History and Biodata |
Background:
In early 2018 the Afghan National Army Special Operations Command (ANASOC) fielded it's first Cobra Strike Kandak. This battalion-sized unit is a light armor maneuver battalion. The establishment of the Cobra Strike Kandaks within ANASOC is part of the Afghan plan to double the size of the Afghan special operations forces. The 6th CSK is the first of 7 seven CSKs and provides a new level of mobility and firepower for the Commandos.
Twelve Commando medics from the 6th Cobra Strike Kandak completed the 12-week Medical Specialty Training course graduation at the ANASOC School of Excellence, Camp Commando, Afghanistan, Mar. 29, 2018. The course focuses on pre-hospital trauma life support, basic trauma life support, and tactical combat casualty care.
The Medical Specialty Training course is one of several specialty courses taught at the ANASOC SOE. Specialty courses begin following the completion of each Commando Qualification Course. ANASOC selects specialty course students based on their assigned duty position and performance during the Commando Qualification Course.
Having completed specialty medical training, the graduates will return to their positions in the 6th CSK as the unit enters the final phase of the Cobra Strike Maneuver Course at the ANASOC Mobility School of Excellence, near Pol-e Charki. Upon the completion of the CSMC on Apr. 30, the unit will become the first ANA Mobile Strike Kandak to complete all requirements for reassignment to ANASOC. The Afghan 2020 Roadmap directed the growth of seven Commando CSKs.(20180329)
Part of the Afghan 2020 Roadmap, ANASOC will establish six additional Cobra Strike Kandaks. The additional mobile capability allows ANASOC to use the CSKs nation-wide, in concert with existing Commando forces, and provides an unprecedented level of mobility and firepower for the Commando force, according to a report by the Resolute Support Mission.
The report further adds that CSKs will operate in Mobile Strike Force Vehicles. Heavily armored and mine-resistant, the MSFVs provide additional protection and lethality for Commandos, and were used to eliminate five IS-K fighters in the Jan. 2018 failed attack on the Marshall Fahim Academy in Kabul.
To become part of the 6th CSK, soldiers were selected from a conventional Afghan National Army Mobile Strike Kandak and had to pass the 14-week Commando Qualification Course to earn a slot at the Cobra Strike Maneuver Course.
The three-month long CSMC tested the Commandos’ mettle and mastery of combat maneuver skills. The live fire exercise was a visible culmination of the training and tasks required to become Afghanistan’s newest lethal weapon.(20180502)
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