EUPOL, in cooperation with the German Police Project Team (GPPT), supported the establishment of the new directorate of Aviation Security and Airport Affairs at the Afghan Border Police HQ (ABP). The initiative was taken on by Daniela Hopfinger (EUPOL Border Police Mentor) and later on implemented together with the GPPT and CSTC-A. EUPOL Deputy Head of Mission Nigel Thomas encouraged the staff of the new directorate to perform their duties well and assured them of EUPOL’s continuous support.
At a festive ceremony, Deputy Interior Minister Gen. Munir Mangal appreciated the efforts of EUPOL and the other international players and thanked EUPOL for initiating the establishment of such a directorate.
The new directorate will be dealing with the following tasks: - Drafting and presenting of national aviation security guidelines - Preparing for, and eventual assumption of, taking over of aviation security responsibilities in national airports (country-wide security program) - Handling of inter-regional and general aviation security affairs (concerning all five zones) - Support and technical advice to the MOI in the preparation of laws, regulations and directives in the area of aviation security - Development and updating of technical content of aviation-related regulations, procedure directives and guidelines - Participation in the elaboration of agreements and arrangements in the aviation security field, as well as reviewing of implementation of such agreements at national airports - Representation of the ABP in national and international authorities, organizations, private companies, professional bodies and working groups in the field of aviation security - Cooperation with inter-ministerial and cross-resort points of contacts at a technical level - Imposition and collection of aviation security fees in cooperation with Ministry of Trade and Commercial Affairs (MoTCA) - Conducting a nationwide survey of training needs in collaboration with the human resources and training and education departments as well as with the MoTCA - Conducting audits and inspections in accordance with ICAO standards

After the successful pilot of the Rule of Law Train-the-Trainer Course (RoLTTC), conducted by EUPOL in Mazar-e-Sharif in November, Gen. Abdul Masoud Ragheb, Head of the Police Legal Dep. of the MoI, encouraged EUPOL to organise more courses. EUPOL will continue to implement the RoLTTC in other ANP Regional Legal Directorates, starting with Kandahar and Herat. Gen. Ragheb stressed the importance of the RoLTTC for building the capacity and self confidence of the ANP legal, human rights and gender officers to perform their duties as legal trainers and advisers for the ANP. In this regard it is greatly appreciated by the MoI and the ANP that both the EUPOL trainers` team and the students` group consisted of male and female participants. For some female police officers it was the first time they had given legal presentations in front of a class with male and female officers.

To highlight the efforts and plans of the Herat City Police Project (HCPP) EUPOL organised a conference at the beginning of this month.
During the meeting, at the ANP Provincial HQ, Maj. Esmatullah (ANP Regional training Dep. Chief) reported on the activities of the HCPP. After this Cap. Colombani explained the legal definition of terrorism, described hostile techniques, and tactics used by the insurgents and explained some of the mitigating measures available. On behalf of US State Dep. Justice Sector Support Program Raheem Samiuddin, a former prosecutor explained the current activities and the future proposals of the JSSP for better cooperation between police officers and prosecutors. ANP Provincial Commander, Gen. Alizai underlined the necessity of such exchange of information between the players in the field of security and welcomed EUPOLs involvement in the ANP training.

On 8th December EUPOL led a successful workshop on Police/Justice Cooperation in the North Western province of Faryab. The conference room of the ANP HQ in Maimanah was filled to overflowing as 68 participants from across the Province, representing police, prosecutors, officials from the Ministry of Justice, and the Judiciary, gathered to learn best practice and discuss topics for the improvement of working relations between police investigators and prosecutors. Members of the Judiciary, from both trial and appeal courts, were invited to contribute their “observations from the Bench”.
Allan Dahl, Project Leader for EUPOL’s Rule of Law Police/Justice Cooperation Team, stated: “We had a tremendous response and as a result, we have decided to continue these workshops on a regular basis.” Participants were welcomed by the Deputy Governor of Faryab Province, the Chief Judge, and Chief Prosecutor. The workshop reflected EUPOL’s ongoing commitment to mentor and train on its strategic objective of Police/Justice cooperation not only in Kabul but in the Regions as well.

On the 12th December the construction sign for the brand new Afghan Border Police Station at Kabul International Airport was set up. The estimated costs for the building, one million Euros, will be met by Germany. Germany’s GTZ has been in charge of the architectural planning and will remain responsible for the construction. The whole project is another sign of the excellent cooperation between EUPOL and the German Police Project Team (GPPT).

The official signing ceremony of the Letter of Agreement between EUPOL and the Attorney General’s Office of Afghanistan took place on 13 December 2009. The LoA, initiated by the D/HoM-RoL Karin Muller, formalizes the cooperation between EUPOL and the AGO Military section which has jurisdiction over criminal cases against Afghan police officers.

EUPOL and the Crisis Management Centre-Finland, together with the MoI and the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) launched the Advanced Police-Prosecutor Coordination Training programme. It will provide training for 23 Afghan participants, from the MoI, the AGO, the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court and the Independent Bar Association. The training programme is composed of 4 training modules; two of them will be conducted in Kabul and two in Finland.

Improvised Explosive Devises (IED) are among the major threats for security forces and ordinary people in Afghanistan. In 2009 hundreds of Afghans and internationals lost their life in bomb explosions. But often after suicide bomb explosions the ANP has to struggle to keep away the press and passersby from wandering onto the scene. That is why EUPOL CID mentors decided there was an urgent need for a complex multi-agency IED incident control exercise. With the support of the Counter IED sections from ISAF, CSTC-A CJ7 and the ANSF Incident Management Training a three phase IED exercise took place at the beginning of December.
At the ANA Camp Darulaman on the first day and phase of the exercise an academic briefing took place creating an understanding for the necessity of an effective and efficient Crime Scene Management in order to save lives and enhance the post-incident investigation. Among the participants were PD Commanders, Zone Commanders and senior staff from MoI, MoD and NDS. During the second day at a simulation of an urban crime scene an ANA platoon demonstrated an initial response monitored by EUPOL and ISAF to identify areas for improvement.
Some of those areas could be identified helping the ANP command to control CID capabilities. On the third day a full mock exercise took place, therefore a scene with a personal borne IED (PBIED) scene prepared. A secondary device was placed in an area nearby to create additional problems for those handling the operation. EUPOL members and ISAF soldiers acted as civilians in order to make the exercise as realistic as possible. The participants came from the ANA, ISAF (exploitation team), NDS (exploitation and investigation team) and from the Kabul City Police (exploitation and investigation team). Controlling a scene and putting together a cordon seems simple.
The exercise showed it needs to be practiced. Therefore a strategic plan for the forthcoming training is being prepared and will be presented soon. The exercise demonstrated a good coordination of the International partners, which will enhance the ANP capability to save lives by the professional and systematic preservation and exploitation of such Crime Scenes. This is the first step in an ongoing project and sits within the EUPOL strategic direction of developing the ANP. The following training exercise will take place in the Kabul districts during next year, as phase 3 of this project. It will start in January 2010 in close cooperation with ISAF and RONCO.

10th December 2009 will be the International Human Rights Day. In this context one should highlight the efforts to combat violence against women and children in Afghanistan. Among the important players are the Law Enforcement Agencies and Judicial Institutions. They should handle violence against women and children, young boys and sexual abuse against men. The report “Silence is Violence” - End the abuse of women in Afghanistan published by UNAMA and OHCHR in July 2009 states that there is an increase of physical and sexual abuse of women and children in Afghanistan.
In this report the Afghan police and judicial institution are portrayed rather negatively: “Afghan women have repeatedly reported that they have lost faith in the law enforcement and judicial institutions that they consider ineffective, incompetent, dysfunctional and corrupt. Referring an incident to the police, the national directorate of security (i.e., the intelligence service) or a prosecutor is said to be of no avail; cases are usually not taken seriously, properly recorded or acted upon.” Other problems in this connection are corrupt law enforcement agencies and judicial institutions, which can for example turn a reported rape into adultery which is a serious crime.
In these circumstances a married victim can be convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for five or ten years. Within the MoI Anti-Crime CID there is a Juvenile Offenders Crime Department (JOCD) that also conducts investigations of crimes against Women and Children. As these investigations are very much related to Gender and Human Rights, the EUPOL RoL Gender and Human Rights Department has recently started to mentor the MOI CID JOCD, alongside the other EUPOL police CID mentors that have started to work on the Specialized Police Projects of which this Department is part of.
EUPOL concentrates on a special training programme for the JOCD investigators with a victim friendly approach, special investigation techniques and victim and witness protection, including cooperation with the civil society groups working in this field and the different United Nations offices, highlights Apolonia Bos, one of the EUPOL RoL mentors to the MoI Gender and Human Rights Department headed by Colonel Safiqa Quraishi. The EUPOL GE/HR Department wants to support the MOI with victim friendly interview rooms but needs funding for it.
European police together with the contributing nations whose Juvenile Offenders and abuse against women and children’s Departments are functioning and trained according to most modern standards and with the most modern techniques, should be able to bring a significant change for the Afghan police but more importantly, for the Afghan citizens.
It was only in the early 1980’s that in The Netherlands women organizations were demonstrating in the streets of her hometown Nijmegen, against a police that in their point of view not acted properly upon complaints of sexual abuse against women and were fighting for special police teams that should consist of female and male detectives.

At the end of November, the handover ceremony of the appeal court office building and the prosecution office building to the local administration took place in Chaghcharan, the capital of Ghowr province. The ceremony marked the end of a project directed to strengthen the capacity of the justice sector in the province. The project was funded by the EU Commission and the Lithuanian government and implemented by the UN Office for Drugs and Crimes (UNODC).

EUPOL celebrated on 25 November 2009 the graduation of 23 students who had successfully completed the first EUPOL Rule of Law Train-the-Trainers Course (RoLTTC) organized in Mazar-e-Sharif. The dedicated students from ANP Regional Legal Directorate and ANP Human Rights and Gender Units attended this two week pilot training course organised as a joint effort by the Rule of Law Department and Training Department. The training team was composed of five experienced EUPOL training and Rule of Law experts: Per Flink, Claudia F?rster, Alan Skurbaty, Rohullah Esmati and Anna Piskonen.
The concept of the RoLTTC is based on the Field Training and Education Officers Course (FTEO-C) which is designed to teach adult training methods to future trainers of the ANP. The purpose of this training course was to develop at the same time the teaching skills and the legal capacities of the personnel of ANP Regional Legal Directorate and ANP Human Rights and Gender Units so that they can perform their roles as ANP legal trainers effectively and efficiently. With good training skills and sufficient knowledge of laws and human rights, the trainers will be able to help improve the police` performance in respect of its legal and human rights responsibilities. The teaching method was based on a participatory approach that included lectures, discussions and exercises through which the participants demonstrated in practice their newly learnt training management skills related to legal and human rights issues within the police. The feedback from students was positive and the training was considered to have been of great benefit for the participants. While teaching hands-on training management skills and increasing students’ confidence in conducting lectures on their own, the training course provided much needed knowledge of and new perspective to the Afghan laws and international human rights.

On 3rd December 2009 HoM Kai Vittrup met the Japanese Charge d’Affaires in Afghanistan, Fumio Shimizu, to introduce EUPOL activities and to propose civilian police projects that can be supported financially by the Government of Japan. Japan had pledged five billion USD for the next five years of aid to Afghanistan. During the meeting HoM presented the mission priorities and current activities, highlighting the leading role of EUPOL among international players in developing the Community Police Pillar and in restructuring, retraining and refurbishing the Specialized Police Pillar. More detailed explanation was given on the Minister of Interior request to develop the CI/CSI capability and the ongoing training of 5+2 CI/CSI teams in Kabul and the need for specific equipment for these teams. The programme will be later expanded to other provinces.
EUPOL Provincial Team in Ghowr will continue to cooperate with Japanese representative in Chaghcharan PRT to support the police force in the province and make proposals for projects in regard to training and CID facilities as well as providing advice on the selection of police and RoL personnel for local and out-of-country training courses.

Kabul International Airport has been upgraded to international standards and now the work of the border police at the airport is resulting in even higher standards.
At the end of November 2009 the new established Aviation Security Department, which belongs to the Afghan Ministry of Interior (MoI) together with EUPOL trainers and representatives from the German Police Project Team (GPPT) provided training to the border police staff at the airport. The goal of the four days training program was to conciliate the law on civil aviation as well as national safety regulations like airport security, patrolling and access control. The training was created by EUPOL member Daniela Hopfinger and accomplished by Udo Goergen and Stefan Brock, trainers from the German Police Project Team. A practical introduction was provided by Joerg Dewenter (GPPT), Michael Frost (GPPT) and Mark Sowinski (EUPOL).

Since fighting corruption will be a priority for the new Afghan government, EUPOL decided to support a new MoI Anti-Corruption media campaign with billboards and newspaper advertising. This campaign will be launched on 9th December, the International Anti-Corruption Day and correspond with other ground operations of EUPOL in relation to this subject.
One of the six strategic objectives of the EUPOL Mission is Anti-Corruption. Therefore the EUPOL Rule of Law pillar concentrates two of its units on enhancing capacity building of Afghan counterparts to fight corruption. The goal of EUPOLs Anti-Corruption work is to enable the MoI and the Attorney General’s Office to execute all future counter corruption measures through efficient and transparent procedures independently and sustainably. Considering that corruption in the transitional society of Afghanistan is endemic and widespread, EUPOL and its international partners, are working together to achieve this goal through the development of transparent governing and administrative procedures and subsequent enforcement, which will enable the Ministry of Interior and the Attorney General’s Office to combat all types of corruption.
Since the signing of a Note of Understanding between EUPOL and the Minister of the Interior on July 22nd 2009, significant progress in all three focus areas has been made. A Project office located in the MOI has been established and has started to execute the AC-Action Plan in cooperation with the US counterpart CSTC-A and other internationals.
The review process of the existing procedures and structures within the MOI is well advanced and will soon form the basis for the implementation of a digital filing and case tracking system for alleged and detected corruption cases. In this field the Anti-Corruption Team, together with the US Justice Sector Support Program, are working on a database that will be used by the Ministry of Interior and its six regional mobile Anti-Corruption Teams which will soon commence special investigations operations to report corruption cases throughout all Afghanistan. EUPOLs Anti-Corruption Team has provided training for 300 MOI Inspectors on anti-corruption matters and these Inspectors have already been successfully engaged in several investigations and operations.
The team has also provided three basic detective and investigation training courses for MOI personnel, who were joined by Prosecutors and Judges, in order to prepare a future platform for enhanced cooperation between the MOI, Attorney General’s Office and the responsible District Courts.
A specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecution Unit (ACU) has been established in the Attorney General’s Office. EUPOL has been setting up this Unit with other internationals partners. More than 60 Afghan prosecutors are currently working in the Unit, 12 of them focusing on high level government corruption. The 12 prosecutors and three specialized admin support working on high level government corruption have all been undergone a vetting process and have received extensive training in different areas related to investigation and prosecution of corruption related crime.
With the assistance of EUPOL mentors this unit is preparing corruption cases for indictment and trial. Through mentoring at the AGO EUPOL successfully cooperates with international Mentors from the US Department of Justice, the US lead Justice Sector Support Program and the UK Crown Prosecution Office.

In the pleasant atmosphere of the Heetal-Plaza hotel, and in cooperation with CSTC-A, EUPOL conducted a seminar on anti-corruption for officials from the Ministries of Interior and Defence. Over four days the participants discussed ways on how to tackle corruption in governmental offices. For EUPOL Michael Holdsworth, Mentor to the Inspector General’s office at the MoI, participated in the seminar and presented measures to better identify corruption cases and to raise awareness about such issues while training all ranks of officers.
Lt Col Mirza Mohammad Hadaf, General Director of Law Enforcement at the Policy and Strategy Department of the MoI was one of the participants and thanked EUPOL and other partners for this initiative in bringing both the MoI and MoD officials together in a seminar to enable both to better coordinate and fight corruption as partners.
Deputy of Inspection at the MoD Gen Mohammad Amir Baqaee pointed out, “Corruption is a main problem in our country and should be rooted out. The presentations which showed the negative impact of corruption in Afghanistan were very informative for our officials.” EUPOL’s Michael Holdsworth promised: “We will further focus on anti-corruption issues at the MoI in order to enable its officials to participate in the anti-corruption process”. A British NATO training team provided logistical support for the seminar.

