British 1st Battalion Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment take over lead for mentoring Afghan Police.

For the past seven months responsibility for mentoring the Afghan National Police (ANP) in the area has been in the hands of 2nd Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles (2 RGR), who will now return to their base in Brunei.

During this time the ANP have developed significantly, particularly through the continued development of the Lashkar Gah Training Centre, previously known as the Regional Training Centre (South West), which is responsible for ANP recruit training.

Lieutenant Colonel Fraser Rea, Commanding Officer of 2 RGR, handed over responsibility for the PMAG to Lieutenant Colonel James Coote, Commanding Officer of 1 PWRR, in a short ceremony.

Lieutenant Colonel Coote presented 2 RGR with a bronze model of a Warrior armoured fighting vehicle, symbolising 1 PWRR's time as an armoured infantry battalion. In response, Lieutenant Colonel Rea presented a kukri, symbolic of the Royal Gurkha Regiments.

Lieutenant Colonel Coote said:

"Developing the Afghan Police is absolutely vital to the future success of Afghanistan. 2 RGR have made remarkable progress in their tenure and we very much look forward to taking their work forward and to working alongside the Afghan Police in Helmand."

The 1 PWRR PMAG are providing a headquarters in Lashkar Gah as well as providing mentors to police commanders at provincial and district levels to aid institutional development. The PMAG also provides advisory teams which work closely with the police at checkpoints, and in local policing, and runs the regional Police Training Centre.

The battalion is highly experienced, having completed several operational tours in Iraq, with some elements also deploying previously to Afghanistan. 1 PWRR has conducted a long and thorough period of training prior to deployment, including in the Pashto language and police-specific training, to prepare them for this role.