Tokyo  - Japan's National Police Agency plans to invite Afghan officers for training in December, it said Thursday.

About 10 Afghan police officers are to visit Japan for about two weeks starting Monday to learn about such things as Japan's crime laboratory techniques and its koban police box system, which places mini-police stations in communities for closer contact with the public.

The Afghan police are to receive lectures on policing, recruiting and fighting narcotics.

The agency, which began accepting police officers from abroad for training every year since 1987, invited the Afghan officers after the Afghan police made a request for training, the Jiji Press news agency said.

The aim of the programme is to help the Afghan officers establish their own policing system that satisfies the needs of their communities. (dpa)