September 16, 2007: The
woefully under-paid and under-equipped Afghan National Police (ANP) force is
about to receive a substantial pay-raise in the coming weeks. The current ANP
wage, a scant $77 dollars a month, will be raised to the equivalent of $150
dollars a month. The much needed pay
raise will certainly boost the morale of Afghanistan's fledgling security
forces, and help curb police corruption
(bribery and robbing civilians.)
The Afghan government has been
repeatedly criticized for the low payments and inconsistent pay checks doled
out to the beleaguered police force, which are often out-gunned and out-manned
by Taliban insurgents. Despite their inadequate training and lack of acceptable
weaponry, ANP units are the central government's only vanguard against the
Taliban in most of the dangerous and remote districts that have little, if any,
government influence.
Tasked with overseeing these
areas from small concrete barracks that are routinely attacked by heavily armed
Taliban marauders, the ANP regularly conduct military-type duties. To make
matters worse, the Taliban launched an operation (Operation Ambush) in May
specifically targeting the ANP. The result: over 500 ANP personnel have died in
the line of duty during the last five months.
The need to increase the pay
of both the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the ANP arose last year when the
Taliban began offering up to $12 dollars a day for any Afghan willing to
participate in menial insurgent tasks such as storing guns and ammunition,
digging holes for improvised explosive devices and helping the Taliban's
logistics effort. In comparison, the average Afghan soldier's paycheck was only
$4 per day, a policeman's even lower.
The Taliban's monetary
insensitive effectively raised the minimum wage and caused an explosion of
'blue collar' insurgents, non-ideologically driven individuals who conducted
various Taliban activities for cold hard cash.
The good news is there have
not been widespread desertions or mutinies within the Afghan security ranks.
The ANP is currently at 72,000 personnel and is expected to meet their goal of
82,000 trained police by 2009.--Matthew C. DuPee
