10 days and a AK-47

Here is a very disturbing news item on a problem in Afghanistan. Apparently NATO is so strapped for soldiers that they are reduced to agreeing to the Afghan government's plan to push teenagers with ten days and a AK-47 onto the firing line.

Most, if not all, were asleep at their posts when Canadian soldiers recently dropped by to inspect. When they were awake, some had errantly fired their rifles in the direction of the Canadians.

"Randomly throughout the night, there were shots going over our heads," recounted Warrant Officer Michael Jackson of the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Shilo, Man.

"We knew it was them, but they said, 'No, no, it wasn't us shooting.'

Apparently they have a tendency to shoot first and identify what they're shooting at later. Not only does this put the Canadians operating with them at risk but also means they will be miserable for counterinsurgency since their likely to blow away some innocent civilians.

Canada
NATO
Afghanistan
counterinsurgency