ASPFOR XXI

From 5 November 2008 there is a new Spanish contingent in Afghanistan: ASPFOR XXI. It is made up of nearly 400 service personnel, most of them from the Mountain Troops Headquarters based in Jaca. Supporting them are troops from the 41st Logistic Support Group (Zaragoza) and from the Army Helicopter Forces’ 3rd Helicopter Battalion (Agoncillo).

On 12 November the Transfer of Authority ceremony took place at the Spanish base in Qala-i-Naw, presided over by Rear Admiral López Calderón of Operations Command. During the ceremony Colonel Ramiro Giménez was appointed new Provincial Reconstruction Team commander. He was handed over the standard of the force by Colonel Pedro Rolán Araújo, commander of the outgoing contingent, whose troops came from the Parachute Brigade’s 3rd Battalion “Almogávares” based in “Jabalí Nuevo” (Murcia).

The Mountain troops (currently from the 1st Mountain Light Infantry Brigade “Aragón”) were the first Spanish soldiers to be deployed in Kabul in 2002, as members of task force ASPFOR I. In 2005 they were also the first to take over a new area of responsibility in Afghanistan’s western provinces, Herat and Badghis. That led to changes in the structure of the force, with the Army and the Air Force contributing a Rapid Reaction Company, a Helicopter Unit and a Role-2 medical unit (with surgical capability) to the Forward Support Base in Herat, and a Provincial Reconstruction Team to the base in Qala-i-Naw, capital of the Badghis region.

Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT)

Based in Qala-i-Naw in Badghis province, it is composed of several units, all of them necessary to fulfil its mission: support and security, civil-military cooperation, air traffic support, logistics, medical support, signals… As well as those specific to disseminating government messages and activities throughout the province.

Forward Support Base (FSB)

The Quick Reaction Unit, the Helicopter Unit and the Logistic Support Unit are all stationed at this base, located in Herat province. They are under the command of the Regional Area Coordinator-West (RAC-W).

The troops which make up ASPFOR XXI will remain in Badghis for four months. The Provincial Reconstruction Team’s mission is to contribute to a secure and stable environment in the province in order to permit its reconstruction.

The Multinational Manoeuvre Battalion, characterised by its great tactical mobility, reports to the International Security Assistance Force and is charged with responding to attacks against any of the four Provincial Reconstruction Teams located in the provinces of Chaghcharan (led by Lithuania), Herat (Italy), Farah (US) and Badghis (Spain).

The Logistic Support Unit is responsible for obtaining, managing and maintaining all the logistic resources needed to carry out the Force’s mission.

4th Operational Mentor and Liaison Team (OMLT)

A new Operational Mentor and Liaison Team composed of 50 Spanish service personnel began its mission in Herat in late October 2008. Its members belong to the 7th Light Infantry Brigade “Galicia”.

The Operational Mentor & Liaison Teams are charged with training the Afghan National Army as well as advising and supporting certain ANA units. The first teams made up of Spanish military personnel arrived in Afghanistan on 4 October 2007. They carry out their work at the Afghan base “Camp Stone”, 15 km south of Herat.