Army Leaders Walk Fine Line as Afghan Advisers In previous years, the U.S. Army would have helped the Afghan National Army if their troops had run out of fuel or money or run into some other logistical problem, but with the U.S. getting ready for a significant withdrawal, the Americans are teaching the Afghans to rely on themselves. The U.S. military's new role of trying to train and mentor a young Afghan army comes after nearly 12 years of war. U.S. troops have borne most of the fighting over the past decade, but now the Afghan military is taking the brunt of the fighting against a resilient insurgency while the U.S. takes on more of an advisory role. It is a daunting task for both countries. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Matthew Stader usually commands a field artillery battalion, but this year he's leading a team of military advisers in eastern Afghanistan for an Afghan National Army brigade. "With advising, you can't be the one that fixes everything," Stader said. Since the Afghans are adept at fighting, patrolling and searching for weapons or insurgents, the U.S. Army is helping them with logistics, training and leadership that will have to support about 352,000 Afghan military troops after 2014. To that end, the American advisers are walking a fine line to counsel, but not fix the more sophisticated problems that still plague the Afghan military. Stader recalled when the country's military was a fraction of its current size and had far less tactical skills. Now he recently congratulated his counterpart, Brig. Gen. Dadan Luwang, on a recent successful air assault operation in the western district of Hesarak in Nangarhar Province that involved nearly 200 Afghan troops. "My brigade is getting more capable every day," Luwang said. He is a gregarious former Afghan special forces officer who is leading the 4th Brigade of the 201st Corps, one of the Afghan National Army's newest brigades. Stader and his team of nearly two dozen advisers make daily trips to Luwang's brigade headquarters near Jalalabad to help him plan operations, track the brigade's progress and develop leadership among their young officers and soldiers. Additional advisers from his team are spread throughout the province to assist with the brigade's smaller units. The complex and cultural differences between the two militaries can create friction. The Americans have a very deliberate planning style, but the Afghan brigadier general has different motivations, Stader said. "We are by nature very aggressive," he said. He's concerned about surviving. The majority of U.S. and coalition forces are expected to begin a significant drawdown later this year, leaving Afghan forces in charge of security across the country. Afghanistan is gearing up for a presidential election next spring, and the Taliban have not yet accepted an offer to engage in peace talks in the Gulf state of Qatar. The U.S. troop total is scheduled to drop to about 32,000 by early next year. While there has been no final decision on the size of the post-2014 force, U.S. and NATO leaders say they are considering a range of between 8,000 and 12,000 - most of them trainers and advisers.