Command Works on Integrated Training for Afghan Forces

By Ian Graham
Emerging Media, Defense Media Activity

July 8, 2010 - NATO Training Mission Afghanistan is developing a system that will help integrate training provided to Afghanistan's security forces and civil servants.

During a "DoD Live" bloggers roundtable yesterday, Army Lt. Col. James Baker, executive officer for the deputy to the commander of the training mission, said an educational system currently being developed in conjunction with the Afghans will help to bridge training gaps that came to light during operations in and around Marja in Afghanistan's Helmand province.

"[The NATO Training Mission] is currently working in collaboration with Afghan leadership and our coalition partners to establish the National Security Education System, which looks to integrate educational opportunities for security forces and ministries directly related to the Afghan national security program," Baker said.

Essentially, the program will be a "cradle-to-grave strategy," beginning with basic and initial specialized skill training for soldiers and police officers and carrying them, in theory, into top-level positions throughout their career cycles.

"As we grow that experience over the spectrum of a career ... we actually promote those people forward based on their merits," Baker said. "[We can] professionalize the force by having a standard that each soldier or policeman has to meet to be accepted for the next level of responsibility."

Having a codified training and advancement system, Baker said, will show young recruits that they can make a lifelong commitment to their country, and that the government will reward them for their effort, not for their political connections.

"We can groom young Afghan commanders and noncommissioned officers; first initially in the tactical art, and grow that leadership into what's needed for operational and strategic leaders," Baker said.

The revamped system also ensures that Army and police leaders have learned and earned their positions the same way new recruits will have to, which will help to provide trust in leadership, he added.

"Corruption has been a challenge here, so we'd like to institutionalize a system where we can get rid of things like nepotism, where you get a job because you're a friend of a friend of a friend," the colonel said. "We'd like to eliminate that and be able to have a standard, where everybody can look across the board and see that the right people are being selected for the right jobs based on the right educational metrics."

Currently, only police officers, soldiers and some members of the Afghan air force are participating in the system via military training, both at the NCO and officer levels. Upon completion, the system will provide education, both in the academic sense and in career development, for Afghan police, soldiers and civil servants.

The idea of giving a certain number of seats in each course of study to soldiers, police and civilians is to create a "cross-fertilization of expertise," Baker said. Each can share unique perspectives and experiences with the others, and all will bring the same basic lessons back to their job, whether it's with the ministry of interior, defense, the National Defense Service, or the Afghan national security forces.

"There was a lack of coordination and understanding between police and army forces in Afghanistan," Baker said. "Along with the Afghans, we wanted to take that apart and build that leadership from the ground up as these gentlemen and ladies come through on the lieutenant, captain, major and colonel levels, so when they get to be strategic leaders, they'll have had shared experiences and be able to cooperate on a national stage."