US halts Afghan police training

The US military has halted the training of some members of the Afghan Local Police force for at least a month following a string of attacks on international forces by men in Afghan National Security Force uniforms.

Monday, September 03, 2012

The US military has halted the training of some members of the Afghan Local Police force for at least a month following a string of attacks on international forces by men in Afghan National Security Force uniforms.Sunday’s announcement would affect about 1,000 new recruits to the ALP, a security force separate from the Afghan National Police that operates in the more insecure and remote areas of the Central Asian nation."The training of the ALP [Afghan Local Police] recruits has been paused while we go through this re-vetting process, to take a look at this process to see if there’s anything that we can improve,’’ Lieutenant Colonel John Harrell, a spokesman for US special operations forces in Afghanistan, said. "It may take a month, it may take two months, we don’t know.’’The remainder of the 16,000-strong force, that operates independently of the national police force, will be re-vetted by the US Special Operations Command.There have been 34 friendly fire attacks this year - at least 15 in August alone - that have killed 45 international troops.