The deployment of the Expeditionary Advisory Package (EAP), composed of more than 100 Italian Train, Advise and Assist Command West advisors, ended up in recent days, with an important shura within the base of the Afghan Security Forces in Farah. alpine brigade base Taurinense.
For about ten days, the Italian military provided advice and assistance for the organizational and conduct phase of the "Khalid" - an operation decided by the government of Kabul to repel and eliminate the threat of terrorist formations present in an area considered crucial for the defense of the entire western region.
In this perspective, the external activity of the Train, Advise and Assist (TAA) in favor of the 2ª brigade of the 207˚ army corps of the Afghan Army and of the units of the 606 ° Police Command of the area, represented for the Italian contingent - thanks to the great experience acquired over the years and the specific professional skills acquired during the preparation of the mission - the culmination of years of work and training carried out in synergy with the local counterparts, for which the experience of the Army advisors allowed the raising of operating standards.
During the shura, the governor of the province of Farah thanked the TAAC West staff for the support provided, adding that: "It was an operation that involved both Army and Police units and managed to put the enemies of Afghanistan to flight, freeing the village of Garjgin, whose population was able to welcome the arrival of the our soldiers".
Among the results achieved, the commander of the 2nd brigade, protagonist of the conduct of the operation together with the police units, underlined how the activity, which allowed the elimination of numerous terrorist cells and unhinged their command lines, did not caused any harm to the population and there were no casualties among the Afghan military; in addition, a large amount of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) - one of the worst threats to civilians - was defused by teams of specialists trained a few months ago by Italian trainers.
"It is important that the Afghan Security Forces have increased their ability to train and develop their units by ensuring that local authorities are able, as quickly as possible, to maintain security without the need for international assistance.", was the comment of General Biagini - the commander of TAAC W - at the end of the shura.
During the deployment of the TAAC-W in Farah, numerous helicopters of the Italian Army Aviation were engaged - both NH90 for transporting the teams, and A129 "Mangusta" for flight safety - together with the use of an aircraft by C-130 transport of the US Air Forces, which allowed the Alpine troops of the 2 ° regiment of the Taurinense brigade, to be able to quickly prepare the necessary security measures for the defense of the advanced base "Dimonios" in which the TAAC-W advisors were located .
The Expeditionary Advisory Package (EAP) was planned by the TAAC-W according to the cardinal principles of the Security Force Assistance (SFA) and has not seen any use of Italian military personnel in kinetic operations.
Security Force Assistance (SFA) is the complex of activities aimed at facilitating or improving, also through direct support, the sustainable development of Local Security Forces (LSF) and the institutions associated with them in crisis areas.
