David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch, Asia
KABUL, Afghanistan – Imagine local American police forces joined local and state gangs, and then attacked the very police station which they were previously employed. This is precisely what took place in Afghanistan according to the provincial governor of the Ghazni region.
In Khogeyani, volatile area southwest of the capital, the entire police force on duty Monday morning appears to have defected to the Taliban side. The New York Times is reporting that the “entire police force on duty Monday morning” in the district of Khogeyani “appears to have defected to the Taliban side.”
Musa Khan Haidar Zada, governor whom reported these events to CNN, indicated that defections were due to the poisonous influence of the Taliban.
Spokesman for the governor, Sayeed Esmaial Jahanger, told CNN that the Taliban took over the district without any violence and that 20 police were not seen again.
“This was not an attack, but a plot,” said Mohammed Yasin, the chief of the Khogeyani police force. “The Taliban and the police made a deal.”
Even a spokesman for the Taliban, said deal were cut and “the movement’s fighters made contact with the Khogeyani’s police force then sacked and burned the station. As officers vanished, so did their guns, trucks, uniforms and food.”
For months, through the tactic of “reintegration” American and Afghan officials have been promoting a plan to persuade multitudes of rank-and-file Taliban fighters to switch and fight on the side of the government. This tactic is one of the big hopes for turning the tide in the war, according to military officials.
The Taliban have developed a reintegration plan of their own.
The local police chief, who missed the attack, said he suspected a defection.
Zabiullah Mujahid, member of the Taliban said the Afghan officers decided to defect after “learning the facts about the Taliban.”
The Taliban reports that, “We never force people to join us,” said Mr. Mujahid, whose name is fictitious. “The police joined us voluntarily and are happy to work with us, and to start the holy war shoulder to shoulder with their Taliban brothers.”
The takeover of the station did not last long. Akbarzada said his office lost contact with the police station at about 5 a.m. Government forces arrived in Khogeyani about three hours later and found the station smoking and abandoned.
Mr. Akbarzada said his Afghan forces would be relentless in their recruitment.
“The Taliban exist in and around the district centers, and we have our own judges, courts, district governors and other officials,” he said. “We do our guerrilla attacks and then leave the district center. This is just a building.”
Provincial Governor Musa Khan Akbarzada insisted that security forces will continue to search for the police and the Taliban they joined with. Taliban spokesman Mujahid insisted that they were long gone, having melted into the countryside.
For more information, please see:
New York Times – Afghan Police Unit Defects to Taliban – 1 November 2010
CNN World – Police in Afghan might have defected – 2 November 2010
AntiWar.com – Afghan Police Defect to Taliban in Secret Deal – 1 November 2010
