Along with ISAF, the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command (IJC), set up in 2009, also ceased operations. The IJC used to handle the day to day operations for ISAF and controlled over 130,000 troops from more than 40 nations across six regional commands.
"Today, IJC will be subsumed into a coalition that is soon downsizing to about 13,000 personnel," said ISAF commander General John F. Campbell who was presented with the retired, ceased colours of IJC following a coalition guard of honour.
"This is a historic transformation and reflects the progress that our coalition has made with our Afghan partners.”
The ISAF commander added that the force will now be shifting its focus towards building Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) systems and processes.
“You’ve done your job well, so well, that you’ve worked yourself out of a job,” remarked Campbell.
ISAF is currently transitioning to a NATO-led Resolute Support (RS) mission which will focus on training, advising and assisting Afghan Security Institutions and ANSF at the ministerial, institutional, and operational levels. IJC’s regional commands have already been replaced with Train-Advise-Assist Commands, which focus on ensuring the gains made by the ANSF are sustainable and lasting.
The RS mission will begin on January 1, 2015.
Job not over yet, Hagel tells troops in Afghanistan
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told US troops in eastern Afghanistan that while the ISAF mission ends, their job is not yet over.
While visiting Forward Operating Base Gamberi on Monday, Hagel expressed gratitude for the sacrifices made by the service members and said that the challenges remain ahead.
“We don’t want to see that [sacrifice] roll back downhill. We want to do everything we can to continue support the Afghan people because, after all, this is about their future,” Hagel said, “What kind of country they want for their children, what kind of values [are] important to them and how they want to live their lives.”
Hagel noted the “tremendous progress” of Afghansitan over the last 13 years, especially within the Afghan national security forces.
The outgoing Defence Secretary said that as US and coalition forces transition from combat roles, it’s “important that all leaders get a better understanding of not just how it is going, [but] what your concerns are.”
“This is still a dangerous country in many ways.”
Hagel continued, “Is this country better off than it was five years ago or three years ago or certainly 13 years ago? I think, when we apply those kinds of metrics, it’s pretty clear what the answers are.”
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The question of whether the combat role of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan has been a success or not depends on whether or not the person understands what the goal of our combat mission was in Afghanistan. Our mission in Afghanistan was to dismantle a terrorist organization, Al-Qaida, which had attacked our homeland, and were given refuge by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Even if we put that aside, one has to only look at how far Afghanistan has come since the time the nation was under Taliban rule to now.
The Afghan people are on a daily basis witnessing the construction of educational and medical institutions, buildings, roads, transportation, growth in businesses, technology, entrepreneurship, sports, trade and, best of all, individuals now have both hope and the opportunity to work towards a brighter future. Our intent was never to invade and occupy Afghanistan and now we intend to support the Afghan National Security Forces so that they will be fully capable of sustaining the gains their society has achieved.
Haroon Ahmad DET – U.S. Central Command