June 20, 2013
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Description
The Afghan National Army is the main branch of the military of Afghanistan, which is responsible for land-based military operations and ground warfare to defend the state against foreign military incursions. It is under the Ministry of Defense in Kabul and is being trained by NATO alliance. The ANA is divided into six regional Corps, with the 201st in Kabul followed by the 203rd in Gardez, 205th in Kandahar, 207th in Herat, 209th in Mazar-i-Sharif and the 215th in Lashkar Gah. The current Chief of Staff of the Afghan National Army is Lt. Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi.
Afghanistan's army traces its roots to the early 18th-century when the Hotaki dynasty was established in Kandahar followed by Ahmad Shah Durrani's rise to power. It was reorganized in 1880 during Emir Abdur Rahman Khan's reign. Afghanistan remained neutral during World War I and World War II. From the 1960s to the early 1990s, the Afghan army was equipped by the Soviet Union. After the collapse of Najibullah's regime in 1992, the army fragmented into militias under various regional warlords. This was followed by the Taliban government in the mid-1990s, which was minimally supported by the Pakistan Armed Forces. After the end of the Taliban rule in late 2001, the Afghan National Army was built by ISAF under NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan.
(via Freebase)
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![Many Afghan regions remain at the mercy of warlords [BBC Arabic, UK]](/images/image_cache/base-14406000/14406578/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=bcac02ae96849dd9697734fa489cb07c)
![Taliban claims responsibility for deadly attack on joint Afghan-NATO convoy [Al Jazeera, Qatar]](/images/image_cache/base-11420000/11420799/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=6300e6b38c447c18bd7c7049c104f898 "Reuters/Anwarullah")
![Female suicide bomber kills 12 in Kabul over anti-Islam film [BBC Arabic, UK]](/images/image_cache/base-10656000/10656228/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=ece781f07c5fcb52573bc58adfbdc344)
