The Afghanistan National Police (ANP)

[Bill Moore]

thanks Jedburgh, this is a very relevant post.

Force Structure Mismatches with Mission Requirements. Stability and reconstruction operations usually require a variety of skills and resources that do not routinely reside within the U.S. military.

I hope all those working on the irregular warfare Joint Integrating Concepts and Security Force Assistance read this article. There is a wealth of informaton here that inform the process and help clarify what are capability and capacity gaps are.

At the same time, the civilian police mentors hired by the State Department to provide civilian law enforcement expertise to the developing Afghan police forces do not have the flexibility to deploy into the areas where they are needed the most, for reasons of force protection and nonpermissive threat conditions. Nor do they typically bring a Soldier’s mindset to the tasks at hand. As a result, there is a real mismatch between the force structure needed to carry out the Afghan police development mission and the resources available on the ground.

I have commented negatively before on my impressions of State Department funded police training in a combat zone. These police advisors definitely have a role to play, as the expertise they bring is essential for the bread and butter law enforcement skills, but they are not capable of teaching the counterinsurgency/constabulary skills needed.

As the author stated they are not allowed to conduct combat advising/ mentoring due to outdated Department of State rules, which indicates that for these programs to be effective they will probably require a DoD lead, but with whole of government participation. Doing more of the same that has led to failure to this point is not the right answer. We really do need a sea change in our whole of government approach to building partner capacity, which is why we must get the security force assistance concept right, it is absolutely critical.

Upon taking responsibility for police development, the United States initially replaced this focus on quality with an emphasis on quantity. That approach, while fielding individual police at a far higher rate, did nothing to address the ineffectiveness of the police leadership at the district level, or in the administration of the police forces at the national or provincial levels. Instead, leaders must take a holistic approach—or systems perspective on the operational environment approach—if there is to be any chance of
overcoming the wholesale political, organizational, and societal challenges of creating a functioning and professional institution. The scope of the problem includes economics, cultural norms, family issues, pay, basic means of
identification, illiteracy, and a range of other major challenges.

This is a case where the turtle beats the hare in the race. We must be prepared to fill the security role until we can implement an effective security force assistance program. There will be an uncomfortable gap where we need an interim capability, which may be able to be filled with local militias working for the coalition and other unconventional options. Locals must play a role as soon as possible, but at the same time we can't afford to stand up a "police" force too quickly, which could undermine its credability for a long time to come.

[Surferbeetle]

The article linked by Jedburgh is well written, interesting, captures the 'ground reality' found upon COIN battlefields and I agree with much of what is stated. I would, however, like to focus upon this quote:

At the same time, the civilian police mentors hired by the State Department to provide civilian law enforcement expertise to the developing Afghan police forces do not have the flexibility to deploy into the areas where they are needed the most, for reasons of force protection and nonpermissive threat conditions. Nor do they typically bring a Soldier’s mindset to the tasks at hand.

Further examination of the 'why' behind the above quote may have some interesting lessons for those of us who focus upon the 'soldiers approach'. It's my opinion, based upon the close observation of policemen who have been on my teams, that there is a valuable distinction between a 'policeman's approach' and a 'soldier's approach' to certain recurring situations in the COIN environment. Soldiers are trained to rapidly and decisively escalate a situation in order to overwhelm and destroy/subdue opposition. Policemen are also able to take a different tack in that in appropriate situations they are able to consistently deescalate and bring conflict to an 'acceptable' resolution. This observation does not discount the 'fighting' abilities of Police. Instead I often use the Mixed Martial Arts analogy for COIN because I believe that the use of more than just one method is vital to success, and ANP training needs to take this into account.

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to Entropy; a summary of where the ANP are today and at a national level: http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_s...hard-sale.html

Yes, it is depressing and IMHO suggests our strategy is built on 'shifting sands".

davidbfpo

[Entropy]

Thanks David!

