Afghan National Army Commando Corps

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Commando force of the Afghan army

Military unit

The Afghan National Army Commando Corps (formerly ANA Commando Brigade;[5] ANA Commando Battalion[4]) was a commando force of the Afghan National Army (ANA). During the Taliban insurgency, the commandos comprised 7% of the Afghan National Security Forces but conducted 70% to 80% of the fighting.[6] The unit structure was based on the 75th Ranger Regiment.

After the Fall of Kabul and the collapse of the ANA and Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Commandos have been virtually dissolved.

Selection and training[edit]

The first Commando battalion was formed from existing infantry battalions. In early 2007, a program began to take one conventional infantry kandak (battalion) from each of the regional ANA corps, give them special training and equipment, and reorganize them based on the 75th Ranger Regiment of the United States Army. Each battalion was assigned to one of the six regional corps.

Training was conducted at the Morehead Commando Training Center (Rish Khor camp), a longtime former Afghan Army installation located ten kilometres (six miles) south of Kabul. The camp was reported as being in either Wardak Province or Kabul Province.[8]

The 12-week course ran three separate training programmes for different parts of the nascent unit at the same time. The primary and bulk of the training was geared for the infantry toli (company), with a focus on individual skills and small unit tactics. To support the fighting companies, the Headquarters and Headquarters Toli received other training such as in mortars, medical care, and communications. The third section focused on the kandak staff, and their command and control functions.[9]

The unit recruits from all over Afghanistan from various Afghan Army units, taking in prospective Pashtuns, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek and Turkmen to prevent forms of tribal allegiance and bias.

The first Commando Kandak graduated on July 24, 2007, with Col. Fareed Ahmadi as the kandak commander.[10]
Upon graduation, each Commando Kandak returned to its designated corps area along with an embedded U.S. Army Special Forces A-Team, and began going through an 18-week cycle: six weeks each of train-up, missions and recovery. 3rd Special Forces Group and 7th Special Forces Group rotated responsibility to train and advise in Afghanistan.[11]

While the original International Security Assistance Force plan was for one Brigade with six Kandaks (Battalions), the ANA had originally wanted a full division with three Brigades and 15 Kandaks.[12]

After the fall of Kabul in 2021[edit]

During the 2021 Taliban offensive, 22 Commandos were executed by the Taliban in the Faryab Province after surrendering.[13] While the Taliban were known to show leniency to normal ANA troops, Commandos and Air Force pilots were especially targeted by the Taliban.[14]

Following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, on August 17, 2021, several ANA commandos were reported to be moving to Panjshir, joining the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan.[15][16]

Around 500–600 Afghan troops made up mostly of commandos were reported to have also refused to surrender in Kabul and instead joined up with US forces at Hamid Karzai International Airport, helping them secure the outer perimeter of the airport during the 2021 evacuation from Afghanistan.[17]

Some Afghan commandos were evacuated to the UK. On 1 September 2021, Forbes magazine reported that the United Kingdom was contemplating recruiting such evacuated commandos into the British Army.[18]

In October 2022, the Russian armed forces reportedly started to recruit ex-Afghan commandos to Ukraine.[19] An interview with Major General Kyrylo Budanov confirms sightings of ex-Afghan commandos deployed in Ukraine.[20]

  1. ^ “U.S. Special Forces train Afghans in own image, success could lead to troop withdrawals in region”. NY Daily News. 2010-08-08. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
  2. ^ “Special Operations: Afghans Create A-Teams”. Strategypage.com. 2010-05-23. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
  3. ^ “Former US-Trained Afghan Commandos Recruited by Russia, Iran”.
  4. ^ a b “Afghan National Army update, May 2011 | FDD’s Long War Journal”. www.longwarjournal.org. May 9, 2011.
  5. ^ “Archived copy” (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-07-10. Retrieved 2018-04-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ Cooper, Helene (2017-08-20). “Afghan Forces Are Praised, Despite Still Relying Heavily on U.S. Help”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-09-23.
  7. ^ USA Today, France to withdraw 200 special forces from Afghanistan
  8. ^ US Department of Defense, Gates Visits New Afghan Commando Training Site
  9. ^ Npr.org, New Afghan Commandos Take to the Frontlines
  10. ^ “Afghan commandos emerge – World news – Washington Post | NBC News”. MSNBC. 2008-04-18. Archived from the original on 2008-04-20. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
  11. ^ “ANA Commandos First on the Ground in Marjah | ISAF – International Security Assistance Force”. Isaf.nato.int. Archived from the original on 2013-03-09. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
  12. ^ Anna Coren, Sandi Sidhu, Tim Lister and Abdul Basir Bina (13 July 2021). “Taliban fighters execute 22 Afghan commandos as they try to surrender”. CNN. Retrieved 2021-10-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Stewart, Phil; Ali, Idrees; Shalizi, Hamid (2021-07-09). “Special Report: Afghan pilots assassinated by Taliban as U.S. withdraws”. Reuters. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  14. ^ Hakemy, Sulaiman (August 17, 2021). “Panjshir: The last bastion of anti-Taliban resistance in Afghanistan”. The National. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  15. ^ “After fall of Kabul, resistance to Taliban emerges in Panjshir | FDD’s Long War Journal”. www.longwarjournal.org. 2021-08-18. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
  16. ^ Regencia, Tamila Varshalomidze, Usaid Siddiqui,Ted. “Biden keeps to August 31 deadline for Kabul airlift”. www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
  17. ^ “Afghan Commandos May Join the British Army”. Forbes.
  18. ^ O’Donnell, Lynne. “Russia’s Recruiting Afghan Commandos”. Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  19. ^ “Ex-Afghan Commandos Fighting for Russia in Ukraine: Last Afghan Army Boss (Updated)”. 26 October 2022.

References[edit]

  • Neville, Leigh (2019). The Elite: The A–Z of Modern Special Operations Forces. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1472824295.