West Point signs agreement with Afghan Army

By Senior Airman Katie SpencerJanuary 7, 2011

KABUL, Afghanistan- U.S. Military Academy (USMA) at West Point representatives reaffirmed the academy\'s agreement with the National Military Academy of Afghanistan (NMAA) at a signing ceremony, Jan. 5.

Superintendent of USMA, Lt. Gen. David H. Huntoon, Jr., and NMAA commander, Maj.Gen. Shir Mohammad Zazai, signed the declaration of understanding; a symbol of the close relationship between the two academies.

Afghan National Army cadets attend NMAA in the hopes of becoming their country's future ANA officers, similar to that of West Point.

The agreement calls for NMAA to develop a strong military program modeled after the USMA. It states that the USMA will provide support to NMAA for mentoring the cadets, curriculum overview and overall assistance to the institution.

"Mutual respect is central to this letter of understanding," said Huntoon. "We are partners today in this very important struggle and are forging this partnership in the most fundamental way. NMAA is vital to our commonly shared values to the future success of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan."

The declaration of understanding also encompasses a cadet exchange program.

The program allows NMAA cadets and staff to deploy to West Point to learn about the military's role in a democratic society as well as U.S. military ethics. In addition, the USMA cadets would go to NMAA to gain a greater understanding of Southwest Asian culture and build meaningful relationships with the future leaders of the Afghan National Army.

"We train future officers and we train future leaders because these officers and leaders will help to make our Afghan National Army stronger," said Zazai. "We have a lot of responsibility for promoting them for leadership purposes and this agreement shows that we will fulfill these responsibilities together."

This relationship between the two institutions has been on-going since 2003 with the first graduating class in 2009. Both parties are dedicated to sustain this agreement in hopes that the NMAA will produce officers who will go on to support and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

"This commitment is solid, sincere and holds the greatest regard for your leadership of this national treasure," said Huntoon.