US opens new counter-terrorism training centre in Jordan

The United States and the Jordanian government yesterday opened a new regional counter-terrorism training centre south of the capital, Amman.

The Jordan Gendarmerie Training Academy is the second of its kind in the Kingdom.

US Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, Michael Evanoff, said: “The counter-terrorism programme in Jordan is very important for us. Training saves lives and helps build the capacity of the host country. I am very happy to open this centre and I look forward to its expansion and use as a central hub.”

He added that the training includes “crisis management, rescue of hostages, identification of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and electronic warfare.”

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Over the past two decades, thousands of Palestinian, Iraqi and Libyan police members received training in Jordan.

Chargé d’Affaires at the American Embassy in Amman, Henry Wooster, said that “Jordan hosts the largest US training programme to identify IEDs in the world.”

According to the US Embassy in Amman, in 2017 the programme organised about 325 training courses, workshops and technical consultations for 6,881 participants from 46 countries.

Last month the United States and Jordan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to provide annual aid to the Jordanian government worth $1.275 billion from 2018 until 2022.

Under the memorandum, the United States will provide Jordan with at least $750 million a year in economic aid and $350 million in military aid.