Marines try to mold Afghans into police

[unhappycamper]

An Afghan police trainee from the U.S. Marine Corps police mentoring program licks on a lollipop Dec. 8 as Marines search a house that was thought to have explosives during a joint patrol in Khan Neshin in volatile Helmand province. The experience in Khan Neshin highlights the task facing coalition partners as they work with the Afghan government to dramatically ramp up a police force known for its corruption, drug use and lack of training.


Marines try to mold Afghans into police
By Sebastian Abbot - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Dec 11, 2009 18:20:24 EST

KHAN NESHIN, Afghanistan — The Marines were tense looking for bombs buried near a mud compound in this remote farming town in southern Afghanistan. Their new Afghan police colleagues were little help, joking around and sucking on lollipops meant for local kids.

The government had sent the new group of 13 police to live and train with the Marines just a few days earlier. Most were illiterate young farmers with no formal training who had been plucked off the streets only weeks before.

Building a capable police force is one of the keys to President Barack Obama’s new Afghan strategy. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul on Tuesday to discuss how to recruit more Afghan police to meet Washington’s goal of expanding the force from about 94,000 today to 160,000 by 2013.

The Marines’ experience in Khan Neshin, once a key Taliban stronghold in volatile Helmand province, shows just how difficult the task will be.

The provincial government fired the last group of police assigned to Khan Neshin after more than half of them failed a drug test, prompting them to rebel by throwing rocks at the Marines. When the police weren’t smoking drugs, Afghans complained they were taking goods from the bazaar without paying.


Rest of article at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_marines_afghanistan_police_121109/