KABUL, Afghanistan, March 26 (UPI) -- The Afghan government Saturday opened its first army volunteer center in the historic Panjshir valley.
The Panjshir Valley was the center of Mujahedin resistance against the Soviets in the 1980s, and then against the Taliban a decade later.
The Afghan government plans to open national army volunteer centers in each of Afghanistan's 34 provinces and the one in Panjshir valley is the 27th.
Recruits for the Afghan National Army are brought into the center until they are transported to the Kabul Military Training Center where they will be assigned to a battalion. In Kabul, the soldiers attend basic training for six weeks, followed by six additional weeks of advanced training.
The battalion will then be assigned to one of the five regional commands throughout the country.
The United States and its allies are helping Afghanistan raise a national army as a step towards reducing the influence of local warlords and extending the writ of the Kabul government across the country.
