Commander: Porous Afghan border is troublesome

[unhappycamper]

Commander: Porous Afghan border is troublesome
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 6, 2009 11:27:12 EST

The weakness of Afghan border police forces continues to be one of the biggest challenges for U.S. soldiers working in the central and eastern provinces of Afghanistan.

“The effort on the border is just not where it needs to be in terms of security,” said Col. John Johnson, commander of 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, said Friday in a live video briefing with military reporters. “We have combat outposts there and check points, but frankly we have to get the border police to conduct security in a porous border region with restrictive terrain,” he said.

The border police forces are at about 54 percent strength and will be up to about 75 percent strength in coming months as new recruits are trained and equipped, he said, but they still have a long way to go.

They have small arms capabilities and, in the next few weeks, they will have machine guns to help better defend regions around the border, he said.

Much of the enemy’s planning occurs in Pakistan, making it important for border police to secure those regions, Johnson said.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/03/army_currahee_briefing_030609w/%2e