When a man from Kandahar city was kidnapped last week, a crime that occurs with startling regularity in this city heavily infiltrated by Taliban and drug lords, the suspect was a policeman.
Two days earlier, the police searched a truck used by the Afghan Border Police and found 25 kilograms of hashish. Canadian officers who are in Kandahar to mentor their Afghan counterparts termed that a success. They point out that the Afghan National Police made the arrest.
And while the Afghan National Army is making clear strides toward becoming a professionally organized and trained force, the progress of the police in this country is measured by the smallest of victories.
William Elliott, the RCMP commissioner who visited Afghanistan this week to tour police-training facilities in Kabul and Kandahar, told reporters yesterday that advances are being made.
There are currently 34 Canadian police officers in Afghanistan to teach their Afghan counterparts how to conduct investigations, document their work, handle suspects and pursue the other components of good policing.
Seventeen are members of the RCMP; the rest are volunteers from other provincial and municipal forces.
And the number is increasing, Mr. Elliott said. Until recently, there were just 29 Canadian officers on the ground, and the aim is to have 50 there by September.
"Fifty may not sound like a terribly big number. But I think with the additional 21 people that we will have here, we will play an increasing role with respect to the teaching and training and mentoring that needs to be done."
In addition, said Mr. Elliott, the RCMP will be placing an assistant commissioner in the Canadian embassy in Kabul.
The government of Canada committed last week to provide $19-million to pay for the salaries of the Afghan national police, an amount equivalent to 3,000 officers for two years.
The Canadian police mentors are teaching their charges the essentials of their trade.
One corner of the training facility at the Canadian camp of the provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar city resembles an extremely crude set of the television series CSI with a car that police officers can search and mark for evidence.
And Canadian taxpayers have paid for the building of several new police sub-stations.
But the police who live in them lack basic tools and amenities, including food, clothing, guns and ammunition.
Mr. Elliott said he knows that the distribution of equipment has been "spotty."
"I would certainly agree that there is a lot of work to do and there are very many challenges with respect to the current state of policing in Afghanistan," he said.
"I don't think any of us minimize the challenges that we have with respect to how far the ANP has to go and I think, frankly, we have to be realistic as to how far they can go and how far they will go and in what time frame."
