Tuesday, September 6
Afghan National Police Get New Weapons
| KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Afghan National Police increased their ability to train under realistic conditions recently when the ANP’s six Regionall Training Centers received shipments of new weapons for use in training the police force. The need for the new weapons at the RTCs was urgent. Mock rifles had been used to train the police officers. “We desperately needed these weapons,” said Charles Wilson, the DynCorp lead advisor and police mentor to the commander at the Herat RTC. “We have been training the police with wooden weapons without movable parts. Now we can start training them with the weapons they will be using.” Realistic training means more confident policemen when they are out fulfilling their duties, he said. The Hungarian government donated 18,800 new AMD-65s to the ANP. Similar to an AK-47, the AMD-65 has a rifle stock that folds to become more compact and fires 7.62-caliber ammunition, the same type of round used in the AK-47. Afghan National Police Col. Allah Noor Mohammadi, commander of the Herat RTC, was elated to see the initial arrival of the new weapons and immediately inspected the shipment. “These weapons will be used right away for training our policemen,” Mohammadi said. “When we receive the entire inventory we will begin distributing them to all those who are trained. We need them for the security of Afghanistan .” The weapons distribution plan is being carried out in two phases. The first phase began in early July when the first shipment of 90 AMD-65s was delivered to the Kandahar RTC. Delivery of weapons to the remaining RTCs in Herat , Gardez, Jalalabad, Konduz and Mazar-e-Sharif was completed by Aug 21. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jose Lebron, a logistics plans manager from the Office of Security Cooperation-Afghanistan, helped develop the weapons distribution plan for the ANP. “The initial distribution of the training weapons will include three magazines and a sling for each weapon, enough to begin proper training,” Lebron said. During the second phase, all six of the RTCs will receive additional new weapons to distribute to police officers as they complete their training and report to their assignments. “Our goal is to have all of the weapons delivered and in use prior to the September elections,” Lebron said. The ammunition for the weapons will be delivered with the larger shipments in phase two. After the second phase of distribution to the training centers is complete, the next priority is to equip the Afghan Border Police with the new weapons. “We are starting from the outside and working in,” Lebron said. “Securing the borders of Afghanistan is a very important first step.” After the border police receive new weapons, the ANP regional commands in the south and east of Afghanistan receive their issue. In addition to the Hungarian weapons donation, other members of the International Community donated more than 2 million rounds of ammunition to Afghanistan for use with the rifles. Additionally, DynCorp, the private contractor that mentors and trains the ANP at the regional training centers, transported the weapons to all of the RTCs using their own aircraft. “The weapons and ammunition donations and their delivery methods are truly a Coalition project,” Lebron said. “The concerted efforts of all of those involved will enable the ANP to be proficient in firearms and enforcing the rule of law.” |
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