Building Afghanistan's West Point.(Education & training: all the right moves)

Teams of officers from me United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point and from the Office of Military Cooperation-Afghanistan are working closely with their Afghan counterparts in the Ministry of Defense to establish the National Military Academy of Afghanistan (NMAA), modeled after West Point. The purpose of the NMAA is to provide the Afghan National Army (ANA) with professional officers who support and defend the Constitution of Afghanistan.

The effort began in August 2003 when MG Karl Eikenberry, then chief of the Office of Military Cooperation in Afghanistan, sought the assistance of the United States Military Academy in establishing a National Military Academy of Afghanistan. LTG William J. Lennox Jr., USMA superintendent, sent COL George B. …