US in New Push to Bolster Afghan Police

The United States gave Afghan police 70,000 Kalashnikov rifles, 51,000 pistols and 3,500 vehicles last year, part of $2.5 billion in spending to upgrade the force.

Despite that influx of firepower, Taliban militants targeted police in dozens of attacks, killing at least 925 in 2007. Afghan police often work in small groups in remote and dangerous territory, where they are outnumbered, outgunned and overwhelmed by insurgents.

The lack of an effective training program for the police _ a role first held by Germany _ is often cited as one of the West's biggest failings since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban regime for harboring Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida bases.

Now the U.S. is rolling out a new training program that will see small teams of American soldiers mentor and train police officers over the course of several months.

The U.S. general in charge sees the program, which broadly mirrors the model used to train police in Iraq, as a big step forward to move past the police force's lackluster reputation.

"Regardless of what you think the role of police should be, the reality is that they've become the first line of defense for the Afghan people in many parts of this country and they deserve to have the kind of training that will give them a good chance of survival," Maj. Gen. Robert W. Cone said.

The police force has about 75,000 officers now, with a goal of growing to 82,000.

The new training program, called Focus District Development _ now in its first cycle, provides officers with new equipment _ vehicles, weapons, uniforms, radios, protective gear _ and enrolls them in an electronic pay system to prevent superiors from skimming paychecks, a common problem.

Some 1,500 mentors _ 800 American soldiers and 700 DynCorps contractors _ will train police for eight weeks at regional sites. Then small teams will work with police in the field for two to four months.

The training is currently taking place in seven of Afghanistan's 365 districts and will take four years to complete, Cone said.

"In years past, these guys would graduate and then go out to a place like Musa Qala and survive on their own. The police mentoring step is the key," said Lt. Col. David Johnson, a military spokesman.

About 1,000 of the 3,200 Marines scheduled to arrive in Afghanistan this spring will help train Afghan police, he said.

While Afghanistan's army has earned high marks for its continued development, the police force lags far behind despite an influx of funds. The U.S. spent $2.5 billion on the police in fiscal year 2007 and will spend $800 million in 2008, a number that could increase if supplemental funds are passed.

An official at Afghanistan's Interior Ministry, which oversees the country's police, said training police officers is more difficult than training an army.

"The police are involved with the people, with the community; they are working in smaller groups than the army," ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said. "They have a presence in every part of the country, and currently beside doing law enforcement duties they are directly involved in fighting insurgents, poppy cultivation and drug dealers."

Afghan police are paid just $100 a month. Unlike in most countries, police duties in Afghanistan often cross over into outright warfare. Officers face attack by suicide bombers and assaults from bands of Taliban militants.

On Thursday, insurgents ambushed a police vehicle in southwest Nimroz province. An ensuing three-hour gunbattle left four policemen dead, two wounded and two others missing, said Gen. Mohammad Ayub Badakhshi, the provincial police chief.

Because of such threats, police carry assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

"We hope to have a police force someday where the (Kalashnikov) is not the primary weapon," Cone said. "But the reality is that they require these kinds of automatic weapons because of the threat they face."

Cone said Afghan police face another tough year of fighting, but there will be three times more trained officers in the field than there were last year, helping improve the overall security picture.

"What we have learned is that the answer to Afghan police needs is a professional, well trained, well disciplined and well paid police, and anything that diverts from that has been fraught with problems," Cone said. "Any shortcuts have been fraught with difficulties."