Pentagon defends Afghan Police programme
US: The Pentagon defended a program Monday that recruits local police
forces in Afghan villages despite a US-funded report that raises
questions about the militia's performance and alleged abuses.
Top officers, including the former commander of US and NATO forces in
Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, have portrayed the Afghan Local
Police initiative as a crucial tool in rolling back the Taliban in rural
areas.
But the unpublished study commissioned by the Defense Department and
prepared by the RAND Corporation think tank offers a less optimistic
analysis, according to the Los Angeles Times, which obtained a copy of
the report.
The study found that one in five US special operations teams advising
the local police units said the Afghan militia had committed violence or
abused civilians, and there were recent allegations of bribe taking,
rape and drug trafficking, the newspaper said.
The RAND Corporation, which prepared the study, acknowledged quoted
details from its report as accurate, but took issue with how the
newspaper interpreted its assessment of security in villages where the
local police operated. AFP
|