Albania requested a Defense Assessment from the United States in coordination with NATO (Allied Command Transformation) and NATO Headquarter Tirana, early in 2006 in order to ensure that previous reform efforts were proceeding well and to provide for course corrections if needed. Conclusions of this work encouraged both Ministry of Defence and General Staff of AAF to continue refining force structure and reducing the size of the Armed Forces by reducing staffs and removing obsolete units making the resultant force more capable and affordable.