KABUL, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Afghan National Army (ANA) has accomplished its first artillery live-fire exercise backed by mentors from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), an ISAF statement issued here Tuesday said.

    The exercise, conducted by the 207th ANA Corps Combat Support Battalion at a firing range close to the corps' barracks, "taught soldiers the skills to use manual wind speed measuring devices and calculators to check fire data," it said, without giving the exact exercising date and place.

    Describing mentoring and supporting the ANA as one of its key military tasks, the ISAF said it is helping Afghan government to bring the ANA up to operating capability primarily through the provision of operational mentoring liaison teams (OMLTs).

    The NATO-led military said the OMLTs support ANA training, deploy on operations in an advisory role, and coordinate operations between ANA and ISAF.

    The new ANA, which has been established with foreign training support and gradually equipped with western-made weapons, has reached a number of 76,000 in strength, according to Afghan defense ministry.

    A total of 47,000 multi-national ISAF troops are deployed in Afghanistan to help with stabilization and reconstruction. They offer support to ANA in various operations.