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Nations, Impacts and Contributions

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

What is it?

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Nations, Impacts and Contributions (NIC) program highlights the contributions of 50 nations that provided support to Afghanistan from 2003-2014. The NIC campaign culminates in the ISAF transition to Resolute Support, which is the ISAF coalition’s post-2014 mission to train, advise, and assist Afghan security force partners.

The NIC plan uses social media to highlight the contributions and commitment to Afghanistan of the more than 50 troop contributing nations. Started in mid-October, each country has had a single day when ISAF focused on the country’s contributions and achievements to the mission. United States contributions to the mission are featured on Dec. 23.

What has the Army done?

Since August 2003, the U.S. Army contributed units and individual Soldiers to support U.S. commitments to the NATO-led ISAF coalition. Contributions include:

  • – Corps headquarters to form the nucleus of the ISAF joint command (IJC)
  • – Division headquarters for the regional commands

Multiple brigade combat teams (BCTs) to support combat and training requirements; and the majority of rotary-winged support for the entire country.

The Army also provided numerous key leaders, to include five of the seventeen ISAF commanders and numerous key staff positions.

What efforts does the Army plan to continue in the future?

As the NATO combat mission (ISAF) ends in December 2014, the Army will contribute to the NATO train, advise and assist mission called Resolute Support. Instead of providing forces for division-level regional commands, there will be train, advise and assist commands (TAAC) built to support Afghan National Army Corps-level headquarters. These advisory teams will be built around BCTs and led by a brigadier general. The 1st Cavalry Division stood up TAAC-South in Kandahar in October and 3rd Infantry Division took over TAAC-East in Gamberi in November. Soldiers will no longer patroI with Afghan security forces but instead focus on their institutional development, including logistics, intelligence, and air/indirect fire support integration. In addition, the 3rd Infantry Division headquarters took over Title 10 responsibilities as the headquarters for United States Forces-Afghanistan earlier this month.

Why is this important to the Army?

Many label Afghanistan as the “Forgotten War.” As the U.S. Army combat mission transitions to a train-advise-assist mission, it is important to reflect on contributions in Afghanistan. Nations-Impacts and Contributions program helps feature U.S. Army participation in this international effort over the past 13-years, and how it has helped make a difference in the lives of the Afghan people.

Resources:

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