VZCZCXRO4801
RR RUEHDBU RUEHIK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #5845/01 3480653
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 140653Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4882
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3397
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KABUL 005845 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/FO DAS GASTRIGHT, SCA/A 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG 
NSC FOR HARRIMAN 
OSD FOR KIMMITT 
CENTCOM FOR CG CFC-A, CG CJTF-76 POLAD 
 
SENSITIVE, SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958 N/A 
TAGS: MCAP MOPS PREL PGOV PTER PHUM AF
SUBJECT: PRT JALALABAD: POLICE TRAINING WITH MINIMAL RESOURCES 
YIELDS 
MAXIMUM RESULTS 
 
Reftel:  Kabul 5566 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  Jalalabad PRT Officer accompanied a 
two-military member PRT police evaluation and 
assistance team to two ANP district headquarters on 
November 25.  The team conducted a simple survey of 
equipment, personnel, and facilities, and led a short 
training session.  Both visits were extremely well 
received, and demonstrated how much can be 
accomplished using simple techniques and limited 
resources.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) Jalalabad PRT Officer accompanied a PRT police 
assistance and evaluation team to two Nangarhar 
districts on November 25.  This was the first visit in 
a new initiative to conduct training and assessment in 
all 22 district and five city ANP headquarters.  This 
effort began with a two-day conference at the PRT on 
November 20 and 21, which nineteen of the 22 District 
Police chiefs attended.  Rather than conducting 
training for the policemen themselves at the PRT, the 
team decided to visit each district center in order to 
allow more police to participate in the training, 
provide the team with actual "eyes on" of the 
situation in each district, and keep police in their 
district rather than being way for a day to travel to 
the PRT in Jalalabad. 
 
¶3.  (U) The team conducting this training and 
assessment consisted of only two soldiers, Sergeant 
McGowan Anderson and Sergeant Carlus Church.  The 
third member of their team was on leave.  In spite of 
having only two members and employing very simple 
methods to survey the situation and conduct a short 
training, the PRT Officer was impressed with how 
effective this was, and how much of a difference it 
made. 
 
------ 
Method 
------ 
 
¶4.  (U) The team followed a very simple formula in 
both districts.  The team began with three pages of 
simple survey questions, going through a list of 
supplies as well as activities in the district.  The 
survey asked about weapons, ammunition, uniforms, 
boots, blankets, and food - what they had and what 
they had formally requested already.  In both 
districts, they repeatedly emphasized that the Police 
Chief needs to make formal requests on the Form 14 to 
the Police Headquarters (PHQ) in Kabul.  They 
encouraged the Police Chiefs to keep repeating their 
requests through their system until their needs are 
met, rather than giving up and asking the PRT for the 
supplies.  Sergeant Anderson explained to the PRT 
Officer that this repeated emphasis helped stress the 
importance of beginning to rely on their own 
government and holding them accountable for long term 
sustenance, rather than looking for one-time hand-outs 
from the PRT or other international organizations that 
will eventually leave the country. 
 
¶5.  (U) The team then met with each of the police 
section heads who were present: Logistics, Personnel, 
Criminal, and Narcotics.  They asked for the number of 
police and rank of all members of the force, what 
crimes the police had responded to in the recent past, 
and how they had reacted.  Following the survey, we 
took a tour of the facilities - offices, living 
quarters, jail, equipment storage, and then the two 
sergeants conducted a short training session on riot 
control and the proper use of a baton. 
 
---------------------- 
Visit to Kama District 
 
KABUL 00005845  002 OF 004 
 
 
---------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) The first visit was to the Kama District, a 
prosperous farming district with extensive irrigation 
from the Kunar River, just east of Jalalabad city. 
The police headquarters is located in the PRT-built 
District Center.  Kama Police Chief Gholam Farooq 
reported that 60 people are assigned to the district 
police force, but only 28 actually work there, as many 
work in Jalalabad.  (At the end of the visit, 28 
policemen did participate in Sgt. Anderson's 
training.)  The Logistics Officer reported that they 
have 30 pistols, 28 AK-47's, two motorcycles that are 
not working, two operable hand held radios, and a 
generator but no fuel.  They reported that each 
policeman has one summer uniform, but the only 
policemen with winter uniforms are those that 
purchased their own.  (The chief said he bought his in 
the local market.)  They have no sleeping bags, and 
their blankets are all one to three years old. 
(Comment:  The Ministry of Interior (MOI), in 
coordination with Combined Security Training Command - 
Afghanistan (CSTC-A), is working to issue winter 
equipment and supplies as quickly as it arrives in 
theater.  The equipment is issued from the MOI to the 
Provincial Logistics Officers.)  There are no first 
aid kits, and clinic doctors don't have medicine. 
 
