Germany and Canada are co-financing the construction of a border police faculty in Kabul. Germany is supporting this work to the tune of 3.5 million euro from Federal Foreign Office funds (with total construction cost amounting to 6.5 million euro).

Today (24 May) the German Ambassador in Afghanistan, Werner Hans Lauk, and his Canadian colleague laid the foundation stone, in the presence of Afghan Interior Minister Hanif Atmar and representatives of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior. The new faculty will enable 450 police cadets to be trained by up to 50 teachers. The construction work is due to be completed by February 2010.

The building of the border police faculty is an important contribution towards creating a functioning Afghan border management system. The Afghan Border Police is mainly employed to protect airports and land borders.

The construction of the training centre forms part of the Federal Government's comprehensive commitment to Afghanistan. Germany is leading the way in building up the Afghan police force, providing training, construction and equipment contributions. Only recently, on 13 May, the foundation stone was laid for the Afghan police regional HQ in Feyzabad, which Germany is financing with some 2.5 million euro. Over 100 German police experts are currently working as part of the bilateral police project team, as short-term trainers, as well as under the aegis of the European Police Mission EUPOL Afghanistan.

The Federal Foreign Office will in 2009 make available 35.7 million euro for police building support in Afghanistan.