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WASHINGTON D.C. (May 7, 2008) - The coalition has initiated a
"focused district development" program in volatile southern
Afghanistan to reform community police forces, a military official
said yesterday.
"[The program is] improving the security of the local people and
building their confidence in the government of Afghanistan," Army
Col. Thomas McGrath, commander of Afghanistan Regional Security
Command South, said in a teleconference with online journalists and
"bloggers."
McGrath explained that the focused district development program
removes Afghan police forces from their district for eight weeks to
complete uniformed-officer training at a central location. The
local police are backfilled with the Afghan national civil police
-- a highly trained national police force -- during the eight-week
training period, he said.
Almost 700 Afghan uniformed police have graduated from the
focused district development program to date, McGrath said. The
first class, from three districts in Afghanistan's Zabul province,
graduated and reoccupied their areas in March, he added.
McGrath said the training has led to more professional, better
equipped Afghan police forces in the districts that have been
through the program. "They're well trained, well equipped, in
uniform, doing the right thing, [and] supporting the people," he
said.
The police forces the coalition initially encountered in
southern Afghan provinces were untrained, poorly equipped, and not
in uniform, McGrath explained.
"It's also a first for the people of that area, because they're
seeing Afghan national police stepping up [and] very proudly doing
their job," he added.
McGrath said the newly trained and equipped Afghan police
already are helping coalition forces fight insurgency. Afghan
national police are engaging the Taliban, he said, and they have
killed 60 to 70 Taliban fighters over the last couple weeks.
"That's a first for the Taliban," he said, "that they're getting
killed by the [Afghan National Police]." He added that intelligence
reports indicate confusion among Taliban fighters because they are
being attacked by Afghan police forces.
Afghan police also have started regularly patrolling roads,
which McGrath said enables them to disrupt and interdict enemy
operations.
"They used to like to sit around on checkpoints along the roads,
doing nothing or shaking down the population," he said. "Now, we
have [them] patrolling in the street, patrolling along major
highways and also in the countryside, where they're able to disrupt
and interdict Taliban operations."
McGrath said a U.S. infantry unit -- 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines
-- will help Afghanistan Regional Security Command South throughout
the summer and into the winter during future iterations of the
focused district development program.
"[They] had the police mission in Iraq and served as police
trainers," McGrath said, "so they bring a lot of experience in the
kinetic and also the nonkinetic parts of the fight.
"The Marines are here to do the right thing -- build a better
police force, which in turn will help build a better government and
security for the people of Afghanistan," he added.
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