But keep in mind that Fuller was right, and Afghan security forces really are bad

Ok, we had some fun yesterday
with the defenestration of General Fuller, but this note arrives this morning
and it is sobering:

Fuller told the truth
on this one and was mangled as a result. It's no secret that the Afghans want
to drain every last dime out of the US and the ISAF nations.

The major problem
with the Afghan National Security Forces -- other than the rampant corruption,
attrition and neptotism -- is the utter lack of institutional control in almost
all of their organizations. This is an inward-looking problem, however. The
major outward-looking problem associated with the ANSF is that we have built
multiple organizations that have no chance at long-term success because they
cost too much to sustain. Once the money dries up, the ANSF is toast and
everyone who worked in Kabul or with the Afghans at the Corps level or above
knows this.

Fuller was relieved
not because he told the truth - the Generals are not idiots who don't understand
what the situation with the ANSF is and will be. He was fired because he took
his frustrations out in public and embarrassed the Afghan Government, the US
government and military and the ISAF leadership.

Congress knows
everything that is going on with the ANSF. A DoD special Inspector General
makes quarterly visits to Kabul and releases quarterly
reports that are available on-line. If they wanted to end this kabuki
dance, they could slash funding and tell the Afghans to deal with the
consequences. Instead, we continue to pump money into the system. There are
systemic problems with the ANSF that have no solutions - unless you really want
to station 50,000 US Troops there for the next 30 years.