Nato admits Afghan local police abuses

A Nato military report acknowledged Friday that members of a US-funded Afghan police force have committed human rights abuses, but insisted the units are making a "tremendous difference" overall. The report followed a highly critical Human Rights Watch (HRW) investigation released in September that claimed members of the Afghan Local Police (ALP) are getting away with serious abuses including rape and murder.
The ALP was set up last year and has been touted as key to the handover of security control from Nato to Afghan forces, allowing all US-led foreign combat troops to leave Afghanistan in theory by the end of 2014. The force arms local people to protect their communities in areas where the Afghan army and regular police have limited reach.
It does not have law enforcement powers, and is due to more-than triple in size to 30,000. Critics have called it little more than a militia. The investigation, ordered by the US commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, looked at 46 allegations of abuse and found seven were credible, 10 were not credible, and 15 were credible "in part". Investigating officer Brigadier James Marrs of the US Air Force said the credible allegations included a case where a policeman killed an ALP commander who was trying to release two boys who had been kidnapped for ransom.
There were also credible allegations that the ALP stole from villagers, "roughed up" suspects and hit a child with a stick. HRW also raised concerns about the role of government-backed militia groups controlled by local strongmen, which it linked to rapes, smuggling, extortion and targeted killings. The militia are small groups loyal to warlords with roots in Afghanistan's bloody past, while the uniformed and salaried ALP was only set up last year.
Marrs found it credible that those militias, known as arbakai, were guilty of collecting informal taxes, committing sexual offences, and stealing. Militias also killed a guard from a provincial reconstruction team, units designed to kick-start development, the evidence suggested.
The Nato report said it was "essential" to teach the ALP about human rights and conceded that "political differences, power struggles and corruption are some of the multiple challenges to overcome". But it claimed the HRW report "ignores the vital service ALP and VSO (village stability operations) are providing every day to give Afghans a chance to end 30 years of conflict and to live secure and peaceful lives".
"ALP and VSO are making a tremendous difference," the report said. In May, a report by Oxfam highlighted growing rights abuses by Afghan police and soldiers, including killings and child sex abuse. Afghanistan's army and police have grown quickly to over 300,000 and received billions of dollars of funding from the United States to build them up ahead of the foreign combat force withdrawal in 2014.
Commander of US special forces Admiral William McRaven told reporters earlier this month of plans to expand the ALP to 30,000. But HRW called for expansion plans to be halted until the problems are overcome. "Instead of rushing to triple the size of the Afghan Local Police, the US and Afghan governments should be adopting mechanisms to ensure these forces abide by the law," said the group's Asia director, Brad Adams.
HRW said since the release of their report, there have been numerous other allegations concerning the local police, including a fatal armed clash with the national police, assault, extortion, intimidation, and illegal taxation. "Now is the time for some long-term thinking," Adams said. "What will happen when donors are unwilling to continue to pay the salaries of the Afghan Local Police and other security forces? What will be the consequences of tens of thousands of unemployed well-armed men in uniforms?"