Afghanistan has been plagued by rising violence that prompted President Barack Obama to promise to send 17,000 additional troops to the country this year. Obama also plans to send 4,000 more trainers to advise the Afghan army as part of a new US strategy for the conflict to be announced Friday, officials said. [break]
Afghanistan is also testing a plan supported by the US to empower Afghan citizens who can act as a community police force. The first "public protection force" members completed their training Thursday, but some have criticized the plan as dangerous because they see it as arming local militias who could be difficult to control.
Troops killed 11 militants and captured another Thursday night during a raid targeting a key Taliban insurgent in a village in southern Helmand province, the military said in a statement. The insurgent targeted in the attack in Lashkar Gar district, west of the provincial capital of Kandahar, was involved in making bombs that were used for roadside attacks in northern Helmand, it said.
The forces came under fire from militants inside a compound as they advanced and returned fire. The statement said one militant tried to use women and children in the compound as human shields, but the force managed to shoot the man without harming the civilians.
A village elder told coalition forces the Taliban forced them to shelter the group for the night, the statement said.
The US is sending thousands of additional US troops to Afghanistan to stamp out the resurgent Taliban who have taken de facto control of the south and continue to mount attacks through much of the rest of the country.
The Afghan government created the public protection force in eastern Wardak province as a pilot program to test community policing as a way to strengthen local security while the army and police are being built up.
More than 240 people graduated from the three-week training course in a ceremony attended by the top US commander in the country, Gen. David McKiernan, and high-level Afghan officials, according to a statement released by the U.S. military. U.S. forces are providing logistical funding for the pilot program, along with mentors for trainers and complimentary community projects, the military said.
The recruits were chosen by community leaders, who have also agreed to monitor their actions. They have also all undergone background checks.
"The name is clear: protection. Anyone who calls them a militia is wrong," said Wardak´s provincial police chief, Abdul Yamen Muzafaruddin. "They are working within the police structure and under the command of police."
"We have a very strong guarantee from village elders," Muzafaruddin added. He said the new recruits will receive their weapons in the next few days and then deploy throughout the province.
The fears related to the force are understandable in a country that has been home to many independent militias, some of the first armed by the US in its effort to oust the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
The United Nations has struggled since the collapse of the Taliban to disarm such groups. The costly U.N. disarmament program has included collecting weapons and integrating warlords´ private fighters into army and police units. Thousands of weapons have been handed in, but much is said to be antiquated. Many warlords, meanwhile, have retained their militias.
In 2006, a similar project to form a public protection force armed thousands of "auxiliary police." It was disbanded after a short time and some of its members joined the police.
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