West Understands East?

Seems that the dust is settling over Afghanistan due to the current situation in Ukraine. Extensive research about the causes of the collapse of Afghan National Army (ANA) are not completed yet, all the eyes are set on the main event on geopolitical arena-development of Ukraine-Russia crisis. Summarizing the analyses available in the aftermath of US –led coalition hasty withdrawal, most of them online short articles, there are two major findings: the situation in the field is presented only from a dominant culture perspective and ignoring the cultural differences influences on the desired end-state of the mission to build an ANA capable to defend Afghanistan. The objective of this article is to provide an inside perspective based on personal experience, both as a subject of Romanian Army transformation from the soviet legacy army to the western standards and as a commander of Romanian forces deployed in Afghanistan, facing a similar process, operationally mentoring the new ANA. The research method is qualitative analysis of existing data using deductive research strategy to empirically answer 2 main research questions: a) how the collapse of Afghan National Army is intrinsically influenced by the US led coalition ignoring cultural differences, and b) what are the other causes for the unsuccessful buildup of Afghan national defense forces. The study aims to present the generic model of the process to build an army to NATO standards (doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership, education, personnel, and facilities) and specifically investigate the challenges faced by ANA to learn under fire. Additionally, the results of the research identify the major impact of coalition withdrawal to the ability to fight of ANA against Taliban offensive (I.e., command and control of the troops, intelligence gathering, mobility and the ability to operate and maintain the highly sophisticated weapons systems, fire power and aerial close air support). Although the study is focused on the interaction between coalition forces and security forces from Afghanistan the conclusion and suggestions may be adequate for all the processes involving members with diverse cultural background to forge a unity of effort, initially, followed by a unity of thoughts, with the desired effect of making a fighting formation able to operate into a coalition and, more important with the capability to fight alone and sustain themself.