A senior Leaders day was held at the Ministry of Defense (MOD) HQ on Tuesday 10th November facilitated by Transparency International, NATO and the UK Defence Academy. The seminar, aimed at building integrity in defence establishments, attracted leaders and Ministers both the MOD and MOI. Deputy Minister Mangal closed the seminar and hoped that similar meetings would be held in the future in order that both departments could work more closely together to tackle corruption. EUPOL assisted the defence team in coordinating the attendance from the MOI. Col. Whitchurch from the UK Defence Academy thanked EUPOL for their invaluable assistance in securing such key personal to attend. EUPOL will further assist the Team with two four day Foundation courses attracting students from both the MOD and MOI.

Paolo Colombani, EUPOL Regional Command West (R.C.) Senior Police Adviser went to visit the Chaghcharan EUPOL Team, based in the provincial capital of Ghowr province as a part of his course of action to provide guidance and support. He came to find out if all EUPOL actions match the needs and the reality in Chaghcharan and to assess their willingness to adopt measures accordingly.
During his 3-day-trip he visited the ANP Provincial Headquarters where he met with Brigadier General Abdul Baqi Nouristani, Chief of Police in Ghowr province who again thanked EUPOL for its continuous support to the ANP. Later Capt. Colombani met with Col. Alvydas Siuparis, Lithuanian P.R.T. Commander in Ghowr province who highlighted EUPOL’s achievements and welcomed the good cooperation between EUPOL and the Lithuanian troops. During his visit Colombani took part in the “Body & Vehicle Search” training of 25 ANP officers at the Police Headquarters, where he demonstrated efficient and complete body and vehicle search techniques used by Italian Carabinieri.

After the ANP had received 300 Hyosung 125cc on/off-road motor cycles contributed by South Korea, ANP, CSTC-A, DynCorp and EUPOL discussed how training for selected personnel could be organised. It was then agreed that EUPOL would take lead responsibility for the training component, and that the logistical support would remain with the other partners. EUPOL Training Unit in cooperation with the EUPOL Mentor Team of Uniformed Police, created a 12 day training program with a Train-the-Trainers-approach and the course kicked off on November 14th at the ANP’s Transport Battalion in Kabul. The trainees come from the Traffic Police, and the course is designed in such a manner that the candidates will be able and qualified to train other officers later.
The future instructors are being taught how to teach new motorcycle riders the basics of safe riding, applicable traffic laws, traffic control signals, functions of a police motorcycle officer, and some basic motorcycle maintenance. Some of the current students now ride as part of an elite motorcycle escort team, riding BMW motorbikes, safely shepherding important VIP’s and dignitaries through the streets of Kabul. A great benefit of having police on motorcycles is an increase in mobility and a resulting decrease in response times, thus improving the security to Afghans wherever they are put to use. Additionally to this, EUPOL suggested in a meeting with Gen. Munir Mangal, Deputy Minister for Security, that the motor cycles should be used in the fight against the Taliban as well.

The fifth Medal parade took place on Wednesday 18th November 2009 at the EUPOL HQ. In the presence of senior officials from the European Union, Afghan authorities from the Ministry of Interior Affairs and members of the diplomatic corps medals were awarded to 66 EUPOL police officers and civilian experts. Among the guests were Ettore Sequi the European Union Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Hans-Joerg Kretschmer, Head of the EU Commissions Delegation, Matthew Reece, Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of Civilian Operations, Gen Haidar Basir Afghan Deputy MoI for Admin and Logistics Affairs and Gen Sayed Mohammad Qudossi, Afghan National Police Academy Commander.
While Ambassador Sequi highlighted the importance and achievements of the EUPOL mission and praised the courage of its mission members Deputy Minister Basir thanked EUPOL for its support and good cooperation. Matthew Reece specially welcomed the changes and achievements made last year and assured the mission that this has been recognised in Brussels as well. Both, Sequi and Reece, thanked Deputy HoM Peter Horst for his contribution to the mission and wished him all the best for his future because he will leave the mission in December. The European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) medals were awarded to the EUPOL police officers and civilian experts by the guest of honor Matthew Reece along with Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup. The Head of Mission himself then received the Norwegian-Afghan Medal handed over to him by the Norwegian Senior Police Advisor, Dag Storksen.
The medal is normally only awarded to Norwegian citizens, but was given exceptionally to Kai Vittrup for his support for, and contribution to the Norwegian Police Mission in Afghanistan.

A EUPOL delegation led by the Head of Mission travelled to Brussels to attend a Technical Conference which took place on 10 November 2009. The aim of the conference, organized by the colleagues from the Civilian and Conduct Planning Capability (CPCC), was to reach concrete solutions to EUPOL’s staffing and logistical shortfalls. EUPOL and CPCC asked for clear indications from the Member States and third contributing states on their intentions to second additional personnel to EUPOL and from the PRT lead nations on their commitments to allocate accommodation and office space as well as logistical and security support to EUPOL personnel outside of Kabul.
The outcome of the conference was deemed a success. The participants, which included both the representatives from national delegations in Brussels as well as from the ministries of interior, defense, justice and foreign affairs, really appreciated EUPOL’s presentations on the Mission’s key activities. These presentations covered EUPOL’s work in the domains of Anti-Corruption, Police Intelligence, Criminal Investigations Department, ANP Benchmarking, the “Afghan Policing Model,” and the security aspects of EUPOL’s engagement across Afghanistan. Following the presentations, the national delegates were invited into break-out sessions where they discussed with the EUPOL representatives specific issues with regard to the secondment of police personnel, secondment of Rule of Law and civilian experts and the issues related to logistical and security shortfalls. The conference concluded by a “tour de table” during which the representatives of the Member States and third contributing states made concrete pledges with regard to additional personnel and logistical and security support. The conference confirmed the commitment to EUPOL on the part of the member States and Third Contributing States and a desire to ensure that EUPOL reaches its full capacity of 400 personnel distributed across the Afghan provinces. Based on the pledges, EUPOL can expect to grow to around 350 personnel in March 2010.

A EUPOL delegation led by the Head of Mission travelled to Brussels to attend a Technical Conference which took place on 10 November 2009. The aim of the conference, organized by the colleagues from the Civilian and Conduct Planning Capability (CPCC), was to reach concrete solutions to EUPOL’s staffing and logistical shortfalls. EUPOL and CPCC asked for clear indications from the Member States and third contributing states on their intentions to second additional personnel to EUPOL and from the PRT lead nations on their commitments to allocate accommodation and office space as well as logistical and security support to EUPOL personnel outside of Kabul.
The outcome of the conference was deemed a success. The participants, which included both the representatives from national delegations in Brussels as well as from the ministries of interior, defense, justice and foreign affairs, really appreciated EUPOL’s presentations on the Mission’s key activities. These presentations covered EUPOL’s work in the domains of Anti-Corruption, Police Intelligence, Criminal Investigations Department, ANP Benchmarking, the “Afghan Policing Model,” and the security aspects of EUPOL’s engagement across Afghanistan. Following the presentations, the national delegates were invited into break-out sessions where they discussed with the EUPOL representatives specific issues with regard to the secondment of police personnel, secondment of Rule of Law and civilian experts and the issues related to logistical and security shortfalls. The conference concluded by a “tour de table” during which the representatives of the Member States and third contributing states made concrete pledges with regard to additional personnel and logistical and security support. The conference confirmed the commitment to EUPOL on the part of the member States and Third Contributing States and a desire to ensure that EUPOL reaches its full capacity of 400 personnel distributed across the Afghan provinces. Based on the pledges, EUPOL can expect to grow to around 350 personnel in March 2010.

The newly elected Chairman of The European Parliament’s “Delegation for relations with Afghanistan” Thijs Berman, paid a visit to EUPOL HQ on Tuesday 3 November. The Dutch MEP discussed the state of the police reform and EUPOL’s activities in supporting it with the Head of Mission, Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup.
The lack of adequate funding of the civilian employees salaries in the Ministry of Interior was also highlighted. Unlike the civilian employees, the policemen are paid by international donors through the Law and Order Trust Fund Afghanistan.
Mr. Berman stressed the intention of the European Parliament to be actively involved in the European Security and Defense Policy as the Lisbon Treaty will come into force, and he promised to support the initiatives that are important for successful police reform in Afghanistan.

EUPOL officers Ghislain Hantz and Nils Rinnan have made EUPOL a partner in the Counterinsurgency Leaders Course-Afghanistan organized by US Department of the Army Counterinsurgency Training Center in Kabul.
Ghislan Hantz and Nils Rinnan provided at the end of October an introduction to the intelligence-led policing model for more than 125 participants from coalition members and from the Afghan National Security Forces.
For many of the participants it was the first introduction to EUPOL-activities, and dozens of questions from the audience proved a strong interest in both Intelligence Led Policing and other EUPOL tasks.

It was a beautiful sunny October-day in the green city of Herat, when EUPOL Head of Mission, police commissioner Kai Vittrup congratulated Provincial Commander of Afghan National Police, General Esmatullah Alizay, Herat province taking the lead in computer-training for police officers.
Hundreds of male and female police officers participated in a handover-ceremony of the ANP Information and Communication technology Center Herat.
Paid for by the German Government, it was handed over from GTZ, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit, to EUPOL who had taken the lead in promoting IT to the ANP.
As a two-step procedure ICT-Center Herat was then handed over to the local Police. Germany has had a long standing cooperation with The University of Herat, a cooperation the ICT Centre has built upon.
At the day of handover, 22 October 2009, 120 police officers had already received vocational ICT training at the centre. It was obvious to those participating that the relationship between the ANP and the implementing and donating GTZ is both close and warm, built upon an extremely close cooperation and with many thanks to Reinhard Trenkle, participating as GTZ-representative.
EUPOL Head of Mission, Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup, stressed that modern policing needs good ICT capabilities – on every level. Computer skills are needed for criminal investigations, analyzing data, keeping records etc., but also personnel management as well as efficient budgeting. Kai Vittrup: EUPOL is in the process of establishing ANP ICT Centre in Kabul. Who knows, maybe one day police officers having studied in Herat might even become teachers in Kabul.
A hand-over letter was signed by General Ezmatullah Aklizai and Kai Vittrup.

The Rule of Law Department of EUPOL and the Independent National Center for Legal Training at Kabul University have begun a course on Human Rights and Administration of Justice for selected 200 graduates of the legal schools and departments of the Afghan universities.
All the course materials, including the case studies, being translated into Dari, were copied and distributed among the students well before their studies. It is foreseen that 10 topics on human rights and administration of justice will be covered, and 20 lecturing sessions will be conducted during the training course.
Specifically, the course EUPOL conducts for future Defence Lawyers and Prosecutors, is aiming to:
• enhance their knowledge of and adherence to the Rule of Law and Human Rights at all phases of law enforcement, including investigation, prosecution and pre-trial detention; • enhance their knowledge of international law and appraise human rights policies and practices at the international and national levels; The lecture last week was attended by the high-level Delegation comprising the Assistant Secretary of the US State Department David Johnson; the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Justice Mohammed Qasem Hashimzai, as well as the TV crew from Afghan National TV who were filming the training process. The course has been devised, adapted and delivered by Alan Skurbaty, the EUPOL human rights expert. He closely cooperates with Rohullah Esmati, the national legal officer, who has good knowledge of Islamic Sharia’ and Afghan national human rights standards.

EUPOL has begun a bi-monthly briefing at the Commander's Update Brief (CUB) organised three times a week at the Combined Joint Operations Center, CJOC, in ISAF HQ. The CUB is one of the Commander's tools to provide cross functional information to the entire staff and ISAF's higher headquarters.
After some preliminary talks led by Captain Varaljai, the EUPOL Liaison officer to ISAF with the office of ISAF Chief of Staff, EUPOL/ISAF LNOs have been invited to produce presentations of EUPOL's initiatives and achievements to the ISAF top-level twice a month. Attending the briefing are the ISAF Senior Staff, high level representatives from the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defence and the regions.
The presentation given by Captain Varaljai raised favorable comments by COMISAF. COMISAF agreed the briefings make EUPOL more visible in the whole security landscape.

EUPOL recently concluded another Field Training and Education Officer Course (FTEO-C) in Kabul. The course was conducted at the Border Police HQs and was intended to improve the management skills of the ANP and even more importantly, the pedagogical skills and knowledge in police training and education. It was meant to prepare the participants for their daily work in organizing, coordinating and delivering police training to the ANP.
The course was delivered to 24 participants who were divided into two groups. The course period was one month and the participants were chosen after a test from the Ministry of Interior and the Afghan Border Police who enthusiastically took part in the course.
The participants were awarded certificates of appreciation in a closing ceremony for their successful participation in the course. The ceremony was attended by the Head of Training and Education at the MoI Gen Gul Nabi Ahmadzai, EUPOL Head of Training Paul Meijers, Deputy Head of Border Police General Sadat, and EUPOL officers Juergen Graf, Markus Pink, Andre Wuillot and Bruno Aleton who were responsible for training the two groups.
EUPOL officers had a good impression of the course, and were delighted with the successful participation of the students “It was a great pleasure being with ANP officers, they were really motivated by the new skills they acquired in the course” says Juergen Graf one of the trainers.
General Gul Nabi Ahmadzai expressed his gratitude for the support EUPOL provided for the Afghan National Police and told the participants of the course to develop their newly-acquired skills so they will be able to train their colleagues according to international policing standards.
EUPOL Head of Training Department, Col Paul Meijers explained to the participants the importance of their role in bringing the ANP to a higher level by training and educating them in a professional way and their future role in professionalising the ANP when the new educational system is introduced.

EUPOL recently concluded the 2nd Basic Criminal Investigation Course for as many as 30 participants of different organisations. The participants were from the Supreme Court, Attorney General’s Office (AGO), MoI (New Mobile Unit of Anti-Corruption Unit) and the Military Court of Afghanistan.
The course put together participants from different organisations to force them to interact and learn from each other. Like this a greater awareness of each others role in the field of anti corruption could be approached.
The two week course covered different topics such as criminal investigation, planning and decision making, crime scene investigation, forensic awareness, interviewing, criminal procedure code in Afghanistan and reporting.
The course organised by Michael Holdsworth was delivered by EUPOL officers Pekka Kokkonen, Heinrich Hasebein, Alessandro Spaziani, Federico Paesano, Giuseppe Trevisi, Konrad Wudkte and Paul Reshaur.
The participants were awarded certificates of appreciation for their successful attendance in the course in a closing ceremony. The ceremony was attended by the Inspector General at the MoI Maj Gen Mohammad Wakil Akbari. He thanked EUPOL for supporting the ANP and the justice systems of Afghanistan and appreciated the hard work undertaken by EUPOL trainers during the two-week course.
“The training course was designed to move forward with the anti-corruption implementation program and to prepare a personnel pool of qualified officers at the MoI and the AGO for future activities in the field of anti-corruption” said Michael Holdsworth.

EUPOL Training Department conducted a seminar at the Ministry of Interior for supervising police officers in charge of the observation of their colleagues. These supervisors were supposed to be involved in the run off of the presidential election and should now be in charge of next year’s parliamentary elections. In this context the seminar focused on “Lessons learnt” from the August elections. The seminar which follows the Inspectorate Course will enable the Afghan police to improve in policing democratic elections, inspection and audit, anti-corruption and other processes for the parliamentary election.
At the opening of the seminar Deputy Minister Dauod Dauod thanked the officers for the extraordinary performance in the first round of the elections and wished them success for their future career.
EUPOL Head of Mission Commissioner Kai Vittrup valued the performance of the ANP at the elections and assured the participants that EUPOL will continue to support the ANP with training and advising.
Inspector General at the MoI Maj Gen Mohammad Wakil Akbari thanked EUPOL for supporting the ANP which has already led to better performance. He asked for continuous support of EUPOL to upgrade the ANP capabilities and reconstruct the ANP according to international policing standards.
The spokesperson of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) Ezatullah Arman gave a lecture at the seminar and the audience had the opportunity to ask questions and discuss election matters with him.

To discuss the future training of the Afghan National Police and the role of the Police Academy of Afghanistan General Gul Nabi Ahmadzai, General Head of Training and Education Department of the MoI visited the Netherlands. He has been invited by General Van Baal, Chairman of the Government Board of the Police Academy of the Netherlands. During this visit the generals discussed possible directions the ANP can choose to improve the training and education for the ANP in close cooperation with the international community.
EUPOL Training Development Officer Dirk van Vierssen, Head of Training Paul Meijers and Amanullah Atal, Coordinator of Language Officers accompanied General Ahmadzai during his visit. The Afghan General also met with Guusje ter Horst, the Dutch Minister of Interior to speak about the extra support the Dutch government can give to EUPOL in supporting the development of the ANP. Both had met before at EUPOL HQ during the Minister’s visit to EUPOL in September 2009.
Back to Kabul, General Ahmadzai pointed out that the visit has been very inspiring and has given him new input and view on how to manage new developments in an more efficient way. He thanked his Dutch hosts for the positive response and the understanding his counterparts showed for the recent situation in Afghanistan.

