Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Police

Police

Police Treated With Kid Gloves: The many flaws of the Farkhunda trial

Ehsan Qaane • Kate Clark •

An Afghan court has found 11 policemen guilty of dereliction of duty for failing to prevent the murder of religious student Farkhunda by a mob in the centre of Kabul on 19 March 2015. They were all sentenced to one year, the absolute minimum, which means also they may not have to go to jail […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more
The unfortunate, and unexploded, houbara, mistaken for a 'Taleban operative'. Photo: Khaama Press

Bird Bomber: Police kill ‘dangerous’ houbara bustard (amended)

Kate Clark •

Police in Faryab have shot a wild bird which had an antenna attached to it, fearing it had been sent by the Taleban to target them. They said it exploded, scattering suspicious bits of metal. However, the bits of metal included an ID tag with a telephone number and email address and claims of it […]

Context and Culture Read more

“As Easy As Growing Potatoes”: How formerly ‘poppy-free’ Ghor is at risk of becoming an important player in Afghanistan’s opium business

Obaid Ali •

Ghor province has been considered poppy-free for a long time, but in the past two years opium production and drug trafficking have picked up sharply. With insecurity in the province on the rise, obstructing income sources and basic services, many of Ghor’s farmers migrated to neighbouring provinces like Helmand, helping in the local drug production […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

Transition in Uruzgan (2): Power at the centre

Deedee Derksen •

“Only the dead see the end of war”. The encryption on the monument for fallen foreign soldiers in Camp Holland, the main international military base in Uruzgan, might end up a sad prediction for many inhabitants of this southern province. As foreign forces prepare to leave, Uruzganis are ever more worried about the future. Deedee […]

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Transition in Uruzgan (1): The fights that don’t get mentioned

Martine van Bijlert •

The daily news in Afghanistan is dotted with reports of small-scale attacks, mostly on police posts, district centres and government convoys. These reports illustrate what is going on, but do not provide a full picture: a large proportion of attacks and incidents go unreported. Although the strategic importance of the individual scuffles tends to be […]

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Local police an uncertain player in Afghan future

Other AAN •

AFP, 31 December 2012 ‘The Afghan Local Police, branded by some critics as an incompetent Taliban-linked militia, is one of the many security challenges facing the country as international troops withdraw’ writes the news agency and quotes AAN’s Fabrizio Foschini as saying: ‘Reducing insecurity in the short-term has positive aspects but it is laying the […]

AAN in the Media Read more

Police test Afghanistan’s fragile ethnic balance

AAN Team •

Some analysts agree that Afghanistan’s ethnic divisions have been oversimplified, and even misunderstood. “There is a tendency among observers to overestimate the animosity between the north and the south, or rather to see it something fixed and static. As if people hate each other just because they are from different areas. It’s not like that,” […]

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Guest Blog: The Andar Uprising – Co-opted, divided and stuck in a dilemma

Emal Habib •

More than five months into the Andar uprising, the anti-Taleban rebellion supported by the government and US forces has failed to unite the local tribe under its banner. Differences between participating groups have further sharpened as the government’s attempt to turn it into its proxy (and integrate it into the Afghan Local Police) has become […]

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Anti-Taliban leader who rejects ‘corrupt’ Afghan police prefers to go it alone

admin •

AFP, 13 October 2012 The French news agency reports another anti-Taleban ‘uprising’, this time from Logar’s Kolangar district and financed by a local businessman who has rejected to join the ALP. He claims he has already poured USD 160,000 into the uprising and has ‘the support of 50 villages and 200 armed men, with 2,000 […]

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No Country for Good Policemen?

Fabrizio Foschini •

At the NATO summit in Chicago, everybody’s attention seems to be focused on the budget for the defence of Afghanistan and how much donors will spend after 2014, in other words on the quantity of security forces that the country will be able to field. But what about their quality? A new, excellent report on […]

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Afghanistan to Disband Irregular Police Force Set Up Under NATO

admin •

New York Times, 27 December 2011 ‘President Hamid Karzai has taken steps to disband a little-known, irregular police force financed by the American military with members in at least four northern provinces’, reports the NYT, ‘known as the Critical Infrastructure Police’ in Balkh, Kunduz, Jowzjan and Faryab as well as possibly in Sarepul provinces. And […]

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