With Raw Recruits, Afghan Police Buildup Falters
Found on a Afpak watcher's website: http://watandost.blogspot.com/2010/0...g-project.html that cites a NYT article on 2/2/10: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/wo...l?pagewanted=1.
Opens with:
Quote:
ABUL, Afghanistan — The NATO general in charge of training the Afghan police has some tongue-in-cheek career advice for the country’s recruits. “It’s better to join the Taliban; they pay more money,” said Brig. Gen. Carmelo Burgio, from Italy’s paramilitary Carabinieri force.
NYT article ends with:
Quote:
These guys wear the uniform of a policeman, but that is all that is police about them.
No wonder there is caution about building up the ANP and the Afghan people themselves know far more what the ANP provides.
ANP corruption is fuelling insurgency
A wide ranging article, citing a UK infantry colonel and headlined so:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...nsurgency.html
Quote:
He said that the local force was "the reason for the insurgency" in the Nad-e-Ali district of Helmand and that the corruption meant the local population was more distrustful of coalition troops and less likely to be loyal to the Afghan government.
But more worryingly incidents of police "bad behaviour" were encouraging young men to join the Taliban, said Lt Col Walker, the commanding officer of the Grenadier Guards. "They were most often cited by people as the reason why there was a problem or a reason why people joined the Taliban."
An accompanying article I missed (added 19/6):http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...an-recruitment
Approach for the Afghan National Police?
As we all have seen, the Afghan National Police (ANP) has undergone several issues and is not as effective as ISAF wants it to be. Issues include corruption, unwilling to fight, lack of proper training, and many others.
With the Taliban insurgency still at large, ISAF has primarily been training the ANP in paramilitary skills. This has resulted with military advisers showing ANP units how to patrol, how to detect roadside bombs, how to maneuver in firefights, and so on. There is no doubt that these skills are needed; the Taliban are a very skilled enemy. By obtaining this kind of training, the ANP are more capable of fulfilling the "hold" section in ISAF's "clear, hold, and build." Essentially, they possess the capacity to conduct minimal military operations, which is useful.
However, paramilitary training leaves out basic law enforcement skills. These include handling evidence, conducting an investigation properly, enforcing the law properly, and building the right ties with the community. If these skills are obtained and used properly, then in the long term, the judicial situation in Afghanistan is likely to be better. But, ANP that are more focused towards enforcing the law are more prone to attacks from insurgents.
Clearly, there is no right answer. Heck, trying to straighten up such a large police force is already a large enough task. What approach should the ANP take? Or is there another one that I missed?