President meets Afghan cadets at Sandhurst

KABUL): President Hamid Karzai met Afghan officer cadets at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he saw British Army officer training in action.

The training offered at the recently opened Afghan National Army Officer Academy (ANAOA) outside Kabul is based on that conducted at the British Army’s officer training academy.

Currently on a 5-day visit to the UK, he was welcomed at Sandhurst by a guard provided by representatives of a Gurkha Company, according to a statement from his office.

He also met five Afghan officer cadets who are training at the academy, watching them being put through their paces in the Sandhurst training ground.

On the occasion, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said: “I am delighted to welcome President Karzai to the UK and it’s very fitting that over the course of his visit he has been able to see some of the exceptional military training conducted at Sandhurst…”

A key training institution, the new academy in Kabul demonstrated the UK’s longer-term commitment to Afghanistan beyond the end of the current combat operation, he added.

pr/mud

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