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As the author stated they are not allowed to conduct combat advising/ mentoring due to outdated Department of State rules, which indicates that for these programs to be effective they will probably require a DoD lead, but with whole of government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.