The Afghanistan National Police (ANP)

[huskerguy7]

I have not heard of CA, but it sounds like common sense. The police police, the army provides security and ISAF provide the overwatch and specialist capabilities. Is the role of the ANA to mentor, monitor or protect the ANP?

CA is a great idea (the ANA both protect and monitor the ANP), but as you can imagine, setting it up can be difficult; you're working with four different groups. My point is that we shouldn't rely on it.

(From Red Rat:As far as I can make out the ANP is little more then a local protection force at the moment, and not what we would regard as a police force. Does AFG want the ANP to provide a policing service or an internal security service? Perhaps what we should be looking at is rolling out a paramilitary security service (the ANP) with limited policing expertise (and powers) and a separate more specialised policing branch. Many developed countries have a policing service and then a paramilitary 'knock heads' service (the French CRS, elements of the Italian Carabineri and the Spanish Civil Guard all spring to mind) with the balance weighted towards the policing. Perhaps in an unstable country we want to reverse polarity, with the majority of the policing being of the paramilitary type and a smaller civil policing / investigative branch?

I really like this idea. I think that that we should consider establishing a new organization that focuses on enforcing the law, not providing security. The ANP is clearly made to do the latter. This is nice, but who's going to enforce the law? Yes, the judicial system isn't very strong, but it may get somewhere if it is enforced properly. I'm looking at images of the ANP and they are patrolling with heavy PKM MGs. This just supports the assertion that they are a security force. In my opinion, this should change.

Another parallel if I may, what significant event contributed to the reconstruction and development of our national governments in the time of the wild west? I believe the national railway was very significant in the west's national identity, unity and fostered security, governance, reconstrution and development. I believe the building of a national railway could foster such a change in Afghanistan and the idea merits serious consideration. It would provide national transportation for security personnel movements, reliable public transportation and migration, linking of education and medical facilities, foster trade and goods exchange, facilitate industrialization, and in the interim, represent a significant source of jobs. If it isn't militarized, then insurgents should ignore or tolerate it's presence since they would benefit from it as much as others. Just a thought.

This is a good suggestion that definitley should be considered. However, I think that securing it would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible. It's comparable to the construction of power lines in Afghanistan. Electricity can benefit both civilians and enemy combatants. However, the Taliban ignored this and continuously attacked the powerlines rendering them useless. Neither the contractor's PMCs or the contingent of the ANP could secure the lines until a couple hundred ANA and ISAF forces assisted. My point is that despite the benefits, it would be to difficult to secure.

But most police mentor teams have a limited policing capability and focus on the security aspect of work. Who is mentoring the the afghan police on scenes of crime work (which is still applicable in the Afghan judicial system even if it consists only in taking a photograph or suspect with evidence at crime scene or video recording the suspect re-enacting the crime, both acceptible, indeed preferred by Afghan courts). Who is mentoring the Highway Police on how to ensure vehicles are roadworthy under Afghan regulations?

The ANCOP (Afghan Civil Order Police) appear to be an Afghan version of the French CRS, a highly specialised public order capability, possibly with some specialised anti-terrorist capability as well.

We appear to be focusing on the ANP as a security force and not a police force. Working on the Combined Action principle as alluded to earlier in this thread I think we can and should be playing things smarter.

I think there is merit in a centrally based investigative arm.

I completely agree. Modifying the ANP from a paramilitary security force to a law enforcement group would be to difficult. Thus, I think we should investigate establishing a new organization that focuses strictly on law enforcement.

Speaking to people in Helmand, it is apparent that in parts of Helmand Province the ANP is now turning out in greater numbers and proving more reliable then the ANA.

A combination of several factors. The Helmand Police Training Centre is now up and running (and well resourced), and is turning out formed cohesive sub-units of ANP (who are local to Helmand). The emphasis is still on the ANP as a primarily security force, but if that is what is needed...

Interestingly, like Iraq it has taken us some time to focus on the police, and yet when we do focus effort and resources there we find that the dividends are quick and the police can change from being part of the problem to part of the solution, especially with the overlap between criminality and insurgency in most COIN situations.

Perhaps next time we should focus on building up the police first, recognising that in a COIN situation police provide the bedrock element of security and intelligence and that a police force is more likely to provide a pervasive destabilising influence then the army which generally remains free of insurgent and criminal elements for longer.

I like this idea alot. If there is a "next time", the invading country should have the capacity to provide security, so they should invest their resources into stabilizing the whole legal system starting with law enforcement.