Nato to cut funding for Afghan force by two thirds

The Nato coalition aims to cut funding for the Afghan police and army by nearly two thirds as alliance members negotiate a long term deal to pay for Afghanistan's security.

Kabul is almost totally reliant on foreign aid to train, equip, and pay its fledgling forces Photo: AP

By Ben Farmer, Kabul
2:54PM GMT 22 Mar 2012
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The Nato mission to build the forces has a budget of $11.2 billion (£7.1 billion) in 2012 but that figure is set to slump precipitously.

Hamid Karzai gave the figure in a speech to graduates of a Kabul military academy on Thursday. He said: "It's set that post 2014, for the next 10 years until 2024 the international community, with the US in the lead and followed by Europe and other countries, will pay Afghanistan security forces $4.1 billion annually."

Officials in Kabul said Afghanistan would be expected to pay half a billion dollars annually of the total. Alliance members are still negotiating how to divide up the rest.

Coalition members hope to finalise the deal before a Nato summit in May, against opposition from Afghan generals who warn the cut would jeopardise security.

Any cut in forces before a peace deal had been made with the Taliban was premature, the head of the Afghan army told the Daily Telegraph.

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Gen Sher Mohammad Karimi said: "When we have 100 per cent success and we are sure of peace and stability, then we can think about reduction of the army and the police.

"But now while we are fighting and we are not sure we have peace, we should not sacrifice all the efforts we have done for nothing."

Kabul is almost totally reliant on foreign aid to train, equip, and pay its fledgling forces.

The reduction will force Afghan commanders to cut significantly the size of their forces fighting the Taliban as foreign combat troops handover security duties to Kabul from 2014.

However after spending large sums in recent years to bolster the army and police, donors struggling with slow economic growth and war weary electorates are keen to scale back their support.

Under an American proposal, the coalition would set an annual budget of $4.1 billion (£2.6 billion) for the Afghan security forces after 2014.

Such a cut would see the combined size of the Afghan police and army fall from a peak this year of 352,000 to around 230,000, based on current spending levels. The final headcount would vary depending on the structure and equipment of the forces.

Coalition diplomats stressed the deal was not finalised, but Gen Karimi, the Sandhurst-trained Army chief of staff, warned a reduction in his army could only be linked to improved conditions on the ground.

He said: "There is a constraint of resources, but it's not so bad that we should throw everything back in the river." Talk of cutting the army encouraged the Taliban he said.

"The enemy thinks that the international community is failing and they are in a very weak position, they are reducing the security forces, so they think a little extra effort for fighting in summer and spring will topple the government.

"We should not give this wrong idea to the enemy, that we are weak, or that the international community is not supportive." He said his own army would hit its peak of 195,000 in October.

"If you study the armies of Pakistan and Iran, this 195,000 is not a big force," he added.

Nato officials argue the recent high levels of spending were temporarily necessary to buy equipment to fit out the Afghan forces and the 352,000 headcount was only designed as a temporary "Afghan surge".

There is still dispute over how the budget will be spent, with Kabul demanding heavy weaponry, tanks and jets which Nato commanders believe are too expensive and unnecessary to fight the Taliban.

Mr Karzai said his country needed "radar, air defence systems, warplanes, transport planes, helicopters and other equipment that improves the defence system".

He added: "If Nato or America will not give us planes, will they prevent us using this money to buy planes for our air force from other countries? If we were to buy planes from India or Russia or Iran or Pakistan or Ukraine, will our (forces') salaries still be paid from the Nato money?"

Nato to cut funding for Afghan force by two thirds - Telegraph