US Military facing leadership failure

A group of US soldiers in Helmand Province in Afghanistan

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162189.html

An American political journalist says the US military is experiencing “a complete failure of leadership,” due to the violent attitude of some commanders.

Alexander Cockburn said in an interview with Press TV that the commanding approach in some military units would “encourage atrocities and torture.”

He made his comments with regard to the April 4 trial of Army Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, who has been accused of organizing a team of soldiers to kill Afghan civilians.

"Throughout 10-15 years you can see many examples of complete failure of leadership… committing atrocities or encouraging atrocities in the case of torture, conniving at torture, commanding torture and then evading responsibilities," he further explained.

Since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan, more than 34,000 Afghan civilians have been killed in the country as a result of the war.

The United States currently has 100,000 troops in war-ravaged Afghanistan. The total number of coalition forces in the Asian country reaches 150,000. US President Barack Obama had earlier promised that the majority of the US forces would leave Afghanistan in 2011, but later said they would reside in the country up until 2014. Both US and UK authorities believe that at least a portion of their forces will stay in the war-hit country to help the Afghan authorities with the management of the internal affairs for several years to come.

Earlier in November, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said it is time for the United States to reduce its presence and military operations in Afghanistan.

"The time has come to reduce military operations…The time has come to reduce the presence of, you know, boots in Afghanistan . . . to reduce the intrusiveness into the daily Afghan life," Karzai noted.

In January 15, Human Rights Watch warned about the worsening security situation in Afghanistan.

In its annual report for 2010, the rights group said security has deteriorated in most regions of Afghanistan, despite the US troop surge last year.

It added that there was a ten percent increase in civilian casualties last year in the war-ravaged country.

The developments come as a recent report says US-led military operations have inflicted over USD 100 million in damages on public property in southern Afghanistan.