EUROPA

SUMMARY

The European Union (EU) is leading a police mission in Afghanistan, called "EUPOL Afghanistan". The aims of the mission include the implementation, under Afghan ownership, of:

• sustainable and effective civilian policing arrangements;
• 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.

Tasks

In order to achieve these objectives, the EUPOL Afghanistan mission shall:

• work on strategy development in police reform;
• support the Government of Afghanistan in coherently implementing their strategy;
• improve cohesion and coordination among international actors involved in Afghanistan;
• support linkages between the police and the wider rule of law.

More specifically, the Mission will contribute to strategy development in the fields of criminal investigation, training, border control and counter-narcotics. EUPOL Afghanistan shall be a non-executive mission. It will confine itself to monitoring, mentoring, advising and training activities.

Structure of the Mission

The Mission comprises:

• a Head of Mission;
• Advisers;
• a “Training” section;
• an “Advice and Mentoring” section;
• an Administration Department.

The mission is made up of 160 international staff and 77 local staff (in June 2008), deployed at the central and provincial level. 18 European Union Member States have contributed to the mission, alongside Canada, Croatia and Norway. The Head Quarters are situated in Kabul.

Context

The EUPOL Afghanistan mission forms part of the Joint Declaration of 16 November 2005 “Committing to a new EU Afghan Partnership” and the Afghanistan Compact launched on 31 January 2006, which aims in particular to make Afghanistan a secure, stable, free, prosperous and democratic country.

On 12 February 2007 the Council approved the concept of a police mission in the country. On 16 May 2007, the Afghan Government invited the European Union to deploy the mission. It was officially launched on 15 June 2007 and shall expire on 30 May 2010.