TOP STORY: Afghanistan Minister of Interior Affairs unveils Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit

Afghanistan Minister of Interior Affairs General Ghulam Mujtaba Patang held a national press conference July 31, where he publicly announced the establishment of the first Afghanistan Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit (TCIU).

The minister congratulated the Afghanistan National Police officers who graduated, last June, from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Academy’s International Task Force Agent Training course.

Patang thanked ICE for an enduring partnership. He said that the unit will now join the law enforcement community around the world in combatting transnational crime.

The unit is one of 12 supported by ICE. Eleven more operate in Central and South America. Collectively, more than 300 TCIU members are mentored globally by ICE staff abroad.

The TCIU is staffed, supervised, and operated by officials from the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs, Criminal Investigation Department. HSI Kabul acts as a liaison and provides subject matter expertise and guidance to the officers assigned to the unit in cases of mutual interest. The TCIU was created to provide a platform to address the diverse investigative authorities of the two agencies.