"This exercise was a great success and all visitors were strongly impressed by the quality of the job done by the (Afghan) teachers and the students from [Command and General Staff College]," Muller said. Honor graduate for the class, Afghan National Army Col. Esmatullah, praised the hands-on approach to learning practiced at the college and compared it to his earlier military education. "(Previously) we would study but not apply. But here we learned how to prepare and present the operational plan to commanders." As the graduation ceremony ended, approximately 20 graduates and instructors performed the Attan Dance (also known as the Afghan National Dance). The dance is thousands of years old and is performed by soldiers before they start a mission - in this case, serving the people of Afghanistan . Salim said students will benefit from the Command and General Staff College's new organization and was optimistic about the future. "I am very proud of my instructors. It is better for the students to learn from Afghans instead of through interpreters." He explained that the course will remain four months long until all Afghan National Army positions are filled. At that time, the course will be modeled after American military institutions. The culmination of the sixth class was a Command Post Exercise, said French Army Maj. Pascal Muller, Command and General Staff College artillery professor. In the exercise, three Afghan kandaks faced a fictitious enemy force in an Afghan province. The students acted as members of the different cells of the kandak command post (current operations, plans, artillery, engineers and logistics). The students reacted to incidents, reported to the division, proposed solutions and transmitted orders to subordinate units. Expressing his gratitude to the French officers, Afghan National Army Maj. Gen. Gullbahar Salim, Command and General Staff College commander, said, "I am very thankful to the French for teaching our instructors the new tactics. They taught them very well." |