Afghan police

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With US Gone, Afghans Struggle to Keep Taliban at Bay

1.3K killed between June and November in Helmand province: report

(Newser) - Following the departure of most US forces from Afghanistan, clashes between its security forces and the Taliban have been renewed, with brutal fighting returning to areas that had been comparatively quiet, the New York Times reports. From June to November, some 1,300 members of Afghan security forces were killed...

First Female Afghan Police Chief: I Am Not Afraid

'I am ready to serve' despite Taliban threat, she says

(Newser) - Kabul's District 1 has a new police chief—and the Taliban has a new target. Col. Jamila Bayaz has become the first Afghan policewoman to run an entire district, and she says she is ready to face the challenge despite the threat from militants, the AP reports. "I...

4 Afghan Cops, 2 Civilians Dead in NATO Airstrike

Planes called amid Taliban attack on police post: officials

(Newser) - Four police officers and a pair of civilians have been killed in a NATO airstrike in Afghanistan's Ghazni province, Afghan officials tell AFP . NATO planes had been summoned to help officers at a police post under Taliban attack. "The NATO planes went there to assist the police, but...

Insider Shooting Kills 2 US Troops

Officer opens fire in Afghan police station: officials

(Newser) - A new insider attack in Afghanistan has left five people dead, two of them Americans, say officials. As US troops visited a police station in Wardak province, an Afghan officer reportedly opened fire. Two US troops and three Afghan police were killed in the ensuing skirmish, the AP reports. The...

Insiders Drug, Kill 17 Afghan Cops

Taliban takes credit for new insider attack

(Newser) - In the latest Afghan police insider attack, 17 officers were drugged at dinner and killed while they were passed out. Two policemen have reportedly been arrested in the Ghazni province attack; officials say they're Taliban members. After shooting the victims—seven of whom were still in training—the escaping...

$7.3M US-Built Afghan Police Camp Sits Nearly Empty

Inspectors find Kunduz compound locked, unused

(Newser) - A $7.3 million, 12-building compound built by the US Army Corps of Engineers for the Afghan Border Police resembled a ghost town just two months after it was handed over to Afghan authorities, Reuters reports. Inspectors found just 12 personnel at the Kunduz province base camp, which had been...

Rocked by 'Friendly' Attacks, NATO Yanks Afghan Training

With 'green-on-blue' attacks rising, coalition pauses to re-vet recruits

(Newser) - With NATO forces in Afghanistan struggling to stop attacks from their own allies, training for all new recruits has been suspended while the 27,000 Afghan troops who work with the coalition can be re-screened for insurgency ties, reports the Washington Post . So far this year, so-called "green-on-blue" attacks...

Afghan Attacks Go Unreported
 Afghan Attacks Go Unreported 
ap exclusive
Apr 30, 2012 3:39 PM CDT

Afghan Attacks Go Unreported

Attacks on coalition forces reported only when fatal

(Newser) - When Afghan police or soldiers gun down coalition troops, that's news. But the coalition doesn't report such incidents when troops are only wounded or go unharmed—even though the attacks are driven by the same fury against Afghanistan's occupiers, the AP reports. Last week, for example, the...

Twin Afghan Bombings Kill at Least 18

Both attacks targeted gov't buildings, including police station in Helmand

(Newser) - Two suicide bombings in Afghanistan killed at least 18 people today, including eight policemen in an attack on a police station in southern Helmand province, reports the AP . Three men with bombs tried to enter a police station. Police spotted the attack and killed one man, but the other two...

Afghanistan Routinely Tortures Prisoners: UN

'Even stones confess here,' one guard said; Kabul promises reform

(Newser) - A UN investigation has uncovered “a compelling pattern … of systemic torture and ill-treatment” in Afghan prisons, with prisoners reporting being beaten and shocked with electrical cables, hung by their hands, and having their genitals twisted until they passed out, the New York Times reports. Nearly half of all...

