Volatile Afghan Area Gets Policed

[unhappycamper]

Volatile Afghan Area Gets Policed
March 10, 2009
Associated Press

TAGAB VALLEY, Afghanistan - As a teenager is released to village elders, a U.S. commander warns him to stay away from the Taliban fighters with whom he was arrested. Then the American orders him to thank the district police chief for his freedom.

"Listen to me: he's your hero, not Taliban," the commander tells the bearded young man.

Police Col. Zelawar Zahed wasn't involved in the arrest and didn't have the power to release the youth on his own. But the nod to his authority indicates one key way in which NATO and the U.S. are seeking to rescue their faltering efforts to stabilize Afghanistan.

The international community has spent several years and hundreds of millions of dollars training Afghanistan's army and police.

Afghan forces will play a vital role in securing presidential elections expected in July. Ultimately, they are supposed to reach a strength that allows the foreign troops to go home.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/031009/volatile-afghan-area-gets-policed.html?col=1186032310810



uhc comment: This sounds like the "When they stand up, we'll stand down" shtick.