Afghan Police Don’t Want U.S. Escalation in Afghanistan

The Afghan police force is, by and large, a corrupt institution that performs the Taliban’s work for it. And yet it’s part of everyone’s plan — from Gen. Stanley McChrystal to Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) to the Wayans Kagans — to eventually shift the security burden for Afghanistan onto the Afghans, because there isn’t any other choice. The police, however, would prefer if the U.S. kept troop levels where they are, according to the AP:

“It is very hard for local people to accept any foreigners who come to our country and say they are fighting for our freedom,” said Gen. Azizudin Wardak, the police chief in Paktia province. “To give the idea that they are not invaders, that they are not occupiers, is very difficult.”

Mohammad Pashtun, the chief of the criminal investigation unit in southern Kandahar province, the Taliban’s heartland, said that the money would be better off going to Afghan forces.

“Increasing international troops is not useful,” he said. “For the expense of one American soldier, we can pay for 15 Afghan soldiers or police.”

That’s not to say we should do or not do anything just because of what the Afghan police desire. But to borrow the phrase the Obama administration has been using for the McChrystal strategy review, it’s one data point among many.