Law enforcement trainers from Afghanistan increase their expertise in combating illicit drugs in OSCE-organized course

Afghan law enforcement officers completed on 5 February 2018 an OSCE-organized two-week train-the-trainer course on combating illicit drug trafficking and drug-related crime, at the Russian training facility in Domodedovo, near Moscow.

The training course for 13 trainees, organized jointly with the All-Russian Advanced Training Institute, increased the participants’ capacity to deliver training courses in search operations, including in the use of modern techniques for identifying illicit drugs, their precursors and countering drug-related crimes. The course included practice in searching residential areas and vehicles and in effectively using special equipment.

Colonel-lieutenant Evgeniy Konovalov, Deputy Head of the All-Russian Advanced Training Institute, expressed the Institute’s intention to continue supporting Afghan law enforcement personnel in combating the threat of illicit drugs and provide trainees with up-to-date skills and techniques required for anti-drug activities. He called for further co-operation with the OSCE in organizing joint courses for Afghan law enforcement experts.

Rasa Ostrauskaite, the OSCE Secretariat’s Co-ordinator of Activities to Address Transnational Threats, said that the course was part of the OSCE’s efforts to enhance the capacity of Afghanistan, as an OSCE Partner for Co-operation, to tackle the world drug problem. “This course has enriched the knowledge of Afghan law enforcement officers regarding the implementation of measures to prevent and counter drug-related crimes. This knowledge should be shared with colleagues back in Afghanistan.”

Colonel Mirwais Taheri of the Internal Affairs Ministry of Afghanistan emphasized the need to continue supporting his country in anti-drug capacity building. ”These courses bring practical results leading to more seizures of illicit drugs and better investigations of drug-related crimes,” he said.  

The course was organized by the OSCE Secretariat’s Transnational Threats Department and supported by the governments of Germany, Japan and the Russian Federation.