EUPOL successfully completed the election training cascade-model developed specifically by the EUPOL training department.
Election Security Project coordinators Rune Boiden Kristoffersen and Wilfried Olde Nordkamp trained in the past months the first 350 Afghan police instructors of the Election Security Training Cascade and later organised monitoring of the second and third levels of the cascade to ensure the ANP are delivering the training. In July, several teams of the EUPOL Training Department drove out to Police Districts in Kabul and had the chance to witness the good result of the Election Training Cascade. With few exceptions, each participant of the first level instructors of the cascade had completed the training of the second stage. The third stage has been conducted by ANP officers by Aug 18th, as envisaged in the EUPOL plan. Similar observation is being conducted in EUPOL populated provinces. Additional areas are covered by cooperation with the EU Election Observation Mission Teams.  
Moreover, coordinators Kristoffersen and Olde Nordkamp assessed the election training with the Kabul City Police Chief of Training Colonel Hasibullah Kobadyani and both agreed that ANP officers at the Polling sites are well prepared for the Elections.

On Saturday 8th August General Sardar Mohammad Kohdamani, Deputy Chief of the Training and Education Department at the Ministry of Interior (MoI), and EUPOL Head of Training Paul Meijers hosted the closing ceremony of the 5th cycle of Field Training & Education Officer Courses (FTEO) in Kabul. 
The three week course consisted of 26 participants and, for the first time in Kabul, a female Police Officer was included in this training.  Indeed, she was one of the best performers in the course assessments.
In his speech, General Kohdamani praised the cooperation enjoyed between the MoI and EUPOL in the field of training and development of the Afghan National Police (ANP) and cited the FTEO Program introduced by EUPOL in February 2009 as a good example of this.
Colonel Meijers illustrated how EUPOL is involved in the process of training and is giving the ANP a sound base to gradually build a new modern police service according to international standards.
This fifth  course was delivered by an experienced team of EUPOL Trainers: Lt Bruno Aleton, Maj Michel Couplan, Cpt Rita Feldman  and Chief Insp Per Flink.
This phase of EUPOL’s FTEO program brought the total of Afghan police officers graduating from the three-week course in Kabul to 149.
After the speeches, another highlight for the participants was the presentation of their certificates, followed by a buffet lunch, provided by EUPOL’s caterers. On a separate note, during her speech on behalf of the trainers, Captain Feldman said goodbye to her friends and colleagues, having completed her mission with EUPOL.  She recalled the many things she learned and the many friends she made during her time in Afghanistan.  Arrivederci Rita!

EUPOL Head of Mission, Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup received from the hands of Lieutenant General John Dutton ISAF medal as recognition for the great efforts to enhance cooperation between the European Union Police Mission and the International Security Assistance Force. The same decoration was awarded to the Executive Officer in the Head of Mission’s Office Chief Inspector Colin Aitken, for his long-standing service in Helmand Province.

On 17 August 2009 high representatives of the Afghan Military Justice Sector visited EUPOL. The aim of this meeting was to facilitate dialogue among and the cooperation with key stake holders in the Afghan Military Justice Sector, to establish a working relationship with EUPOL and to identify training needs. Visitors were the President of the Military Appeal Court, General Abdul Khalaq Halim, the Deputy Attorney General - Military, General Abdul Fatah Azizi and the Director of Interior Ministry Anti Corruption Department, General Jamullah Muhajir.
According to Afghan legislation all military personnel falls under the jurisdiction of the military courts. Even in cases where e.g. only one suspect holds a military rank, the case would have to be investigated and prosecuted by a military prosecutor and tried in front of a military court. “Considering that Afghan Police Officers are regarded as military and having in mind the mandate of EUPOL Afghanistan, there is a good reason for EUPOL to play an active role when it comes to training and eventually further support in the military justice sector” says EUPOL Rule of Law Mentor Dr Gregor Kemper who initiated the meeting.
After EUPOL Head of Mission, Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup, officially welcomed the guests, they were informed about EUPOL and its mandate. General Halim pointed out that the number of military criminal cases with police involvement has doubled in the last 12 months. 
However, according to the Afghan high ranking officers, the military sector of the Afghan justice system has not been in the focus of the international community.
Subsequently, EUPOL Mentor to the Ministry of Interior Pekka Kokkonen familiarized the participants with EUPOL trainings while A/Anti-Corruption Project Leader Konrad Wudtke highlighted the training priorities of EUPOL according to its mandate and the course police related criminal cases take according to procedural law.
As a first result of this initial meeting, personnel of the Afghan Military Justice Sector will be invited to participate in several training courses organized by EUPOL in early September.

Following a request from the National authorities, EUPOL organized the procurement of new arrival and departure stamps for immigration control at Kabul International Airport (KIA).
Most of the existing stamps, which were donated by Germany in 2004, were either broken or barely operational. It was quite urgent to equip the Afghan Border Police (ABP) with new stamps in order to avoid major problems with inbound and outbound Visa processing.
Counterfeit KIA stamps appeared during the past years in several European countries, so a new stamp design was also necessary. A stock of stamps for future replacement was another requirement. 
In addition to 25 entry stamps and 15 exit stamps, a steel cabinet with separate lockable boxes to store the stamps was provided by EUPOL.
The project was carried out by Border Police Mentor Kurt Schwendemann in close consultation with the Commander of the KIA Border Police General Mohammed Asif Jabarkhail.

55 police officers from different genders attended last week an Identification/Fingerprint training course at Pul-e-Charkhi Prison.
Participants were serving in several Afghan detention centers.
Colonel Jan Schuermann, Mentor to Minister of Justice, was pleased with the outcome of the initiative and confirmed that the trainees were now able to take fingerprints from detainees and prisoners according to Interpol Standards.
Fingerprint Sets were handed over at the conclusion of the training to ten prisons throughout Afghanistan.
Head of Security of the Pul-e-Charkhi Prison, General Dastagir Mayar, expressed his appreciation for the EUPOL special training.

The Head of Mission Kai Vittrup and the Commander of the Canadian Police in Afghanistan, Assistant Commissioner Graham Muir agreed in a meeting to reintroduce the services of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) with EUPOL in Kandahar.

The five RCMP officers will attend induction training at EUPOL HQ before commencing the implementation of the Kandahar City Police Project, an assignment that will be conducted in cooperation with experts from the Kabul City Police Project and RCMP officers working on bilateral projects.
The top EUPOL and Canadian officers expressed their commitment to this arrangement and continued involvement on the implementation of the six EUPOL core objectives.

Canada - along with Croatia, New Zealand and Norway – is one of the four non EU contributing countries to the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan.

 EUPOL Rule of Law (RoL) organised a half-day seminar with participants from the Afghan civil society organizations. The purpose of the seminar was to discuss possibilities for co-operation especially in the Provinces. Engaging Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to work with EUPOL offers the mission valuable channels to reach the local communities. 
Seven NGOs working on human rights, gender issues and legal training participated in the seminar; Civil Society and Human Rights Network (CSHRN), Civil Society Development Center (CSDC), Noor Educational Center (NEC), Afghan Organisation of Human Rights and Environmental Protection (AOHREP), The Afghan Women’s Skills Development Center (AWSDC), Sanayee Development Organisation (SDO) and the Afghan Women Support Association (AWSA). Due to the high number of national and international stakeholders present in Afghanistan there is a need for mechanisms to share information about respective activities. Following this initial workshop, RoL is going to organise regular monthly meetings with the NGOs to further develop projects. The upcoming workshops will focus on specific topics and NGOs working in the field will be invited to participate.

The first certified Informant Handler Course took place recently in Helmand.
Intelligence Led Policing is one of the priorities of the Afghan Ministry of Interior (MoI) and EUPOL. To support MoI’s efforts in strengthening their informant handling system, the course was created and developed by  EUPOL Intelligence Led Policing Team in Kabul.
Afghan officers from different police units worked very well as a team during the course. ”We are grateful to EUPOL for the training received and we are looking forward to receiving more in the future”, one of the trainees said.
 “The Afghan National Police was cooperative and interested to learn, it is a privilege to be a teacher during this courses”, said EUPOL Mentor Peder Öhlund.
The first course in Helmand has already given concrete results. According to Sr Counter Narcotics Police Mentor David Wright  “significant quantity of drugs was seized by the police and a number of suspects – among which some well known drug dealers – were arrested, several investigations are ongoing”.  The Informant Handling Course is now being delivered throughout Afghanistan by EUPOL.

FIDO explosives training for Kabul City Police was commenced.
Seventeen NCOs attached to the Ring of Steel Kandak received training from EUPOL Kabul City Police Project Team member Lee Davies.
FIDO is the world’s lightest and most sensitive explosives detection machine. It is so called, because FIDO is a generic western name for a dog and very much like a dog is trained to sniff for explosives, the FIDO machine also “sniffs” for explosive vapours. In addition to detecting explosive vapours, FIDO can also be used to test for traces of explosives on people, vehicles and buildings. This ability to double task also makes it the most versatile machine of its type in the world. FIDO is even more advanced than those explosives detection machines that are used at European or American airports and it has been used very successfully in Iraq.
EUPOL member Lee Davies said “This machine is so sensitive that there do not have to be explosives present.  It can tell if a person has merely handled explosives and this would be enough suspicion for the Police to detain and investigate those persons who may have been involved in the transportation of explosives or in some other way involved in the chain of movement of explosives.
It probably won’t give us the bomb makers but it will give us a starting point. This is an opportunity to vastly improve the capability of the Kabul City Police to prevent and detect the movement of explosives around the City and all the benefits that this means for the security of the citizens of Kabul and the safety of Kabul City Policemen.”      
The training which took place at Kabul City Police HQ and the live operational deployment were both filmed by ISAF and NATO and will form part of a public information broadcast which will be televised across Afghanistan.
“We want the Kabul City Police to send positive messages to both the community of Kabul and to those people that would seek to disrupt the lives of Kabul citizens. The message to the community is ‘Look, we have these sophisticated machines, we are working hard to make this a safer city’. The message to those who have plans to bring death and destruction to the city is ‘We are watching you, we have the technology and we will catch you’ ” said Senior Sergeant Davies.
Through EUPOL’s initiative and with the assistance of CSTC-A five FIDO machines were purchased at a cost of $125,000. Four of these machines will eventually be handed over to Kabul City Police whilst the fifth will be retained for future training by EUPOL, but until such a time as the training has finished and a period of mentoring and assessment of competence has been undertaken, they will remain in the safekeeping of EUPOL and will be used on the ring of Steel and Mobile Support Units in operational deployments, rather like the one that took place this week at Massoud Circle.

EUPOL organised a seminar for around 280 police officers at the Ministry of Interior on the overview of polling procedures, the election complaints process for offences and violation and other polling day related incidents.
The initiative was taken by the EUPOL Election Team, led by Frede Nissen and Friedbert Herter. EUPOL training department organised the seminar as a follow up to the previous four-day Inspectorate Course which ended in early May 2009 at the Ministry of Interior.
EUPOL Head of Training Department Col Paul Meijers said at the opening of the seminar that “This seminar which follows the Inspectorate Course, will enable the Afghan police to build their skills in policing democratic elections, inspection and audit, anti-corruption and other election complaints processes.”
The participants were motivated by the lectures they received from the officials of the Election Complaints Commission (ECC).
Many questions were raised during the seminar regarding transparency in the elections which were discussed comprehensively with wide audience participation.

The Criminal Law Reform Working Group (CLRWG) facilitated a Seminar on Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance at the Kabul Serena Hotel. The seminar was hosted by the Attorney General of Afghanistan and the UNODC. EUPOL is a member of the CLRWG, currently represented by Dr. Gregor Kemper of the Rule of Law department.
The CLRWG has deliberated on the draft of the new Extradition Law of Afghanistan and has submitted its position to the legislative authorities involved. The CLRWG urges several important amendments to the law to ensure that the law will be effective and meet Afghanistan’s obligations under the Constitution regarding the treaties and conventions applicable under Article 7, including the UN Convention Against Corruption, the UN Transnational Crime Convention and several Terrorism and Narcotics Trafficking Conventions.
The Seminar was attended by high ranking officials of the AGO, the National Assembly, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.The discussion during the Seminar focused on two essential articles of the draft of the new Extradition Law. These are Article 4 (Reciprocity) and Article 8 (Extradition of a citizen to a Third Country). “As Afghanistan has reciprocal agreements on extradition with four countries only, Article 4 will undermine the ability of Afghanistan to extradite criminals.
This cannot be in the interest of Afghanistan. A principle of less formal mutual assurances on a case by case basis would give Afghanistan more flexibility and still protect its interests.” said Dr. Gregor Kemper during his presentation including a case study of extradition in Germany. According to Michael Hartmann from the UNODC, Afghanistan risks becoming a safe haven for criminals, and terrorists in particular, in the event where Afghan provisions on extradition render the extradition difficult and unlikely.

The Extradition Law is now pending review by a joint committee of the National assembly to resolve differences in the law passed by the Wolesi Jirga and the Meshrano Jirga. The CLRWG offered its assistance in the legislative process ahead.

H.E. Minister Haneef Atmar requested Deputy Minister Dauod Dauod and Lieutenant General Abdul Rahman Rahman, the head of Kabul City Police to develop an Air Support Plan to enhance security in Kabul during the Presidential election period.  EUPOL officer, Adrian Denby who is mentor to General Rahman was asked to assist in developing the plan.
In conjunction with the Counter Narcotics Air Interdiction Unit (AIU), who have supplied three MI17 helicopters, an Air Support Plan was produced, which has been named Operation Eagle Eye by the Afghan AIU.
Chief Inspector Denby says “By utilizing the intelligence and security agencies, we are able to deliver an intelligence led high visibility air support presence at critical site locations throughout Kabul. The plan also provides an important support function to police operations on the ground, including  intelligence gathering, delivering a quick reaction force and providing a casualty evacuation capability.”
On the 23rd July a media event was organised at the Police Academy in Kabul.  Included within this was a training exercise, which demonstrated the capability to provide a quick response to a kidnap incident and an air evacuation of a casualty.  EUPOL officers Henrik Rose and Michael Lilleballe worked in conjunction with Lt. Colonel Ronald Ells (CSTC-A) to deliver the necessary training to the Afghan Police. 
Chief Inspector Denby states “Both Henrik and Michael have worked very hard to ensure that the Afghan’s police have reached a high level of competence.  They have also delivered the necessary training within a very short period of time”.
Present at the media event was a film crew, who recorded the training exercise.  It was televised across five Afghan National TV channels.  The planning team for this operation state they are keen to publicise this new air capability widely throughout Kabul.  They argue that this will serve to re-assure the communities of Kabul, by demonstrating the police commitment to public safety.  They also state that it will send a strong deterrent message to terrorists and criminals operating in Kabul.
Lt. General Rahman states “This is yet another excellent example of co-operation between the Afghan National Police and International agencies operating in Afghanistan.  It will have the benefit of assisting in the prevention and detection of terrorist and criminal activities in Kabul.” The Deputy Minister of Counter-Narcotics at the Ministry of Interior praised the work done by EUPOL and other international partners and wished success for the best implementation of the program in the upcoming presidential and parliamentarian elections.

The ceremonial ‘presentation of keys’ for the newly constructed training and conference centre at Kabul City Police (KCP) headquarters took place last week. Deputy Head of Mission Peter Horst, the Head of GPPT Detlef Karioth, Head of Project Management Satu Elo and Project Manager Lee Davies were all present at a short informal gathering in the new conference room as it was officially opened by Lt General Abdul Rahman Rahman, Head of Kabul City Police. The General thanked EUPOL and the GPPT for their efforts and expressed his gratitude at having new facilities that would enable the KCP to continue with the training that will support the police reform programme and the Integrated Security Plan. Deputy Head of Mission Peter Horst said “The official handover of the renovated training facility at Kabul City Headquarters constitutes a further step of progress with regard to the Kabul City Security Project. The additional classrooms will enable the KCP to accelerate the education and training activities of Kabul City Police, in particular prior to the forthcoming elections. I would like to thank all contributors to this project notably the German Police Project Team for funding most of the expenses. Finally I give my assurance that EUPOL AFG will keep up its commitment and assistance to enhance the quality of the Afghan National Police.” KCP and EUPOL will organise a booking system for the new rooms which will allow the KCP, EUPOL and the GPPT to share the use of the new facility.

