KABUL: Marching out of step and in ragged line, glancing around like a curious group of teenagers, the fifth battalion of Afghanistan’s new national army steps around the parade ground to celebrate its graduation.

At just over 400 graduates — two-thirds of the target — the US-trained battalion was already significantly under-strength when it graduated this month.

Dogged by problems of recruitment and desertion, the lack of cooperation from regional warlords and of committed international support, the new national army for Afghanistan remains a distant dream, diplomats and observers say.

“The signs are not good,” aid agency Care said in a recent statement, warning that a national security force could be a decade away and complaining of a dangerous “security vacuum”.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai wants 70,000 men to form the new army by 2009. Yet eight months after the United States, France and Britain began training the force, just over 1,700 men in five battalions have completed the 10-week training course.

“We have always had the capacity to train more,” said US military spokesman Colonel Roger King. “But it is driven by the ability of the country to provide trainees.”

The problems were particularly bad at the outset, officials say. Unwilling to undermine their power bases, regional commanders and warlords were reluctant to send good quality recruits to join the army, or in many cases any recruits at all. Drop out rates were as high as the pay was low — just $30 a month during training and $50 after graduation for an ordinary soldier, although pay for trained soldiers has risen to $70.—Reuters