¶7.  (U) Sergeants Anderson and Church discussed what 
would be a reasonable request for supplies, and 
repeatedly encouraged the Chief to submit the request 
to the Provincial Headquarters on a Form 14 once per 
month.  They said that unfilled requests should be 
repeated, and they asked that the PRT be provided 
copies so that they could help with follow-up. 
 
¶8.  (U) The most recent criminal activity the police 
reported was a land dispute the day before.  We were 
shown the "prison" which was a room in a primitive 
building adjacent to the district center.  The windows 
were bricked up and there was a padlock on the door. 
Four elderly gentlemen were lying on mats on the floor 
(we assumed that they had been involved in the land 
dispute the day before).  The Chief said that there is 
very little criminal activity in the district, and 
that the local villagers will tell them when someone 
is acting strangely, or an unknown person comes to the 
village.  When asked for an example, he mentioned an 
incident one month ago when villagers reported a man 
acting very strangely.  The police went to the village 
and arrested the man, but quickly realized that he was 
mentally unstable rather than a criminal, and he was 
released shortly after being arrested.  They reported 
no narcotics activity in the district, and said that 
there are no poppies grown there. 
 
¶9.  (U) District Sub-Governor Mohammad Ali Sangasray 
joined the group at this point, and SGT Anderson 
explained that they had come to help make sure that 
the police are equipped and trained.  The Sub-Governor 
said he was brand new, having only arrived in the 
district on Thursday.  (Comment - Nangarhar sub- 
governors are all former Mujahadeen.  The Nangarhar 
provincial government moves them between provinces 
quite frequently, seldom leaving them in one district 
more than six months.)  Sub-Governor Sangasray gave an 
impassioned speech about having been the police chief 
in Kama himself, and that his police need more 
training and better equipment.  He said that while the 
people in Kama support the government, it is unfair 
that they do not grow poppies, while districts like 
Shinwar that do grow poppies receive all the 
government support.  (Comment:  This is a refrain that 
we hear in virtually all districts.  In fact, we heard 
this same argument at the PRT Conference earlier this 
month on the provincial level.) 
 
KABUL 00005845  003 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶10.  (U) SGT Anderson then conducted a short Riot 
Control and Collapsible Baton Training for the 28 
policemen, as well as a short question and answer 
session.  He asked the police what their issues were. 
The first response was that their pay is not enough to 
support a family.  SGT Anderson explained the recent 
pay reform, and encouraged them to be patient as 
salaries should increase very soon.  He asked them 
about the new bank card system, and they complained 
that they now have to spend almost half their salary 
to get a taxi to Jalalabad to pick their salary up 
from the bank.  SGT Anderson explained that this is 
part of a system that will ultimately lead to them 
being able to each receive 100 percent of their 
salary, rather than having to share a cut with a 
middle man doing the distribution.  He said that it 
would also benefit the country's banking system and 
that the goal was to have a bank right in Kama where 
they could easily collect their full salary.  (Note: 
Reftel explains this new pay system for the ANP.  End 
note.) 
 
¶11.  (U) Several policemen also complained about the 
proposed housing development for police next to the 
Regional Training Center in Rodat, just outside of 
Jalalabad.  They said that they were being asked to 
pay multiple fees for the right to settle on land that 
was supposed to be given to support the police and 
their families.  They also asked about the payment of 
1000 Afghanis that President Karzai had promised to 
distribute to the police country-wide this month. 
 
---------------------------- 
Visit to the Goshta District 
---------------------------- 
 
¶12.  (U) The team then traveled to the district of 
Goshta, which sits between Kama and the Pakistani 
border.  We met Police Chief Jan Dad who had recently 
transferred to Goshta, following training at the PRT 
two weeks earlier.  He had previously served in Kabul 
and as a teacher at the Regional Training Center for 
police in Rodat. 
 
