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ADF - Command - Afghanistan
Command organisation for ADF activities in the Afghanistan theatre and Operation Slipper.
24 May 2007
Command arrangements for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in Afghanistan are somewhat complex, and have changed over time. In March 2007, the Operation Slipper official website stated that an
"ADF National Command Element (NCE) consisting of about 30 personnel is located in Kabul and includes command, security and support staff."
This Australian National Command Element is subordinate to the wider Australian general command structure.
The NCE was relocated from Bagram Airbase to Kabul. The NCE in Kabul liaises with coalition command in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Headquarters and, since the third stage of ISAF expansion of responsibility in July 2006, with the ISAF Regional Command South based in Kandahar, and in turn with the Netherlands-led Provincial Reconstruction Team in Oruzgan of which the Australian Reconstruction Task Force based in Tarin Kowt is part.
Moreover the actual role of the Kabul NCE is complicated by the fact that the somewhat larger Australian National Headquarters – Middle East Area of Operations (ANH-MEO) based at Camp Victory in Baghdad is dual-assigned to support ADF units, and specifically "to exercise command and control of deployed Australian Defence Force units". Consequently, the NCE commander, Kabul, was also Deputy Commander, ANH-MEO.
In reality, the role of the ANH-MEO in Baghdad has been at times remote from the realities of day-to-day operations in Afghanistan, with the result that there has been a greater emphasis on direct communications with Canberra, and a recommendation that the ANH-MEO role in Afghanistan be removed.