Five officers of the Afghan National Police (ANP) graduated as police instructors in Tarin Kowt, being the first group of ANP instructors trained in Uruzgan Province. In turn, they will now instruct their colleagues.
Dutch Army Colonel Kees Matthijssen, Commander of the Uruzgan Provincial Reconstruction Team handed over official diplomas during a ceremony that took place at Camp Holland.
“This moment marks the development of the Afghan National Police - Colonel Matthijssen said in his speech to the graduated instructors -, it is the next step towards a professional appearance for the ANP”.
Colonel Nasrullah Khan, one of the graduates, stated he was grateful for the instruction he and his four colleagues received from EUPOL Sr. Mentor Boudewijn Van Wetering, an experienced warrant officer from the Royal Dutch Marechaussee.
“Our hope is that we can quickly expand the training to other instructors - Cmdr Nasrullah said”.
The five officers will eventually take over the training of the policemen from international instructors and it will be conducted in a police training center which will be built next to Camp Holland in Tarin Kowt.

29.12.08 - EUPOL Officers Honorary Citizens of Herat

It happens quite often that police officers during their time off engage themselves in humanitarian and social activities to the benefit of the population within the area of their responsibility.
In most of the cases acts of solidarity toward people in need don’t get much publicity and it’s fine according the old saying that “ when you do merciful deeds, don't let your left hand know what your right hand does”.
However, that was not the case in Herat, where charity acts of three Italian – Eupol border policemen did not go unnoticed and got a special recognition from the first citizen of the major western town.
Mayor of Herat, Alhaj Mohammad Rafiq Mojaddadi, proclaimed Guardia di Finanza senior warrant officers Sante de Luca, Maurizio Bellico and William Russo honorary citizens “for the candid assistance to the people of Afghanistan and in particular the people of Herat”. The Head of the Municipality, during the official ceremony, emphasized that their solidarity “will remain in the minds of the people of Herat and its Province as the epitome of humanitarian assistance”.
Officers de Luca, Bellico and Russo received donations from private citizens and public institutions in their duty stations in central and southern Italy and managed to bring it to Afghanistan and promptly deliver it to those in need. This was also possible thanks to the 46th Brigade of the Italian Air Force who connect on a weekly basis Herat and the Italian town of Pisa with regular C-130 flights.

EUPOL Qala-e-Now has stepped up its effort to assist the Provincial Fire Brigade. After launching early last year, in co-operation with personnel of the Spanish Air force attached to the Nato Provincial Reconstruction Team, the delivery of an intensive training course on fire control and supression, EUPOL officers liaised successfully with the experienced NGO Bomberos sin Fronteras (Firefighters without borders).
As result of that cooperation the Spanish NGO has been able to collect – mainly thanks to the generosity of Malaga and Alicante regional agencies – a huge amount of material and equipment that will be donated to the Badghis Provincial Fire Brigade.
Once the shipment will reach the Afghan western city, a number of Bomberos sin Fronteras volunteers have expressed their willingness to assist for short period of time their colleagues in Afghanistan.
The establishment of efficient and modern provincial fire brigades is one of the priorities of the Afghan National Police, under which responsibility lays the Firefighters.

14.12.08 - Kabul Regional Police receive German donated medical equipment

EUPOL Afghanistan responded positively to an urgent request of the Police Regional Centre Command (RCC) for medical equipment. This morning a large quantity of material, including an X-ray machine, a centrifuge and a portable laboratory was handed over to the Commander of RCC General Alim Kohistani in the presence of EUPOL Head of Operations Support Chief Superintendent Everett Summerfield and German Police Project Team (GPPT) Project Coordinator Cpt Christian Zeuke. The medical equipment will allow the RCC to set up an ambulatory that will serve their area of responsibility. Medicine and a large amount of furniture will be delivered in the coming weeks. The project, funding of 80.000 US dollars, was entirely sponsored by the German Police Project Team.

12.12.08 - Immediate aid to the Afghan National Police (ANBP) Meymaneh

EUPOL, in close cooperation with the German Police Project Team (GPPT) and Norwegian Project for Support of the Police in Afghanistan (NORAF), responded to an urgent assistance request from the Afghan National Border Police (ANBP), after their check points in Malham and Koshak in the Almar District were burned down by attackers.

Hundreds of sleeping bags, winter jackets, warm underwear and socks along with cooking equipment were immediately flown into the affected areas. At the same time, two trucks loaded with wood and 200 mts of hescobastions were dispatched to Meymaneh and, under the supervision of the Norwegian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team, a local construction company was identified to rebuild the destroyed check points.

The assistance initiative, and funding provided in the amount of  approximately 10.000 US dollars, was entirely sponsored by the GPPT and was carried on in close coordination with ANBP Region North Commander General  Khalil Bakthiar.

EUPOL welcomes the completion of the two weeks training course that took place in Herat. The course  - an initiative of the International Police Coordination Board with the support of  EUPOL and funding from the German cooperation agency GTZ - was attended by 32 selected female police officers from the Herat and Badghis districts and focussed on lessons related to law issues, code of conduct, use of force, human rights, as well as tactical and technical issues such as search of houses, use of handcuffs, first aid and self defence.

The lessons, conducted by teachers of the Afghan Police Academy, the Norwegian Project for Support of the Police in Afghanistan (NORAF), EUPOL as well as the Afghan Independent Human Rights Organization, were followed by the students with great interest and conducted in a very constructive atmosphere.

