India and Afghanistan will soon sign a pact for technical cooperation in police training and development which will help the war-torn country in strengthening its security apparatus. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its approval for signing of a bilateral MoU between India and Afghanistan for technical cooperation in police training and development, an official statement said.

The MoU will help in capacity building of Afghanistan National Police and improving the security apparatus in the region, it said. The cabinet’s approval will be effective for a period of five years from the date of signing of the MoU and will be extended for a further period of five years on the condition that there are not further changes and revisions.

India and Afghanistan have friendly relations and the police personnel of Afghanistan National Police come regularly to different training institutes of India for training purposes.

India and Afghanistan had signed an agreement on strategic partnership in October, 2011. A meeting was held between delegates of the Ministry of Interior Affairs, Afghanistan, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Afghanistan and officials of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) in New Delhi in October 2016.

The delegates from Afghanistan expressed their desire for assistance from India in the field of police training, police development, law enforcement, strengthening the rule of law in Afghanistan and building sustainable long-term cooperation, the statement said.

In order to take this cooperation forward, this MoU has been jointly agreed through diplomatic channels, it said.