Can't teach a donkey to gallop: Pak on Afghan Generals

Pakistan has apparently compared Afghan Generals to 'donkeys', citing Afghanistan appoints most of its generals on their tribal affiliations rather than on merit.

"They (Afghanistan) also have about 1,000 generals, most of who are appointed because of their tribal affiliations rather than on merit. The problem is that you can't teach a donkey to gallop," The Express Tribune quoted a senior Pakistani army source as saying in an interview to the Telegraph.

Pakistan has criticised the Afghan government for not doing enough to seal its side of the Afghan border as Islamabad has alleged militants are now launching attacks on both Pakistani and Afghan soil.

According to the Pakistani military source, about 20,000 are capable of combat missions out of the 350,000 troops in the Afghan army.

The source added that news generals of Trump administrations will face a 'total mess' in Afghanistan unless the U.S. and the U.K. stop the advancement of the IS and the Taliban.

The Pakistani military source added that Russia could get tempted to stage a Syrian-style intervention, this time on the pretext of protecting its 'backyard' in the Central Asia if the IS and the Taliban continued to gain strength.

The source stated that high-level discussions had taken place with both Resolute Support Mission commander General John Nicholson and U.S. Secretary of Defence James Mattis.

Last month, General Nicholson had declared that Afghan forces were now in a stalemate against a resurgent Taliban.

Russia held a conference for regional powers on Afghanistan last month in which the U.S. was not invited.

Last month, Russia held a conference for regional powers on Afghanistan, signalling what could be the opening stages of such a strategy.

The summit had called for dialogue with the Taliban and Moscow has already started backchannel contacts with them saying that they could be used to battle the IS.

However, the United States believe that Kremlin-Taliban contacts are simply to help Moscow build proxy assets in Afghanistan.