Daily Times

On May 16, 2011, a rogue Afghan police officer killed five British soldiers, and injured six. An addict, Gulbuddin, killed his colleagues at a checkpoint in Helmand province. This is not the first time criminal elements within the Afghan National Army and police have killed their British partners; they killed several NATO and US soldiers in different parts of Afghanistan in the past. On April 4, 2011, the New York Times reported that two American soldiers were shot to death by an Afghan policeman in Maimana province. The shooting came after three days of anti-American protests, which claimed at least 24 lives, set off by the burning of a Quran at a church in Florida. On February 18, 2011, a man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform opened fire on German soldiers in Pul-i-Kumri, killing two of them and wounding eight others. And on January 22, the Taliban claimed that an Afghan soldier turned his weapon on French troops at Sarobi district of Kabul province, killing three.

On May 13, 2011, the Afghan police killed two NATO soldiers in Helmand province while they were monitoring an Afghan National Civil Order brigade. The killing business of the Afghan rogue police and factional army soldiers flourished since the Taliban entered their recruitment centres. Before this incident, in 2009, five British soldiers were shot dead in the same province. British soldiers were mentoring and living with the Afghan police in a compound. The officer opened fire, injuring eight others, before fleeing the compound. In November 2010, six NATO service members were killed by an Afghan policeman in Jalalabad province.

However, in April 2011 an Afghan pilot killed eight NATO troops and a contractor in Kabul airport. In January, an Afghan solider killed an Italian soldier and wounded another in Badghis province. On May 10, 2011, Reuters reported US and Afghan commanders warning of a spike in violence. The Afghan and foreign troops, however, have less control over more remote areas in provinces like Nuristan, Paktika, Paktia and Kunar in the east near the border with Pakistan. The security situation in Afghanistan varies significantly across the country. These incidents and the environment of distrust dejected the international community to continue the recruitment of Afghan security forces. There is growing resentment within the army and police units against US forces because of the kinds of military operations they carry out. As the distances and distrust increased, the US and NATO commanders considered a plan to give the contract of the recruitment of Afghan police to Blackwater.

The training of the Afghan Border Police and other units by the notorious private militia, Blackwater, has raised many questions in Afghanistan and there are concerns that the training may further turn the less qualified police force into a tyrant and brutal force. Blackwater, for its previous record, is considered to be a war criminal army that killed innocent people in Iraq. Under the present defence contract, Blackwater already trains the rogue Afghan police force, involved in a series of CRIMES OF sexual harassment, drug trafficking and child abuse. Former American commander, General McChrystal, wanted to build the Afghan police to a force of 160,000 by 2013 but his dream remained incomplete. Recently, during a Senate Homeland Security Sub-committee hearing, a Pentagon official laid out plans of Afghan police training by Blackwater but failed to persuade all members. Due to its criminal record, Blackwater changed its name to Xe Services. The private militia has been shifting to training, and aviation and logistics work after its security guards were accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians more than two years ago.

In 2009, Blackwater projected its total revenues at $ 669 million but its criminal record smeared the militia’s reputation when its members were found guilty in the May 2009 shooting of an unarmed Afghan civilian in Kabul, resulting in his death. The two Afghans were from the National Army trained by Blackwater. The killing of innocent Afghans created more doubts about its criminal behaviour. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates expressed concern about the misconduct of the criminal militia in Afghanistan. He told lawmakers after receiving a letter from Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, about the criminal record of the militia.

Blackwater’s conduct may have “contributed to a shooting incident that has undermined our mission in Afghanistan,” he added. On February 23, 2010, employees of the CIA gave Blackwater hundreds of weapons, including more than 500 AK-47 assault rifles, from a US weapons bunker in Afghanistan on the pretext of equipping Afghan policemen. On August 24, 2010, a German magazine informed that it has retrieved evidence that the CIA hired Blackwater to transport prisoners from Guantánamo Bay to secret jails in Central Asia where they could be tortured. Blackwater was used in rendition from Guantánamo to Kandahar and transported prisoners to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. In October 2010, the Afghan president targeted Blackwater for its involvement in terrorism in Afghanistan.

President Karzai told reporters that the militia is behind terrorism in the country. At a press conference in Kabul, he said that US security companies have been behind explosions that have claimed the lives of women and children. Karzai added that they have caused “blasts and terrorism” in different parts of Afghanistan. Notwithstanding his serious allegations against the militia, President Karzai abruptly announced that his government would allow Blackwater to stay in his country. He was forced by his western partners to abandon a complete disbandment of private security companies.

The recent Oxfom report has warned that the Afghan police are committing crimes such as child sex abuse, torture and killings. The report warned that unless training is “urgently stepped up, there is a serious risk that abuses and violations by Afghan forces will escalate”.

The report further warns that 40,000 policemen have had no training at all and criticises NATO for prioritising quantity over quality. The international community has already warned that thousands of vandals with “dubious human rights records” have been recruited, particularly in the Afghan Local Police who act as local militia groups and have allegedly been involved in kidnappings and beatings.

Afghan police officers are extensively involved in rape and murder cases. Recently, in Herat province, a young Afghan girl was abducted from her home and then raped. The father of the raped girl told TOLO news that bodyguards of the Chesht District chief in Herat rushed into their home at night and kidnapped his daughter.

Most members of the Afghan security force are illiterate. Many are drug addicts, regularly demand bribes and several times they have turned on their trainers. The recent killing of British soldiers does not serve the interests of Afghanistan. Nevertheless, for many police officers there are still reasons to leave the service after a certain period of time.

The writer is the author of Britain’s National Security Challenges and Punjabi Taliban. He can be reached at zai.musakhan222@gmail.com