By Capt Greg Lawlor

It is a plausible assumption that a country that has known 30 years of war would have a sound First Aid program; however, with the Afghan National Police (ANP), this was not the case. 

The extent of the lack of First Aid training at the patrolman level became blatantly obvious for the Observer Mentor Liaison Team (OMLT), working at the Regional Headquarters (RHQ) in Kandahar during the summer offensive of 2010, when an Afghan patrolman recounted a story about a comrade receiving small shrapnel wounds to his abdomen and was not provided life-saving first aid due to a lack of trained patrolmen.

This story prompted OMLT team members to take proactive action to provide immediate First Aid Training for the interim until the ANP system could develop their own standard First Aid Training program.

The OMLT team, named the 404 ANP Regimental Headquarters Mentor Team, quickly developed a First Aid program utilizing the Saint John Ambulance (SJA) First Aid curriculum. 

This initiative was with support from the Canadian Forces SJA National Coordinator and in conjunction with the ANP Regional Commander, Major-General Mohammad Shafiq Fazly.  The National Coordinator provided instructional materials and lessons learned from a similar initiative on-going with the Haitian National Police.  Major-General Fazly provided facilities and candidates for the training.  The training was delivered to three separate groups of ANP patrolmen and officers for a total of 60 trained representing 1/3 of the HQ.

Major-General Fazly, quick to identify the importance of this initiative and the fact that it represented an increase in the survivability of his patrolmen, held a press conference in October and awarded certificates so the Afghan people could witness the success. The graduation parade was broadcasted nation-wide on three separate channels. 

Since then, Major-General Fazly has commenced a program of training ANP First Aid instructors who would travel to the outlying regions of Southern Afghanistan and deliver the training. 

The delivery of the Saint John Ambulance curriculum progress.  Furthermore, it enables the ANP patrolmen to not only fight but to save lives, a skill that previously did not exist.  Hopefully, this initiative will be fully accepted by the Afghan chain of command and integrated into their training. 

Captain Greg Lawlor, 2nd Battalion The Royal Canadian Regiment.  Serving with the Observer Mentor Liaison Team, 404 Maiwand Afghan National Police Regional Headquarters in Kandahar City, Afghanistan as the G3 Operations Officer Mentor.