WASHINGTON (Reuters) - High drop-out and illiteracy rates mean it will take until late October 2011 to build up Afghanistan's police and military so they can take the lead in more areas, a senior U.S. commander said on Monday.
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon via video link-up from Afghanistan, Lieutenant-General William Caldwell said at the current pace of training, the Afghan army and police could take the lead only in "isolated pockets" of the country and with support from foreign forces.
"To say they will be able to do much more before October next year would be stretching it, only because we have not finished the development of their force," said Caldwell, who leads NATO's training mission.
"So if somebody says, when will the security force have the lead in a particular area, we will not have finished building the entire army until October of next year," he added.
U.S. forces are expected to start withdrawing from Afghanistan from July next year, but the scale and pace of the pullout depend on the ability of Afghans to take responsibility for security in major parts of the country.
"We are aware of the date," said Caldwell when asked whether the timing of troop training was in line with a pledge by President Barack Obama to start withdrawing U.S. forces from July 2011 if the right conditions exist.
"We continue to say that by ... the end of October, we can make the current growth objectives with our Afghan counterparts as we move forward," said Caldwell.
LITERACY HURDLE
There are several major hurdles to creating a professional force, including staggeringly high illiteracy and attrition.
Only 14 to 18 percent -- less than two out of 10 -- of current recruits were literate and in some police units, the attrition rate was as high as 47 percent, said Caldwell.
"There are no shortcuts," Caldwell said of building up a new force. "Significant challenges do remain."
Literacy has become a major focus, with the realization that if a policeman could not read numbers he would not, for example, be able to do a simple task such as note the serial number on his rifle.
Another practical problem was in paying a force via electronic means when they could not read bank statements or numbers on an automatic banking machine set up in bases.
"Only when they read how much they are owed and how much they have received will they be able to prevent the theft of their own pay," Caldwell said.
About 27,000 army and police recruits have taken part in literacy programs. That number is expected to reach 50,000 by the end of December and double by June 2011. The goal is to reach the reading age of a third grader -- roughly an 8-year-old.
There are 249,500 personnel -- 134,000 army and 115,500 police -- in the Afghan security forces, with a goal of getting that figure up to 305,000 by October 2011.
With current dropout rates, desertions, deaths and injuries, about 141,000 would have to be trained to fill that quota of 56,000 needed, said Caldwell.
In the Afghan National Army, the attrition rate is about 23 percent while in the police overall it is about 16 percent, he said, adding that these figures varied from unit to unit. In the Afghan National Police, for example, the attrition rate was about 47 percent.
Asked how much it cost to train each policeman or soldier, Caldwell said he did not have exact figures. "I've never actually been asked that question before," he said, an answer likely to raise eyebrows in Congress where lawmakers are always pressing for exact figures.
(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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