Taliban: We Kidnapped 50 Afghan Cops

Ambush new grads traveling in Kunar province

(Newser) - The Taliban claimed today that it kidnapped 50 Afghan policemen in northeastern Afghanistan—part of the insurgents' murder and intimidation campaign against anyone affiliated with the US-backed government. Militants ambushed the policemen yesterday afternoon after being tipped off that they would be traveling in Kunar province, a Taliban spokesman said....

Entire Afghan Police Station Defects to Taliban

19 cops cut a deal with insurgents, sack, burn station

(Newser) - An entire Afghan police station defected to the Taliban today, with as many as 19 officers joining insurgent fighters in sacking and burning their own station, the New York Times reports. The lone remaining cop of the station southwest of Kabul—the chief—said that the turncoats took their guns,...

Afghan Tribe to Fight Taliban in Deal for US Aid

US hopes for similar deals throughout Afghanistan

(Newser) - In a groundbreaking pact, an entire Afghan tribe has pledged to join with the US-backed government to fight the Taliban. The 400,000-strong Shinwari tribe, which controls key areas on the Pakistan border, will battle insurgents, burn down homes harboring Taliban fighters, and contribute one military-aged male from each family...

Obama Gambles on Dubious Afghan Allies
Obama Gambles on Dubious Afghan Allies
Dexter Filkins
Dec 2, 2009 8:49 AM CST

Obama Gambles on Dubious Afghan Allies

Surge relies on corrupt Karzai government, poorly-trained military

(Newser) - By announcing an 18-month timetable, Barack Obama has thrown down the gauntlet for an Afghan government and military that have so far proven unreliable. Hamid Karzai’s government is considered among the world’s most corrupt, but Obama seems to be betting that the withdrawal timetable will encourage it to...

Backing Afghan Militias Makes NATO Allies Queasy

Experts worry $1.3B from US won't buy loyalty of local fighters

(Newser) - The US hasn’t given its Western allies the details of its plan to recruit and fund tribal militias to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, fearing, correctly, that they won’t like it, the Guardian reports. The strategy is already under way in 14 areas, with a budget of some...

NATO Airstrike Kills 7 Afghan Soldiers

Mistaken assault on joint NATO, Afghan base

(Newser) - A NATO airstrike in the western province of Badghis mistakenly hit a joint base housing coalition troops and Afghan security forces, killing four Afghan soldiers and three policemen, Afghan officials said today. An Afghan army commando unit, district police members and foreign forces were in the base in the Bala...

Rogue Afghan Cop Kills 5 Brit Soldiers

Culprit escapes after turning weapon on training team

(Newser) - Five British soldiers died in Helmand province yesterday after a rogue Afghan cop opened fire on a group of Afghan policemen and their British mentors drinking tea together. The mentors had been training the Afghans for two weeks when one of the trainees turned his weapon on them without warning....

Bomb Blast in Western Afghanistan Kills 10

Targeted police chief critically injured; Taliban claims responsibility

(Newser) - A remote-controlled bomb exploded today in western Afghanistan's main city, killing 10 and critically wounding a district police chief, the main target of the attack. Police said 30 were injured. The bomb went off on a crowded street near a fruit market in Herat. The police chief for a nearby...

Military Seeks Much Bigger Boost for Afghan Forces

(Newser) - America's new top commander in Afghanistan believes the country's security forces will need a much bigger upgrade than planned if President Obama's strategy is going to work, officials tell the Washington Post. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, still doing a 60-day assessment, is said to have concluded that the expansion of Afghan...

Vastly Corrupt Afghan Cops Await US Trainers

Obama's plan to train cops faces tough challenge

(Newser) - The 4,000 troops President Obama is sending to train Afghanistan's police and army will run straight into a formidable wall of corruption that undermines national security at every turn, American soldiers tell the New York Times. Cops pilfer gas, judges take money, top officials profit from the drug trade,...

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