NGO warns Afghanistan against expanding militia program

KABUL 

A prominent international NGO warned Thursday against the use of the Afghan Local Police (ALP) a militia established in 2001 by the U.S. to counter insurgent groups at a local level. 

In a report, the International Crisis Group (ICG) has criticized the use of the close-to- 30,000-strong force employed by Afghan Ministry to fight Talban militants describing it as a cheap but dangerous idea for the peace and security of Afghanistan, citing numerous instances of serious abuse committed by the ALP. 

"The ALP program has not improved security in many places and even exacerbated the conflict in a number of districts," says the report issued Thursday. "A minority of villagers describe it as an indispensable source of protection."

"It is more common to hear complaints that ALP prey upon the people they are supposed to guard," adds the report, citing cases of "extortion, kidnapping, extrajudicial killings".

Furthermore, present in 29 out of 34 provinces, the ALP is also said to have often suffered more casualties than the more traditional Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), "an ALP officer [being] three to six times more likely to be killed on duty than his ANSF counterpart”. 

The ICG explains that the high rate is a consequence of the ALP's poor behavior vis-a-vis the local population and is also due to the fact that the militia has become a preferred target of the Taliban.

The report comes as Afghan government official seek to expand the force.

"Officials in President Ashraf Ghani’s government are considering plans to increase the roster to 45,000 and seeking money to continue the program after the scheduled September 2018 expiration of U.S. funding," says the report.

The ICG also states that Abdul Rashid Dostum, the vice president and an ex-militia leader, has publicly called for a new force of 20,000.

"Already, security officials are attempting to raise about 5,000 militiamen in at least seven provinces as a stopgap against rising insecurity," says the report, referring to the annual Taliban spring offensive, which is the first since NATO forces have ended their combat mission in December 2014.

Warning against both the expansion and the abrupt scrapping of the force, the Brussels-based research group suggested the Kabul government devise new policies in a bid to ensure good behavior among the ALP. It also proposes to ultimately integrate it into the Afghan National Police.