EUPOL Afghanistan started today

[muck]

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15th June, 2007, 16:48

Afghanistan

EU dispatches 160 policemen as instructors

Germany takes part with 50 police officials in the European police mission which was started on initiative of the German council presidency today. The mission "Eupol Afghanistan" will be commanded by the Federal Police General and former GSG9 commander Friedrich Eichele.

The European Union (EU) will send a first contingent of 160 policemen from 21 nations to Afghanistan tomorrow which shall help during the construction of own police forces capable of acting. The mission with the name "Eupol Afghanista " shall last three years, is mainly based on initiative of the German EU-council presidency and will be under the command of the German police general Friedrich Eichele (51).
Eichele had been in charge of the anti-terror-unit GSG9 for eight years and at last, he was the vice-president of the federal police district of Berlin. The two-fold father is assessed as experienced and bethought.

The new EU mission replaces the former German police mission in Kabul. Germany is going to dispatch 50 officers. "Eupol Afghanistan" will cost at least 43.6 million euros in the first year. All together, the EU has spent 3.7 billion € since 2002 on the stabilisation of the security forces' position. The USA deployed 500 police instructors to Afghanistan, their work is co-ordinated by joint office with the EU. The biggest danger that threatens the policemen is, above all, suicide attacks carried out by about 300 illegally operating armed groups. baker / cbs

What do you think? It comes a little bit late, doesn't it?

Additionally, there are countless stories about police officers and ANA soldiers who deserted with their gear and their money just after they graduated and then joined the militias of some of the warlords...or is the situation better today?

[sp2c]

no still happens, happens in western armies as well albeit on a somewhat smaller scale :D

but what would be your solution?
stop involving the Afghans or just use them as cannon fodder without good gear or equipment?

[muck]

no still happens, happens in western armies as well albeit on a somewhat smaller scale :D

but what would be your solution?
stop involving the Afghans or just use them as cannon fodder without good gear or equipment?

I did not claim to have a better solution p-)

[sp2c]

ow ... well ... not the response I was expecting :)

[muck]

The most important point on our agenda should be to create an Afghani state in a way in which the people can reliance in.
In my opinion, a first major problem arises when considering what kind of state Afghanistan should be and which one it currently is: Afghanistan shall be reigned by a centralized government, despite being culturally based on a tribe system with councils of the elders and provincial rulers.
Those people never have never encountered with real democracy before. It was starry-eyed to expect a quick and unproblematic change within a few years and that the Afghans simply would forsake their rites and habits which belong to a ancient culture, regardless whether we want to accept it or not.
If the Afghan security forces could be conveyed more trust in their state, then maybe they wouldn't seek their salvation somewhere else.

[Mishka Zubov]

What do you think? It comes a little bit late, doesn't it?
I would say - it's about time. And better now than never if we do not want the Afghani police to go the same way as the Iraqui one, which still sucks big time. A comprehensive approach, like a combination of EUPOL initiative plus more ANA training teams (OMLT, Operational Mentoring Liaison Team) may actually succeed. NATO wants to deploy 50 such teams.


At a meeting of NATO defense ministers that wrapped up Friday, France offered to form three such units. Italy, Canada, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia also stepped forward. De Hoop Scheffer told a news conference those offers would bring the total to almost 30.
http://www.pr-inside.com/nato-to-step-up-training-for-r155092.htm



Additionally, there are countless stories about police officers and ANA soldiers who deserted with their gear and their money just after they graduated and then joined the militias of some of the warlords...or is the situation better today?

Polish OMLT, which has been working with one of the ANA battalions for the last two months, actually praises their 'kandak' (battalion, in Afghani), located in Gardez, Paktia. Yes, they come and go as they please, especially the day they get paid, but some of them actually come back after some prolonged absence, because of the harvest time - poppy harvest perhaps - or other family's duties. But they come back. Estimated actual count of ANA soldiers in that kandak, at any given time, is about 65% of the official count.

They are eager to learn, but they used to have some bad habits. For one, they used to consider cleaning their guns as unnecessary effort: "the gun will clean itself in action". But they learn and accept it when shown, for example, that their jamming AK starts performing again after a bit of care. Hey, they have even managed to disassemble and clean up all their kandak's mortars that have never been cleaned before. :-)

Rumour has it that it is hard to convert old Afghani partisans into soldiers, because of their independence and reluctance into submission to any authority. No, Polish OMLT - as other OMLTs, I am sure - never command, they only advice at all command levels. But the discipline is easier to enforce with young ANA recruits.

They are somehow laid back, so you need to give them some ample time to be ready for any appointed meeting, but once there - they go patroling willingly. And they often volunteer for new assignments.

They are courageous, sometimes reckless - as some OMLT report I read somewhere few days ago described it. [I do not remember, which one - Canadian or British OMLT perhaps?]

The Afghan Police, however, is a problem perhaps. Locals generally do not trust them. But things are slowly changing. For example, Americans have established a small Provincial Coordination Center in Sharana, Paktika, which is now served jointly by Poles and Americans, 24 hours a day. These are the eyes and ears for the region - coordinating all joint police and military activities. Locals actually inform the Center about planted IDEs, local crimes, etc. Only today three IDEs were reported, then Polish sappers have been quickly dispatched to the locations.

There are some little problems though: some young Afghani interpreters are fresh from high school and have not learned yet a basic military vocabulary, such as 'a mortar', 'a grenade', etc. Some police officers do not know how to read maps - which is one of the reasons why the Polish-American team is there in the first place. But have faith - things are changing indeed ...

[muck]

EUPOL Afghanistan took first casualties today. A suicide bomber in a car rammed an armoured vehicle and wounded three German officers and their interpreter in the Northern city of Kunduz. Also wounded were some bypassers, including many children.
The latest attack increases the toll of German casualties to 108 since 2002.