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U.S. effort to train Afghan police flops

Although the failed war in Iraq gets the most news coverage, the war in Afghanistan is not going particularly well, either. The extent of our failure there is demonstrated in the way the Bush administration has mismanaged the effort to train and equip a competent police force.

A joint report by the Pentagon and the State Department shows that after several years and more than a $1.1-billion investment, a highly touted police training effort has not produced promised results. After U.S. and coalition forces had routed the Taliban, the new police force was to maintain law and order and combat the opium industry while the nation's infrastructure was being rebuilt, thus giving democracy a chance to take root.

In reality, according to the report, U.S. officials have allowed the Afghan Ministry of Interior, which oversees the police, to shirk its responsibilities. The agency cannot account for the number of police officers on duty or the whereabouts of thousands of vehicles and other equipment. The field training program, the backbone of the entire effort, is greatly understaffed, and many U.S. trainers are unqualified to train Afghan recruits who are mostly illiterate.

U.S. inspectors found that in addition to being illiterate, many recruits are more loyal to their sects than to the police and the government. Instead of the standard eight weeks of training, the recruits receive only two weeks. And because of a slipshod vetting system, many Taliban fighters have infiltrated the program.

Police experts who read the report agree that most of the blame for the failure lies with the U.S. government for relying on private contractors, especially the giant DynCorp International of Virginia, to train the Afghan force. Experts argue that DynCorp's records are in disarray and that the government has been too lax in overseeing the firm's operations.

Unless there is a quick turnaround, U.S. taxpayers can expect to continue to pay $600-million a year indefinitely for this failed program. Congress needs to conduct a thorough re-examination of the entire effort and insist upon substantial improvement. The citizens of Afghanistan want to enjoy the peace we promised when invaded, and U.S. taxpayers cannot afford to pay for incompetence indefinitely.

[Last modified December 21, 2006, 23:19:24]