EUPOL donated traffic cones, vehicle search mirrors, reflective jackets and strips of cordon to the Kabul City Police (KCP) as part of the Ring of Steel (RoS) project.  The RoS project basically consists of 31 strategically placed checkpoints, which will improve the KCP’s control of all traffic entering the centre of Kabul and also enabling the KCP to “shut down” the centre of the city in case of an emergency. To support this effort, Kabul City Police Project Team (KCPPT) made numerous assessments of possible sites for these checkpoints and the number of men and equipment needed. 
The KCPPT has delivered courses in checkpoint duty to 522 police and Mobile Support Unit courses to 400 police. A further 49 checkpoint supervisors and 24 Mobile Support Unit supervisors are also being trained. All of these efforts are being made to support the Ring of Steel and KCP in order to prevent insurgent attacks in Kabul city.
Chief Inspectors Reidar Vang and Jesper Christensen provided KCP with 290 traffic cones, 31 vehicle search mirrors, 150 reflective vests, 50 reflective jackets and 31 rolls of cordon strip. In the future there is a plan to provide more equipment to further support the project.
Colonel Khalilullah Dastiyar, Chief of operations at KCP and Colonel Qader Gul, Commander of the brigade for Ring of Steel and Mobile Support Units were also present at the handover ceremony. Both of them thanked EUPOL for its continuous support to the ANP especially to the KCP.
The funding for this equipment comes from the United Kingdom and Denmark and the total costs are approximately 15,000 US Dollars.

EU High Representative for the Common foreign and Security Policy was in Kabul on the 21st of July. He spent part of the morning at EUPOL HQ meeting Head of Mission Kai Vittrup, the Head of the EU Election Observation Mission General Philippe Morillon and EU ambassadors accredited in Afghanistan.
Dr Solana received a warm welcome by EUPOL national and international staff who gathered for his arrival.
Later on Dr. Javier Solana met the Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Spanta and the President Hamid Karzai. He also met with presidential candidates Abdullah Abdullah, Ashraf Ghani and Mirwais Yassini, as well as the Minister of Interior Mohammed Haneef Atmar, UN Special Representative Kai Aide and NATO Senior Civilian Representative Ambassador Fernando Gentilini.
The following is the summary of the remarks Dr. Solana made to the press:
"I am very pleased to be back in Kabul. I am a frequent visitor and I consider myself to be a very good friend of Afghanistan. Today’s visit is very important. Elections are taking place for the second time. It is a very important moment for the people of Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan have the responsibility of these elections. The people of Afghanistan will be the winners at these elections. I had the privilege to meet the President, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Interior of your country as well as three candidates running for the presidential elections: Mr. Abdullah Abdullah, Mr. Ashraf Ghani and Mr. Mirwais Yasini. I also met Mr Kai Eide, the UN Secretary-General Special Representative for Afghanistan.
It was a very busy day and throughout my visit I passed the following message: Afghanistan is going to have a very important electoral process in the coming days and weeks. Everybody has to make efforts to make the elections credible. The victory of these elections will be of the Afghan people. The European Union has deployed an Election Observation Mission, which is a very professional mission, conducted by Philippe Morillon. He is with us here today and has a lot of experience in electoral processes. He has been in the country for some days already and is preparing us as well as possible for the coming elections. He is the best contributor that Europe can provide for your electoral process, but the responsibility of these elections is on the Afghan people and authorities.
The EU has been engaged with your country since the very beginning. The EU is without any doubt one of the most important donors in helping your country to stabilise. We have deployed a very important police mission, EUPOL Afghanistan, and EU Member States are also providing half of NATO's ISAF troops. We have established a very important cooperation with your country in this period of time and we except that also after the elections the country will move forward. The EU will never abandon you."
Questions and answers:
Q: You have met today President Hamid Karzai, one of the presidential candidates, and three other candidates. Will the winner be amongst them? What is your perception and concern of the deteriorating security situation?
A: Of course I met the President of your country and other candidates who were in town today. As you know, there are more than forty candidates, and thus it is very difficult for me to meet all of them. It is important to meet at least some of them. I passed a message that can be generalised to all of them. The future president of your country will be the one you decide, not the one I decided to speak to today. It is your responsibility. Concerning the security situation, it is evolving, and the operation is still going on, so it is difficult to assess. 
Q: There is concern regarding the transparency of the upcoming elections. You visited four candidates. Most of the candidates are complaining about the transparency. The Election Observation Mission will monitor the process, what is it going to be like thus? EUPOL did training, too. I would also like to know about Atmar’s visit. 
A: We want very much the electoral process to be credible. However, that will not depend on us. Our contribution is the monitoring mission. The ambition of the Afghan people is to have credible elections, which is the same ambition we have. It is difficult to meet with forty five or forty two candidates at the same time. We met those who were in town and available. The same message was passed to everybody: we want the Afghan people to be the winners of the elections.  I met Minister Atmar. I have met him on many occasions and we are working with him very well. EUPOL is working with the Ministry of Interior Affairs in a very constructive manner. I discussed with him some elements of our cooperation and projects and he was very happy with our cooperation. 
Q: Lately there has been an increase of foreign troops killed within the operation that started recently. Concerning the EU countries contribution, do you think they should dramatically increase their military presence? What do you think President Karzai’s chances of losing the elections are?
A: It is not for me to answer the second question. It is the responsibility of the Afghan people. I am not going to decide on that. On the first question, EU Member States' support to the operation: they have been engaged for years on the ground. They have given the lives of many Europeans trying to help your country to be more stable. We continue to support this operation. I also remind you that this operation has the support of the Government of Afghanistan. Again, as I said, the commitment of the EU to this country and to its stabilisation is total. 
Q: I have a question with two parts: there are many candidates, why did you only meet a few? Is the contribution of the EU only limited to monitoring or do you also have other ways to contribute? 
A: I met some of the candidates who were in town and who were available. I will soon fly away. As for the second part: EU Member States have been contributing to your country from the very beginning and I am not going to repeat the economic contribution since the director of the European Commission is here. But what I can tell you is that it is difficult to find another group of countries as committed as the EU is. A very good day is coming: the electoral day, and your country is a democratic country. We assume that the responsibility of the observation mission is to assess the credibility of the elections. It is important to have elections that are credible for the people on the ground. I am surprised at your question on what else we are going to do. Are you implying that we have not done enough for your country? I am sure the answer is no. 
Q: The UN has recently said that the situation in Afghanistan is very complicated. How does the mission view this? We also get different numbers from different missions, so what is the exact number of observers?
A: I agree, it is a very complicated situation. We know that and that is why we are here. For all the details of the observation mission I prefer to refer you to Mr Morillon. We will give the details when they are ready in a few days. But it will be an important mission, benefiting from all the experience that we have accumulated in so many missions, in so many countries, in so many years.
Q: How difficult it is to conduct credible, fair and free elections. How difficult is it to engage the Europeans? Americas and European soldiers are dying. Can you see an end? 
A: The elections are taking place in a difficult environment. That is not new. We knew that and you knew that. But I think it is better to let the people express their views according to the Constitution. According to the Constitution, the people can express their views every five years on electing the President. It is important to respect the Constitution even in a difficult situation. It is the right of the Afghan people to express their views. I repeat: we are going to observe the elections to be sure they are credible. We have been working for your country for many years and we will continue to work for the stability and the future of your country. 
Q: I would like to ask about the election process; the reconstruction process has been seen to be dominated by American interests. After the elections: can we see a re-engagement of Europe, a reconstruction and political engagement? A: I deny the statement that you made. We are engaged in reconstruction, we have spent lots of money on reconstruction, humanitarian and infrastructure projects. We work also in cooperation with the UN mission, which has the main responsibility. If we were to calculate how much we have spent on civilian matters, you would not find a single country with more spending. And we will continue.

A Note of Understanding (NoU) was signed on the 21st of July at the Ministry of Interior by H.E. Mohammad Haneef Atmar, EUPOL Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup, Maj Gen Richard Formica for the US Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan (CSCT-A) and the representatives of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Manoj Basnyat and Patrick Halewood.
As requested by the Minister of Interior EUPOL will lead the efforts of the international bodies involved in the  anti-corruption program and - as a result of the NoU - EUPOL, CSTC-A and the two UN agencies will collaborate closely in the execution and implementation of the Government’s anti-corruption strategy, which is under the leadership of the Interior Ministry.
EUPOL Head of Mission Kai Vittrup congratulates what he described as “an important step forward toward eradication of corruption in Afghanistan”.  “Corruption – Police Commissioner Vittrup added - is an extremely complex issue that can only be tackled successfully through a joint effort from all the international partners and under the direct ownership of the Ministry of Interior”.
Experts from the International partners involved in the anticorruption strategy will have an office within the Ministry of Interior.

 EUPOL’s Rule of Law (RoL) team conducted a workshop on enhancing cooperation between Police and the Huqooq (Law) department of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for dealing with civil conflicts. The workshop which took place at the Afghan National Police Academy was coordinated by Jan Schuermann, Mentor to the Ministry of Justice and Rohullah Esmati, the National Legal officer.
The Deputy Head of the Training and Education Department at the Ministry of Interior, Brigadier General Sardar Mohammad Kohdamani, who was also present at the workshop, praised the EUPOL initiative in organizing the event.  “This workshop will really help the police to learn not to interfere in civil cases and direct the arguing parties to the related Huqooq department or civil courts” said Gen Kohdamani.
A draft text of the role of the police regarding civil cases and the responsibilities of the Huqooq Department of the MoJ was handed over to the participants of the workshop and later it will be planned to include this in the police curriculum and training as well. There is a plan to continue this workshop next week in order to discuss the role of the police and Huqooq departments for further cooperation between these two organs. Instructors of the National Police Academy and lawyers of the Huqooq Department of the MoJ, 15 in total, attended the workshop and enthusiastically took part in the activities.

The Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided last week to provide 500.000 euros of funding for the 16 months long pilot phase of the AFG-FIN Police-Prosecutor Coordination Training Program. The training programme, initially conceived in autumn 2007 by the Director of the Crisis Management Centre of Finland (CMC-Finland) Dr Ari Kerkkanen, and then EUPOL Mentor to the MoI Jari Paajala, aims at promoting enhanced cooperation between the police and prosecutors in criminal investigations, in particular in fighting organised crime. In the pilot phase, the trainees will be 10 senior ANP CID police officers, 10 prosecutors, one Supreme Court judge, one senior representative from the Ministry of Justice and one defence lawyer, to be selected by the Afghan Ministry of Interior and Attorney General’s Office, CMC-Finland and EUPOL.
The programme is divided into four modules, two of which will be conducted in Kabul, and two other modules of two weeks each will be conducted in Kuopio, Finland. The first module is scheduled to take place in November this year, and the entire programme is envisaged to be completed in Kabul in June/July 2010. Besides the training, a specific training manual (in Dari and English) is planned to be produced to support the police-prosecutor cooperation training provided by the Afghans themselves in the future.
The Crisis Management Centre of Finland, assigned with primary responsibility for the implementation of the programme, will appoint one Finnish Senior Training Expert to coordinate all the planning and other activities required to conduct the programme. The programme will be planned and implemented in full tandem with the Afghan authorities, and with the strong and visible support of EUPOL.
EUPOL’s involvement in the programme is cordially welcomed and deemed crucial by the CMC-Finland, and therefore a specific Note of Understanding will soon be concluded between the two partners.
If the results of the pilot phase training programme are positive, and up to the high expectations of all the contributors (MoI and AGO, EUPOL, and CMC-Finland), the training programme may be extended to cover four more years (2011 – 2014). This would mean that all in all 50 senior CID police officers and 50 prosecutors will be trained by the CMC-Finland and EUPOL.

As a participant in the National Justice Program of Afghanistan, EUPOL has been asked to take the lead in creating an International Working Group, whose purpose will be to coordinate and give direction to all the Police/Judiciary cooperation projects presently underway in Afghanistan.
EUPOL will co-chair this Working Group with the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA), and is in the process of drafting the terms of reference for this Working Group.
In developing the parameters of this Working Group on police/justice related matters of cooperation, it is proposed that EUPOL will conduct a needs assessment and analysis to identify those concerns which are not being addressed by current Police/ Judiciary cooperation projects.
“This is another example of the credibility that EUPOL is gaining within the International Community and more importantly with Afghans themselves, in topics related to effective police/justice practices within the Rule of Law” says Allan Dahl, Mentor to the Attorney General’s Office and Anti-Corruption expert. 
EUPOL will then propose, with UNAMA, policies to be considered and steps which can be taken in the short term to improve the working relationships between the Afghan Judiciary, the Attorney General’s Office - including prosecutors and the various policing departments within the Ministry of Interior.

 EUPOL Border Police Department completed another project of Structural Changes at the New Terminal of Kabul International Airport. The initiative was taken by Kurt Schwendemann, Mentor of Border Police, and the project was funded by the German Foreign Office through the GTZ.
The control booth at the immigration area of the new terminal has been fully reconstructed and the offices were equipped with the required materials.
Brigadier General Mohammad Asif Jabarkhil, Police Commander of Kabul International Airport thanked EUPOL and the German government for the donations, and asked for further support and training for Kabul International Airport officers.
Kurt Schwendemann explained the importance of new changes and added that the new terminal should be equipped according to international standards so passengers can be easily directed to the terminal and the checking process will be performed adequately.  The total budget spent on this project was about 31,000 Euros.

Five Dutch EUPOL members are training dozens of Afghan National Police recruits in their training location in Tarin Kowt, provincial center of Uruzgan province. The training facility is rather new and is equipped with all necessary facilities: a classroom, sleeping room, dining facility and an office for the trainers. There are even several sports facilities.
For the entire duration of the course the Afghan National Police (ANP) students live in the training compound. So it is not just their academy, it is their home as well.
The students (in 5 classes) receive eight weeks basic training that consists of items such as: Hygiene; Historical Events; Afghanistan’s Geography; Officer Values & Ethics; Afghan Constitution; Police Duty; First Aid; Use of Force; Human Rights; Handling & Processing Prisoners; Handcuffing & Searching;  Checkpoints; Penal Code;  Literacy Training and Defensive Batons.
Since there was little for the students to do in the evenings, EUPOL bought them some Afghan musical instruments. 
During his visit to Tarin Kowt, HoM decorated EUPOL members with the EU medal. In his speech police commissioner Kai Vitturp emphasized the importance of this training and he warmly thanked the EUPOL members for their excellent work.
Before the visit to the Police Training Center, HoM and his delegation attended the gathering on the occasion of the opening of a new OCC-P in Tarin Kowt. The day after, HoM and Jan van Gelder, EUPOL Head of Regional Policing Development & Coordination paid a visit to the Kandahar PRT, where they met Canadian Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance, Commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
Later on HoM and his delegation went to see the Dutch General Snoeks and the Dutch Ambassador H.E. Mr. J.F.L Blankenberg. During this meeting the Technical Arrangement about logistical support and facilitating of EUPOL on regional level in RC South was signed.

Following the previous FTEO (Field Training and Education Officer) courses in Kabul, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif, EUPOL training department concluded the 4th FTEO course for ANP (Afghan National Police) officers recently in Kabul.
The course which is intended to improve the teaching methods and pedagogical aspects of the ANP was delivered to 47 officers of various ranks.
The trainers of the course were Michel Couplan, Bruno Aleton, Jesus Vasquez and Michael Hensen, who are experienced trainers in police pedagogical studies. The participants of the course were motivated by the new skills they acquired from the EUPOL police experts. 
At the end of the course, all the participants were awarded certificates of appreciation in a ceremony held at the Border Police HQ for their successful attendance in the course.
The Deputy Head of the Training and Education Department at the Ministry of Interior, Brigadier General Sardar Mohammad Kohdamani was also present at the ceremony and thanked EUPOL for its support to the Afghan police regarding methodological and management studies. He asked EUPOL for further cooperation in this regard so as to enhance the capability of the ANP, with the goal of creating a professional police force that would be able to serve its country according to international police standards.
According to the EUPOL Head of Training, Col Paul Meijers, there is a plan to continue this course for the ANP not only in Kabul but also in the regions over the coming months.

