Measuring Quality of the ANSF

As the national and international debate on progress in Afghanistan continues, many pundits are now turning their attention to the quality of the Afghan National Security Forces ANSF we are producing here shoulder-to-shoulder with our Afghan counterparts rather than the quantity. This is a logical follow-on argument given the Afghan s displayed ability to achieve their 2010 growth goals early and their continued positive growth trends. But, what does quality really mean and how do we measure it Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this question and critics everywhere will likely grasp at convenient, but potentially misleading, measures and use them to advance their argument. Having examined the topic of measuring the quality of Afghan forces in detail with some very capable colleagues, we offer this essay as a point of departure for the debate on quality. Our intention is not to provide empirical evidence that the Afghan Security Forces are quality forces they are but rather to show the limitations and difficulties to the use of quality as a metric. We hope to learn from the ensuing debate and use those lessons to refine our current processes.