Seven soldiers of the Afghanistan National Army (ANA) successfully completed their integrated army training programme at the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai on November 20. But when these Afghan soldiers passed out of OTA, they were uncertain about their future and their role as uncertain is the future of their country.
153 Cadets got commissioned as Officers after completing their training at Officers Training Academy (OTA), Chennai in the Passing out Parade held today. Parade was reviewed by Lt Gen CP Mohanty,Vice Chief of Army Staff. 25 Foreign Cadets also passed out today. @artrac_ia @adgpi pic.twitter.com/KnZ3yRWqCA
— Defence PRO Chennai (@Def_PRO_Chennai) November 20, 2021
A total of 153 cadets got commissioned as Officers after completing their training at OTA out of which 25 are foreign cadets from Afghanistan, Bhutan and Maldives. The parade was reviewed by Lt Gen CP Mohanty, Vice Chief of Army Staff.
Afghani cadets worried about future in Taliban ruled Afghanistan
During the passing out ceremony, they were proudly wearing ANA uniforms and greeted their Indian friends and took pictures. Now they are set to reach Delhi where they will meet officials at the Afghanistan Embassy for further direction. But they are not sure how to get back and what would happen if they go back to Afghanistan. The Indian government may ask them whether they wanted to return to Afghanistan else their visa will be extended.
About 11 months back they had joined OTA with a dream to serve their nation as an army officer. When they were receiving training in India, the Islamist outfit, Taliban captured Afghanistan in mid of August and President Ashraf Ghani fled Kabul.
While Afghanistan has drifted to anarchy and there is a civil war-like situation these trained soldiers are uncertain about their future. This is not the case with only seven cadets of the Afghan army. India has been training a large number of Afghan cadets. Among foreign cadets, the number of Afghanis has been the maximum. For instance, during the passing out of foreign cadets at Indian Military Academy in Dehradun, in June 43 out of 84 were Afghanis.
Currently, as many as 80 Afghan cadets are receiving training at Indian Military Academy. Earlier this year a group of 20 women officers from the Afghanistan National Army received six weeks of training at OTA. That was the fourth batch of women officers who received training here.
India provided military training to Afghanistan
These seven cadets are likely to be the last batch of ANA having received training in military schools in India since the Indian government has not recognised the Taliban regime. But India greatly helped Afghanistan in military training and infrastructure.
India has trained thousands of Afghani security personnel in counter-terrorism, jungle warfare, signals, intelligence gathering, information technology besides other tailored capsule courses. On average 700 to 800 Aghan soldiers used to receive training at various military establishments in India including OTA, IMA and National Defence Academy at Khadakwasla (Pune), Vairengte (Mizoram) among others.
In fact, the army chief of Afghanistan Lt. Gen. Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai was scheduled his three days visit of India on July 27 to seek more cooperation from the Indian army to train his army. But he postponed his visit in the wake of the attack by the Taliban.
