Afghanistan recruits Iraq-style militia force
By Sardar Ahmad (AFP) – 15 hours ago

KABUL — The Afghan government said Wednesday it had begun recruiting thousands of militiamen to strengthen security forces against a resurgent Taliban in remote villages of the war-torn country.

President Hamid Karzai last month approved the establishment of what his administration calls a "Local Police Force," recruited from Afghan villagers in a bid to guard against Taliban attacks in their communities.

Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Munir Mangal told reporters the US-backed initiative was under way in south-central provinces Wardak and Uruzgan, both of which have been hit hard by Taliban violence.

"It will expand in the rest of the country very soon," he said. "From what we see on the ground and seeing the eagerness of the people I can tell it'll take two months or even less," he said, referring to the recruiting process.

Recruitment would begin in the southern, eastern and southwestern regions of the country where insurgent violence is most intense, Mangal said.

Once fully in theatre, the force would number about 10,000 men who would undergo three weeks of training in their villages by Afghan trainers, he said.

Mangal said the recruits would operate under the auspices of the interior ministry, which has authority over all Afghan police. Recruits would be paid about 60 percent of the regular police salary, he added.

The ministry would provide weapons and other equipment for the recruits, "unless they bring their own weapons," the minister added.

"They are 'Local Police Force'. They'll be providing security for their own homes, their own clinics and schools and their own roads," he said, adding that the recruits could join the police force at end of their five-year contract.

Karzai and the commander of foreign forces in the country, US General David Petraeus, met for several days before reaching an agreement on creating the new police force, according to Afghan officials.

US media have reported that Petraeus, who took command of nearly 150,000 US and NATO troops on July 4, had been pushing for the establishment of Iraq-style tribal militias to fight Taliban-linked militants in remote Afghan villages.

The militias were mooted as long ago as late 2008, when US officials realised that Afghanistan's own security forces did not have the numbers necessary to provide security across the country.

Karzai at that time was opposed to the "community guards," as they were called, telling one US newspaper that they would contribute to "ruining this country further".

As security deteriorates — notably in Logar and Wardak — Afghanistan's police and army are still unable to take responsibility for the country's security needs.

Mangal said that "international friends" — a reference to the US-led forces deployed in the country to fight the Taliban-led insurgency — had helped Afghan authorities complete the plan for the creation of the force.

"We worked together, hand in hand," he said.

Critics are concerned about repeating mistakes made in Afghanistan during the 1980s, when similar militia were mobilised against the mujahedeen fighting Soviet troops.

Some of those forces grew into private armies, turning on their own bosses and battling each other in power struggles during the 1990s civil war.

The 1992-1994 fighting was centred largely in Kabul and killed more than 80,000 civilians, according to UN figures.

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