U.S. helping to integrate Afghan forces

First Lt. Joshua Sims, 25, of Talladega, Ala., meets with Ahmadullah Ahmady, assistant chief of the Mizan district in southern Afghanistan's Zabul province, to discuss problems assimilating Uzbek police into his Pashtun force.


U.S. helping to integrate Afghan forces
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, January 4, 2008

ZABUL PROVINCE, Afghanistan — Racial tensions can be a problem within this country’s security forces, as American soldiers are finding.

The Afghan government is making efforts to integrate the forces to include a mixture of the country’s ethnic groups — including Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazars and Turkmen — but the process is not without its hiccups.

At Forward Operating Base Mizan, in southern Afghanistan’s Zabul province, soldiers from 1st Platoon, Company A (Team Apache), 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment recently stepped in to resolve a dispute between the Pashtun assistant district chief, Ahmadullah Ahmady, and 10 newly arrived Uzbek Afghan National Police officers.

At a meeting with the warring parties, 1st Platoon leader 1st Lt. Joshua Sims, 25, of Talladega, Ala., heard the Uzbeks complain that Pashtun police laugh at them, force them to do demeaning work and won’t let them visit Uzbek soldiers at the nearby Afghan National Army compound.

The Uzbeks threatened to go back to Qalat, the district capital.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51401



uhc comment: This is the eight article about ZABUL PROVINCE since 12.16.2007 in the Veterans forum. Of course, they neglect to mention that the entire Afghanistan effort is going down the toilet.