UK deaths expose deep schism

Sayed Karim, Foreign Correspondent

• Last Updated: November 08. 2009 10:10PM UAE / November 8. 2009 6:10PM GMT

British soldiers mentor officers from the Afghan police near Patrol Base Bolan in Afghanistan. Peter Byrne / AP

GARDEZ, PAKTIA PROVINCE // The tension that exists between the Afghan police and foreign soldiers was brought into sharp focus by the deaths of five British troops as they trained local security forces last week.

But the reality is that suspicion on both sides has run deep for years. Each constantly questions the honesty and bravery of the other.

Here, in the south-eastern province of Paktia, it quickly becomes clear that men with no formal education and huge families to feed are often joining the police to take part in a war neither understand nor support.

“I don’t like the Americans. When we go to fight they don’t care about us. They give us guns which stop working after 20 bullets, but they have all kinds of good weapons,” said Gulab Khan, a policeman.

“They go into people’s houses at midnight and take away suspects even when we know some of the people are innocent.”

An Afghan policeman killed the five British troops in Helmand province. Their deaths led to renewed debate in the United Kingdom about a war that is growing increasingly bloody and unpopular.

Suggestions have been made that the shootings could have been carried out by an infiltrator from the Taliban. Regardless of who was behind it, the attack has shone a spotlight on what is an open secret.

Although the international community has put the training of the Afghan army and police at the heart of its long-term strategy, huge morale problems exist among local recruits.

Speaking along with his colleagues before the deaths in Helmand, Mr Khan acknowledged that he was “not happy” with his job. “All the time we wonder who will take care of our family and children if something happens to us,” the 30-year-old said.

“We have God and God will give them food, but if there is no male left in the family what can the women and children do?”

Police in this part of Afghanistan are effectively soldiers, rather than law enforcement officials. They are frequently caught up in battles outside the relative safety of Gardez, the provincial capital. No matter where they are, they are seen as an easy and legitimate target for the Taliban’s roadside bombs and suicide attacks.

Sayed Rahim, 25, has been in the force for around 18 months. The $180 (Dh661) he earns a month helps support his two children and his extended family. That is the main reason he signed up.

“I came here because I didn’t study in school and there were no other jobs,” he said.

Although Mr Rahim insisted he was proud to be working for his country, he expressed severe doubts about the war. “There was a fight with the Taliban and we really didn’t want to fight because we thought, ‘they are also Afghan and if they are killed what will they say about us in the next world? If we killed them it would not be good. It would mean we had killed Muslims’,” he said.

The US and its allies are keen to put an Afghan face on their efforts in order to show clear progress. Police often operate alongside foreign troops throughout the country, joining them on house searches and providing intelligence information.

But the mutual suspicion is unlikely to go away. Nato and US soldiers believe their local colleagues are corrupt, reluctant to fight and, in some cases, in league with the rebels. The police in turn feel looked down upon and are suspicious of the outsiders.

Rahmatullah, 24, has been in the police for two years. He claimed his family would prefer him to work as a beggar and admitted that relations between his colleagues and the foreign troops are often tense.

“They are afraid of us. Sometimes they say that maybe we will shoot them from behind,” he said.

The head of international forces in the country sought to downplay the significance of the attack in Helmand. In a joint statement with the minister of interior, Gen Stanley McChrystal said: “We will not let this event deter our resolve to building a partnership with the Afghan National Security Forces to provide for Afghanistan’s future.”

However, similar incidents have occurred before. In September 2008 a police officer in Paktia killed one US soldier and wounded three others.


foreign.desk@thenational.ae