The Italian contingent concluded after about 10 days of theoretical and practical activities the course of "Counter IED Awareness - Train the Trainers" dedicated to the agents of the Police of Herat, that from now on will be able to count on 6 policewomen enabled to the contrast and to the teaching of the procedures necessary for combating unexploded and improvised devices.
The course held at Camp Arena, the Italian base of the Train Advise Assist Command West (TAAC-W) currently based on the Alpine Brigade Taurinense, was developed as part of the training program conducted by the specialists of the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-) IED); the theoretical and practical lessons concerned the techniques of research and recognition of ordnance and the evaluation of the teaching ability of future instructors.
The aim of the course, strongly requested by the Herat police leadership, was to instruct a first group of agents continuing in the future with further courses in order to train a large number of instructors in the medium term, able to implement the information campaign on the prevention of the IED threat dedicated to women in rural areas.
Brigadier General Massimo Biagini, commander of the TAAC-W, during the delivery of the end-of-course certificates to the female visitors, highlighted the courage and determination of Afghan women in their important institutional task, confirming the availability of the Italian contingent to contribute to the training and professionalization of young recruits.
Improvised devices represent one of the worst threats in Afghanistan both for the security forces and for the local population, indiscriminately involved during the normal journeys on the routes that connect the towns and villages of the country. In the month of September alone, the over 100 IED accidents recorded in the western region alone caused numerous victims among the civilian population, many of which, about 10%, were children; however, the fight against improvised devices, which by now has become systemic in the Herat region, led in the same period of reference to the discovery, reclamation and study of as many devices, avoiding that they could harm the community.
A very positive impact on the fight against FDI comes from prevention, based mainly on information campaigns conducted in schools in western cities and in rural area villages. In this perspective, the Italian advisors supported the Afghan security forces both by forming qualified teams that could carry out information activities in the institutions, and by producing graphic flyers on the devices to be distributed to the illiterate part of the population. Activities in favor of Afghan women, carried out within the project gender, are developed in all training plans (Train) and consultancy (Advise and Assist), which are currently carried out by the TAAC West advisors in favor of the ANDSF. They have the dual objective of making the local Security Forces autonomous in the management of the professional development of their staff, and of training new trainers ("train the trainers"), as well as training "specialists" in the field of intelligence, countering improvised devices , of the use of mortars and artillery, of control of the air space and more, through targeted courses, seminars and symposia.
