ASPFOR XIX

On 4 March 2008 a new Spanish force made up of over 450 service personnel arrived in Afghanistan. Most of its troops come from the Legion Brigade “Rey Alfonso XIII” (Almería), mainly from the 3rd Legionnaire Regiment “Juan de Austria”, but it also includes soldiers from the Army Helicopter Force and the 22nd Logistics Support Group in Granada.

ASPFOR XX, which is under the command of Colonel Pedro Pérez García, assumed control of its area of responsibility on 12 March. It took over from the previous Task Force, made up of personnel from Canary Islands Troop Command HQ. The transfer of authority ceremony was presided over by Brigadier General Luis Feliú Bernárdez, Spanish senior commander in Kabul, and by Major General Fausto Macor, commander of the International Security and Assistance Force, Regional Command-West (ISAF RC-W).

Task Force ASPFOR XIX is organised in two main blocks:

Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT)

Based in Qala-i-Naw in Badghis province, it is composed of several units, all of them necessary to fulfil its mission: support and security, civil-military cooperation, air traffic support, logistics, medical support, signals… As well as those specific to disseminating government messages and activities throughout the province.

Forward Support Base (FSB)

The Quick Reaction Unit, the Army Helicopter Unit and the Logistic Support Unit are all stationed in this base, located in Herat province. They are under the command of the Regional Area Coordinator-West (RAC-W).

The troops which make up ASPFOR XIX will remain in Badghis for four months. The Provincial Reconstruction Team’s mission is to contribute to providing a secure and stable environment in the province in order to permit its reconstruction.

The Multinational Manoeuvre Battalion, characterised by its great tactical mobility, reports to the International Security Assistance Force and is charged with responding to attacks against any of the four Provincial Reconstruction Teams in the provinces of Chaghcharan (led by Lithuania), Herat (Italy), Farah (US) and Badghis (Spain).

The task of the Logistic Support Unit is the procurement, management and maintenance of all the logistic resources needed to carry out the Force’s mission.