Women’s Police Corps Training Center opens

NANGARHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – The first exclusive Afghan National Police Women’s Police Corps Training Center was established in the heart of Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, Dec. 5.

The opening ceremony for the center was held in honor of ANP Lt. Col. Malalai Kakar, who some say was a martyr for the Afghan Women’s rights movement when she was assassinated by the Taliban as she left her home to go to her job as Kandahar’s deputy police commander.

The ceremony celebrated the bravery of Kakar and applauded the women who answered the call to do and be more in rebuilding Afghanistan.

“She was our sister and a martyr in the police forces,” said Margun, a new recruit at the WPC. “[Kakar] was the example for us all and I hope to recruit as well as serve as honorably for the future of my people.”

Currently, women joining the ANP forces train in shared facilities throughout the country. The WPC’s exclusivity will serve as a model and support element in strengthening the Afghan Police Force.  

The U.S. Assistant Ambassador to Afghanistan, E. Anthony Wayne, was in attendance for the grand opening and echoed the message of recent speeches from U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai.

“Strengthening the Afghanistan National Police is even more important for Afghanistan today as well as for its international partners,” he said. “It will be clear to the Afghan government, but more important to the Afghan people, that they will ultimately be responsible for their own country.”

The WPC opening was also a reemphasis on the need to recruit. With a goal of 650 women to be added to their ranks over the next 24 months, each speaker identified that even more were needed to assist Afghan women in exercising their rights under the Afghan law. 

“There are no challenges here, just opportunity,” said Joseph McDonough, a 17-year veteran police detective.  “We actually have a hand in their progress, watch them grow stronger and be successful. They can be empowered to show what they can bring to the table and this academy is a step in the right direction.”

The people of Afghanistan look to this occasion as a new step, with the strength of their sisters, in securing their borders and communities.