The Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOP) is getting a new headquarters. The complex is being built on a site of over 16,000 square metres on the south side of the Afghan capital Kabul; construction is being jointly funded by the United Arab Emirates and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.
On Sunday 11 January, the German Ambassador Werner Hans Lauk, Ahmed Al Msabi of the UAE Interior Ministry and Afghan Minister of the Interior Hanif Atmar unveiled a plaque on the new HQ building. The total cost of the German-UAE project will equal 2.64 million euro. The German side is contributing some 1.39 million euro to the project, the UAE side 1.25 million euro.
The Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOP) is a key part of the Afghan police system and will play a vital role in ensuring that the presidential elections scheduled for 2009 pass off smoothly.
The ANCOP is a specialized police unit which was established in order to maintain law and order in the main Afghan cities.
The ANCOP is deployed to other parts of the country, including remote areas, as and when required in order to support the local police forces. It also helps with the training of regional police forces and, while local police officers are being trained, it assumes their duties.
Germany has taken on a leading role in building up the Afghan security forces. Further training courses for the ANCOP are one of the focuses of Germany's commitment in the field of reconstruction and training.
The German Government seeks to provide ever increasing support for civilian reconstruction in Afghanistan. In 2008, funding for civilian reconstruction was increased by over 70% to 170.7 million euro. Support for police development was tripled to roughly 36 million euro.