Karzai considers introducing Afghan conscription

[seanmacc]

Am I the only person who thinks this mad cap puppet has gone even madder?

BBC News - Karzai considers introducing Afghan conscription

If he follows through with this idea does he really think he can hold onto power?

It reminds me of the scene in Braveheart where the Irish Conscripts are sent in to attack and join Wallace's ranks.

[toughbutfair]

Am I the only person who thinks this mad cap puppet has gone even madder?

BBC News - Karzai considers introducing Afghan conscription

If he follows through with this idea does he really think he can hold onto power?

It reminds me of the scene in Braveheart where the Irish Conscripts are sent in to attack and join Wallace's ranks.

If he needs that many men to secure the country then of course he should do it. They did it in all the major European countries in our major wars.

[seanmacc]

If he needs that many men to secure the country then of course he should do it. They did it in all the major European countries in our major wars.

As it is a large proportion of the police and army are Taliban or sympathisers.

[jcdf]

As it is a large proportion of the police and army are Taliban or sympathisers.

Proposing conscription does not make him mad, perhaps desperate. As has been pointed out it was done in Europe. If a large part of the current police and army are sympathisers with the Taliban then maybe conscripting very large numbers of citizens into the army is a way to dilute out their influence by shear force of numbers. Assuming that the Taliban only make up a minority of the general populace. If they do not then it really does not matter.

[Catalpa]

If he needs that many men to secure the country then of course he should do it. They did it in all the major European countries in our major wars.

I didn't know we were in any!

As for the Mayor of Kabul his tenure of office will last only as long as his masters decide it should.

Conscription would bolster his numbers but TBH conscripts in a war like this are worse than useless.

[st333ve]

Sure that Afghan government are worse than what the Taliban were.
The idiocy of arming them and allowing them to introduce extremist laws, while fighting the Taliban is ridiculous.
Changing a government in name only is no justification for any war.
Military power does not cure socio-economic problems and a country who's problems stem from war.
War is the problem, the problem and solution can never be the same thing.

'Worse than the Taliban' - new law rolls back rights for Afghan women | World news | The Guardian
Karzai’s administration “Worse than Taliban” Ari Rusila's BalkanBlog

[jcdf]

I didn't know we were in any!

As for the Mayor of Kabul his tenure of office will last only as long as his masters decide it should.

Conscription would bolster his numbers but TBH conscripts in a war like this are worse than useless.

Conscripts are not completely useless. If they are reasonable well paid and trained and equipped and given motivation to install stability in Afghanistan then they could make a difference.

The problem the US is having is not defeating the Taliban but keeping areas Taliban free. They do not have enough troops to continuously hold large areas of land. One they leave the Taliban return

What could be done is the US could move into a given area clear out the Taliban and then pull in the conscripts to fortify the area and then the US troops could leave to do the same in a different place. Holding conquered areas is reasonably easy.

[Nodin]

Considering how thin his writ runs, it should be interesting to see how he enforces it.