New Zealand holds two positions within the British Training Team (UK ANATT), they are:
- Chief Instructor or Mentor for Afghan National Army (ANA) Senior Sergeants course, and
- Chief Internal Validation for Non Commissioned Officers (NCO) School
Countries Involved in Training the ANA
- USA is responsible for Recruit training
- France is responsible for Officer training
- UK is responsible for NCO training
Instructing/Mentoring the Afghan National Army
The UK Afghan National Army Training Team (UK ANATT) is a small band of highly determined individual’s charged with mentoring of the Afghan NCOs.
They are responsible for the training of Junior NCOs, Platoon Sgts and the Warrant Officers. For the soldiers who complete this training they then take up positions within deployed Battalions (known as Kandacks).
The New Zealander's are a small yet significant cog in the American led Training and Advisory Group (TAG) set up to produce the required standard and numbers for the Afghan National Army.
Their main task is to mentor the Afghan National Army Instructors who work at the Kabul Military Training Centre (KMTC). At any one time the UK ANATT will be mentoring on approximately seven courses, with 90 Afghan Instructors and some 700 soldiers under instruction.
The main effort of the UK ANATT lies with improving the quality of the Afghan Instructors in the NCO School. As a mentor, lessons are supervised where possible and the instructors de-briefed as appropriate. The training phases consist of various military training exercises and activities for the ANA. Such activities include a march-and-shoot competition and live fire training.
Working with Americans, British, Canadians, and French provides another opportunity to learn and share knowledge and experience with our Coalition partners and the people of Afghanistan.