DUSHANBE, August 2, 2011, Asia-Plus – On July 27, U.S. Ambassador to Tajikistan Ambassador Ken Gross congratulated 23 members of Tajikistan”s Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Justice, and State Committee for National Security on completing the Forensic Examination of Terrorist Scenes course, the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe reports.
Ambassador Gross remarked that the United States values its excellent relationship with the Government of Tajikistan and looks forward to continued cooperation and shared success.
Tajik law enforcement officers learned valuable skills for recovering crime scene evidence as well as documenting, recovering, and preparing evidence for prosecution using procedures that meet accepted international forensics standards.
Ambassador Gross stated, “Forensic examination is an essential part of any terrorist crime scene investigation and an important element of the Tajik government’s counterterrorism effort. Tajikistan’s front-line security and police officers must have the skills necessary to professionally investigate crime scenes in a way that leads to arrest and prosecution of perpetrators.”
The Forensic Examination of Terrorist Scenes course is the third Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) course of 2011 sponsored by the U.S. Embassy”s Regional Security Office. Since 2002, the U.S. government has provided over $6 million in training for over 440 Tajik officials, in both the United States and Tajikistan.
The Office of Antiterrorism Assistance was established in 1983 and is part of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security in the U.S. Department of State. It is an essential U.S. Government mechanism that provides training, equipment, and technology to partner governments actively engaged in fighting terrorism.
This ATA course is one of the many assistance projects the U.S. Embassy implements in Tajikistan. Since 1993, the American people have provided more than $984 million to support economic growth, democratic institutions, health care, education and security in Tajikistan.
