KANDAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan -- Diverted at the last minute from its planned deployment to Iraq, a battalion of Marines has arrived here to take up a critical mission: training Afghan police to hold the line against Taliban insurgents.
Marine Lt. Col. Rick Hall, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, is upbeat about the prospect of readying a professional police force, despite significant challenges that have so far defeated a six-year, $5.5 billion U.S. police recruiting and training program.
"Afghans have a natural warrior mentality and will have a common bond" with Marines, Hall said in an interview. He says he believes the Afghan police recruits will quickly absorb the Marines' standards.
FOR THE RECORD - An article in yesterday's editions of The Sun gave an incorrect designation for a U.S. Marine unit deployed in Afghanistan to train local police. The unit commanded by Lt. Col. Rick Hall is the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment.
The Sun regrets the error.
"Just by our presence, they [police trainees] are going to be improved."
A strong national police force is considered key to any counter-insurgency and especially so in Afghanistan, where the government presence in much of the country is thin or nonexistent. It would also allow for the gradual draw-down of U.S. forces here. At present, there are about 30,000 American troops here and some 28,000 coalition forces.
Yet the Afghan national police force is woefully undermanned, under-paid and poorly equipped, according to U.S. officials. With millions of dollars worth of opium passing through southern Afghanistan, corruption in the police force is entrenched, they said.
In some regions, police are paid $70 a month, when the cost of living for a small family is $130 a month, according to Army Lt. Col Brian Mennes, who recently completed a 15-month tour here as a battalion commander. The income gap means either Afghans are reluctant to join the police or they do join and are forced into petty corruption to make ends meet, he said.
Here in southern Afghanistan, the few police stationed at remote outposts have become easy targets for the Taliban. Absenteeism, understandably, is high.
At one village outside Kandahar, where the Taliban have a strong presence, the police consisted of a single man with a rifle. No uniform, no radio, no backup.
U.S. officials have acknowledged that efforts to improve the police were set back after 2003 as trainers and resources were diverted to Iraq. That, in turn, has delayed the time when U.S. forces in Afghanistan can be drawn down.
The diversion of the Marine battalion to Afghanistan suggests that even with the fragile security in Iraq, the Bush administration sees the accelerated training of police in Afghanistan as critical.
