With the opening of one of its smallest professional schools, the Afghan National Army (ANA) took a giant step forward as a professional Army. On February 3, 2010, the ANA opened its first Legal School at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC). The ANA Legal School will serve as the cornerstone foundation to train ANA legal professionals in the continual advancement of the rule of law within the ANA and Afghanistan. The ANA Legal School will provide basic, advanced, and continuing legal education and training to ANA legal officers, military judges, criminal investigators, military prosecutors, and defense counsel. The school will also train ANA paralegals and enhance the ranks of the ANA Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) Corps. In addition to providing basic and advanced legal training, the Legal School will serve as a “Center of Excellence” and a key enabler to the constant development of the rule of law in Afghanistan. It will also serve as a strategic center for legal operations, training, and doctrine. The ANA Legal School will not only facilitate the training of legal officers, but also serve as a catalyst for the trained ANA legal officers to integrate rule of law and Law of Armed Conflict instruction to other ANA Soldier and officer training courses throughout the ANA. The ANA Legal School will also focus on leadership training for legal professionals.
Although the new ANA Legal School is temporarily located on the grounds of the KMTC, plans are currently moving forward for the construction of a permanent school on the grounds of the Afghan Defense University. The combined teamwork of the ANA GS Legal staff and the NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan Office of the Staff Judge Advocate are currently developing the plans for the building of the permanent legal school, development of the Legal School Directorate, and planning the curriculum for numerous courses of instruction and training packages at the new ANA Legal School. The creation of the school and center of excellence will enable the faculty to not only conduct training at the school, but to assist with legal training at the various ANA Corps Legal Offices throughout Afghanistan.
