Discovering the Soul of Policing in Afghanistan
who had become his closest friend. While many of their colleagues didn’t care how effective they were, or were only working as police for the opportunities to make money through graft
and corruption, Hamid and Elias shared the desire to serve.
Patrolling within their district, they made an effective team.
A U.S. Army trainer from the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan (NTM-A) provides mentoring to an Afghan recruit.
flict, oppression, and endless cycles of violence and retaliation.
Because of this the people are distrustful of their leaders, and
are tired of promises made and promises broken. There is a
generation of young Afghans who have the energy and will to
make a difference, but these young people don’t always see that
the opportunities can outweigh the risks of aligning themselves
with a government that still has a tenuous hold on its power. In
2008, for example, only 12 percent of young Afghans expressed
any desire to join the ANP. By early 2010, that percentage had
increased to more than 30 percent, but the actual number of
Afghans enlisting was still too low. In the drive to recruit young
talent for the ANP, the government has struggled to reach this
young generation and it wasn’t until November 2010 that ANP
recruiting goals were finally met. To achieve this goal required
an intensive, NTM-A supported effort to help the Afghans
professionalize recruiting capacity, improve infrastructure and
management at collection points, and reform the entire personnel accountability system.3
In a nation with an illiteracy rate exceeding 80 percent, Hamid
was a standout recruit. His education qualified him to become
a non-commissioned officer, and he attended the six-month
NCO Course at the Kabul National Police Academy. Following his “very strong,” as he likes to describe it, police education,
which included two and a half months of training back in his
home province of Kandahar, he was assigned to a District in
Kabul as a Police Sergeant in the AUP.
Initially, Hamid was happy with the job. He took great satisfaction in interacting with people, and he felt that helping them
was the best part of his position. He was also fortunate in that
he was assigned to work alongside Elias, an A