Here's another decent article on the subject:

The strategy of the major U.S. and British military offensive in Afghanistan's Helmand province aimed at wresting it from the Taliban is based on bringing back Afghan army and police to maintain permanent control of the population, so the foreign forces can move on to another insurgent stronghold.

But that strategy poses an acute problem: The police in the province, who are linked to the local warlord, have committed systematic abuses against the population, including the abduction and rape of pre-teen boys, according to village elders who met with British officers.

Anger over those police abuses runs so high that the elders in Babaji just north of Laskgar Gah warned the British that they would support the Taliban to get rid of them if the national police were allowed to return to the area, according to a Jul. 12 report by Reuters correspondent Peter Graff.

Associated Press reporters Jason Straziuso and David Guttenfelder, who accompanied U.S. troops in Northern Helmand, reported Jul. 13 that villagers in Aynak were equally angry about police depredations. Within hours of the arrival of U.S. troops in the village, they wrote, bands of villagers began complaining the local police force was "a bigger problem than the Taliban".

[IntelTrooper]

Thanks David!

Here's another decent article on the subject:

Dumb, dumb, dumb. Time to rotate these guys to some mandatory Blackwater, I mean, "Xe" training time and replace them with the ANCOP (Afghan National Civil Order Police) for a few months.

[Jedburgh]

USIP, 10 Aug 09: Afghanistan’s Police: The Weak Link in Security Sector Reform

Summary

• In seven years, the Afghan National Police forces have grown to 68,000 personnel, with a target end strength of 86,000. The ANP includes the uniformed police force, which is responsible for general police duties, and specialized police forces, which deal with public order, counternarcotics, terrorism, and border control.

• Despite the impressive growth in numbers, the expenditure of $10 billion in international police assistance, and the involvement of the United States, the European Union, and multiple donors, the ANP is riddled with corruption and generally unable to protect Afghan citizens, control crime, or deal with the growing insurgency.

• The European Union has replaced Germany as the lead partner for police reform, but the United States has the largest police program, which is directed by the U.S. military. Putting soldiers in charge of police training has led to militarization of the ANP and its use as a counterinsurgency force.

• Using improperly trained, equipped, and supported ANP patrol men as “little soldiers” has resulted in the police suffering three times as many casualties as the Afghan National Army. Police are assigned in small numbers to isolated posts without backup and are targeted by the insurgents.

• Beyond funding the Taliban, the explosion in Afghan narcotics production fueled widespread corruption in the Afghan government and police. Drug abuse by police officers became increasingly common as did other forms of criminal behavior.

• Challenges facing the ANP were further compounded by a proliferation of bilateral police assistance programs that reflected the policing practices of donor countries. These efforts often were not coordinated with the larger U.S. and EU programs, creating confusion for the ANP.

• The Obama administration has acknowledged the importance of the police and announced its intentions to expand and improve the ANP as a key part of its plan for stabilizing Afghanistan. It should do this as part of a broader international community approach to police assistance that embraces a comprehensive program for security sector reform and rule of law.

[IntelTrooper]

USIP, 10 Aug 09: Afghanistan’s Police: The Weak Link in Security Sector Reform

I think this is a good summary, with some caveats:

The Obama administration’s strategy for the Afghan police is to
increase numbers, enlarge the “train and equip” program, and engage the police in the fight against the Taliban. This approach has not worked in the past, and doing more of the same will not achieve success. It is also inconsistent with the stated intention of the new U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, to make protecting Afghan civilians the first priority of American forces and to adjust U.S. military tactics accordingly. Brig. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson said his [M]arines in Helmand province would protect Afghan civilians from the Taliban and help restore government services rather than mount hunt-and-kill missions against insurgents. Certainly, the ANP should receive the same assignment.

The ANP are not "mount[ing] hunt-and-kill missions against insurgents." They're just not really doing anything in particular, and at the district level there aren't enough of them to really do anything, anyway. The ANP should have primary responsibility in developing informant networks and arresting low-level Taliban in addition to their normal law enforcement duties. Petty crime is pretty rare so if they're getting paid to carry weapons they should at least be contributing somehow.