PAKTIKA: COMPLAINTS ABOUT ANP MANPOWER ALLOCATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L KABUL 002627

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, EUR/RPM
STATE PASS USAID FOR ASIA/SCAA
NSC FOR WOOD
OSD FOR WILKES
CENTCOM FOR CG CSTC-A, CG CJTF-101 POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2013
TAGS: PGOV PREL AF
SUBJECT: PAKTIKA: COMPLAINTS ABOUT ANP MANPOWER ALLOCATION
IN FOCUSED DEVELOPMENT DISTRICTS

Classified By: Acting DCM Alan Yu for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


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SUMMARY
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1. (C) Citizens and government officials in Paktika's two
Focused District Development (FDD) districts, Mata Khan and
Sar Hawza, complain about problems with manpower allocation
created by Paktika's ANP commander. Due in a large part to
diversion of manpower resources, citizens and officials say
the program is failing to meet their expectations. On the
positive side, Sar Hawza District leaders say that after FDD,
the officers are better trained and equipped than their
predecessors and demonstrate superior policing and
investigative skills. MG Mullah Khel, Paktika's ANP
commander, directed approximately 35 police officers to
Sharana instead of allowing them to take their posts
alongside their FDD-trained colleagues. Authorities have
deployed those officers to their original postings but a
number of other factors have caused chronic understaffing.

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DISCUSSION
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2. (C) District leaders in Sar Hawza stated that the new
police officers, many of whom hail from Kunduz Province,
are indeed better-trained and better-equipped than their
predecessors. They clearly demonstrate superior policing
and investigative skills than the force in place prior to FDD
training. However, these gains are offset in the minds
of the people when they observe the police charging illegal
tolls or harassing local vendors and citizens. The
District Administrator suggested that FDD training should
include additional ethics modules to address these
issues. Currently, the FDD includes 10 hours of training on
police officers' ethical and moral responsibilities. In Mata
Khan, District leaders were less negative in their
assessment, though the fact that many police officers were
not serving at their duty station severely limited the
force's ability to patrol and react to incidents within the
district.


3. (C) In turn, ANP officers from both districts complain
that too many of their colleagues have been siphoned off to
Sharana and elsewhere. MG Mullah Khel initially resisted
efforts by Police Mentoring Teams (PMT) to return the full
complement of FDD-trained officers to their respective
districts. Even after he acquiesced, following a tense
conversation with Governor Khpalwak, he delayed action for
several weeks before finally agreeing to return the
officers and equipment that had been diverted to Sharana. It
is not known at this time if the Provincial Chief of
Police diverted manpower resources, for political or security
reasons.


4. (C) The Sar Hawza ANP team, which suffered a crippling
blow on August 8 when an IED killed five officers and the
District Chief of Police, complained that it was unable to
respond to the IED attack or pursue the
Anti-Afghan Forces that planted it because its numbers had
been cut to 36, half of the normal ANP
contingent assigned to the district. At present, Mata Khan
has even fewer officers, just 28. PMTs confirm that
neither district has enjoyed full staffing due to significant
security threats along the main highway between
Ghazni and Sharana that prevent officers returning from
leave. The removal of some officers due to drug use, and
the diversion of officers to Sharana mentioned above also
contribute to the staffing shortage.
DELL