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US to train newly formed Afghan army

The United States military will start training the newly formed Afghanistan army within four to six weeks, the Pentagon has announced.

"The programme envisages training cycles of approximately 10 weeks in duration and will be led by 125 to 150 US army special forces soldiers," a Pentagon release quoted Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld as saying.

"The training will emphasize on basic soldier skills at the beginning of each training cycle and then progress to mastering more complex tasks and collective training at the squad, platoon, company and battalion level followed by individual training," the release said.

A 'Train the Trainer' programme aimed at training a cadre of Afghan officers and non-commissioned officers, who will eventually assume training responsibilities from the US-led training task force, will also be implemented.

In February, Gen Tommy Franks, commander-in-chief of the US central command, sent a 15 member assessment team, led by Maj Gen Charles Campbell, into Afghanistan to meet with key Afghan Interim Authority (AIA) leaders in a bid to assess the requirements for establishing, training and sustaining a national army.

The assessment was a collaborative effort with the Afghan military and involved high level discussions with interim Chairman Hamid Karzai and Minister of Defence Fahim Khan.

PTI

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