Training Afghanis for war? Really?

Why do we have to recruit and train our allies, the Afghan Army, to fight? That is like someone coming to you with a plan to recruit and train Brazilian boys to play soccer. If there is one thing Afghan males should not need to be trained to do, it’s to engage in warfare. That may be the only thing they all know how to do after 30 years of civil war and centuries of resisting foreign powers. After all, who is training the Taliban? They’ve been fighting the U.S. Army to a draw — and many of their commanders can’t even read. --Thomas L. Friedman, columnist, The New York Times Link to original story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/opinion/23friedman.html?src=me&ref=general