Two stories illustrating the training being done by the Afghans themselves as they assume greater responsibility for maintaining their country's security from terrorists.
COIN training being taught by Afghans in southern Afghanistan
Story by Master Sgt. Paul Hughes NATO training Mission AFG
11.27.2011
TARIN KOWT, Afghanistan – A dozen Afghan National Policemen stand in front of the room. They all wear signs with strings around the backs of their necks. One says “ANP,” another says “Coalition Forces,” another, “Tribal Leaders.” Each sign – with writing in English, Dari and Pashtu - indicates a different group of individuals.
The sign-wearing exercise is part of counterinsurgency, or COIN training, taught by a mobile training team of experts.
An Afghan National Policeman listens closely as he takes part in an interactive exercise during counterinsurgency training at the Regional Training Center, July 15, in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The scenario is designed to show who the insurgents are, reasons that led to the insurgency and how the insurgents develop support from the people.
“The MTT uses practical and interactive methods of instruction to engage [Afghan National Security Force] audiences and promote comprehension and retention through hands-on and verbal means,” said Royal Australian Regiment Capt. James Coltheart, lead COIN adviser for Mobile Training Team-South.
“One of our key classes is the Afghan COIN interactive presentation that uses class members as props and actors to physically demonstrate scenarios,” said Coltheart.
The scenarios are designed to show who the insurgents are, reasons that led to the insurgency, how the insurgents develop support from the people, how poor practices by security forces and the government can generate support for insurgents, and what counterinsurgents can and are doing to win the support of populations.
Coalition forces and civilians provide advice and guidance, but members of the Afghan National Security Force are instructing the courses.
“The main emphasis is now on transition,” said Coltheart.
When ANA instructor Col. Abdul Rahim teaches his fellow soldiers, he knows he’s providing instruction for more than just the men in the room.
“I am pleased to know all of the leaders will go out and then train other soldiers on counterinsurgency,” said Rahim.
Coltheart says Rahim and another ANA instructor, Capt. Abdul Mafooz, are fully competent to provide lessons without assistance.
“This training is very much Afghan delivered,” said Coltheart.
“All of the training, except for a couple of modules, which are handled by subject matter experts, is taught by ANA soldiers.”
The training is tailored to audience requirements and varies from single class sessions to four-day COIN fundamentals courses.
“Typically, the team spends half or one day running basic COIN training for soldiers, police and junior leaders that aims to support professionalization of the ANSF by introducing common COIN language, explaining basic COIN concepts and facilitating professional discussion aimed at better understanding the operating environment and developing a COIN mindset,” said Coltheart.
The team conducts training on all of the Afghan National Army and police training institutions in Regional Command-South and has trained patrolmen and soldiers in all of the southern provinces of Kandahar, Zabol, Uruzgan and Daikondi.
Anywhere from 10 to 60 students attend each course, but Coltheart says they prefer classes of 20 to 50 students to enable effective interaction, comprehension and retention.
The training blocks are tailored for audience requirements, but the team generally discusses COIN within the context of individual and collective actions of populations, insurgents and counterinsurgents.
“Often coalition forces seem to relate to COIN as part of some mystical debating competition for military intellectuals, or vague clutter on a brigade mission statement; however, the Afghan experience of insurgency is rooted in the violence, lawlessness and disorder that has characterized generations since 1979,” said Coltheart.
“If we seek to understand what is happening in Afghanistan from the perspective of the numerous pervasive insurgencies across the country, then as part of professionalizing security forces and government, we have an obligation and a need to discuss why and how this happens in order to promote an understanding of what we, as a force for good in Afghanistan, can do about it.
“COIN training is important at all levels across [the] ANSF in order to promote a mindset that understands the individual and collective obligation of soldiers and police to protect and build relationships with people as the key to mission success,” he said.