Malalai Joya, a female member of the parliament said in her interview with The Sunday Times: “Afghan women like me, who vote and run for office, have been held up as proof that we enjoy democracy and women’s rights. It’s a lie. In Afghanistan, killing a woman is like killing a bird. We remain caged, without access to justice, and still ruled by women-hating criminals” 
The EU considers Human Rights and Gender (HR&G) seriously and it plays an important role in the EUPOL mission in Afghanistan. The EUPOL RoL HR&G activities focus on establishing a HR&G structure in Afghanistan, as tasked by the Minister of Interior. This is done by working with the Gender and Human Rights Department and the Inspector General’s office.
Establishing a HR&G structure consists of three priority areas; developing (i) a reporting system, (ii) SOPs for the Gender and Human Rights Department’s gender, human rights and child’s rights unit, and (iii) training of the department staff both in MoI HQ and in the Provinces on HR&G issues.
“Drafting a Law does not mean it will automatically change the attitude of the inhabitants. A new Law needs decent implementation and you really have to think about the consequences of that law. Are the benefits equally for men and women or are there gaps? Johanna Valenius, Gender Mentor to the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said.
Alan Skurbaty further commented “EUPOL in general and RoL in particular, assist Afghanistan in two major ways: to improve the legal standards, i.e. to develop new or improved laws; and to make the monitoring or implementation of laws more efficient by training Afghan national Police at all levels”. 
One of their priorities is to assist the MoI with the recruitment of 5000 more female police officer by the year 2014. This means 1.000 women a year which is very ambitious. 
Apolonia Bos stressed that one very important part of that plan is the security of female police officers. In 2008 and 2009, three police women have been murdered and others have been threatened seriously. Female police officers are killed on their way home, simply because they are women. According to some insurgents, Afghan women and girls belong at home and should neither work, nor receive education.
The UN Convention against Discrimination of Women calls for changes in gender stereotypes. What we see in Afghanistan is the extreme expression of gender-based prejudices, including against female police officers. EUPOL’s role then is to educate the Afghan police, to change their attitude in this respect.
“The MoI has asked EUPOL and NORAF’s assistance in drafting a security plan for female police officers which we have agreed upon. However, we only assist and advise, the plan will be written by the Head of the MoI Gender and Human Rights Department” Apolonia said.
The EUPOL HR&G mentors are also assisting the MoI in setting up a hotline for Afghan female police officers that have been mistreated or threatened. They are also assisting in drafting the training curriculum for the staff that will handle the hotline, and the SOPS.
Women who want to join the police can face resistance from their families because in Afghan culture women and men should not work too closely together. This needs to be considered when planning training for them. They cannot live in the same part of the Police Academy as their male colleagues and may not be allowed to train together with their male colleagues in self-defense and shooting lessons.
Another priority is to assist in training the staff of the MoI and the ANP throughout the country on HR&G issues. The training will be a “Train the Trainer” program. It needs to be a top-down process due to the fact that in some parts of the ANP the level of education is still low.
The mentors have full trust in their counterparts: “As EUPOL Afghanistan is here to serve their Afghan counterparts, we assist them but they have to do the job themselves with our support.”

1st July 2009 Sweden took over the rotating Presidency of the European Union. For the coming six months, Sweden will have a leading role on EU issues. To mark the change of Presidency from the Czech Republic to Sweden a ceremony was held at EUPOL HQ in Kabul. At this event Sweden was represented by H.E. Svante Kilander, Ambassador of Sweden in Kabul. EUPOL Head of Mission Commissioner Kai Vittrup thanked Czech Ambassador H.E. Jiří Nekvasil for his support to the mission during the Czech presidency and congratulated the Swedish Ambassador as Sweden assumed the Presidency of the EU and wished him success during the six months term.
H.E. Jiří Nekvasil, Ambassador of the Czech Republic in Kabul, attended the ceremony representing the outgoing presidency. Commissioner Vittrup presented the EUPOL plaque to Ambassador Nekvasil and expressed his gratitude to him.
The ceremony commenced with speeches from the Czech Ambassador followed by the Swedish Ambassador. The Czech flag was lowered to the Czech National Anthem. The Swedish flag was raised to their National Anthem. EUPOL employees, representing both countries changed the flags.
Ambassador Jiří Nekvasil expressed his admiration for the work done by EUPOL officers towards enhancing the capabilities of the Afghan police. Ambassador Svante Kilander also wished EUPOL success in fulfilling the objectives of supporting the Afghan National Police and the justice system. He expressed hope that the Afghan police will be self sustainable, professional and able to serve their people according to international police standards.

On Wednesday 8th July 2009 EUPOL CID mentors met with the Head of the
Criminal and Investigation Department at the Ministry of Interior, Lt General Jamil Junbish, together with his Anti Crime General Office team at EUPOL HQ for a workshop meeting aimed at rationalizing the Anti Crime structure within the Ministry of  Interior.
Topics included counter terrorism and major crime investigation provision and Judicial Preview arrangements for the new department.   The workshop lasted the full day and a great deal of progress was made. The workshop was arranged by Lt Christophe Lammelin the Judicial Purview leading mentor and Detective Chief Inspector Andy Carter, Acting EUPOL CID lead mentor. Consensus was reached on the need for all CSI management, direction and control to be under the Anti Crime chain of command.
 Also discussed was the need for structures to enable the effective collection and exploitation of forensic evidence in order to identify suspects at the earliest possible opportunity so as to prevent them from committing further criminal acts against local communities. It was also agreed that Afghan scientists should be recruited to support forensic processes within the MOI. Full agreement, in principal, was reached on all topics.
DCI Andy Carter said “it was a great experience to work with such a committed and professional team under the leadership of Lt General Junbish, the work we have done today will be the bedrock of the ANP CID structures in the future”. Further workshops will be held in the coming weeks to develop the capability, sustainability and Capacity of the anti crime element of the ANP.

Head of Mission, Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup and a small EUPOL delegation visited June 20, 21 and 22 the provincial and regional teams in the cities of Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat. He found that the EUPOL members in the provinces are working hard to achieve the mission’s objectives. Several results have been achieved.
In Mazar-e-Sharif the visitors were welcomed by German team leader Frank Nolte who showed, in a very informative briefing progress in some key areas, including the Organised Crime Task Force (OCTF), Field Training and Education Officer Course (FTEO), training of senior police officers on domestic violence and election training.
A lack of training facilities was highlighted as a problem area. It is felt that if mobile training units (including sleeping & dining facilities) could be provided, this would alleviate the problem in the short term.
A visit to the German Police Training Center demonstrated to the delegation that many police officers have already received basic training provided by the international society in Afghanistan.
Later on the delegation had a fruitful meeting with the ISAF Regional North Commander General Vollmer.
The next day the delegation visited the local police station 5 in the city of Mazar, where they met participants of the Field Training and Education Officer Course (FTEO). This gave HoM the opportunity to articulate his respect for the work that has been done by the ANP. He told them: “It takes an army to win the war, but you need the police to win the peace.”
One of the participants took the opportunity to say a few words to a colleague who arrived late: “One of the most important things the ANP should learn is the value of time.”
In Herat the delegation was welcomed by Italian Carabinieri Antonio Spera and his team.  He showed the delegation around in Camp Arena, where the HoM met ISAF Regional West Commander Brigadier General Rosario Castellano.
Later that day, the delegation met with the EUPOL contingent. It was a great opportunity for the Commissioner Vittrup and the contingent to talk about the objectives and the goals that have been achieved. And once again the delegation could solve several problems the EUPOL police-officers were struggling with. That made this trip very beneficial for all.
HoM will continue his trip through the country and visit the other regional and provincial teams. In between the meetings with the regional commanders and the EUPOL members in the provinces, there were meetings with ANP police-officers such as Brigadier General Esmatullah Alizai, ANP Provincial Commander in Herat and Lt. Col. Mohammad Mosen, Chief of ANP Region West Education Department.

The Criminal Law Reform Working Group officially handed over the final draft of the Criminal Procedure Code for Afghanistan to the Head of the Taqnin, Saeed Yousuf Halim. The ceremony took place at the Ministry of Justice on 23 June 2009. EUPOL was represented by Dr. Gregor Kemper and Anders Kjellstrom from the Rule of Law Department.
Chaired by Michael Hartmann from UNODC, the Criminal Law Reform Working Group deliberated on the new Criminal Procedure Code for a period of one year.
EUPOL played an active role during these deliberations. The Criminal Procedure Code contains 380 Articles, each of them carefully drafted and checked regarding interaction with other relevant Afghan laws.
During the final meeting of the Criminal Law Reform Working Group a final clause was inserted saying that the new Code should enter info force six months after its publication in the Official Gazette.
These six months are meant to be the period of time necessary for training on and distribution of the new Code. EUPOL currently considers how to contribute, particularly in the training of police, prosecutors and judges on the new law. Once the new law has been approved by the Afghan government and the Parliament, it will play an important role in strengthening Rule of Law in Afghanistan.

EUPOL, the German Police Project Team (GPPT) and Kabul City Police this week signed a contract that will convert a little used hall at the Kabul City Police Headquarters building into a conference facility and classroom space.
The signing ceremony was conducted at the Kabul City Police Headquarters between Head of Mission Kai Vittrup, the Acting Deputy Head of the GPPT Jens Philip Meierjohann, the Deputy Head of Kabul City Police Colonel Dastyar and representatives from the construction company ‘Perfect Construction’.
The building work commenced on Saturday and it is anticipated it will last just three weeks before the unveiling of five new classrooms, a trainers ‘breakout’ room and a conference hall for over 100 persons. The walls of the classroom will be moveable and cater for large groups and additional conference space.
Also included in the project is a ceiling mounted projector and classroom furniture for an additional 100 students.
Project Manager, Lee Davies from the EUPOL Kabul City Police Project Team said “This is a very worthwhile project which will leave a lasting legacy for the KCP and provide some welcome additional training facilities as we continue to work in partnership with them to train and deploy the new 4800 police into the Integrated Security Command.” Commissioner Vittrup said it was another excellent example of cooperation between EUPOL and the GPPT and thanked the GPPT for proving the major share of the funding for the project. Additional funds have been donated by the Danish. The contracting procedure has been conducted by EUPOL Procurement Department in accordance with the EC rules and regulations.

EUPOL HoM Kai Vittrup met with the Transatlantic Opinion Leaders to Afghanistan on 25 June 2009 led by Dr. Nadja Milanova from NATO and Dr. Lisa Curtis Senior Research Fellow for South Asia in the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation.
The objective of the visit of the Opinion Leaders to Afghanistan was to discuss NATO’s role in the country, along the three lines of operations: security, governance and development, including the training of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). A visit to EUPOL was part of a ten day visit in the country. Police Commissioner Vittrup presented EUPOL, its mandate and strategic objectives in the wider context of police reform in Afghanistan. The group was in particular interested in the challenges related to police reform in Afghanistan and the international cooperation between the police reform actors in Afghanistan. What more could be done? Commissioner Vittrup explained how the basic FDD and gendarmerie type training is a prerequisite and very much needed in the current security context and ANP tasks. However, one should not forget and lose sight of the future of a civilian police force in Afghanistan, and this is where EUPOL’s strategic civilian police expertise is of major relevance. As commissioner Vittrup put it, one cannot reform a police force based on basic security and police training, a police force must also have a functioning CID, command and control and communication structures in place, and its work has to be based on intelligence-led policing.
The research group was very happy to share ideas and had very detailed questions about the numbers of mentors and trainers needed and on the functioning of the specific departments of the ANP, including ANCOP, border police and customs.

Improving the safety and security of Kabul City through an integrated security plan has been the brain child of EUPOL mission member Adrian Denby, who leads the EUPOL Kabul City Police Project Team (KCPPT). The KCPPT have worked in close cooperation with their Afghan National Police partners (in particular Lieutenant General Abdul Rahman, Head of the Kabul City Police) and with CSTC-A, to develop the plan which was successfully presented to the IPCB (International Police Coordination Board) and LOTFA who agreed to a Tashkil increase of 4,800 police. These new police cadets will now be used to populate the new Kabul City Police Security Command (KCPSC).
A partnership between EUPOL, CSTC-A and INL helped to create a three week training package in order to prepare these new police cadets. This accelerated programme of instruction consisting of three distinct weeks of weapons training, tactical exercises, police legislation and equipment has been driven by a Ministry of Interior desire to recruit and train all of the new 4,800 in time for the Presidential Election in August. The newly trained police cadets will receive an additional five weeks of instruction which will commence later in the year. 
Delivery of the training has been another partnership approach, this time between the Afghan National Police, EUPOL, DynCorp and CSTC-A.
This week, the KCPPT saw the fruits of their labour realised when cycle one of this new programme of instruction concluded. Nearly 1000 newly trained police cadets will now be deployed into the KCPSC five areas of responsibility: Ring of Steel, Mobile Support Units, Kabul Outer Gates, Critical Site Locations and Highways.
On Thursday 18th June 2009 at the Afghan Police Academy, His Excellency Minister Hanif Atmar was guest of honour at the graduation ceremony of the 643 new police cadets who had been trained in Kabul. Minister Atmar welcomed the new police cadets and expressed his happiness at seeing them in their uniforms, saying that he had a feeling of pride that no Minister of Interior had done in past and none would have in the future. He thanked the international community for their collaboration. In conclusion Minister Atmar said he had one wish for the new police cadets “to be proud to wear the uniform of the Afghan Police, to be honest and to carry out your duties faithfully”.
Speaking on behalf of CSTC-A, Major General Formica again gave thanks for the teamwork and identified that this was just the first graduation of the new 4800, informing the audience that over 300 new police cadets had also graduated from Herat. 
EUPOL Head of Mission Kai Vittrup also paid tribute to the partnership approach of the training calling it “an excellent example of cooperation”. Head of Mission called upon the new police recruits to follow this example and to work in partnership with the communities of Kabul “to secure the trust and support of the people” because “together you will be stronger”.
The highlight of the ceremony was the swearing of the oath on the Quran. A representative group of the new ANP cadets pledged to serve for Afghanistan, with no corruption and to obey the police law. They promised to always be honest, obey their police leaders and vowed to accept any punishment should they stray from this commitment.
Over the next two months the rest of the 4800 new police will be recruited and trained. The work of the KCPPT does not stop there however; assessment, advice, monitoring and mentoring will all be required to ensure a successful deployment. The team will then move on to the second phase of their project work: implementing a District Based Policing Model. This will improve the command and control functions, encourage delegation of decision making through enhanced management training, promote intelligence led policing and create a self sustaining training capability. This police reform programme will compliment the newly established Kabul City Police Security Command and will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Kabul City Police Force. 

EUPOL Training Department organized a Field Training and Education Officer course for the Afghan police officers in Kabul, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif.  This course is intended to improve the teaching methods of Afghan police instructors and mostly stresses pedagogical aspects.
The recent Field Training and Education Officer course ended successfully in Kabul having trained about 98 police officers in the center and 300 in total at Kabul, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif. The training is still ongoing in the center and the provinces. There is a plan to continue this training in the future. After graduation, the Afghan police trainers will be able to effectively train their colleagues in the field.
Captain Rita Feldman, Lt Marcus Pink, Major Michel Couplan and Lt Bruno Aleton were responsible for the Kabul sessions. The participants of the training were highly motivated by the new skills they acquired. They were awarded certificates of appreciation for their successful attendance in the course.
EUPOL Head of Training, Col Paul Meijers visited Mazar-e-Sharif and the ongoing Field Training Education Officer course.  EUPOL officers Mikael Hedin and Raine Nurminen who are delivering the training in Mazar-e-Sharif had a good impression of the participants who were enthusiastic students of the course. 
Col Paul Meijers said that this training will help the Afghans to train their colleagues in the future and that eventually EUPOL officers will only mentor the process.
Major General Gul Nabi Ahmadzai, General Head of Training and Education at the Ministry of Interior expressed his gratitude and thanks  to the support of EUPOL for the Afghan National Police and requested continuous training so that the Afghan police would be able to serve their country according to the international police standards. 

Following an initiative taken by EUPOL the ANP Pre-election Security Training started in close cooperation with GPPT (German Police Project Team) and DynCorp.
About 300 policemen will receive pre-election security training ahead of the election. Participants will then directly receive additional security enhancement training after the Presidential Elections to make the result more sustainable. They will be taught in law, rights, codes, self defense, document checking, searching, riot control and response to terrorist attacks. 
This training is planned to develop the professional skills of the ANP on security matters and the main reason for the training is to provide security not only for Presidential Election but also Parliamentary Election.
“This intensive training is for the ANP to enhance the security in the city ahead of the coming Presidential and Parliamentary Elections so the Afghan people will be able to take part in democratic free elections” Said Hartmut Paeth, EUPOL Head of Uniform Police Mentor Department. 
There is a plan to continue this training in the future. This training has been another good example of good cooperation between the international stakeholders like EUPOL, GPPT and DynCorp to establish a sustainable and effective civilian police in accordance with international standards.

