The NATO Training Mission - Afghanistan (NTM-A) was activated over the weekend with the raising of the NATO flag over Camp Eggers in Kabul. While the NATO announcement of the activation states that the mission is beginning less than nine months after the alliance's last summit in Strasbourg/Kehl in April decided on its establishment, it has in fact been delayed by at least a month, with Anders Fogh Rasmussen having said shortly after becoming NATO Secretary General in the autumn that it would stand up by the end of last month. The NATO announcement also incorrectly states that the NTM-A will merge with the US-led Combined Security Transition Command (CSTC-A), while going on to correctly refer to Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell, IV, as the new commander of the NTM-A and CSTC-A (he is in fact dual-hatted).
The announcement states that the NTM-A will add "much needed emphasis on training the Afghan National Police" (ANP). The NTMA is responsible for high-level military training, police training, supporting the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the ANP in the field and providing equipment. ANA training is six years ahead of the ANP, according to the previous CSTC-A commander, Gen. Richard P. Formica.
The ANP currently numbers 92,000 and the ANA 94,000. The original plan of increasing the strength of the ANA to 134,000 and of the ANP to 96,800 by 2013 has been accelerated to the end of October 2010. The McChrystal report recommends even greater growth by 2013 to 240,000 ANA and 160,000 ANP.
The NTM-A will provide institutional development at the ministerial level and above the corps level for the air corps, in force generation and logistics, and at the national military hospital, officer and professional development schools, and national military academy, while the CSTC-A is providing operational training and is developing a field force at the corps level for the ANA and at the regional level for the ANP.
