Afghan national army air corps commander travels to AETC

  • Published
  • By Ashley M. Wright
  • Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) --  The commander of the Afghan national army air corps visited Air Education and Training Command here in July to strengthen the training partnerships between the two air forces.

"The primary reason for coming here is trying to learn from the experience of AETC in the areas of recruiting pilots and training them," Afghan national army air corps Maj. Gen. Mohammad Dawran said through an interpreter. 

"We were working with our colleagues in trying to find a robust training program, and we were trying to create a training program for our Afghan national army air corps," he said. 

Establishing a training path began two years ago with a "fact finding mission" to AETC. Since that initial partnership was formed, the Defense Language Institute English Language Center at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, established courses in Afghanistan, and a small scale training program onsite in Kabul was also created, General Dawran said.

In addition, nearly 60 Afghan pilots are receiving English language training in the United States at DLI, and the first Afghan student in more than 50 years earned his pilot wings after completing the Aviation Leadership Program in June at Columbus AFB, Miss.

"In the past two years, we have chosen a path," the general said. "We are on the right path, but there are obstacles to overcome."

During the AETC portion of the general's visit, General Dawran wished to look at current and future security assistance and cooperation training between the two air forces, improve Afghan interoperability and enhance training for his security forces and medical personnel, said Paul Bigelow, the AETC Foreign Disclosure Office chief. The general's trip to AETC was one of several visits to U.S. Air Force installations under the Chief of Staff's Counterpart Visit Program. While in San Antonio, the general was also able to visit some of the students training at DLI.

One of those obstacles the ANAAC must overcome includes working on different aircraft systems, General Dawran explained.

"We were trained previously on a different system (consisting of Soviet-style technology)," he said. "Our training and operations are trying to transition from that into a NATO-compatible method and process."

Currently, the ANAAC consists of 36 aircraft in various conditions, the general said. MI-17 helicopters and AN-32 planes comprise most of the aircraft fleet.

The makeup of the air corps itself resembles that of the nation it protects.

"Right now, the composition of all the Afghan national armed forces is like a mirror of all ethnic groups in Afghanistan," General Dawran said. "All ethnic groups in Afghanistan are participating, and we are trying to keep the balance in our armed forces. The Afghan national army, which the Afghan national army air corps is a portion of, has given a lot of thought to this and has tried to have representation of all ethnic and religious groups. We would like to serve Afghanistan as a whole. "

The ANAAC fills a variety of roles in serving Afghanistan as a whole, the general said. These roles include providing presidential airlift capabilities, logistic support and transport of the armed forces of Afghanistan and other organizations in Afghanistan, air transport for humanitarian efforts in case of a natural disaster, air support and air cover for armed forces on the battlefield and security for the ANAAC's aircraft.

General Dawran said he views partnerships like the one with AETC as instrumental to the success Afghanistan has had after three decades of civil war and the defeat of terrorism. Partnerships with the United States has lead to construction projects, acquisition of new technologies and spare parts for airplanes and training of pilots.

"Without assistance from our coalition partners and international partners, we would not be able to achieve what we have achieved," he said. "The Afghan nation wants to be self sufficient and stand on their own feet eventually and not require such sustained assistance from our international partners. For the time being, we need international partners to assist in the development in the Afghan national air corps."

Mr. Bigelow said the visit was "very productive" for both parties as AETC gained firsthand, customer feedback.

"It is always good to receive feedback from your costumers, and he is one of them," Mr. Bigelow said. "It is also a great opportunity for the air chief to see the people who are working directly on his case. We were able to showcase a lot of the training capabilities that we have here and were able to highlight some solutions, not necessarily high tech solutions, but practical and easy-to-implement solutions to some of the challenges he is facing."

A motto is used in Afghanistan to sum up cooperative spirit when working with such close partners like the United States and the Air Force: "one team, one goal," General Dawran said.

The motto will continue to come into play as both the Air Force and Afghan army air corps encounter what General Dawran said he feels is the region's greatest threat.

"The biggest challenge facing the region and the world is terrorism," General Dawran said. "This requires joint cooperation in the region as well as global cooperation because terrorism does not recognize set borders, or ethnicity or religion."

AETC will be directly engaged in assisting the ANAAC with combating security threats.

"We can provide first class training for the Afghan national army air corps security forces and that is just one of many areas we are actively engaged in as we help them build their air corps," Mr. Bigelow said.

The continued partnerships with the global community will provide assistance as the ANAAC strives toward its goal.

"Based on our national defense military strategy, we would like to enhance our capabilities so we would be able to defend democracy in Afghanistan, provide peace and security for our nation's citizens and try to provide services to the Afghan nation so they can move on toward upward mobility and development," General Dawran said. "So we can live in a peaceful co-existence with our neighbors with mutual respect for each other and cooperation. At a higher level, we can be good partners for the international and global community."