General Sardar Mohammad Kohdamani, Deputy Head of the Training and Education Department in the Ministry of Interior expressed his satisfaction for the course training objectives and the results achieved.  He took the opportunity to speak with the police officers and received positive feed back on the course content and the value they placed on the training.

The EuPol Chief visited this morning the Kabul Police Academy. He was received by the Commander Lt Gen Sayed Mohammad Qudossi who introduced him to his senior staff and showed the various classrooms and facilities of the Academy. Commissioner Vittrup emphasized the paramount importance of the training for the development of an efficient and professional police service.

In a friendly atmosphere, Internationals and Afghan counterparts exchanged views on various issues related to security throughout the Country.

GPPT Director Colonel, Juergen Hauber, and EuPol Acting Head of Mission, Ken Deane, were very pleased with the outcome of the special event, that have seen the participation, among others, of the General Police Commissioner Lt General Mohammad Hassan Atmar, Chief of Training and Education Department Major General Gul Nabi Ahmadzai and Afghan National Civil Order Police Commander Major General Mohammad Sharif Amin.

Also present were German Embassy staff, ISAF personnel along with representative from the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ)
and the Association of experts in the fields of Migration and Development Cooperation (AGEF), main partners of GPPT in the execution of various projects.

GPPT is currently composed of some 20 German police officers fully engaged in support projects originated from EuPol and Afghan Police specific requests. The Government of Germany has pledged 36 millions euro for assistance to the Afghan Police for the year 2008.

After an eight weeks basic course, 106 police cadets graduated in Camp Shaheen - Mazar e Sharif. The ceremony, was attended by high ranking
officers from the Afghan National Police and Army, US Army, DynCorp International, German Police Project Team and EuPol.

Major General Ghulam Mujtaba Patang, Regional Commander North of the Afghan National Police (ANP), in his speech expressed appreciation for the assistance of his international partners.

According to General Patang "Afghan Police experienced a change. They are not any longer a provincial militia but rather a high professional Police force for entire Afghanistan". All cadets received a end of course certificate.

The training of the Afghan Police is conceptually prepared and followed closely by EuPol. Instructional contents in the Region North are currently obtained by the German Police Project Team through short term experts coming from Germany.

Umberto Rocca, Colonel of the Italian Carabinieri Corps is the new Deputy Head of Mission / Chief of Staff of EuPol. Colonel Rocca took over the post from Nicola Mangialavori who recently ended his tour of duty.

Commander Rocca, 55, has an extensive international experience. In the early nineties headed the Italian civilian police contingent within the United Nations Temporary Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) and later was Deputy Head of Mission of the Temporary International Presence in the City of Hebron (TIPH). In 1994 and 1995 attended the Collège Interarmées de Défense in Paris.

Colonel Rocca held several posts in Italy, including the ones of Carabinieri Provincial Commander in Pisa and Bolzano.

EuPol Danish officers, on behalf of the National Police Commissioner of Denmark, handed over 9.200 batons to Major General Gul Nabi Ahmadzai, Head of Training and Education Department at the Afghan Ministry of Interior.

The hand-over ceremony took place at the Danish compound of the Kabul military Airport and was attended by EuPol Head of Mission General Jürgen Scholz, Defence Attaché of Denmark Colonel Arne Hansen and ISAF Danish Captain Bo Mikkelsen.

General Ahmadzai, who was accompanied by MoI heads of Logistics and Techniques Abdul Matin Shafaq and Ahmad Reshad, thanked the Government of Denmark for its generosity and EuPol senior training advisor Superintendent Villy Vilstrup. Moreover General Ahmadzai expressed appreciation for the EuPol assistance and cooperation, adding that batons will be assigned, as a priority, to the Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOP).
Denmark has currently eight police officers serving with EuPol Afghanistan.

David Emerson, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, during his official visit to Afghanistan had a chance to meet Canadian police officers seconded to EuPol. Emerson, who was accompanied by the Ambassador to Kabul H.E. Arif Lalani, recognized the valuable contribution to the European Mission of the officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and from other Canadian police departments.

Canada, along with Croatia and Norway, is one of the three non-EU member states contributing to EuPol. Currently there are four Canadian police officers based in the Kabul EuPol Headquarters, seven are deployed in the EuPol detachment within the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team.

EuPol welcomes the renovation of four classrooms for the training of lieutenants at the Kabul Police Academy that was inaugurated today 15 July 2008.

The project, financed by the French Government was carried out in close coordination with Academy senior management and EuPol.

These new classrooms are equipped with 80 computers and fully furnished with new tables and chairs.

French Ambassador H.E. Jean de Ponton d'Amecourt,  EuPol Head of Programs Everett Summerfield along with Academy Commander General Mohammad Qudossi and General Gul Nabi Ahmadzai, from the Ministry of Interior, attended the opening ceremony.

Senior EUPOL officials attended on Sunday 22 June the opening ceremony of the four and a half months training course for Non-commissioned Officers at the Kabul Police Academy. It was the second of the three trainingperiods foreseen for this year.

1305 graduates paraded in front of Minister of Interior H.E. Zarar Ahmad Moqbel, Academy Commander Lt-Gen Mohammad Sayed Qudossi, ComIsaf Lt-Gen McKiernan, CSTS-A Commander Maj-Gen Cone and other dignitaries.

Minister Moqbel, Nato and US officials along with EUPOL members later toured the Academy, visiting different sections and exchanging views with trainers and students.