'Incorruptible' Commandos Sign of Hope for Afghanistan's Future

At a former Soviet training base in the town of Rish Khvor, a few miles out of Kabul, American Green Berets are working to mentor and support Afghan Special Force soldiers code-named Commandos. Better equipped, better trained, better paid and reputedly incorruptible, the Afghan Commando is meant to be everything the Afghan National Army (ANA) is not. The competition to become part of the elite force is grueling, and the reward for those who make it is the guarantee of battle against deadly insurgent forces.

“There is no corruption among the Commandos,” says Maj. Mohmand Zabihullah, Company Commander for the General Training Company, staring intensely as he says it. A veteran of the Afghan military, Zabihullah spent nearly two years in the United States training at Quantico with United States Marines. He is well aware of Afghan soldiers’ reputation for corruption, and he vows the Commandos he trains are above it.

The corruption in the army is largely due to lack of pay. The old-fashioned system of cash issued in person by a paymaster is slow, inefficient and skimmed. Soldiers throughout Afghanistan have gone months without receiving salary or rations, and they have occasionally resorted to charging tolls and requisitioning food from the locals. So when the Taliban targeted the soldiers for assassination, there was little sympathy among the general population, and the insurgency grew.

But things are different among the Commandos. “Most important is the education. Commandos are taught to serve the people, not themselves,” said Col. Dadan Lawang, a 25-year veteran of the Afghan military. Lawang learned under the Soviet system, where heavy-handed leader took what he wanted without any questions. Under the guidance of the American Green Berets, that mentality is changing and fast.

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