Afghan police training: "Don't shoot", then eat

By Luke Baker

GHULAM ALI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Sergeant Chris Padron, a thick-set former cop from Texas turned police trainer in Afghanistan, fixed the group of earnest Afghan policemen with a hard stare and delivered his next question.

"So, if a man beats up on another man, are you going to go and shoot him?"

The interpreter translated into Dari as the group of policemen, sitting uncomfortably on the lower level of a pair of bunkbeds in the station dormitory, shifted their eyes from Padron to the translator, trying hard to concentrate.

"No," they replied after a moment's thought, almost in unison, some breaking into smiles, others looking like they'd had to give the question some serious consideration first.

"Good," said Padron firmly. "Because that would be an inappropriate response."

The policemen, some of whom have had a decade on the job, were clearly enjoying their training in 'community policing', as the one-hour session, complete with colored handouts, was called, but they also had half a mind on lunch.

As Padron was explaining the finer points of arresting and questioning suspects, one of the trainees took a call on his mobile phone and promptly got up and walked out.

Two others, holding hands in the way Afghan men often do when discussing intimate issues, joked about how little they were being paid and began quizzing Padron about his salary.

Asked afterwards if he thought all 10 would turn up for the scheduled three days of training, Padron didn't try to sugarcoat the situation. "No," he said without hesitation, a wry smile spreading across his face. "Probably not."

POLICE ACADEMY

Around 60,000 Afghan police are now out on the streets, a crucial element in trying to bring security to remote corners of the country, even if the number is small for a nation of Afghanistan's size, with a population of an estimated 28 million.

While most have received a degree of training -- Germany has been running the Kabul Police Academy since 2002 -- the force is still widely regarded as inefficient, unprofessional and corrupt, especially when compared to the Afghan National Army.

Between 2002 and 2007, Germany spent just $80 million on reforming the police, a miniscule sum considering the scale of the task. The United States is now throwing more into the pot, budgeting $800 million for 2008 for all of Afghanistan's Western reliant and backed security forces.

But as well as money, what's needed is on-the-job training, so proper skills can be learnt and immediately put into practice rather than large numbers of officers being hauled off for eight-week-long courses when the lessons are quickly forgotten.

A senior U.S. officer in charge of training told Reuters last week that on top of the 1,000 or so already doing the work, another 1,300 trainers were needed if the Afghan police force is going to be brought up to scratch.