^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Afghanistan - Afghan National Army Officer Academy

Description

See also:

Description

The ANA Officer Academy is also referred to in Afghanistan as ANAOA, the 'Sandhurst' Academy and the Junior Officer Academy. It was reported as early as 2006 that the United Kingdom would take a primary role in the creation of an Officer Academy for the ANA. Nicknamed "Sandhurst in the Sand", the Academy was to be modelled on the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. This was supported by the then-head of the ANA, General Sher Mohammad Karimi, who attended Sandhurst himself in the 1960s. It is located in the Qargha area of Kabul. The first concrete steps were taken on October 10, 2012 to start the construction of the academy. The ANA Officer Academy accepted its first intake of 270 students selected from approximately 10,000 initial applicants in October 2013. Training is being delivered by a staff of Afghan officers and soldiers in cooperation with a team of mentors from the united Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and Norway.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_National_Defense_University#Afghan_National_Army_Officer_Academy_.28ANAOA.29

The flag is a purple horizontal flag, displaying the coat of arms of the Academy in the middle (the coat of arms of the Academy displays itself the
emblem of the ANA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_National_Army#mediaviewer/File:Afghan_National_Army_emblem.svg)

Images of the flag:

images located by Esteban Rivera, 23 June 2014
[click on images for full size versions]

First image: cropped imaged - the original picture is seen here: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5i5nFZst4CQ/0.jpg (fifth flag from left to right). Source: http://article.wn.com/view/2012/08/05/Top_Afghan_security_ministers_to_keep_jobs_for_now_3/, published on August 5, 2012.
Second image: cropped imaged - the original picture is seen here: http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Graduation+Ceremony+Afghan+National+Army+Officers+WVLgpdmRXNul.jpg (fifth flag from left to right). Source: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures, published on March 17, 2010.
Third image: cropped image - original picture is seen here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Caldwell_with_cadets_of_class_1388_at_the_National_Military_Academy_of_Afghanistan.jpg (sixth flag from left to right). Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caldwell_with_cadets_of_class_1388_at_the_National_Military_Academy_of_Afghanistan.jpg
Published on January 14, 2010: The picture caption reads: " Lt. Gen William B. Caldwell IV, center, commander NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan (NMT-A), with cadets of class 1388 at the National Military Academy of Afghanistan (NMAA). The NMAA is a four-year program committed to graduating officers for the Afghan National Army (ANA) and is modeled after the United States Military Academy at West Point. Caldwell discussed coalition support for the growth and training of the ANA and the impact of programs such as NMAA. The class of solar year 1388 is the first class to graduate from NMAA."
Notice that in this picture the flag seems more blue than purple.
Another image: cropped imaged - seen here: (fifth flag from left to right). Source: http://www.Reuters.com/article/2011/03/22/us-afghanistan-transition-idUSTRE72L15C20110322, published on March 22, 2011.

These pictures show most likely ANA Officers graduating from other locations, rather than the actual Academy, since these pictures were taken in 2010-2011, and the Academy was set to be starting to be built until 2012.
Esteban Rivera, 24 June 2014

A better image (and explanation also) for the ANA emblem can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Afghan_National_Army_emblem.svg (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Air_Force). The three letters are the initials of Afghan Ordou-e Melli (Afghan National Army).
Esteban Rivera, 24 June 2014