National Guard Operations Mentor Liaison Team takes first steps in Afghanistan

By Capt. Ainaras Jonaitis
Lithuanian Armed Forces


AFGHANISTAN (1/27/11) – The first Police Operations Mentor Liaison Team (POMLT-1) in the Ghowr Province of Afghanistan is beginning to establish its footprint.

Led by the Lithuanian Armed Forces, the team members are drawn from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, Lithuanian Military and Lithuanian Public Security Service.

Lithuania and Pennsylvania are paired in the 62-nation, almost 20-year-old National Guard State Partnership Program. OMLTs represent a maturing of the SPP to the point where National Guard states and their partner nations fight side-by-side in overseas contingency operations.

Last year, POMLT-1 took its first step to achieving its goal of a self sustaining Afghan National Police in Ghowr by hosting a meeting with the acting Provincial Chief of Police and Director of Training on Camp Whiskey.

The POMLT Commander, Lithuanian Armed Forces Lt. Col. Zilakauskas, and the acting police chief, Col. Zainallahbdin, both agreed that cooperation between the POMLT and the provincial police can generate lasting positive results in the province for the safety and security of its residents.

POMLT-1’s focus will be to coach, teach, and mentor the leadership and officers of the Afghan National Police in the Ghowr Province in order to help them develop a professional, effective and self-sustaining police force.

POMLT-1 started its activity in Ghowr last November, together with the incoming rotation of the Lithuanian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team.

POMLT-1 personnel, including Lithuanian and National Guard troops, and PSS officers underwent pre-mission training in Lithuania.

The main aim of POMLT-1 is to train, advise and by other means support readiness of Afghan national police forces to complete relevant tasks in their mandate.

The Police Operational Mentor and Liaison Team, established jointly with the U.S., is Lithuania's effort to intensify support to Afghan security forces in Lithuania's area of responsibility, Ghowr province, where the majority of national security forces are local police.

Reconstruction in Ghowr is ensured not only by the Lithuanian-led PRT, a part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, but also by the European Union Police Mission to Afghanistan, which conducts its activity in coordination with the PRT.

Lithuania has been participating in international operations in Afghanistan since 2002.
-- Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill, National Guard Bureau, contributed.

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