News - National
Soldiers learn to speak Pashto and Dari
Posted: Jun 11, 2010 1:23 PM by Greg Boyce
The first class of Fort Campbell soldiers has graduated from an Afghan language training program to help them communicate during their upcoming deployment.
A total of 73 soldiers on Friday completed the 16-week course in Pashto and Dari languages. Fort Campbell, Fort Carson and Fort Drum are the first installations to start the program based on a directive issued by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
Instead of focusing solely on linguists, the program is intended to give average soldiers a basic level of conversational speaking and listening proficiency. Col. Danial Pick, the commandant for the Defense Language Institute, said language will be key to wining the war in Afghanistan.
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