¶13.  (U) Chief Dad reported that there are 45 
patrolmen and 21 officers assigned to the district, 
but 18 of them are working in Jalalabad, leaving 48 
personnel actually in the district.  As far as 
equipment, they have 20 pistols, 20 AK-47's, two 
working trucks and one motorcycle, four handheld 
radios, and one private generator that is not working. 
Each officer has one summer uniform and one winter 
uniform, but they have no sleeping bags and no first 
aid kits.  He reported that they have no jail, but 
they have a room in the school next door where they 
can lock people up.  There are three checkpoints in 
the district, where they search vehicles for weapons 
or drugs. 
 
¶14.  (U) Chief Dad and his Criminal Officer, Khaki 
Shah, reported that much of the trouble in the 
district comes from conflicts between the two large 
tribes in the district.  They also mentioned that they 
had arrested three people nine months earlier who were 
accused of over 80 cases of carjacking and murder. 
The persons had been convicted and are now sentenced 
to 16 years in prison and SGT Anderson congratulated 
them for breaking up this crime ring.  Other than 
that, they reported that they had had no other crimes 
in the past two years. 
 
¶15.  (U) We then toured their facilities.  Like in 
Kama, they have offices in the District Center itself, 
as well as very primitive small buildings adjacent to 
the center for both housing and storage.  They showed 
 
KABUL 00005845  004 OF 004 
 
 
us where their weapons were stored in a locked wooden 
box underneath one of the beds in a nine person dorm 
room.  SGT Anderson insisted that they open the box 
and examine the weapons, but the police said that they 
were not operable.  Only after much urging, they 
brought the box out and unlocked it, revealing ten 
Czech M-58 assault rifles (analogous to AK-47's). 
They insisted that the guns were not operable anyway, 
but upon inspection, SGT. Anderson determined that 
they were fine, only in need of cleaning and routine 
maintenance.  He offered to take them back to the PRT 
to do this himself, but they were reluctant to let 
them leave the district.  So he invited them to bring 
the weapons to the PRT themselves, and he would show 
them how to properly clean and operate them, as well 
as give them lunch.  SGT. Anderson joked that keeping 
the weapons under the bed only protected them from 
monsters who might try to hide there.  He said that 
the next time he visited, he wanted to see that the 
weapons were all out and serviceable and ready to be 
used against other threats as well.  We then inspected 
the "jail" which, as described earlier, was a room in 
the school next door.  We all agreed that it was not a 
room that we would want to be locked in, as there was 
garbage and human feces on the dirt floor in the room. 
 
¶16.  (U) In a similar question and answer period to 
our visit in Kama, the police expressed concerns about 
the new pay card, and SGT Anderson again explained the 
concept and encouraged them to be patient and believe 
that the system would offer many benefits for the 
policemen and the country once fully operational. 
 
¶17.  (U) SGTs Anderson and Church conducted a Riot 
Control and Collapsible Baton training with this 
group, though only five of the 19 actually had batons. 
However, it was a lively session, enthusiastically 
received, as the sergeants demonstrated how to use the 
batons for crowd control, repeatedly emphasizing that 
they were defensive weapons, and not for any type of 
aggressive beating or hitting. 
 
¶18.  (U) Chief Dad insisted that we stay for lunch, 
and tried to take us inside his office, while serving 
our infantry protection team outside with the Humvees. 
SGT Anderson insisted that we would all eat outside, 
as it was important for unit cohesion that we not 
differentiate through unequal treatment.  Chief Dan 
insisted that Afghan custom would not let him host the 
trainers outside, so eventually a compromise was 
reached and four soldiers were left outside with the 
Humvees and the rest crowded around the table in the 
Chief's office for a traditional meal of rice, bread, 
and chicken. 
 
¶19.  (U) Comment:  These two visits show how much can 
be done to make a difference, even with limited 
resources.  This simple survey and training, as well 
as the expression of interest and concern for the 
policemen and their work, is an excellent example of 
supporting all three lines of the PRT operation: 
enhancing security, extending the reach of the Afghan 
government, and promoting development (in this case, 
development of human capital).  It especially 
demonstrated to these local policemen, who are working 
for very low pay in often harsh conditions, that both 
the Afghan government and international community do 
support what they are doing for their communities and 
their country.