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Afghan police force 'is full of corrupt idiots who take drugs'
Ross Lydall05.11.09
The Afghan police force is filled with a "band of idiots" who are corrupt, take drugs and open fire indiscriminately, according to a senior British soldier.
The soldier said the mentoring of the police - a key part of Britain's strategy to eventually withdraw from Afghanistan - amounted to "changing nappies" rather than teaching adults.
He said he was saddened but not surprised that one policeman, who was acting for the Taliban, had killed five British soldiers.
He told the Independent: "Most of them were corrupt and took drugs, particularly opium. The lads would go into police stations at night and they would be stoned; sometimes they would fire indiscriminately at nothing.
"They had no understanding of the basics of what it means to be a policeman. We expected to be teaching adults at a certain level and then realised we would be changing nappies. Give them 20 rounds and they will hit the target once. They didn't have a concept of being upstanding members of the community. They had no loyalty, esprit de corps or camaraderie."
He said they had the "attention span of gnats" and their incompetence meant British lives were lost. Troops deliberately avoided disclosing the location of training exercises to prevent them tipping-off Taliban insurgents.
There were no security checks on the police, leaving the British having to trust the local chief of police. They would often desert posts, meaning that ground taken from the Taliban was quickly lost.
The soldier said: "It was difficult just getting them to a basic level, to do things like man a post.
"They would take drugs, go to sleep, leave their post, have sex with each other. Very few were vigilant or alert."
However, they were good at spotting roadside bombs - though some would pick them up - and had local knowledge. But their abilities were vastly inferior to the Afghan National Army.
"I am convinced that a lot of money has been wasted and people have lost their lives unnecessarily because it was for a political end, and not a military decision," the soldier said.
