The international community plans to hand over responsibility for security in Afghanistan to Afghan institutions by the year 2014. The quality of Afghan security forces is an important condition for the withdrawal of international military forces. Therefore, donor states not only massively invest in the training and equipment of the Afghan Army, but also of the Afghan National Police (ANP). However, in recent years one could observe a shift from a civilian approach to a military dominated police rebuild.
In HSFK-Reports No. 9/2010 "Militarisierung statt Bürgernähe: Das Missverhältnis beim Aufbau der afghanischen Polizei" (Militarization vs. Civilian Policing: Problems of Reforming the Afghan Police) Cornelius Friesendorf and Jörg Krempel demonstrate the problematic aspects of this shift towards a quick militarization of the ANP. The authors argue for a gradual re-orientation of the police reform to better meet the needs of the Afghan population.
The report can be ordered at PRIF at the prize of EUR 6,- and is also available as free PDF download.