Afghanistan — French forces train Afghan police in investigation, detention

NEJRAB, KAPISA PROVINCE, Afghanistan — Grad­u­a­tion is a time for cel­e­bra­tion and pride in one’s accom­plish­ments, but most of all, it sig­ni­fies grad­u­ates are ready to put their knowl­edge to prac­ti­cal use. For the grad­u­ates of the Nejrab Afghan Local Police Depart­ment, knowl­edge gained from the Crim­i­nal Inves­ti­ga­tion and Deten­tion Course will help Afghan secu­ri­ty forces con­tin­ue to take the lead in secu­ri­ty oper­a­tions.

French mil­i­tary police­men from Task Force Lafayette in Kapisa province, and Afghan police vehi­cles, secure a route in Nejrab Val­ley dur­ing a com­bined mis­sion to inspect elec­tri­cal infra­struc­ture. Sto­ry and pho­to by French Navy Chief Pet­ty Offi­cer Chris­t­ian Valverde Click to enlarge

Abdel Shafir, Nejrab Afghan Local Police Depart­ment cap­tain, and his fel­low Afghan police mem­bers pre­sent­ed their crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion cer­tifi­cates to the audi­ence, March 18, after com­plet­ing the last part of their judi­cial edu­ca­tion pro­vid­ed by French Mil­i­tary Forces, Gen­darmerie Nationale (French mil­i­tary police), part of Task Force Lafayette. 

“This final test is the con­clu­sion of three months of hard work in a high-lev­el class­es,” said Capt. Emmanuel Lei­bovi­ci, the Gen­darmerie Nationale offi­cer in charge of the course. “The grad­u­at­ing mem­bers includ­ed sev­en edu­cat­ed offi­cers and non-com­mis­sioned offi­cers of Nejrab Val­ley and the vicinity’s sur­round­ing police depart­ments. Their train­ing includ­ed 50 hours of the­o­ret­i­cal and prac­ti­cal police train­ing, includ­ing crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion and inter­ro­ga­tion procedures.” 

Designed to improve local police capa­bil­i­ties in crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tions and coun­terin­sur­gency, this judi­cial train­ing match­es real-life Afghan situations. 

“It has been cre­at­ed in accor­dance with Afghan penal laws and under mag­is­trate super­vi­sion,” said Col. Bruno Jock­ers, chief of the French mil­i­tary police here. 

The train­ing is pay­ing off, as French forces are reg­u­lar­ly part­ner­ing with Afghan police. In a recent col­lab­o­ra­tion, the Afghan Local Police arrest­ed 10 sus­pects in Nejrab. Eight of the sus­pects were insur­gents or close to the insur­gency, and are now incarcerated. 

In anoth­er suc­cess­ful mis­sion, the ALP thwart­ed an insur­gent attempt to kill a body­guard of the Nejrab police chief. Afghan police lead­ers are hope­ful that Afghan forces in Kapisa will soon man­age the province independently. 

For Afghan Col. Ata Moham­mad, Nejrab police chief, the col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Gen­darmerie Nationale is of great use. 

“Crime is decreas­ing, and secu­ri­ty in our val­ley is bet­ter than it was last year,” said Col. Moham­mad dur­ing his awards cer­e­mo­ny speech. “The pop­u­la­tion trusts in the police forces more. I hope the time will come soon where we will assume respon­si­bil­i­ty for our des­tiny as our fathers did before us.” 

“We are very con­fi­dent … but we still have a lot to do,” said Col. Philippe Robin, Task Force Lafayette chief of staff. “Obvi­ous­ly, they need more equip­ment and more train­ing, but their improve­ments are quite vis­i­ble, more than we expected.” 

Since late 2011, French men­tors have applied the “Afghan First” con­cept that puts Afghan forces in the lead dur­ing com­bined operations. 

“The pur­pose is to make Afghan Nation­al Secu­ri­ty Forces con­fi­dent enough to con­duct oper­a­tions by them­selves,” Robin said, “so that we can ver­i­fy that they will be able to lead oper­a­tions alone as soon as pos­si­ble. We will con­tin­ue to work togeth­er with the ALP, ANA author­i­ties, and gov­ern­ment of Kapisa province to make the tran­si­tion possible.” 

Editor’s note: Task Force La Fayette is one of the nine task forces under the Region­al Com­mand East, includ­ing the Kapisa province and Suro­bi dis­trict. The French 27th Infantry Moun­tain Brigade, TF La Fayette, con­ducts coun­terin­sur­gency oper­a­tions by, with, and through ANSF. It con­ducts its action along three lines of oper­a­tions (secu­ri­ty, gov­er­nance and devel­op­ment) to pro­tect and secure the pop­u­la­tion and assist the Gov­ern­ment of the Islam­ic Repub­lic of Afghanistan to extend its author­i­ty through com­pe­tent gov­er­nance, infra­struc­ture devel­op­ment and secu­ri­ty improvement. 

Source:
Allied Com­mand Oper­a­tions
NATO 

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