RCMP at work in Afstan

The Afghan National Police are a real problem, especially in comparison with the Afghan National Army. The RCMP are doing their bit to help:

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Afghanistan is in the “middle of an insurgency” and countries like Canada that are rebuilding it shouldn’t make a hasty exit, says the RCMP officer helping train Afghan police recruits.

The war-torn country risks going backward if international forces leave before it’s self-sufficient, said RCMP Supt. David Fudge.

Fudge is a police officer with 30 years of experience and his job is to help train Afghan police recruits who are often illiterate and arrive in tattered clothes and flip-flops.

He has been on the job in Afghanistan for a year as part of Canada’s provincial reconstruction team, a multi-level unit that includes soldiers, police officers and officials from Foreign Affairs and the Canadian International Development Agency...

“The job is not done yet. And if we leave too early, we very much stand the risk of going back to ground zero or even worse, as we’ve seen in Haiti, where we had to go back and start rebuilding from zero again [emphasis added--I don't see much in the way of second chances in Afstan].”..

...the newly appointed police chief of Kandahar province has stated that Canada would be making a serious mistake by pulling its troops out by 2009 due to the terrorist threat.

Fudge refused to comment on the political decision involving Canada’s participation in Afghanistan, but he did say the giant task of stabilization won’t be completed before the deadline set by Ottawa...

In the last year, the police contingent headed by the RCMP has trained 600 recruits for the Afghan national police. It will take another 3,200 trained recruits to ensure adequate policing and surveillance in Kandahar, Fudge said.

Afghan police face chaos, bribes from drug traffickers and even the possibility of being shot at by the international forces that are supposed to be their allies. They also can face hostility from the local population.

“We’re trying to improve the image of the Afghan national police in the public eye,” Fudge said. “It’s going to take long time, yes. I would say at least one generation, if we do it right.”

Fudge said there were no police stations when he arrived but “I’m proud to say we have five stations under construction right now. Actually, two are finished.”

The long-term plan is for Canada is to build a state-of-the-art police-training facility...

But, heck, let's just get the hell out of there as soon as we (in)decently can. This comment at Milnet.ca sums thing up nicely (scroll down):

I wish those who incessantly beat the defeatist drum would take note. Afghanistan is not a 'good news' story. There is a whole lot which is wrong, progress is slow to sporadic in too many regions, it is, all too often, 'two steps forward and one back' but that is the nature of this campaign. But, there is some progress, everywhere – not as much as many, including, I suspect, most soldiers would like but as much as we can expect given the huge challenges facing Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is as poor and unfortunate as, in Canada, are rich and favoured. Yet many, maybe even most Canadian want to abandon those poor people to the tender mercies of medieval theocrats just because we haven't made a huge, highly visible difference in a very short time. Our celebrity obsessed, instant gratification, me, Me, ME! culture has, apparently broken our will to ”do the right things” and to ”do things right.” Other countries, notably, the valiant and stout hearted Dutch are also wavering. They need a leader to follow – a country that will do the right thing. They need to understand that if they stay it will be as part of a well managed campaign – one which does things right. Canada can and should play both roles: we should lead the way by renewing our commitment to helping the Afghans to help themselves and we should take on a greater role in managing the campaign to ensure that things are done right...