The House Armed Services Committee is looking into the Defense Department's foreign military training programs in response to what the panel's chairman sees as mounting frustrations over the mixed results of recent efforts.
Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said the oversight work will include a series of public and closed-door meetings with Pentagon officials in the days to come. The first hearing will be Wednesday, with views from outside experts on the successes and failures of the current work.
"We can't do everything ourselves, so somebody has to be out there helping us to do it," Thornberry told reporters after a recent hearing on U.S. operations in Afghanistan. "So we're going to try and work with others."
At that hearing, Army Gen. John Campbell, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told lawmakers that even with a focus in recent years of training local security personnel to take over the fight, those forces are still years away from being able to operate completely on their own.
"The Afghan National Army and police have repeatedly shown that without key enablers and competent operational-level leaders, they cannot handle the fight alone in this stage of their development," Campbell said, an assessment that elicited sighs from committee members.
"Ultimately, I'm convinced that improved leadership and accountability will address most of their deficiencies," Campbell went on. "But it will take time for them to build their human capital."
His comments came just one day before the White House abandoned its efforts to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels in the fight against Islamic State militants, an effort that has produced only a small number of trainees.
Thornberry said he wants his committee's work to focus on a broader view of the training efforts, bringing in historical examples to find ways to improve the current initiatives.
"I was surprised when Gen. Campbell said we've been training the (Afghan) army for the last eight or nine years, but the (Afghan) air force only for the last three. Why did we wait so long?" Thornberry said. "Maybe we were so absorbed in defeating al-Qaida that it has taken that long.
"I don't think it was malfeasance, but there are legitimate frustrations."
On Oct. 15, President Obama announced plans to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan longer than he had previously promised, in large part because "Afghan forces are still not as strong as they need to be."
Thornberry, who had publicly backed keeping a larger American military presence in Afghanistan past 2015, said he hopes his committee's work not only will find ways to improve the process but also better explain to those lawmakers who are clamoring for a quicker exit the reasons U.S. troops are staying.
Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.
