European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan

EUPOL Afghanistan is a European Union mission supporting the reform efforts of the Afghan government in building a civilian police service in Afghanistan.

EUPOL Afghanistan is part of the European Union's External Action service. It is one of the EU's civilian Common Security and Defence Policy missions and was set up in 2007 to assist the Afghan government in reforming its police service. Reforming the security sector is a crucial element of the international community's efforts to rebuild Afghanistan. Decades of armed conflict in the country had left the Afghan National Police (ANP) with multiple challenges – the ANP is at the forefront of the fight against the insurgency and consequently often suffers heavy casualties. Endemic corruption is another major challenge facing the ANP.

EUPOL Afghanistan is part of the EU's long-term engagement in Afghanistan. The Mission works in close partnership with the Afghan government and other international stakeholders.

The Member States of the European Union set the following objectives for the mission: "EUPOL Afghanistan shall significantly contribute to the establishment of sustainable and effective civilian policing arrangements under Afghan ownership, which will ensure appropriate interaction with the wider criminal justice system, in keeping with the policy advice and institution building work of the community, Member States and other international actors. Furthermore, the Mission will support the reform process towards a trusted and efficient police service, which works in accordance with international standards, within the framework of the rule of law and respects human rights."

EUPOL advisers work on a strategic level with the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs in the professionalisation of the ANP and the institutional reform of the Ministry of Interior Affairs (MoI). EUPOL does not have an executive mandate, which means that it does not do actual policing. EUPOL's main partners for cooperation include senior leadership of the Afghan Ministry of Interior, from the Afghan National Police, relevant rule of law actors such as Afghan prosecutors to other international actors supporting the development of the police and the rule of law in Afghanistan.

EUPOL supported the production of the Afghan police detective TV series, "Commissar Amanullah", which helped reach out to the public in a country where literacy levels are still low. The series treated its viewers to fast and furious action as well as behind the scenes reports on the professional work of a criminal investigation unit in Afghanistan. Topics that were then part of EUPOL's mandate such as community policing, criminal investigation, female police recruitment, gender, human rights and police-prosecutor cooperation were incorporated into the series.

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Wikipedia