Photo By Capt. Monika Comeaux | Distinguished visitors attending the German Armed Forces Training and Advisory...... read more read more
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KABUL, Afghanistan - The German Armed Forces Technical Advisory Group celebrated its 10th anniversary during a colorful ceremony Nov. 17 at Camp Warehouse.
During the ceremony the group also said farewell to its current commander, German army Col. Thomas Andreas Heinrich, and welcomed the deputy commander, German army Lt. Col. Michael Gierse, as the new commander.
Heinrich greeted all the representatives of current and former nations supporting the GAFTAG mission, including Hungary, Italy, Belgium, France, Croatia, Portugal and, of course, Germany. He also expressed a warm welcome to the Afghan National Army attending the event, to include ANA Maj. Gen. Bagib, the commander of the ANA Training and Education Command, ANA Brig. Gen. Fazel, the former commander of the GAFTAG-mentored Combat Service Support School and the current school commander, ANA Col. Parwiz.
“After decades of war and civil war, the Afghan people took for more than 10 years all efforts to build a nation that will allow a life in proper societal and economical circumstances, but especially a life in safety,” said Heinrich.
He continued by highlighting important dates and events that contributed to what is GAFTAG today. In 2001, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization began supporting the Afghan government and Germany wanted its share in it. Therefore, on Aug. 27, 2002, Germany signed an agreement with the Afghan Ministry of Defense, initially aiming to support the building and operations of a maintenance facility at a former repair site in Kabul, called "Riasate Motrdar." On Nov. 3, 2002, a small team of five German soldiers started as the German Armed Forces Technical Advisory Group, Heinrich explained.
The motto “Afghans train Afghans from the very beginning” was born and stayed to be the major guiding principle of GAFTAG until today, Heinrich said.
“In 2005, the extension to driver education took place and ‘Riasate Motrdar’ was renamed to ‘Driver and Mechanics School,’ which in 2007 was subordinated to the newly established ANA Training Command,” continued Heinrich.
Shortly after this, the decision was made to establish a logistics school and focus on core logistics functions like supplies, ammunition, fuel food and transportation management, said Heinrich. Germany committed itself to support the additional tasks of the school from 2008 to 2012. GAFTAG became multinational with the addition of French mentors in 2008, and in the following years with the other contributing nations stepping in, the number of mentors peaked at nearly 100 at times.
“This multinationality has proven to be a strong enrichment for the execution of its tasks and its second guiding principle became the motto ‘One team, one mission,’” said Heinrich.
Because of the required close coordination with the International Security Assistance Forces, GAFTAG became a part of Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan and today falls under NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan, Heinrich said.
“The GAFTAG project of 2002 transferred from a ‘car repair station’ to the biggest branch school of ANA who also has the broadest range of courses to offer … its output is already remarkable: almost 11,000 students from corporal to colonel were trained since April 2009,” said Heinrich.
In 2011, the tasks of financial management and human resources management training for the ANA and Afghan National Police were added to the school’s repertoire.
ANA Col. Parwiz, the school commandant, has also touched on some remarkable statistics in the development of the CSS school under GAFTAG’s mentorship. The school started with 14 courses and was three times extended, first to 24 courses, then to 42 courses at the last phase “with the cooperation and support of all GAFTAG nations, the number of courses will rise to 58.”
Heinrich said that the school is in a stage where “mentoring will change to monitoring” soon. This cautious withdrawal will also be accompanied by a reduction in the number of mentors.
Progress and development will continue. The school is also getting new sites at Pol-e-Charki, said Parwiz. “This will give an immense push to the further development of the CSS school,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 11.17.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 11.19.2012 00:28 |
| Story ID: | 98074 |
| Location: | KABUL, AF |
| Web Views: | 485 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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