Sashan
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KABUL, Afghanistan An attack by six Taliban infiltrators in the eastern province of Paktika on Thursday killed three police officers but was put down before it reached the government offices that were its target, Afghan officials said.
The fighting again put the spotlight on the Afghan Local Police force, which is trained by American Special Operations personnel and is seen as a critical hedge against the Taliban as Western forces begin withdrawing. The Afghan Local Police force, which was part of the response to the Paktika attack, has been the focus of intensified Taliban assaults as the annual fighting season has gotten under way.
The attack began when six gunmen wearing explosive vests under Afghan Local Police uniforms tried to pass through a security checkpoint near the district governors building. Police forces stopped the men to question them, and a gun battle broke out, eventually stretching to two hours before the last attacker was killed.
Two attackers detonated their explosives during the fight, but no civilians were hurt. Two members of the Afghan Local Police and one member of the national police force were killed.
Afghan government control has long been spotty in Paktika Province, which is on the border with Pakistan. The Afghan Local Police program is considered crucial in such regions, as the national military and police forces begin to take over full security responsibility from international forces.
On Thursday, an adviser to President Hamid Karzai reported progress in the NATO handover to Afghan control. The official, Ashraf Ghani, said, Our findings from the first and second tranches of transition show that ever since the transition started, security has either improved or at least it has not deteriorated in the transitioned areas.
Mr. Karzai is to announce on Sunday which regions will be part of the next stage of transition, expected to begin imminently. Authority over security in regions accounting for about half of the Afghan population has been passed from coalition to Afghan control, with coalition forces taking a supporting role. The next stage, the third of five, is expected to take that figure up to roughly three-quarters of the population, Western officials said.
In a separate briefing at NATO headquarters, American military leaders said Afghan Local Police units had been created in 65 out of the 99 districts identified by the Afghan government in 2010 as requiring the new units.
The forces numbers are on track to grow to 19,000 by the end of the year and will reach 30,000 as planned by the beginning of 2014, the last year of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, said Col. John Evans, deputy commanding officer of the Special Operations units responsible for training the Afghan Local Police.
The forces themselves have come under increasing suspicion, however, as allegations of violence, theft and human rights abuses have led to fears that Western countries may merely be arming an unreliable militia that could be used by warlords after NATO forces withdraw.
In a highly critical study released in September, Human Rights Watch detailed allegations that some Afghan Local Police forces had killed and raped civilians, stolen land, and carried out other abuses against villagers.
In a report responding to the study in December, the American military admitted that some of the allegations were credible but rebutted others.
On Thursday, Colonel Evans said that he had confidence in the vetting process and that the police were showing that, for the most part, they could hold their own. In an analysis of 1,000 armed episodes across 65 districts where the Afghan Local Police forces faced activity by insurgents, in about 80 percent of the cases they stood and fought, he said.
The test is how they performed under fire, and they have done remarkably well, Colonel Evans said. They are paying the price in blood every day.
An employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Khost Province, Afghanistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/w...ect-taliban-attack-on-governor.html?ref=world
The fighting again put the spotlight on the Afghan Local Police force, which is trained by American Special Operations personnel and is seen as a critical hedge against the Taliban as Western forces begin withdrawing. The Afghan Local Police force, which was part of the response to the Paktika attack, has been the focus of intensified Taliban assaults as the annual fighting season has gotten under way.
The attack began when six gunmen wearing explosive vests under Afghan Local Police uniforms tried to pass through a security checkpoint near the district governors building. Police forces stopped the men to question them, and a gun battle broke out, eventually stretching to two hours before the last attacker was killed.
Two attackers detonated their explosives during the fight, but no civilians were hurt. Two members of the Afghan Local Police and one member of the national police force were killed.
Afghan government control has long been spotty in Paktika Province, which is on the border with Pakistan. The Afghan Local Police program is considered crucial in such regions, as the national military and police forces begin to take over full security responsibility from international forces.
On Thursday, an adviser to President Hamid Karzai reported progress in the NATO handover to Afghan control. The official, Ashraf Ghani, said, Our findings from the first and second tranches of transition show that ever since the transition started, security has either improved or at least it has not deteriorated in the transitioned areas.
Mr. Karzai is to announce on Sunday which regions will be part of the next stage of transition, expected to begin imminently. Authority over security in regions accounting for about half of the Afghan population has been passed from coalition to Afghan control, with coalition forces taking a supporting role. The next stage, the third of five, is expected to take that figure up to roughly three-quarters of the population, Western officials said.
In a separate briefing at NATO headquarters, American military leaders said Afghan Local Police units had been created in 65 out of the 99 districts identified by the Afghan government in 2010 as requiring the new units.
The forces numbers are on track to grow to 19,000 by the end of the year and will reach 30,000 as planned by the beginning of 2014, the last year of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, said Col. John Evans, deputy commanding officer of the Special Operations units responsible for training the Afghan Local Police.
The forces themselves have come under increasing suspicion, however, as allegations of violence, theft and human rights abuses have led to fears that Western countries may merely be arming an unreliable militia that could be used by warlords after NATO forces withdraw.
In a highly critical study released in September, Human Rights Watch detailed allegations that some Afghan Local Police forces had killed and raped civilians, stolen land, and carried out other abuses against villagers.
In a report responding to the study in December, the American military admitted that some of the allegations were credible but rebutted others.
On Thursday, Colonel Evans said that he had confidence in the vetting process and that the police were showing that, for the most part, they could hold their own. In an analysis of 1,000 armed episodes across 65 districts where the Afghan Local Police forces faced activity by insurgents, in about 80 percent of the cases they stood and fought, he said.
The test is how they performed under fire, and they have done remarkably well, Colonel Evans said. They are paying the price in blood every day.
An employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Khost Province, Afghanistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/w...ect-taliban-attack-on-governor.html?ref=world
