‘By f-Pak1stHands’ Begin Immersion Training
AArmy Sgt. Class Matthew Chlosta, International Security Assistance Force
American Forces Press Service
CAMP JULIEN, Afghanistan –
The first class of U.S. military
servicemembers and civilians in the
new “Af-Pak Hands” program arrived
April 24 in Kabul to continue training
at the Counterinsurgency Training
Academy Afghanistan.
International Security Assistance
Force officials are using the program
in an effort to build better long-term
relationships with the Afghan and
Pakistani people, governments and
militaries.
Af-Pak Hands is a new, “all-in”
language and cultural immersion
initiative developed last summer and
stood up in the fall by Navy Adm. Mike
Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff. The program is billed as a new
way to build trust with the military and
local populations in both Afghanistan
and Pakistan.
In Afghanistan, Af-Pak Hands will
help ISAF accelerate the continual
transition of more responsibility to the
country’s government and security forces.
“It is a positive change to the way
we do business here,” said Air Force
Master Sgt. Irene Mason, an engineer
and a member of the 1st Af-Pak Hands
Cohort, “because the Afghans value
personal relationships.”
The Afghan army officers who
attended counterinsurgency training
with the first class of Af-Pak Hands
were excited and surprised to hear
Americans speaking to them in their
native language.
“They know Dari and the Pashto,
and we like that,” 1st Lt. Ayamuden
Sherzai of the Afghan army said. “I saw
the coalition partners speaking Pashto
[and] Dari. I was excited they were
speaking our language.
“Without an interpreter or
translator, they can solve the problem
by themselves,” Sherzai continued.
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“They can contact the [Afghan security
forces] themselves.”
The Afghan people don’t expect
coalition forces to want to speak their
language, noted Army Maj. Geoff Kent,
a project coordinator for Af-Pak Hands
at the Pentagon.
“The moment that they have that
first interaction with an Af-Pak Hand,”
he said, “the moment that someone
speaks to them in their language and
asks them about their family, the light
bulbs are all going to come on, and
it’s not just going to come on for the
Afghan; it’s going to come on for that
Af-Pak Hand, and [they] are going
to realize, right then and there, the
importance of what they are doing.”
Af-Pak Hands is a group of experts
specifically trained to become experts in
the Afghan and Pakistani cultures, Kent
explained. “These are the folks that are
going to build relationships,” he said.
“These are the people that the Afghans
are going to want to go to when they’ve
got a problem, where they want to
discuss an issue.”
The first wave of 33 Af-Pak
members completed an intensive
17-week Defense Language Institute
course in Dari or Pashto in Arlington,
Va., from October to March, and
then service-specific pre-deployment
training before their arrival in Kabul
on April 24. Besides their language
and counterinsurgency training, each
Af-Pak Hands servicemember brings
specific skill sets, including expertise in
governance, engineering, intelligence,
finance and force protection. They’re
also going to be assigned as mentors to
government and military officials.
“They’re going to be placed in
strategic positions where they can make
an immediate impact,” Kent said.
The Af-Pak Hands cohorts
completed the week-long
Counterinsurgency Leadership
Course at the Counterinsurgency
Training Academy on April 29
and are now in four more weeks of
immersion training with their Afghan
government and security forces
counterparts, including members of
the ministries of Defense and Rural
Rehabilitation and Development,
as well as nongovernmental
organizations. The Af-Pak Hands