U.S. servicemembers team up to train ANP

Written by U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Ashley Hawkins

Nuristan Provincial Reconstruction Team Public Affairs

NURISTAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan – U.S. security forces servicemembers are hosting an eight-week training program on Forward operating Base Kalagush, Dec. 12, for Afghan National Police to help them build better tactical skills needed to provide security for eastern Afghanistan’s Nuristan province.

Nuristan PRT security forces and U.S. Marines will instruct in their areas of speciality, such as patrol techniques and hand-to-hand combat, while also building relationships with their ANP counterparts.

“We are giving the ANP the skills [all] police officer should have,” said U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Clifford Williams, the Nuristan PRT force protection non-commissioned officer-in-charge, from Grantspass, Ore. “If you want governance, security and stability in any area, you have to have a professional police force to provide that.”

The security forces team is training the ANP to get them ready for when they are on their own, so they can support themselves and any local crime that may occur when U.S. troops leave Afghanistan.

“This experience – to be able to train the Afghan National Police – is very worthwhile,” Williams said. “With the surge of troops coming in, there will be more of us to be able to properly train them. I believe that having a professional police force is very important, and it should be all over Afghanistan.”

The training is held once a week, and leadership is trained first, so they can teach their subordinates what they have learned.

The ANP’s final task will be working side-by-side with U.S. servicemembers at the entry control point, to demonstrate they will be able to police themselves.

NURISTAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan - U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gilbert Lenz II, a Nuristan Provincial Reconstruction Team security forces member from Reno, Nev., teaches the local Afghan National Police hand and arm signals during an eight-week training course on Forward Operating Base Kalagush, Dec. 12. The course is taught once a week to teach the ANP professional police skills, while building positive relations, which will benefit both ANP and U.S. forces. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Ashley Hawkins, Nuristan Provincial Reconstruction Team Public Affairs)