EUPOL’s Inspectorate Course is now in its final stage for the officers from the Ministry of Interior who will be prepared at central and provincial level for their role in inspecting and monitoring during the 2009 Presidential Election in Afghanistan.
The first course started in early May 2009 with approximately 280 officers from the Personnel Department, Deputy Minister’s Security Office, Administration and Supply Office, Counter Narcotics Office, six Regional Zones Directorates and Inspector General`s Office of the MoI receiving training.
The course is aimed at teaching the officers the foundations of the police inspectorate that include Policing Democratic Elections, Inspection and Audit, Anti-Corruption and Rule of Law. All the training that will be delivered is theory-oriented. This course will prepare the Afghan officers for the upcoming Presidential Election with the aim of every Afghan man and woman to be able to take part in a transparent democratic election. 
EUPOL Head of Training Department, Col Paul Meijers said at the opening ceremony of the last inspectorate course that participants will receive highly professional training and they will not only be well prepared for the  Presidential Election but also the Parliamentarian Elections in 2010.   
Deputy Interior Minister of Counter-Narcotics General Dawood Dawood, who was also present at the opening ceremony of the course, expressed his gratitude for the support of EUPOL in training the Afghan police and enabling them to obtain professional policing skills.  
It is worth mentioning that all the participants were awarded certificates of appreciation.

A delegation of German MPs, headed by the Secretary of State of the German Ministry of Defense, Mr. Christian Schmidt, visited EUPOL on June 11. They were briefed by Dr. Karin Mueller, Acting Deputy Head of Mission - Rule of Law and Axel Haas - EUPOL Mentor to the Minister of Interior and German Contingent Commander about EUPOL development, current EUPOL activities in the various fields of engagement and the way ahead.
A guided tour on the EUPOL compound gave the delegation an appreciation about the construction work in progress and the ongoing activities.
Dr. Muller expressed her gratitude to the delegation for visiting the EUPOL headquarters and briefly explained the importance of the two pillars of EUPOL, Police and Rule of Law.
After the meeting with EUPOL, they were received by the Afghan Minister of Interior, H.E. Mohammad Hanif Atmar, who expressed his gratitude about the support the Afghan people receive through EUPOL contribution.

The fourth ever Medal parade took place on Sunday the 7th of June at EUPOL HQ.  Several members of the diplomatic corps, Senior Police Advisor of Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan (CSTC-A) Col David Everett and a number of Afghan top police officials – notably Head of the Crime and Investigation Department Lt Gen Abdul Jamil Junbish and Training and Education Chief Maj Gen Gul Nabi Ahmadzai – were in attendance.
Guests of honor Civilian Operations Commander / Director of Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC) Kees Klompenhouwer and EU Special Representative Ettore Sequi, along with Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup, handed over European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) medals to 56 EUPOL police officers and civilian experts.
Civilian Commander Klompenhouwer underlined how important the Afghan mission is for the CPCC and received first-hand impressions from the many EUPOL members with whom he spoke after the medal parade.  
Ambassador Sequi praised the work conducted by EUPOL members under difficult circumstances, warning that “their continued commitment is crucial for the future of the mission.
General Junbish congratulated all the medial recipients and thanked EUPOL for their continued support to the Afghan National Police. He also highlighted the fact that the two major points in police training - theoretical and practical training - are now interrelated.

Head of Mission Kai Vittrup in his closing remarks emphasized “the considerable progress and tactical results achieved in both policing and Rule of Law” and expressed his admiration for the hard work of EUPOL personnel. He also stressed that thanks to the great initiative to enhance the training capability of the ANP “national trainers are now in the position to train their own police force, taking ownership of the Afghan Training Capacity”. 

Civilian Operations Commander and Director of Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (CPCC) Kees Klompenhouwer paid a four day visit to Afghanistan last week.

Ambassador Klompenhower, upon his arrival on Friday the 5th, visited the new compound in order to have a first-hand impression on the state of advancement of the construction of the additional accommodation for EUPOL staff. He also officially inaugurated the new cafeteria.
Later in the day the CPCC Chief moved to ISAF where he held several meetings with Senior officials of the NATO-led peacekeeping force. In the evening he attended a working dinner hosted by the EU Special Representative (EUSR) Ettore Sequi, where several international officials were present.
On Saturday the EU Brussels delegation, including Asia & Middle East operations head Francisco Rodriguez Lorenzo and executive officer Katrin Hagemann, accompanied by EUPOL Head of Mission visited Bamyan where they met with EU police mentors based in the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team.
Sunday morning Mr Klompenhouwer met officially with Combined Security Command – Afghanistan Chief Maj Gen Richard Formica and was guest of honor at the EU Head of Missions meeting that took place at the European Commission Delegation.
In the afternoon, at the medal parade that took place at EUPOL HQ, the CPCC Chief - along with EUSR Sequi and Police Commissioner Vittrup - presented the ESDP awards for dedicated service to 56 EUPOL personnel.
Prior to his departure for Brussels, on Monday, the Civilian Operations Commander met with US Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and Interior Minister Mohammad Anif Atmar.

EUPOL in cooperation with the German Police Project Team (GPPT) successfully concluded an ad-hoc training for 54 senior investigators attached to the newly restructured and reinforced Special Crime Investigation Unit within the Ministry of Interior (MoI).

The last week was designated for practical scenarios such as recording at serious crime scenes.
EUPOL took the lead on the project following a request from the Interior Minister H.E. Mohammad Hanif Atmar to develop an action plan intended to rebuild internal capability and capacity for the Special Crime Investigation Unit.
The support of the GPPT, who provided the trainers as well as the equipment, was crucial for the development of the initiative.
Participants were awarded certificates of appreciation in an official ceremony that took place last week at the Ministry of Interior.
Chief of MoI Crime Investigation Department Lt Gen. Abdul Jamil Junbish expressed appreciation to EUPOL and the GPPT for their support to the Afghan National Police.
Project Officer Col Ioan Campian confirmed EUPOL’s willingness to continue the special crime investigation training in the coming months and to expand it to different provinces across Afghanistan.

An anti crime seminar organized by the Ministry of Interior successfully concluded last week.

170 high ranking officers, amongst which were six heads of Anti Crime plus the heads of the four Crime Investigation Department pillars (counterterrorism, counternarcotics, intelligence and anti crime) from all over the country attended the seminar. EUPOL mentors along with Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan and DynCorp personnel were also present.
Minister of Interior H.E. Mohammad Hanif Atmar said at the opening ceremony that “EUPOL and the other international specialised organizations are here to support the Afghan National Police, not to do our job”.
On the second day of the seminar, EUPOL Crime Investigation advisors Col Ioan Campian and Sgt Maj Robby Zocher gave a presentation to the participants about the 27 objectives of the Crime Investigation Department (CID), which EUPOL has a leading role in. In their speeches the EUPOL representatives stressed that “the seminar will also help the mentors and advisers to better understand existing shortages and to find ways of bridging them”.
EUPOL also distributed a questionnaire in order to collect countrywide information which will be analyzed in order to help EUPOL understand the local police needs.  The output will give EUPOL the possibility to extend the project at all levels and within the Ministry of Interior itself.

40 officials of the Ministry of Justice Legislation Section (Taqnin) attended last week a seminar organized by the Rule of Law Department of EUPOL. The main goal of the two days event was to have a better understanding of the Afghan legislators’ needs and elaborate a EUPOL support strategy to improve the legislation system and draft legislation.
Lectures were delivered by EUPOL Rule of Law Mentor Anders Kjellstrom and UNDP Rule of Law Advisor Pradeep Chatuverdi. Many practical questions were raised regarding Common Law, Civil Law and Islamic Law structures.
EUPOL Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup, in his opening speech stressed the importance of Rule of Law implementation. “As legislators you have a vital role in relation to all legal actors” Head of Mission said.
International experts assessed positively the seminar and pledged to continue the close cooperation with the Taqnin.

The special conference dedicated to discuss issues of common interest among mission members deployed in the field opened at EUPOL HQ on Monday the 15th.
Chaired by Head of Regional Policing Department Chief Inspector Raúl Correa Cruz, the conference was the fifth of its kind organized by the mission. For three days EUPOL field representatives will exchange views with senior HQ staff from different sections and get updated on major projects, notably ANP benchmarking, Intelligence lead policing and the provincial teams’ role in Presidential and District Councils election.
A Contingent Commanders Meeting was also held at the margin of the Regional Conference. The meeting was headed by the Head of Head of Mission’s Office Flemming Rytter.

EUPOL Border Police Section in close cooperation with the German Police Project Team (GPPT) completed a two weeks training on detecting forged documents for border police officers. The course was conducted at Kabul International Airport by international experts.
48 ABP participants were provided with basic information on manufacturing procedures, security features and forgery features as well as visas and residence permits. The training also included practical exercises in the field. 
The participants of the training were highly motivated by the new skills they were acquiring. In recognition of their efforts they were awarded certificates of appreciation.   
Following the courses, detection equipment donated by the German Government, including mobile fake document detection kits, fake money detectors and document examination devices were handed over by GPPT officers.
The ten best graduates were selected for an advanced training programme that will enable them to train their colleagues in the future.
Head of Border Police, Lt Gen Mohammad Yonus Noorzai thanked EUPOL and GPPT during the handover ceremony of the equipment for their support to the Afghan Police.
EUPOL Border Police Mentor Jurgen Mausbacher highlighted the importance of conducting these exercises and added that Afghan Border Police Officers capabilities will be greatly improved following training and the receipt of materials for fake document detection.

Head of Regional Policing Deployment Raul Correa and Head of Training Paul Meijers toured recently the Badghis Province to examine the level of policing and in order to implement the training according to the EUPOL City Police Projects, as already started in Herat and Kabul.
While in Qala-e-Naw, the two EUPOL senior officials paid a courtesy call to the Afghan National Police (ANP) Provincial Commander, Major General Sayed Ahmad Sami and they took advantage to inspect together several police checkpoints in the Province and discuss the main problems the police face during their daily activities.
Furthermore, during the meeting with the Afghan counterpart, it was agreed to start the assessment of policing in Qala-e-Naw city in order to ascertain the level of the police service.
It is envisaged that the three EUPOL Spanish members stationed in Badghis, Team Leader Alfonso Diaz from the Guardia Civil and officers Manuel Corcoles and Camilo Ledesma will start in Qala-e-Naw the trainings according to the City Police Project before the end of June.
During a stop-over in the regional capital Herat, the EUPOL HQ Team had the opportunity to overview the Field Trainer and Education Officer Course. Colonel Paul Meijers explained to the participants the importance of internalizing the content of the training and also stressed the ideas behind this relevant project. Herat Senior Advisor, Carabinieri Captain Mario Pellegrino, accompanied them during their visit.

On the 2nd of May EUPOL and Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan (CSCT-A) organized a Joint Coordination and Cooperation Seminar on Counterinsurgency.
The Seminar, that took place at the Kabul Counterinsurgency Academy, was co-chaired by EUPOL Head Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup and  CSCT-A Commander Maj-Gen Richard Formica.
Guest of honour was the Minister of Interior H.E. Mohammad Hanif Atmar, who delivered a speech at the opening of the morning session. Several high level representatives from the Interior and Defence Ministries took the floor afterward, followed by presentations by EU and US officials. Various counterinsurgency techniques and proposals to strengthen the fight against crime were presented and discussed.
The second part of the seminar was focused on the election security planning and the need for intelligence sharing.
EUPOL Head of Mentors, Detective Superintendent Scott Chilton underlined “the importance of this seminar for the Afghan authorities and the international community. The benefit of bringing together senior personnel from international organizations provides a platform from which to further improve the strategic and operational program of security and police reform”.
Planning continued forums for coordination and cooperation between Afghan security forces and International partners was discussed before the closing remarks.

German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid a two days visit to Afghanistan last week.
In Mazar-e-Sharif, Minister Steinmeier announced the support of his Government for the reconstruction of the local airport, a project that will be implemented through the German Reconstruction Loan Corporation (KfW).
Furthermore the Head of the German diplomacy emphasized the need for further training of border guards, custom and security personnel as well as flight security officers.
Afghan Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Hamidullah Farooqi expressed deep gratitude for the German pledge.
EUPOL - with a Border Police Adviser permanently based at the Mazar airport - offered support to the reconstruction project.
In Kabul the Vice Chancellor met the highest Afghan authorities and several international officials, including Head of EUPOL Mission Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup, who updated him on progress and achievements on the Police side.

The expansion of the Headquarters compound has dramatically increased the work load of the EUPOL Procurement Section.
The team, under Department chief Gianluca Serra, has worked round the clock in the past few months to cope with the situation. For every purchase involving a significant expenditure, Brussels HQ regulations were strictly followed. The system necessarily entails many checks and balances to ensure proper accountability for public expenditure and the efficient use of resources. Following such procedures is also demanding of time and energy.
Nevertheless, despite some inevitable delays, all procedures and tenders were completed to the necessary standard and the goods requested were delivered in the agreed extended time frames.
Of course, there were occasions when hard pressed EUPOL staff members expressed their concerns over the waiting times involved in their receipt of certain equipment and other materials. It has to be admitted that not everyone is familiar with the demands raised by procurement regulations that the EU Commission has introduced in order to give maximum transparency to the expenditure of European taxpayer’s money. If this was understood then perhaps a more measured degree of expectations in relation to delivery times would help deal with impatience and frustrations.
Our procurement colleagues are working hard behind the scene. They deserve a great deal of respect and appreciation. One should never forget that the Mission won’t work without them.

As summer is approaching, the enlargement of our Headquarters is entering the final stage.
As planned, some fifteen additional offices were completed in the eastern wing of the premises. Most rooms are already occupied by police officers and civilian experts.
The warehouse, a higher capacity filling station and the operation room were also relocated to more spaces.
Moreover, in a months time several accommodation units will be finished and more staff members will have the opportunity to reside at HQ.
Last but not least the new canteen is already up and running.
“We are pleased with the way the construction program was conducted – Chief Engineer Tamás Takács said -. Despite the winter and the other hardships the project was completed almost on schedule”.

On Monday, Herat based EU officers enjoyed the opportunity to meet with a Foreign Affairs Committee delegation from the Italian Chamber of Deputies.
During their two day visit, the delegation toured Region West meeting local officials, representatives of nongovernmental organizations and members of the International Security Forces.
The delegation, which was headed by lower house Vice President Maurizio Lupi, included peacekeeper turned MP, Maj Gianfranco Paglia. Rt Hon Paglia was seriously injured in 1993 while serving with UNOSOM in Mogadishu. In recognition of his heroic service there in rescuing fellow countrymen trapped in an intense firefight, he received the Italian Republic Medaglia d’Oro al Valor Militare (Gold Medal of Military Valour).
Region West  ISAF Chief,  Gen Rosario Castellano, Commander of the Parachute Brigade “Folgore”, and the Head of the Provincial Reconstruction Team Col Michele Brandonisio were extremely pleased to see Mr Paglia not only as a former paratrooper himself but also to welcome him  in his new capacity of public representative. 
The delegation also met EUPOL staff based at Herat and discussed with them developments and progress within the Afghan National Police service at the Regional level.

Kabul International Airport Commander General Muhammad Asif Jabarkhail stated that police ability to detect fake travel documents has been significantly increased because of EUPOL and GPPT training in this area.
At a press conference held recently in Kabul, Commander Jabarkhail disclosed that there had been 42 cases of fake documents and 12 cases of drug smuggling discovered in recent weeks at the International Airport.
The forged documents included passports and visas. The senior Afghan security chief noted that in some cases criminals were attempting to smuggle drugs out of the country by hiding them in their stomachs.
Gen Jabarkhail thanked European experts for organizing training for the Afghan Border Police (ABP) and for planning further training in detection of fake documents. He also thanked the German Government for the equipment donated for detecting fake documents.
The airport commander felt that “the training and equipment received to date and further training planned would enable his officers to develop their own skills and knowledge to the extent where they would be able to carry out these tasks competently by themselves”.
Gen Jabarkhail emphasized that they were particularly keen to ensure the law was enforced to prevent the use of fake visas and documents. He assured that he and his staff will play their part in this effort.

The Minister of Interior H.E. Mohammed Hanif Atmar inaugurated last week the new building of the Afghan Border Police College, a structure that was destroyed during the civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal.
The premise includes a dormitory, sports grounds, a shooting facility and teaching rooms.
Minister Atmar called the new building “a step towards the sound training of the ABP” and thanked the governments of Canada and Germany for their financial support of the reconstruction project.
German Ambassador Werner Lauk, who attended the inauguration along with EUPOL and German Police Project Team officials, said that this year alone his government has allocated 50 million USD for the strengthening, equipping and training of the Afghan National Police (ANP).
Similarly, the top Canadian diplomat in Afghanistan, Ron Hoffmann, promised further assistance from his Country in equipping and training the ANP. Major General Gul Nabi Ahmadzai, Head of education and training at the Ministry of Interior, assessed that training capacity could increase by almost 20% due to the additional space resulting from the new construction. This would bring to 2.800 the total number of students that can be trained in any one educational period. 

