OSCE Office trains Tajik border troops and Afghan border police

The OSCE Office in Tajikistan began a five-week patrol and leadership training course for Tajik trainees on 9 April 2012, as a part of a project developed for Tajik border troops and Afghan border police within the framework of Tajikistan National Border Management Strategy supported by the OSCE.

The participants will learn how to plan and conduct observation missions through the use of topographical maps as well as satellite imagery. The trainees will also develop their management, analytical and reporting skills.

During the opening ceremony, a Memorandum of Understanding on the training modalities was signed between the Main Directorate of Border Troops and the OSCE Office in Tajikistan by Lieutenant General Sherali Mirzo and Ambassador Ivar Vikki, the Head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan. The OSCE also made a donation for three terrain vehicles and training material, which will be used to enhance operational capacities along the “green border” between Tajikistan and Afghanistan where crossing is illegal.

The course is part of the OSCE’s Patrol Programming and Leadership Project, which has been providing training to border troops in Tajikistan since 2009. Following a successful pilot project last year involving ten Afghan officers, this new phase has been developed to support the needs of both Tajik border troops and Afghan border police.