Tajik border guard officers complete OSCE patrol leadership course

DUSHANBE, 4 July 2014 – Twenty-one Tajik border guard officers from detachments at the Tajik-Afghan border completed today a five-week training course on patrolling and leadership.

The five-week course focused on planning and carrying out border surveillance missions using topographical maps, satellite images and other relevant tools. The course participants also learned about patrol planning and management techniques, and improved their skills in reporting and analysis, border patrolling in mountainous areas, alpine skills and first aid in the field.

Ambassador Markus Mueller, the Head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, congratulated the officers on completing the course and said: “Building the capacities of border guards from Tajikistan and Afghanistan plays a crucial role in strengthening security at the border between the two countries, and OSCE continues to support such efforts."

This was the thirteenth consecutive course held under the OSCE’s Office patrol programming and leadership project, aimed at enhancing the capacities of Tajik and Afghan border staff in detection and interdiction of illegal cross-border movements. The Representatives of the Main Directorate of Border Troops of the State Committee on National Security of the Republic of Tajikistan attended this ceremony.