EUPOL, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, has started to train Afghan police officers to act as trainers for the 35.000 officers who will be deployed throughout the Country to maintain security for the upcoming presidential and parliamentarian elections.
The UNDP funded special training will be based on the Train the Trainers concept and will involve some 350 Afghan policemen from different provinces.
Ministry of Interior Chief of Training and Education, Major General Gul Nabi Ahmadzai, said that this training is an important step towards the upcoming presidential and parliamentarian elections and Afghan National Police will be able to ensure security in thousands of polling stations throughout the Country.
According to UNDP Chief Electoral Advisor Margie Cooke the police role in the elections is considered “essential”.
Similarly, EUPOL Acting Head of Training Jan Van Gelder reiterated that the European police mission attach great importance to the election training program.

A four day Seminar on judicial matters was organized by EUPOL and took place 20 - 24 of May. 
The main goal of the special training was to strengthen the initiatives already taken by the Supreme Court to combat bribery and corruption within the Afghan judiciary.
A dozen experienced judges and senior Supreme Court stagiaires attended workshops on the investigation of corruption cases, judicial ethics and also on the importance of fair and well founded judgments in criminal cases.
The Seminar, which took place at the Supreme Court Department of Surveillance and Control, was coordinated by EUPOL Peter Deleuran, a retired Danish high court judge. Lectures were delivered by EUPOL Deputy Chief Superintendent Carl Erik Jensen and Attorney General’s Office Mentor Edward Soden Bird. Guest speakers were Dr Ahmed Tawfik, an Egyptian judge currently working as UNAMA judicial affairs officer and veteran Balkans International magistrate, Polish judge Agnieszka Klonowiecka-Milart, who attended on behalf of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC).

 Medical Service is an important section of the mission. Health problems of various natures are often experienced by EUPOL staff, especially in the early stages of their deployment in Theatre.
Dr. Gianfranca Russo, an Italian medical doctor with extensive field experience and her colleague Mohammad Ikram, a Kunar born general practitioner holding a Master in Public Health, are working round the clock to keep European and national staff in good shape.
“The most common diseases for visitors in Afghanistan – the Head of the Medical Service says – are diarrhea, muscular and articular pain, insomnia and back pain”.
 “We always urge newcomers to check the condition of their health properly prior to arrival for duty and to submit accurate medical certificates – Dr. Gianfranca added - bearing in mind that several prescription drugs are not available in the Country”.
The EUPOL Medical service also acts as a counselling and support team for the Mission, a function-task that was very much appreciated following last year’s attack on the Serena Hotel, where a number of international staff were accommodated.

EUPOL Training Section concluded IDC instructor development training for the Afghan Police which is a part of EUPOL’s Train the Trainers project.
The three weeks training for 22 Police Officers included principles of adult learning, developing learning goals, methods of instruction, learning aids and how to develop a training plan.  This training was headed by Col. Paul Meyers, Head of EUPOL Training Section who identified it as a strong achievement for the Afghan Police. EUPOL trainers Lt. Bruno Aleton and Major Michel Couplan were running the training and had a good impression of the participants.
At the closing ceremony, General Sardar Mohammad Kohdamani, Deputy Chief of Training Department at the Ministry of Interior, underlined the importance of cooperation between Afghan National Police and EUPOL.
Colonel Peter Horst, EUPOL Deputy Head of Mission/OPS also highlighted the significance of this training and noted that Afghan trainers will be better equipped to train their colleagues in the future.
The participants of the training were highly motivated and were awarded certificates of appreciation.
A new IDC training course is in progress. The main goal is to train some 500 officers at central and provincial level in the near future.

Afghan National Police officers will have an important role to play in securing free and fair Presidential elections later this year and during the Parliamentary elections in 2010.
Training of the police in the run-up to the Presidential elections on 20th August will be carried out by the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan, according to an agreement signed by Head of Mission of EUPOL, Commissioner Kai Vittrup, and UNDP Country Director, Mr. Manoj Basnyat.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has the lead of the international support for the Afghan elections organized by the Independent Electoral Commission.
UNDP and EUPOL have agreed that EUPOL will take the responsibility for training up to 35.000 policemen across Afghanistan based on the “Train the Trainers” concept.
The training will focus on the role of the police on the Election Day at several thousand polling stations and also during the electoral campaign.
“The challenge for the Afghan National Police is huge, and we are looking forward to contributing to the free and fair elections” says Wilfried Nordkamp, project leader on election training at EUPOL.

After identifying the requirements at the Kabul International Airport Border Police Offices, EUPOL Border Police Section provided furniture and other equipment which was financed by the German Government through the GPPT (German Police Project Team).
The equipment includes cabinets, traffic cones, mega phones, headlights and also tables for the Entry X-Ray Machine at the terminal.
The donations will help the border police at Kabul International Airport ensure better working conditions.   
Brg. General Mohammad Asif Jabarkhil, Police Commander of Kabul International Airport thanked EUPOL and GPPT for the donations and highlighted the need for the equipment in order to improve future work.
EUPOL Chief of Border Police Capt. Christian Tuschik and EUPOL Mentor to the Border Police Lt. Roberto Giel said that these donations will facilitate the working process for the Border Police at the airport.

EUPOL Human Rights Adviser Preben Wilhjelm is preparing a booklet on Human Rights for Afghan policemen.
In a workshop with the participation of nine Afghan police officers discussions covered the need of such a booklet and the comments of the officers were taken into account for the draft for a script.
Commander of the Afghan Police Academy Lieutenant General Sayed Mohammad expressed the greatest interest in future cooperation on the project. The booklet will be printed within the next month. GTZ has already paid some of the production costs. Other donors have agreed to finance the project, which means that the booklet can be distributed all over Afghanistan.

EUPOL started on Sunday 29th March at the Afghan National Police Academy an intensive training of Afghan National Police.
The Kabul City Police Security Project - as the training is called - was conducted by sixteen EUPOL trainers with the assistance of Afghan instructors and Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan contracted personnel.
As part of the Integrated Security plan developed at the request of the Afghan Ministry of Interior, the trainees were taught on responding terrorist incidents, antiterrorism awareness, check-point policing, intelligence-led policing and community policing.
Some 800 police officers were trained in the week-long course. Additional 900 police personnel will be trained in the near future.
At the same time, the ongoing Train the Trainers Program taking place in Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat and Kabul is due to continue for the coming months, in order to, among other aspects, provide valuable support for the August elections.

An eight week police basic training course organized by EUPOL started last week in the Uruzgan provincial capital of Tarin Kowt.
Approximately 120 students, of which 30 are from the adjacent Helmand Province, attended the course that is taking place at the Police Training Centre (PTC).
The group was split in four classes, two of them run by ANP instructors while the other two in the hands of EUPOL trainers, pending arrival of qualified Afghan personnel. Combined Security Transition Command –Afghanistan (CSTC-A) contracted staff also provided assistance in specialized fields.
“The basing training is developing very well and we are extremely satisfied with what we have seen so far”, EUPOL Uruzgan Team Leader Rinus Schouten from the  Royal Dutch Military Police Mareschaussee said. “However,    the lack of Afghan trainers emphasized the need to intensify the Train the Trainers course in the next months. And we intend to do so, along with special training on logistics and administrative matters”, Commander Schouten added.
PTC lead Mentor, Australian Police Superintendent Allan Spencer, welcomed the beginning of the course and reiterated, on behalf of the Dutch-led Provincial Reconstruction Team, the support to training activities of ANP, EUPOL and other international partners.

EUPOL places great importance to Logistics, in particular to Information Communication Technology (ICT), for the creation of a modern and efficient police service in Afghanistan. 
On the basis of information gathered from different members of the Afghan National Police, EUPOL mentors have assessed that urgent steps should be taken in order to upgrade ICT at central and provincial level.
After substantial consultations with senior MoI officials, ANP experts and international partners an overwhelming support for the development of an ICT Centre has emerged. The most important short-term benefit is that the centre will be a place to enable Afghan partners to get sufficient advice and training to plan and maintain the ICT system under Afghan ownership. In the mid-term already trained staff will be enabled to strengthen their capacity and to permanently increase effectiveness and efficiency of their daily routine by getting advice and training.
EUPOL has already prepared concrete proposals for the construction of the ICT Centre. Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed, in principle, particular interest in the funding of the Centre and tasked the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) to implement the first steps in the project. However, more international financial assistance is needed.
EUPOL is working to find more potential donors will support this important project.

On March 28th the Head of the United States Elections Assistance Team Ambassador Timothy Michael Carney paid a visit to EUPOL.
Amb. Carney’s team, which consisted of representatives from different US agencies,  discussed at length with Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup the security situation with regards to the upcoming elections.
Ambassador Carney, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia and Director for Asian Affairs on the National Security Council, was pleased to hear of the EUPOL involvement in the August elections.
Head of Mission Vittrup illustrated in detail the EUPOL plans to provide special training to the Afghan National Police involved in securing the forthcoming elections. Officers would be taught the importance of the election in giving voice to the will of the Afghan people and would be trained to carry out their duties in the facilitating the democratic process. Emphasis would be placed upon their roles and responsibilities in preserving peace and public order and providing security. They would be trained to take all appropriate actions to facilitate the elections to taking place in a peaceful, open, impartial and supportive environment free from intimidation.
Both parties agreed that the performance of the Afghan National Police during the elections would be a focus of national and international attention. The Afghan police would be judged on their handling not only of security at the elections (along with other partners such as ISAF and ANA) but also in their face to face dealings with the Afghan people.
EUPOL will advise the Ministry of Interior in the planning for elections and will assist ANP in its task to facilitate the Afghan people expressing their will at the polling stations by promoting a positive and peaceful environment.
It is envisaged that EUPOL during the elections will stand by the Civilian Police in the Operational Control Centre (OCC).
Later in the day another Sr. US official, Assistant Inspector General of the Department of Defence Ambassador Kenneth Moorefield, visited EUPOL. HoM gave the delegation an overview of the mission current activities and plans in support of the police reform and the Rule of Law area, as well as about the close cooperation with US CSCT-A.

Head of EUPOL Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup paid a visit to the EUPOL staff in Maymaneh at the end of March.
Four police officers from Norway and two from Latvia are working in close cooperation with the Norwegian Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), in Maymaneh, Faryab Province.
Head of Mission was accompanied by representatives of the Norwegian Embassy. This visit was part of Head of EUPOL mission plan to visit all PRT where EUPOL is deployed. The purpose of the visit was to emphasize the priority of the work done in the field in line with EUPOL’s priorities.
The program included visits to the Deputy Regional Governor, Regional Chief of Police as well as other senior members of the community. The delegation was also briefed on the U.S. led Focused District Development (FDD).
During the discussions, the representatives from the Norwegian Embassy emphasized the importance of close cooperation and also gave EUPOL full support. Norway, along with Canada, Croatia and New Zealand, is one of the four non-EU countries contributing to EUPOL.

The EUPOL Surveillance training course – an ongoing project that started two weeks ago - received an enthusiastic response, according to attendees and Senior Afghan police officials.
Particularly valuable was the session dedicated to specialized shooting training that took place at the Kabul  Military Training Centre.
Project officers Sgt Maj Holger Nagel and Cpt  Michael “Pogo” Schulz described the session “successful”. “In particular – the two EUPOL officials added – this session offered the chance to identify the needs for further development of the training”.
The training is a significant part of the overall training designed for the newly created highly specialized unit within the Anti-Crime Department of Interior Ministry.

At the request of Interior Minister H.E. Mohammad Hanif Atmar EUPOL have assisted Kabul police officials during the last two months in the planning of an Integrated Security Plan for Kabul.
This consists of a number of strands including an inner security ring around the City. A “Ring of Steel”- as it is called-, consisting of a number of check-points around the strategically important centre of Kabul. Additional measures include the establishing of trained mobile support units, the strengthening of the security at the outer gates of Kabul and around high value targets (including government premises).
To that effect EUPOL has commenced a number of training courses including how to police check-points. 162 ANP members were trained during the first week of the course.
According to Chief Inspector Adrian Denby, who leads the project from EUPOL “although very challenging, the reform plan will provide a more effective response to the increase in insurgent activity, which is anticipated in the run up to the elections later this year”. 
Similarly, Sr Police Advisor Colonel David Everett from US CSTC-A reiterated the full support and encouragement of Commanding General Richard Formica to work with EUPOL on this project.  “Our EU colleagues – Col Everett added - bring to the table a wealth of knowledge and experience in police management and training that is crucial to the success of the mission”. Both Chief Inspector Denby and Colonel Everett praised the commitment of the Chief of Police Lieutenant General Abdul Rahman for making Kabul a safer city. 

EUPOL has offered its expertise in the efforts to extend and unify the different 119-hotline call centres in Afghanistan.
In a meeting which took place recently in the capital, the experience from Kabul, Helmand, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif was discussed among experts of the Ministry of Interior, Kabul City Police, EUPOL, US CSTC-A and ISAF. EUPOL Mentors emphasized the need to improve and unify the 119 call system, with the ultimate objective of having a dedicated phone number throughout the Country. As part of the process, the information gathered from the 119 calls will be integrated into the Afghan Police Incident Reporting System (APIRS) alongside with other incident reports.

A special team headed by the Commander of the Afghan Border Police (ABP), Lieutenant-General Mohammad Yunos Noorzai, spent a week visiting Eastern Afghanistan. EUPOL mentor 1st Lieutenant Daniela Hopfinger joined the tour.
The first stop was at Torkham, a crucial border point heading toward the Pakistani Kyber Pass,  where an average of 8.000 vehicles and 30.000 passengers cross the border daily.
Afterwards they travelled through many observation posts scattered along the border areas of the Kunar and Nangarhar provinces.
General Noorzai, who was accompanied by his top aides Commander of 1st Border Zone Brigadier General Mohammad Zaman Mamozai and ABP Operations Chief Colonel Shinwary Wali Khan, spoke at length with ABP officers, NCOs and junior border guards about the challenges they are facing.
The team met also with the Governor of Nangarhar Gul Agha Sherzai and Kunar’s Governor Sayed Fazal Ullah Wahedi.     
Gen Noorzai – who took over as ABP Chief last August – expressed appreciation for the valuable contribution of the EUPOL mentor during the working tour.
Lt Hopfinger, a Cologne based German police officer who started her career with the then Bundesgrenzschutz(Federal Border Guard) was impressed with the professionalism and dedication of the ABP 1st Zone personnel. “Thanks to the charisma of Commander Noorzai - Lt Hopfinger noted - the field visit resulted in a great boost for the morale of the border guards deployed along the tense Af-Pak Eastern frontier”.

EUPOL commenced this week the Department of Police Intelligence & Criminal Investigation Department surveillance training. 24 students including one female took part at the course, that will run for a total of four weeks.
Two weeks of initial training lay the basics of good surveillance techniques and evidence gathering, through a systematic approach. Followed by a break then two more intensive weeks building on the skills learnt and introducing advanced thinking, by running operational scenarios.
At the conclusion of the full course all those who have successfully attended throughout will receive EUPOL certificates of attendance.
“So far we have given them input on planning and preparing for an operation, briefing and de briefings, report/log keeping & the legal framework that exists in Afghanistan for surveillance”, Crime investigation Department  Sr Mentor Paul Watts and Surveillance section Mentor Holgar Negal said
Over the coming weeks they will get instruction in observation points, foot surveillance techniques, use of cameras, and video recorders. They will engage as well in various practical exercises.
“Intelligence led Policing plays an important role in operations and joint team work with others sections in particular the Department of Police Intelligence analytical in preparing for the planning and briefing of operations”, Chief Constable watts said. This training is a team effort with a number of mentors involved from across the EUPOL portfolio.

The 4th Regional EUPOL Conference convened at Kabul on the 24 and 25 of March 2009, bringing together Senior Police Advisors and representatives from the Regions, Provincial Reconstruction Teams, Head of Mentors, Training, IPCB and representatives from their various programs.
The overall intent of the Conference was to discuss the new mission structure and the new business plan.
The ongoing programs such as Train the trainers, Surveillance training, integrated security plan, Crime stopper, among others were discussed at length.
“It was an excellent occasion - Head of Programme Directorate Everett Summerfield said – to share experiences and to discuss the way forward”
Head of Mission Kai Vittrup delivered the opening and closing remarks, and hereby highlighted the importance of increased deployment to the PRTs.

EUPOL was pleased to see this week at the Ministry of Interior in Kabul the opening of an important specialized unit dealing exclusively with serious and organized crimes, including suicide attacks.
65 special crimes investigators with investigative and forensic background were trained by EUPOL and assigned to the newly established unit.
The nation wide selection of the most suited candidates began upon the approval of the action plan suggested in January and was conducted by Afghan police officials assisted by EUPOL mentors.
Modern equipment for the unit will be provided by the German Police Project Team (GPPT).  As result, the quality of crime scene investigations and forensics will improve significantly at central level.
EUPOL is working in partnership with ISAF to ensure high level investigations at the scene of suicide attacks.
Deputy Interior Minister Munir Mangal at the inauguration ceremony praised “the valuable contribution of EUPOL and GPPT to the establishment of such unit”. Project Officer Colonel Ioan Campian promised EUPOL assistance on further training and mentoring of the police officers attached to the specialized unit and urged its gradual expansion throughout the Country. 