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Afghan MP brigade holds first ever command conference
Story by Staff Sgt. Amanda Dick *CJIATF 435
11.29.2011
PARWAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan - About 70 members of the 6th Afghanistan National Army Military Police Guard Force, or Brigade, took part in a command conference here Nov. 21 and 22.
The conference focused on several topics including leadership, planning, training management, respect for others, education, religious duty, professional ethics, problem solving and decision making.
Two members of the Afghan National Army look over the practical exercise scenario during the 6th ANA Military Police Guard Force's command conference, Nov. 21, Parwan province, Afghanistan. The scenario helped foster teamwork and communication skills between the 70 conference attendees. (Courtesy photo)
Members of the Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435 Afghan Detention and Corrections Assessment Team were also on hand to support the ANA.
Day one provided the 6th ANA MP Brigade commander, Brig. Gen. Safiullah, the chance to talk to his company and kandak (battalion) commanders about his vision, highlighting education.
“There is always time for education. We are like a baby who is learning to walk. After we fall a few times, we will learn to walk on our own, so that one day we will be able to stand without help from our American friends. We must be able to take the lead,” he said.
Participants were introduced to Ministry of Defense guidance that governs them, learning about the information that applied to the MP brigade. They also discussed the unit’s mission essential task list, a document which combines the most important tasks a unit needs to train on during the year.
Safiullah also gave his leaders an overview of the Tashkil, the list which outlines what kind of manning and equipment requirements it would take to keep the brigade functioning.
Near the end of the day, the group held an open discussion about issues currently facing the ANA MP brigade, discussing possible causes and determining some solutions. Such self-generated problem solving is crucial, according to one ADCAT officer.
“It doesn’t do us any good to give the Afghans a solution, because we don’t see it from their perspective,” said U.S. Army Maj. Rahsaan Jackson, ADCAT training officer. “Junior leaders gave their insight on how to not only curb the issues, but to plan and create more effective operating procedures for the future in areas such as leave management, respectful treatment of the soldiers, the ANA-level recruiting policy and developing stronger ties with the MoD.”
Day two of the conference provided the groundwork for applying what had been learned the previous day. Each kandak split into their group and devised their kandak’s annual guidance and training calendars, which was briefed at the end of the day to the commander.
To help build teamwork and communication skills, Jackson said he came up with a practical exercise scenario that simulated an attack on an Afghan National Detention Facility. Attendees were put into two teams – one developing a defensive plan and one an attack plan based on the scenario – and worked throughout the conference on their strategies.
Several times during the exercise, Safiullah imparted small bits of wisdom such as the importance of flexibility, following procedures – especially in the area of searching for people – and training to engage an enemy.
ANA Lt. Col. Najibullah, commander of the 1st Kandak, also explained, “The role of intelligence in preparing prisons for attack by disseminating information in a timely manner is important.”
After both groups briefed Safiullah on their respective strategies, Col. Sheardel, 6th ANA MP Brigade cultural and religious affairs director, emphasized even though the scenario threat was challenging, it was also a realistic threat – one they faced on a daily basis. Sheardel implored the attendees to remain vigilant, because it was their “religious, personal and national duty to do so.”
Jackson said the conference was a collective effort between ADCAT and TF Protector here to provide a product the ANA would be able to continue doing on their own.
“It will build team cohesion within the brigade … instead of thinking of themselves as individual kandaks not part of a bigger group, conferences will reinforce the fact they are one unit, one family,” he said. “It will also allow the commander an opportunity to state his priorities throughout the year, sharpening their planning and training management.”
During the year, several conferences are scheduled that will focus on personnel, logistics, legal matters and other topics, according to the ADCAT training officer. The next conference is scheduled to take place around March.
Headquartered at Camp Phoenix in Kabul, Afghanistan, CJIATF 435 partners with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and U.S. interagency and international partners to conduct operations in detention, corrections, judicial and biometrics in order to transition detention operations to Afghan control and promote Rule of Law.
*CJIATF 435 includes U.S. service members from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, as well as coalition partners and civilian members from the following agencies: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan.
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