After the Taliban took over Kabul, the lives of many Afghans who supported the United States, NATO and India are now endangered. However, there is also a new problem wherein, 150 soldiers and cadets of the Afghan National Army who were undergoing training in India, now find themselves marooned in this country.
They are not only away from their home-country and families after the collapse of the Afghanistan civilian government and armed forces, but the takeover by the Taliban also means that these cadets – trained at the National Defence Acadamy, Indian Military Acadamy and Officers Training Acadamy – are now facing the prospect of revenge-killing, even though the Islamic terror outfit has given ‘general amnesty’ to all government officials.
However, the defence forces are vulnerable to revenge attacks as they are seen as a threat. The Indian government will have to take a call on whether to send them back after training or wait till the situation in Afghanistan becomes stable. There is also the option of giving them an extended visa to stay in the country for a prolonged time.
“Apart from the cadets at IMA, OTA, and NDA, some Afghan officers and other ranks are also attending specifically-tailored capsule courses for them at different military training establishments in India,” Times of India quoted a source as saying.
Over the years, the Indian armed forces not only supplied military hardware, including four Mi-25 armed helicopters and three light Cheetal choppers, to ANDSF, they also trained thousands of Afghan military personnel in counter-terrorism operations, military field-craft, signals, intelligence-gathering and information technology, among other fields.
Scores have also undergone the “Young Officers’ course” at the Infantry School in Mhow, as well as training at the specialised counter-insurgency and jungle warfare school at Vairengte in Mizoram.
India has been training around 700 to 800 Afghan soldiers per year on short-duration “tailor-made” courses for Afghans at the different Indian military establishments for over a decade now.
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