Afghan Local Police (ALP)

ALP and SIGAR Report. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction has published a report entitled Afghan Local Police: A Critical Rural Security Initiative Lacks Adequate Logistics Support, Oversight, and Direction, SIGAR 16-3 Audit Report, October 2015. The report cites a number of factors that limit the effectiveness of the ALP and provides several recommendations to improve the capability of the ALP.www.sigar.mil/pdf/audits/SIGAR-16-3-AR.pdf

Profile of a Strongman. The Afghan government is considering the expansion of the Afghan Local Police or ALP to counter the resurgent Taliban. While the ALP provides security in areas where the Afghan National Police are weak and the Afghan National Army is scarce; the ALP also comes with some baggage. Local warlords sometimes co-opt these local police forces and use them for their own purposes. Read more - "In Afghanistan, a strongman rises in battle against a resurgent Taliban", Stars & Stripes, October 29, 2015. Warlords in Afghanistan are considered by many to be a huge problem - but some see they as a source of stability where government rule is ineffective or not yet established. One author believes that areas under the control of a warlord are not exactly 'ungoverned space' (Defense One,  Oct 29, 2015).

Former Kandahar PRT Member & ALP. A former political director of the Kandarhar Provincial Reconstruction Team, Abdullah Sharif, thinks expanding the ALP is a bad idea. Read "Afghan Security Woes Continue Unabated", The Huffington Post, October 29, 2015.

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