A brigade of seasoned American soldiers has arrived in Afghanistan in recent days on a much-trumpeted mission to offer a new type of training —as well as motivation —to beleaguered Afghan partners
New US training for troops
Pentagon officials hope the deployment of hundreds of battle-hardened, expert troops across the country will help turn the tide in the war, but Afghanistan watchers are skeptical about how
much difference they can make in the 16-year-old conflict
Most of the troops in the so-called Security Force Assistance Brigade, or SFAB, have multiple Afghanistan combat deployments under their belts, speak some level of Pashto or Dari and—after having themselves undergone special training—have now volunteered to return
More risk now
What differentiates the SFAB from other Afghan missions is not just the US soldiers’ experience, but the fact they will be patrolling closer to the conflict’s front lines than trainers have done in recent years—putting them at greater risk, according to AFP. They will help Afghans hone a variety of skills like marksmanship and weapons training, and combat medics will teach Afghan partners how to better handle battlefield trauma. The Afghans will also learn how to call in air strikes and conduct ground-clearing operations
Fighting in the Helmand province
Squads of about 10 US soldiers will embed at the “kandak” level—an Afghan term for battalions typically made up of 300-400 men—and they will deploy across Afghanistan, including in volatile southern Helmand province and in eastern Nangarhar province, where the Taliban and Islamic State are fighting