CAMP PHOENIX, Afghanistan – All military operations are based on specific timetables, and many such operations are, in fact, time critical. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, Minister of Defense for the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and Gen. John Allen, commander, U.S. Forces – Afghanistan, called for the transition of Afghan national detainees to Afghan authority.
Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435 is responsible for all detainee operations in Afghanistan, and one of the organization’s directorates, the Afghan Detention Corrections Advisory Team, is working hard with the Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan to ensure that the transition is virtually seamless.
That requires periodic updates, assessments and information exchange among all parties, including the Afghan partner force. Such an exchange took place Saturday, June 16, 2012, at the Afghan Ministry of Defense in Kabul.
“We were trying to establish a personnel-fill priority for the newly-formed Afghan National Army Military Police Guard Command,” said Army Maj. Rahsaan Jackson, the ADCAT training officer. “The Afghan Activation Plan, also known as Annex K, is a document that specifies what type of unit is being created.” He went on to explain that the document details manpower requirements by rank, military occupational specialty and quantity in order to build an infrastructure.
“It also establishes a timeline in which those assets will be projected to arrive,” Jackson added. “We’re looking for administrators, logisticians, medical specialists, plumbers, electricians and cooks. We want to fill the unit with support specialties for a group to build and sustain itself,” said Jackson.
“We’re in a rush to get this done by September and we’re also working with Task Force Protector to provide information to Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan and our Afghan National Army partners at the Ministry of Defense Level.”
In addition to the Detention Facility in Parwan, Jackson said the Afghan National Detention Facility at Pol-e-Charkhi and a small element at the Kabul Military Training Center are experiencing a manpower build-up. The latter will be the new home of the academy for detention officers and non-commissioned officers, according to Jackson.
“I thought it was a good meeting in the sense we got to familiarize ourselves with key players at CSTC-A and the MoD,” said Jackson, a native of Lansing, Mich. “This process can take eight to 10 months in the [U.S.], so this is a very ambitious project. We’re growing the guard force at the academy. The types of staffs we’re trying to create are a Garrison Support Unit for Pol-e-Charkhi and Parwan, a brigade staff at Pol-e-Charki, and a division headquarters staff at Parwan.”
Jackson said the growing force will divide from one brigade to two in about three months. This equates to a 3,000-person throughput for the academy, including female ANA soldiers with specialties in visitation coordination and intelligence.
“When we got here, we were adding staff to Pol-e-Charkhi,” said Jackson, who’s been in Afghanistan for nine months. “It took five months to get [qualified] support people in to Pol-e-Charkhi. Now they have their own commanding general. That’s a huge improvement for command and control at that location.”
With a little over two months remaining before the transfer of authority to the Afghan partner force, time is of the essence.
“The ADCAT team is excited to be part of the process,” said Jackson with a smile. “Everybody is responsive and enthusiastic about generating the appropriate personnel and equipment requirements.”
With that looming transfer of authority, the coalition presence in Afghanistan is already dwindling, and with it goes ADCAT.
As Jackson reflected on his time with ADCAT, and the team’s accomplishments, he said, “If this is the last ride for ADCAT, it’s been the highest honor to serve with a cohesive, small team that’s committed to executing CJIATF 435 directives as they pertain to the advising and assisting of our Afghan counterparts.”
| Date Taken: | 06.16.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 07.07.2012 08:35 |
| Story ID: | 91229 |
| Location: | KABUL, AF |
| Web Views: | 292 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, CJIATF 435 meets with Afghan National Army, CSTC-A partners, by CPO Gregory Frazho, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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