Afghans Fear Their Police More Than The Taliban

By Steve Hynd

Surely this is a massive wrench in the works for US stratergy in Afghanistan?

PANKELA, Afghanistan, July 12 (Reuters) - As British troops moved into the village newly freed from Taliban control, they heard one message from the anxious locals: for God's sake do not bring back the Afghan police.

U.S. and British troops have launched a campaign to seize control of Helmand province, about half of which was in Taliban hands, and restore Afghan government institutions.

But as they advance, they are learning uncomfortable facts about their local allies: villagers say the government's police force was so brutal and corrupt that they welcomed the Taliban as liberators.

"The police would stop people driving on motorcycles, beat them and take their money," said Mohammad Gul, an elder in the village of Pankela, which British troops have been securing for the past three days after flying in by helicopter.

He pointed to two compounds of neighbours where pre-teen children had been abducted by police to be used for the local practice of "bachabazi", or sex with pre-pubescent boys.

"If the boys were out in the fields, the police would come and rape them," he said. "You can go to any police base and you will see these boys. They hold them until they are finished with them and then let the child go."

The Interior Ministry in Kabul said it would contact police commanders in the area before responding in detail.

When the Taliban arrived in the village 10 months ago and drove the police out, local people rejoiced, said Mohammad Rasul, a toothless elderly farmer who keeps a few cows and chickens in a neatly tended orchard of pomegranate trees, figs and grape vines.

Although his own son was killed by a Taliban roadside bomb five years ago, Rasul said the fighters earned their welcome in the village by treating people with respect.

"We were happy (after the Taliban arrived). The Taliban never bothered us," he said.

Before the Taliban arrived, the police had come to his house with a powerful landlord he called a "tyrant", who put a rifle in his face, searched through his compound and demanded money.

"If (the British) bring these people back, we can't live here. If they come back, I am sure they will burn everything," Rasul said.

Obama, Gates, Petraeus, McChrystal and all have been busily saying that the Afghan police and army will hold areas cleared by Coalition troops. That doesn't sound like it's going to work. It'll require far more police and soldeirs than Afghanistan can ever afford, leaving it beholden to America - a de facto satrapy - for generations. And now it doesn't appear as if the populace will accept that answer anyway.

"Every time we heard that new ANP would come. But the old ANP would come back and it would be just like in the past."

"The people here trust the Taliban," he said. "If the police come back and behave the same way, we will support the Taliban to drive them out."