U.S. Report Finds Dismal Training of Afghan Police

[cal04]

Five years after the fall of the Taliban, a joint report by the Pentagon and the State Department has found that the American-trained police force in Afghanistan is largely incapable of carrying out routine law enforcement work, and that managers of the $1.1 billion training program cannot say how many officers are actually on duty or where thousands of trucks and other equipment issued to police units have gone.

In fact, most police units had less than 50 percent of their authorized equipment on hand as of June, says the report, which was issued two weeks ago but is only now circulating among members of relevant Congressional committees.

In its most significant finding, the report said that no effective field training program had been established in Afghanistan, at least in part because of a slow, ineffectual start and understaffing.

Police training experts who have studied or had first-hand experience with the American effort in Afghanistan said they agreed with the report’s findings, and some said they had warned for years that field training was the backbone of a strong program. But they said additional problems needed to be investigated, including the quality of private contractors and the cost and effectiveness of relying on them to train the police officers. In particular, the experts questioned why the report focused on United States government managers and only glancingly analyzed the performance of the principal contractor in Afghanistan, DynCorp International of Virginia.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/world/asia/04police.html?hp&ex=1165208400&en=3a0d0b71a02f3fdb&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[JudyM]

1. Hopefully with the changing of the guard on capitol hill things will finally come together

It is so clear no one has been watching the shop. Just lots of mice playing because there ain't no cat in town. Our tax dollars at work. :sarcasm:

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[Drum]

2. Certainly trucks are necessary to get the opium to market.

:mad: