OSCE Office starts Phase III of its Patrol, Programming and Leadership Project to train Tajik, Kyrgyz and Afghan Border Officials

DUSHANBE, 10 August 2015 - The OSCE Office in Tajikistan started the third phase of its long-running Patrol, Programming and Leadership project. The project aims to improve the effectiveness of Tajik, Kyrgyz and Afghan border officials to detect and interdict illegal cross-border movements on their mutual borders. This stage of the project will see the introduction of border officials from Kyrgyzstan into the training courses, as well as handover to local Tajik and Afghan trainers.

By the end of the project in 2017 a minimum of 242 Tajik, 140 Afghan and 40 Kyrgyz Officers will receive practical training on planning and conducting reconnaissance and observation missions through the use of map reading, land navigation, observation, mountaineering and patrolling techniques. Operational management and analytical skills will also be taught. The project has been made possible due to the generous financial support of Finland, Norway, Germany and the United States of America.

The project has benefited from the close co-operation between the OSCE and Tajikistan’s Border Troops. During the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on the project on 6 August 2015, Lieutenant General Rajabali Rahmonali, Commander of Tajikistan’s Border Troops praised the OSCE Office in Tajikistan for “its pivotal role played in the capacity building of the Tajik border force.”

Fejzo Numanaj, Head of the Politico-Military Activities Department of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan noted that “the OSCE contribution in border security and management will promote efficient operational capacities for combating transnational threats, organized crime, terrorism and illicit drugs at the border.”

Since its inception in 2008 the Patrol, Programming and Leadership project has trained 587 border officials from Tajikistan and Afghanistan.