KABUL — Underpaid, under-equipped and under-trained, Afghanistan’s 93,000-member police force is the weak link in an ambitious security strategy to hand over defense of the country to Afghans so American and other foreign troops can go home.
A strong, unified national police force has long eluded Afghanistan, a country torn by occupation and warfare for hundreds of years. But with the West attempting to help turn the country from a failed state into at least a functioning one, police will play a crucial role in making cities safe places to live.
That’s needed to win the loyalty of ordinary Afghans, many of whom note that under the repressive rule of the Taliban, at least crime was low.
President Hamid Karzai brought the issue into focus during his inaugural address Thursday, when he said he wanted Afghan security forces to take the lead in securing the nation within five years.
But some analysts estimate it could take a decade before cities can be secured by a police force riddled with corruption, unprofessionalism and illiteracy.
“You really do not have anything like the level of support or training for the police you have for the army,” said military analyst Anthony Cordesman. “The leadership within the police is much weaker, much less well-trained and far more corrupt.”
They often have contacts with “power brokers, criminals, drug lords and the Taliban,” he said.
Police on the street and manning checkpoints often find themselves on the front line of a virulent insurgency, making them three times more likely to be killed than Afghan soldiers. From January 2007 to July this year, 1,973 police were killed, compared with 735 troops.
“We are expected to fight insurgents, not just criminals,” said Khan Mohammed Zazai, police chief in the violent southern province of Kandahar. He said his force faces shortages of guns, ammunition and four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Only the desperate sign up for the job — and even then, many leave, often taking their equipment with them. That puts more strain on a recruitment drive that has to sign up thousands just to maintain the current numbers, let alone increase the force to the recommended 160,000 by 2013.
In a country where 72 percent of the population is illiterate, those who can read rarely have problems finding better- paying jobs. Only “illiterate people will accept the salary that we pay the police,” said Brig. Gen. Khudadad Agah, who is in charge of training.
To make things worse for a beat cop, his superior often skims 30 percent off the top of his meager salary, according to police on the street.
Bringing the police up to speed will be a huge challenge, even with more international help in training and equipping the national security forces.
“It’s not going to be anything that can be solved in a year or two,” said Mark Moyar of the Marine Corps University, a counterinsurgency analyst.
“To develop the kind of leadership where the Afghans can do it largely on their own is probably 10 years out.”
