An official ground-breaking ceremony will take place in Kabul tomorrow, marking the beginning of the construction of a permanent Crime Management College for the Afghan Interior Ministry.

The event will be attended by Afghanistan’s Minister for the Interior, General Mujtaba Patang, European Union (EU) Special Representative and Head of Delegation, Ambassador Vygaudas Ušackas, Head of the EUPOL Mission, Karl-Åke Roghe, and IOM Chief of Mission Richard Danziger.

This EU-funded project, managed by IOM and worth EUR 3 million, is part of a larger programme in support of civilian police capacity building, which includes the construction of a Kabul Police Staff College.

On completion, the facility will be able to accommodate 245 students at any given time, including female police officers, thereby facilitating their training and furthering their integration into the Afghan police force.

IOM is also overseeing the construction of permanent police training facilities in Kabul which will be handed over to the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for internal security.

“A civilian police force capable of upholding the rule of law is crucial to state-building and addressing the root causes of alienation that drive insurgency,” says Danziger.

"With the help of these new training facilities, the Afghan National Police will acquire the necessary skills needed to provide appropriate civilian policing services, thereby strengthening linkages between the government and communities—one of IOM’s core objectives in Afghanistan," he adds.

Since 2002, IOM's Emergency and Development Infrastructure Department has completed over 1,000 projects, including the construction of schools that have benefitted at least 90,000 Afghan children; teacher training colleges where 2,400 female and male teachers can be trained at any given time; health facilities that can serve up to 7.8 million people, including midwifery training centres; government administrative buildings; and women’s resource centres.