Current military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many future operations will center on developing capability and capacity of host nation (HN) or other foreign security forces. In February 07, the U.S. Army stated in a message to all Army activities "the mission of the transition teams (security force assistance) is the Army's top priority." Similarly, the U. S. Marine Corps stated in a January 2007 Lessons Learned report, "this mission must be treated as the main effort." This handbook focuses on principles applicable to all Security Force Assistance (SFA) missions, but draws on current scenario information in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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