ASPFOR XXXVI - 'Resolute Support'

November 2014. After months of negotiations, Afghanistan and the US sign the Bilateral Security Agreement and the Status of Forces Agreement, which lay the ground for a new mission focused on the training of the Afghan National Army. According to the parameters of the mission, dubbed “Resolute Support”, up to 12,000 NATO soldiers will stay in the country until a date yet to be determined.

“It is not a combat mission, neither is it a continuation of the current mission,” explained Major Ricardo A. Velasco of the Operations Division of the Army General Staff. “It focuses on training, advising and assisting at different levels: government ministries, army, police, logistics centres and Afghan Armed Forces training institutions,” he continued, highlighting that mission HQ, located in Kabul, will include Spanish representatives.

At its launch, the mission will include four other locations. One of them is Herat, where Spain will be in charge of protecting the airport and the “Camp Arena” base – which is where the Spanish medical unit with Role 2 capability deployed in 2005 will continue to be stationed.

“Camp Arena” will host the General Headquarters of the Train, Advise and Assist Command of the Western region (TAAC-W), which will coordinate the activities of the teams of advisors working with the 207th Corps of the Afghan Army. The end date for the mission is yet to be set, but presence in the regions is expected to be gradually reduced until the teams only operate in Kabul.

The 7th Light Infantry Brigade “Galicia” (BRILAT in its Spanish acronym) will assume protection of the Herat base in this new mission. More than 280 soldiers will be performing that task over the next six months as part of a Task Group which also includes members of the Operational Logistic Force. They will be the 36th Spanish contingent in the country, where to date over 20,000 Spanish soldiers have been deployed. That figure shows that Spain is, indeed, “resolutely supporting” Afghanistan.

BRILAT is thus launching the new NATO mission to Afghanistan. Soldiers from the base in the Spanish province of Pontevedra make up the unit which will secure Herat base and airport.

The new mission aims at “providing training, advice and assistance to the Afghan security institutions until they are able to carry out their responsibilities without international support,” according to the communiqué issued by the Spanish Ministry of Defence.