Afghan literacy rates are bad. The U.S. is trying to change that.
The U.S. military is mounting a massive effort to help teach Afghan soldiers and police to read after concluding that literacy is â??the essential enablerâ? to the local security forcesâ?? success.â??How do you expect a soldier to account for their weapon if they canâ??t even read the serial number?â? said Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, head of the NATO-led effort to train the Afghan national security forces.
â??Itâ??s really challenging for some people to fully appreciate just how illiterate most of this population is,â? Caldwell said. â??It doesnâ??t mean they donâ??t have street sense and theyâ??re not smart in many ways. But they donâ??t have the education â?¦ to look at a series of numbers and be able to read it.â?
The literacy rate for incoming Afghan army and police recruits is about 14 percent to 18 percent, Caldwell said.
Is anyone teaching the Taliban how to read?
