OSCE concludes its second training course on operational planning for Tajik Border Troops

On 24 November 2023, the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe completed its second Operational Planning Training course for 22 Staff Officers of the Tajik Border Troops in Bokhtar, Khatlon Region. The course is a key activity of the Patrol Field Capacity Building of the Tajik Border Troops – Phase II (PFCB2) project which will run through 2023 and 2024. 

The three-week training course was taught by two contracted international instructors with expertise in operational planning – one with a background in border security in the context of the European Union and FRONTEX and another with a background in United Nations and NATO field missions. Throughout the course, the participants were exposed to the seven steps of the Operational Planning process used by United Nations field missions. For each step, there was a period of classroom instruction introducing the concepts, followed by practical exercises where teams of students applied the concepts against a realistic planning scenario related to handling security and humanitarian issues on the Tajikistan / Afghanistan border. The students also received instruction on gender-sensitive border security operations, human rights, and humanitarian law, and Google Earth geospatial analysis and mapping software. 

The PFCB2 Project Manager, Jon Casey, delivered closing remarks at the graduation, emphasizing the importance of the course participants’ new operational planning skills in helping units of the Tajik Border Troops rapidly and effectively respond to complex and dynamic situations on the Tajikistan / Afghanistan border. Following the completion of the course, the students will return to their various headquarters units at the national, regional, and sub-regional levels with increased capacity to conduct risk analysis, operational planning, and integrated border management activities within the Tajik Border Troops.

The event is conducted in the framework of the OSCE’s project “Patrol Field Capacity Building of the Tajik Border Troops through Promotion of Regional Co-operation”, financed by France and implemented by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe. The course is part of the Office’s multi-year efforts to support Tajikistan’s border security response capabilities.