ODA eligibility database

Following the completion of the mission of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) at the end of 2014, a new, follow-on, NATO-led mission called Resolute Support was launched on 1 January 2015 to provide further training, advice and assistance for the Afghan security forces and institutions. At the NATO Summit in Warsaw, Allied leaders decided to extend the presence of the Resolute Support Mission (RSM) beyond 2016. Some 13 000 personnel from NATO member states and partner countries are deployed in support of RSM. The mission operates with one central hub (in Kabul/Bagram) and four spokes in Mazar-e Sharif, Herat, Kandahar and Laghman.

Operation Resolute Support focuses on training, advising and assisting Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) and Afghan Security Institution (ASI) development. Resolute Support’s presence at Afghan airports, while primarily intended to support military operations, has been used to stabilise and modernize the civilian aviation sector. A high priority has been placed on training Afghans in the skills required to operate airfields and manage airspace. The focus of the efforts in civil aviation is training in the five key services required to operate an airfield: air traffic control; crash and rescue; communication, navigation and surveillance; safety management; and meteorology. The training in these areas will help sustain the civil aviation sector once NATO’s military presence has ceased. Hellenic Air Force contributed by deploying four Maintenance Advisors at Kabul Airport.

With their support, Greece aimed to contribute to the sustainment of the civil aviation sector in Afghanistan.

This activity is deemed ODA-eligible. Operation Resolute Support in general is not ODA-eligible as the provision of aid to the military in partner countries is excluded (Paragraph 97). However, the specific contribution from Greece to deploy Maintenance Advisors at Kabul Airport is ODA-eligible when the training of Afghans is for civilian purposes; only additional costs can be counted as ODA.