiers.

[terry63]

02:20 AM on 12/10/2009

When I was stationed in Afghanista­n, There was a convoy headed to Bagram, 40 trucks with 2 gun ship Hummers,( armoured hummers with usually 50 cal.machin­e guns, or other options.). The rest of the security would be Afghan. The convoy leaders refused to roll.

[SvrWx]

01:37 AM on 12/10/2009

Well, this is a no-brainer­. Of course more pay = more enlistment­s...especi­ally in this part of the world where the standard of living is so low and the pay is meager.