Creating Military Institutions In Iraq and Afghanistan

Central to our nation-building efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq is the requirement to create new national military institutions that are based on principles compatible with the liberal democracies they will ultimately serve. The key to this effort will be to create institutions that will foster the inculcation of the concept of service within their nascent officer corps. Rather than expecting to be served by society because of their position, officers in the Afghan national army (ANA) and the new Iraqi army must understand and embrace the concept that they are servants of society. This concept of national service contrasts sharply with the history of private armies loyal to specific ethnic …