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Recruits of the Afghanistan National Army (ANA) check the results of their target practice, overseen by ISAF (International Security Assistance Force). The helmets are a donation from the Polish Armed Forces. Near Kabul, Afghanistan. 28 November 2006...The history of the ANA goes back to the early and mid-18th century when Afghanistan emerged as a country under the Hotaka and the Durrani dynasties. The latter's enduring achievement was to emancipate Afghanistan from its role as a crossroads for conquest or as a patchwork of provinces making up the borderlands of greater powers. These had had little idea of how loosely the tribes of the Hindu Kush were connected, but now had to accept Afghanistan claiming its place as a nation, albeit it one composed of several ethnicities. With that claim came the struggle to maintain quasi-national independence vis-à-vis the empires of the new world in the making, despite the country's own violent internal disunity...Reorganized in 1880 under Emir Abdur Rahman, Afghanistan's forces were not involved in either world war, as the country remained neutral in both. After the resignation of President Najibullah in 1992, the Islamic State of Afghanistan took over the army, which since the 1960s had been equipped by the Soviet Union. In 1995 the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan took control of the army, which it held until its retreat in October 2001 following the launch of the U.S. bombing campaign and invasion. At the same time, private armies loyal to local warlords became increasingly influential. ..On 7 October 2001, President George W. Bush authorized “Operation Enduring Freedom” and its strikes on Al-Qaeda training camps and Taliban military installations. Thus began a predictably protracted involvement—given the history of earlier invasions—one cornerstone of which would be the development of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). ..On 1 December 2001 the present-day ANA was founded by presidential decree (KEYSTONE/VII Photo/Daniel Schwartz)