INSIDE ANA (53 images)

Since 2002, the United States and other NATO member states have made the Afghan National Army (ANA) a modern military force. By 2014, most of Afghanistan came under government control with NATO playing a training and support role. In 2017, the ANA had approximately 175,000 soldiers spread all over the country.
Nowadays, the Taliban, Daesh but also « simple” criminals are more than ever at the gates of Kabul. But the ANA is also facing another front. Ties between Afghanistan...
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Since 2002, the United States and other NATO member states have made the Afghan National Army (ANA) a modern military force. By 2014, most of Afghanistan came under government control with NATO playing a training and support role. In 2017, the ANA had approximately 175,000 soldiers spread all over the country.
Nowadays, the Taliban, Daesh but also « simple” criminals are more than ever at the gates of Kabul. But the ANA is also facing another front. Ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan have deteriorated in the past few months, with Kabul becoming increasingly mistrustful of Islamabad's alleged support for Islamist militants. Both countries accuse each other of providing jihadists with safe zones to launch attacks across the border.
Experts say the main reason behind an increasing hostility between the two countries is Kabul's growing ties with Pakistan's enemy India. In the past few years, Afghanistan has drifted closer to India, whereas Pakistan is seeking to forge closer ties with China and Russia to counter New Delhi's growing influence in Kabul.
India and Afghanistan have been extremely critical of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan. They accuse the Pakistani military and spy agencies of backing Taliban insurgents and destabilizing Afghanistan so that Islamabad can have an upper hand in geopolitics.
More than that, Pakistan announced in March 2017 it had started building a fence along the volatile Afghan-Pakistani border. Islamabad said the move was aimed at restricting the movement of Islamist militants that cross over the porous border and launch attacks on Pakistani soil. This border, long of 2,430km and called the Durand Line established by the British during their colonial rule, is not recognized by the Afghan government.
On the field, soldiers of the ANA are tired to be the targets of multiple enemies. Mohamed Karim, Lieutenant of an advanced position in Kunar, just in front of Pakistan, explains : « We’re fighting the Taliban, Daesh in other areas but also Pakistan. They fire at us with artillery, and if we got the orders, we fight back. But for us it’s not enough. Pakistan has build many checkpoints on the top of mountains that belong to Afghanistan, we would like to take it back but everything is political, we don’t have the orders to do so… ».
This serie tells the daily life of the ANA soldiers from their training to the field where their main enemies in the Province of Nangahar at this time of the year seems to be a mix between Taliban’s and Pakistan.
With little means, the soldiers have to keep concentrate and ready to fight when the cold and the snow just knock at their doors…
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