Over a year ago we posted exclusive pictures of opening day at the National Military Academy of Afghanistan.
Yesterday reader Gene Ressler kindly called our attention to the new NMAA website. Check it out! I was taken by the several of the goals they have set for themselves, including, well ... read them for yourselves:
Graduates anticipate and respond effectively to the uncertainties of a changing technological, social, political, and economic world. Upon achieving this overarching goal, graduates will:A great start for this newly founded nation.
- think and act creatively
- recognize moral issues and apply ethical considerations in decision making,
- communicate effectively in Dari, Pashto, and a foreign language,
- demonstrate the capability and desire for self-directed, life-long learning,
- understand how culture and religion affect human behavior,
- understand historical patterns of continuity and change in society and the military profession,
- understand the influence of government, law, economics, and international relations on military operations,
- understand small unit and organizational leadership,
- understand the fundamental scientific principles of military technology,
- understand the influence of physical geography on military operations,
- understand and apply information technology.
Some organizational development types have been at them. I bet they did a lot of team-building too.
I guess it does sound like that to us. But that's misleading.
The Afghans visited military academies around the world, including Sandhurst in the UK and St. Cyr in France. They chose the US Military Academy (West Point) as their model. Those "organizational development types" that helped them set up their program were US Army colonels/PhDs with a lot of experience at West Point. IIUC, their academic fields ranged from (yes) social psychology to physics and computer science. Some were combat veterans with extensive experience in leadership training. Not quite the touchy-feely lack of substance we might expect from a quick reading ....
What sounds like motherhood and apple pie cliches to us have a different impact and meaning in Afghanistan. Take the declaration that all cadets will learn both Pashto and Dari, for instance. That's a direct rejection of domination of the military by one or the other ethnic group -- and it ensures that officers in the Afghan army will know something about the culture of the other groups that make up their country.
Another example is the intent that future Afghan army leaders understand "how culture and religion affect human behavior" and "historical patterns of continuity and change in society". In a country with high rates of illiteracy and where religious fundamentalism of the most oppressive sort is embraced by a violent minority (and has some sympathy from others), those goals are not to be taken lightly, I think.
It will be interesting to see if the NMAA becomes for Afghanistan what West Point was for the fledgling United States: a source of leaders who identify with the NATION and not with tribes, ethnic groups, religious sects or (in our case) individual states.
As the first college to teach civil engineering, (I think I have that right) West Point provided most of the expertise that went into building roads, bridges and later railroads as the American frontier was settled. I'm pretty sure the hope is that NMAA will likewise produce technical expertise that will help Afghanistan develop a modern economy. Those goals to train cadets in science and information technology will come in handy for that purpose, I suspect.
You are quite correct; we were the very first engineerng school in the United States. The following is from the USMA website's history page, and you may find it interesting:
"West Point is the nation's first engineering school. It was the only engineering school in the United States for nearly 20 years. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was not founded until 1824 and graduated its first class of civil engineers, four men, in 1835. many of Rensselaer's textbooks originated at West Point. It was not until 1847 that engineering programs were established at Harvard (the Lawrence Scientific School) and Yale ( the Sheffield Scientific School), and when they were, both were established and run by West Pointers."
I did manage to see the superintendent of the Afghan Academy walking around when he came here a short while ago. I give him and his staff credit for wanting to build a quality institution. Finally, we shouldn't forget the efforts of the first Afghan exchange cadet at USMA, who is in my class. He is a hard worker, dedicated to his country, and I think that he will go far.