EUPOL organized the Instructor Development Course “Train the Trainers Course” for the Afghan trainers who will train their colleagues how to effectively teach and conduct trainings in Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat provinces.
The course in Kabul started at the training facility of Border Police with 22 participants. The course in Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat provinces started in the local training facilities. The number of participants in each of the two provinces is 22 and 23; among the participants of Herat province one lady is also involved.   
The three weeks Instructor Development Course is led by Lt Bruno Aleton and Chief Inspector Michel Couplan in Kabul. EUPOL officers Giuseppe Roccasalva and Alfonso Diaz in Herat and Ronald Gedatke and Dragos Chirita in Mazar-e-Sharif are implementing this project. A total of fifty police officers are currently following the special course in Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif provinces. 
According to the Head of EUPOL Training Department, Deputy Chief Constable Paul Meijers, “the trainers come from Herat, Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif, Ministry of Interior and National Police Academy and it is done in shared responsibility and execution with EUPOL and local trainers”.
The purpose of the training is to educate the Afghan National Police trainers how to improve their training and existing skills.
It is worth mentioning that the second Instructor Development Course is planned from April 18 until August 2009 in Kabul, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif. Planning and preparations for the next course have already started. The Afghan and EUPOL joint goal is to implement Instructor Development Courses in four additional provinces. The plan foresees that the number of local trainers involved in this training program will be no less than 525 by August 2009.  
The MoI Head of Training Department General Gul Nabi Ahmadzai met the EUPOL trainers at the Border Police and exchanged views with the trainees. Gen Ahmadzai stressed the importance of conducting this training at provincial level as well.   Minister of Interior H.E. Mohammad Hanif Atmar and EUPOL Head of Mission Commissioner Kai Vittrup welcomed the outcome of this project.

The inauguration of a new Provincial Police Training Center in Uruzgan in a few weeks and EUPOL’s future role in this PTC dominated discussions during the visit EUPOL Head of Mission Kai Vittrup paid to Uruzgan on 1st and 2nd March. 
 A Southern Province neighboring Kandahar and Helmand, Uruzgan will soon see a Dutch contribution of both a new training center and a new police headquarters creating hope for an improved Afghan National Police.
The training center is almost finished, and it will accommodate 144 ANP officers.
With good reason to be proud of the new center with indoor and outdoor facilities at a high standard, the Dutch Provincial Reconstruction Team is planning for a high profile inauguration in the coming weeks.
The centre will be used by police officers from EUPOL to train their Afghan counterparts. Uruzgan police officers will eventually attend an eight-week training course there, conducted with US cooperation. EUPOL’s role, providing additional trainers and mentors, was discussed in details between Dutch General Tom Middendorp along with Civilian Representative Joep Wijnands and Police Commissioner Vittrup. EUPOL HoM promised to provide staff to cooperate with the Australian Federal Police, which are now in the lead with Superintendent Allan Spencer as Head of mentors.
As mentoring of the police chiefs and putting the correct systems in place is one of EUPOL’s strategic goals, the training center will also be used for management trainings as well.
Commissioner Vittrup spent two days at Kamp Holland in Uruzgan. He acknowledged that conditions there are difficult, which is why he considered the police training centre a big step forward to facilitate EUPOL training and mentoring.
“It is visible that police officers who have been through the training courses are behaving in a different way and the public has more confidence in them” EUPOL officers in Uruzgan confirmed.
 According to General Middendorp “ The Netherlands considers EUPOL’s presence in Uruzgan significant because it shows that the EU is also investing in the reconstruction and stabilisation of Afghanistan”.

Police in Uruzgan

The Dutch PRT, with six EUPOL staff members stationed at Kamp Holland liaised closely with USAID, who sponsored the construction of a urgently needed Police Headquarters for Uruzgan Province.
EUPOL HoM paid a visit to Governor Asadullah Hamdam, who expressed the view, often debated, that police officers from outside the province might improve the standard of police work. Individual police officers who have too strong ties to the local community was, according to him, an obstable to professional policing. “Why not exchange 200 police officers between Kabul and Uruzgan”, asked the Governor.
Whilst confirming the need for additional resources to build up the capacity of the ANP, during his talks with HoM, General Middendorp said that he is  had confident that the new training centre will improve the level of training and icrease the capabilities of ANP.
Talking to Police Chief, General Jumah Gul, Commissioner Vittrup got a clear promise that he will provide five Afghan trainers, 15 ANP security staff and three Afghan staff members for the PTC. At the same time, it became obvious to the Kabul visitors that the new police headquartes, that is nearly finished by USAID, will be an extremely important improvement in the working conditions for the ANP in the province.

German Federal Police President hopeful to send more officers to EUPOL

The President of the German Federal Police Matthias Seeger brought in an optimistic spirit and new ideas when he paid a visit to EUPOL HQ.
President Seeger informed Head of Mission Kai Vittrup of an awareness campaign about job opportunities and working conditions in EUPOL Afghanistan that took place recently in Berlin and was attended by 300 police officers from the German Federal Police and the State Police. 
Meetings all over Germany should attract in the near future a sufficient number of candidates for EUPOL vacancies.
Matthias Seeger, who was accompanied by the Inspector General of the North Rhine Westphalia State Police and Chairperson of the Working Committee on international police missions Maj-Gen Dieter Wehe, told Commissioner Vittrup that police officers at the crisis management must be rewarded in terms of promotions and better job opportunities upon returning from the field. In some places, there has been a tendency to forget those serving abroad, instead of compensating them, Mr. Seeger said.
The question of recruiting for EUPOL retired officers with such a long experience was also a theme for discussion, taking into consideration that in the various German States the retirement age for police officers is between 60 and 62.
Coordination of police work and police projects was also discussed at length in the meeting.

EUPOL concluded management training for the Uniformed Police, Crime Investigation Department and Intelligence Police at the Kabul Border Police HQ. During the five days course 27 participants received training in leadership, role of police managers and leaders, basic elements of management, setting meaningful goals, human rights, effective communication and police ethics.
EUPOL officers Wilfried Olde Nordkamp and Michel Couplan run the course. Certificates were awarded to the trainees by the EUPOL Head of Training Paul Meijers.  According to Deputy Chief Constable Meijers the participants of the course were “very much motivated and really interested in improving their management skills”. EUPOL training department plans to conduct management training at central and provincial levels in the coming months. 

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia H.E. Urmas Paet paid a visit to EUPOL HQ on Thursday 12 March.
Minister Paet, who was on his way back from Helmand where Estonian ISAF troops are stationed, met at length with Commissioner Kai Vittrup and Deputy HoM Col Peter Horst.
The Head of the Estonian diplomacy emphasized full support to EUPOL and promised to increase their contribution in the coming months.

The European Police Mission and the Ministry of Interior have engaged themselves in the strategic vision regarding security arrangements related to the forthcoming Presidential Election.
During a meeting that took place at EUPOL Headquarters on Sunday 15th March Colonel Mohmand Ali Mast Khan, Chief of the Elections Security Team at MoI, outlined to HoM Kai Vittrup and sr EUPOL staff the plans for the presence of the Afghan National Police at the 7.000 polling centers.
EUPOL was recently asked by the Afghan Minister of Interior H.E. Mohammad Hanif Atmar to be included in the presidential elections security planning and –
according to elections focal point Sr Police Adviser Colin Aitken – “will study the plan and consider what kind of strategic support can offer”.

Major General Richard P. Formica, Commanding General of the Combined Security Transition Command, Afghanistan, CSTC-A and nine members of his staff paid a visit to EUPOL Headquarters on Saturday 28 February to meet EUPOL Head of Mission, Kai Vittrup and EUPOL senior staff members.
It was the first time that a Commanding US-General visited EUPOL H.Q. in such a format.
Welcoming the General, Police Commissioner Vittrup stressed the importance of the continued improved relations on police reform between the EU and the United States in Afghanistan. General Formica underlined a steady and great cooperation between EUPOL and CSTC-A. In particular, he highlighted the importance of the continued partnership in which EUPOL and CSTC-A fully complement each other in reforming the Afghan police force.
An interview with General Formica is planned for the next issue of EUPOL newsletter.

On Thursday 26 February EUPOL crossed a landmark. For the first time the number of international staff members reached 200.
Laimonas JANKAUSKAS, a police officer from Lithuania was at the weekly staff meeting on his arrival day "appointed" Mr. 200 by Head of Mission, Kai Vittrup.
- It is both significant and important, said Commander Vittrup. The goal is 400. We are half way through and improving day by day.
During the last few weeks after a renewed appeal to Member States during HoM’s visit to Brussels the increase in international staff has been six percent.

Photo: Laimonas Jankauskas receives the EUPOL plaquette from HoM Kai Vittrup as Jankauskas on his arrival day made symbolic EUPOL-history by being staff member 200.

With the assistance of EUPOL Mentors, Brian Flanagan and David Wright, and the support of Governor Gulab Mangal, the Crimestoppers Line was launched on 16 January 2009 with a media advertising campaign.
The scheme uses two mobile telephone lines, Roshan and AWCC and is located in it’s own office at the new Provincial Police Headquarters at Lashkar Gah. ANP personnel, and a dedicated Interpreter for the initiative, staff the project. All have been given Communications training by EUPOL Mentor Brian Flanagan. There are also two representatives from the Governor's Office for independent oversight of the process.
Example of media advertising:
Dear People,
To prevent and stop crime we have activated 110 110, please call us and rescue yourself from robbery, bribery, disturbance, kidnapping, injustice, illicitness, mines, bombs, suicide attackers and fighting.
Although the line is intended for reporting of all crime, it appears to be seen as a Police Corruption line, hence the majority of calls are related to the misdeeds of ANP, particularly illegal taxes at Checkpoints and physical abuse of members of the community.
An average of around 70 calls are received daily and these are sub-divided into three categories:
Genuine calls – where complainant identity is given and details of witnesses or documentary evidence – normally around 5-10%
Nuisance calls – e.g. harassment, caller hangs up and missed calls – normally around 60-70%
Other – e.g. general enquiries - normally around 20-30%
From the genuine calls, a picture begins to emerge of habitual corruption at certain Checkpoints or areas under the command of certain individuals.

In order to specifically deal with Police Corruption, and perhaps extend to State Corruption, Governor Gulab Mangal has initiated the formation of the professional Standards Unit. EUPOL Mentor Alistair Black will be the lead Mentor for the formation and development of the PSU.

Envisaged as an independent unit capable of carrying out arrests of ANP offenders, the PSU is intended to have a complement of 24 personnel drawn from ANP, ANA and NDS. It is important that the PSU should be properly selected from literate, ethical officers and adequately trained for their role before being deployed.

Independent investigation and prosecution processes are considered essential to ensure the transparency and effectiveness of the project.

On February 4, the dog-handlers of the Afghan Border Police (ABP) at Kabul International Airport alerted their EUPOL mentors Roberto Giel and Christian Tuschik that their two dogs are ill. The EUPOL officers got in touch with the EUPOL Liaison Officer to ISAF, Pierre Cousin who arranged a visit of the dogs to the French ISAF veterinarian on 5 February. The doctor diagnosed and treated the animals free of charge as a donation by ISAF.
Within a few days the dogs were back on duty. One is trained to search for narcotics, the other for explosives. They are currently the only two such animals working at the airport for ABP.
The EUPOL officers also handed over a donation by the German Police Project Team of specialized plastic boxes to the security checkpoint staff.

The Nordic Countries with Sweden in the lead has asked EUPOL to run a seminar preparing for training in what you could call an ambitious and comprehensive project in the area of Rule of Law.
The proposal suggests an introductory seminar for 15-20 senior Afghan officials from the whole legal spectrum: police, judge, lawyers, prison services, etc. This event, to be held outside Afghanistan, will focus on developing an educational program for provincial officials.
Representatives from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden as well as EUPOL’s interim chief of the Rule of Law Section Karin Müller held a meeting in Copenhagen on 25 February 2009 to discuss the way ahead for the Nordic initiative on police training in Afghanistan.
This is aimed at focusing on better coordination between the police and legal institutions in the wider area of Rule of Law. The participants have agreed that a seminar at the central level, including deputy ministers and ranks below that, will be scheduled in a third country, possibly the United Arab Emirates, for early June 2009.
A pilot course for decision-makers from judicial and police authorities is subsequently to be held in mid-October 2009 following the presidential elections and the Ramadan and may take place in Afghanistan provided that security conditions allow for this. Jens Lindborg from the Swedish Ministry of Justice has been appointed course director to head the initiative and is to undertake a trip to Afghanistan by late March 2009 to meet with EUPOL and other relevant partners.
As said, Sweden is the lead nation with the Folke Bernadotte Academy as the executing agency.
A team consisting of Håkan Svedin (Sweden), Lotta Sandström (Sweden) and Per Nørhave (Denmark) made some preparations on the ground this month.
On 15 February, the team, together with EUPOL, was the first foreign delegation to visit the Afghan Ministry of Justice after the terrorists’ assault. The deputy Minister of Justice was very pleased to welcome the delegation and initiate discussions there. 
EU Member States Sweden, Denmark and Finland are joined in this effort by the non members Norway and Iceland. The five Nordic Countries have a special relationship within the Nordic Council with both ministerial and parliamentary institutions.
In the second half of 2009 Sweden will take over the rotating presidency of the European union.

Working conditions for our colleagues in Afghan National Police is important for EUPOL. That’s why staff members dealing with Kabul City Police have sought support for having new office equipment for the police stations all over the capital.
EUPOL Police officer Kurt Norgaard took the lead on identifying the needs and visiting all stations, reporting in detail what was required. On Wednesday 25 February he was happily involved in handing over the furniture for station number 3. The hand over will continue in the coming weeks.
Total furniture costs as quoted by the contracted suppliers are approx. 19Mill Afg.
The furniture were financed by the German Government through its Foreign Office and procured by the GTZ Project Implementation Unit (PIU) that has been commissioned by the German Foreign Office to aid EUPOL in implementing such support measures.
In the near future EUPOL with the same assistance from the German Government will be handing over some search equipment worth 152.000 US dollars.

Head of Mission Kai Vittrup had a meeting today with the Head of Kabul City Police General  Mohammad Ayub  Salangi to discuss the general security situation of the Capital. 
EUPOL welcomed the new strategy that was developed by the Kabul City Police in order to provide an inner security ring around the City centre.
The so called “Ring of Steel” plan will create a flexible security ring around Kabul  an d will be based on strategically placed fixed and mobile check points around the security  ring, in addition to the ones already provided at the gates of the Capital.

 Several senior and middl-ranking police officers of the Interior Ministry Tashkil Department gathered at the EUPOL Headquarters to discuss base communication and force management issues.
The two days brainstorming session was an excellent opportunity for the Afghan police officials to share views with international partners.
The Head of Tashkil Department Gen Noor Agha Noori , who led the ANP group, acknowledged the importance of a broader perspective for the formation of the Senior management of the Afghan Police.
From his part Police Commissione Kai Vittrup, who opened the Seminar, reaffirmed EUPOL determination for an increased cooperation with the Ministry of Interior.

1 Feb 09 - EUPOL Central Training Unit organized in Kabul a two weeks “Train the Trainers Course” for EUPOL training advisors form different provinces; one member of the Norwegian Project for Support of the Police in Afghanistan (NORAF) attended as well.
The course started with theory of teaching, training and learning. Later on it shifted to practice in the design, delivery and evaluation of teaching, training and learning sessions.
Main goal of the course was to standardize EUPOL trainers’ skills in order to better organize and implement “train the trainers courses” for Afghan police trainers throughout the Country.

 Following an Interior Ministry request for expert assistance and funding to support the introduction of an intelligence-led policing strategy, Head of Mission Kai Vittrup met the First Deputy of the MoI Intelligence Department, Gen Jamaluddin Malikzai.
 At request of the Minister of Interior and in consultation with International partners and IPCB, it was agreed that EUPOL will have the lead in intelligence-led policing, including the coordination of bilateral contributions.
 EUPOL and MoI concur that implementation of such strategy would improve policing effectiveness in counter terrorism, suppressing organized and other serious crime, combating police corruption and in bringing security to Afghanistan and its people.
 EUPOL  advisers will start liaising closely and regularly in the very near future with their colleagues in the Intelligence Department.
 More immediately, intelligence-led policing should be implemented to boost  the Afghan National Police operations ahead of the forthcoming presidential elections.

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.