Saturday, August 18, 2012

Afghanistan Police Force

In the Los Angeles Times, David S. Cloud is discussing the plans Obama has for reinforcing Afghanistan's police force in the article called "U.S plans to beef up rural police forces in Afghanistan". During the armed conflicts in Iraq and AFghanistan, the united states have depended on heavily armed police forces to maintain control of areas in which were liberated by United States troops. The problem with having AFghan police controlling these liberated regions is that they can go against the US troops by joining the Taliban, or they are not going to be well armed. Marine General John Allen issued an order to increase the size of the police force from 16,000 to 30,000 officers, also arming them with AK-47s, and russian HMGs (Heavy Machine Guns). Now one problem has been solved which is arming the police. Now how do you control them from not going against their government or the United States? That is what the Pentagon is discussing at the moment, and they are forming together in making militas only for their own areas of control. Also another problem is putting all of this into system; it is  going to be very tough for both Afghan police officials and United States special forces. In recent years, tribe leaders of the liberated areas have lost the weapons and the men given to them to protect their villages, and in return the Taliban has gained from them .Now how can this affect us in the United States? If these villages and regions are not protected by the set police, the Taliban can gain control again, and the Afghanistan conflict can raise again forcing Obama to redeploy troops into the country. Obama has plans on removing all troops by 2014, and having the police lose all these liberated areas will become a huge road bump for this plan. If all things proceed according to plan, Afghanistan will be locked down and protected by trustworthy and well armed police officers.

No comments:

Post a Comment