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After training men from the Afghan National Army (ANA) for years the Indian Army wants to make the training of women officers from strife hit Afghanistan a regular affair.

Twenty women officers from the Afghan army will be part of a special training module at the Officer’s Training Academy (OTA) Chennai for the next three weeks.

The training is scheduled to take place from November 25 to December 21.

This is the third consecutive year when women officers are part of such training at OTA, Chennai.

Even though this is not an annual training capsule but as part of military diplomacy between the two countries, it’s become a regular affair. Every year 20 officers have been part of the training. In time to come the numbers could even go up, said an army source.

The Officer’s Training Academy or OTA in Chennai gives military training to short service commission officers who have the option of being part of the permanent commission after serving for 10 years.

The permanent commission officers are trained in the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun.

Both IMA and OTA have been giving full training to men from the Afghan National Army in the past but the special capsule course for women officers is new, sources said.

OTA trains about 40 foreign men cadets every year and on average 12-15 are from Afghanistan.

The aim is to train these women officers in small arms weapon handling, tactical knowledge for military operations, administrative skills and also enhance their communication skills, said an army officer.

Other than women from Afghanistan, women from the Kyrgyzstan army were trained in OTA but that was only a group of 5-6 officers for a shorter duration.

The women officers after being trained in various military skills could either be part of several operations in war-torn Afghanistan, be used as trainers or even pass on the learning to instructors back in their country.

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(This story has not been edited by IndoPakDefscan staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)