Seven members of the Afghan National Army Air Force have graduated from the first basic intelligence course run by the Combined Air Power Transition Force for the fledgling Afghan air arm. The four-month course began in January at the ANAAF base in Kabul. The seven Afghan airmen, who completed the course on July 21, underwent 210 hours of classroom instruction. The training was designed to teach them how to provide intelligence to air operations in the dynamic environment of a counterinsurgency campaign, contribute to operations with the US and NATO coalition, and protect and utilize classified information. The class was taught both in English and Dari. Three US Air Force non-commissioned officers serving with CAPTF designed the course. The graduation was another milestone in CAPTF’s efforts to help build a capable and independent Afghan air force. (Kabul report by Capt. Rob Leese)
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…