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Afghan army beset by desertions as Nato pullout looms
http://dawn.com/2012/12/18/afghan-army-beset-by-desertions-as-nato-pullout-looms/
Afghan army beset by desertions as Nato pullout looms
AFP | 11 hours ago
JALALABAD: Far from home, poorly paid and discriminated against, Mushtaq and Sefadullah are among thousands of Afghans who are deserting the army in a worrying trend two years before Nato troops leave.
It is not that they have joined the Taliban. Like many, they simply got fed up with life in the army, fighting a war. So they went back to the eastern city of Jalalabad, where they both have blossomed in new jobs.
Mushtaq, which is a fake name, says he served in the relatively peaceful western province of Herat but was discriminated against for coming from the same ethnic group as the majority of the Taliban.
A Pashtun from Tora Bora — where al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden hid after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan — Mushtaq said his officers treated him like a Talib.