Afghan villagers force to fight Taliban
The Local Police Force recruits and trains Afghan villagers in a bid to fight the Taliban militants in remote villages
The Afghan Interior Ministry is recruiting thousands of villagers in a bid to form a local militia force and counter militancy in Afghanistan.
Members of the so-called "Local Police Force" are recruited from among Afghan villagers in areas repeatedly hit by the Taliban.
"The recruits would operate under the interior ministry, which has authority over all Afghan police. They will be paid about 60 percent of the regular police salary," Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Munir Mangal said Wednesday.
"Once fully in theatre, the force will number about 10,000 men," Mangal told AFP.
The commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus reportedly pushed for the establishment of the Iraq-style tribal militias in different meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Karzai initially opposed the idea on concerns that the mistake made in Afghanistan in the 1980s when local militias trained to fight the Mujahedin formed private armies might be repeated.
The Afghan National Security Council, however, finally approved the decision.
In late 2006 the Iraqi government recruited Sunni militants, who had been fighting US and Iraqi forces following the 2003 US-led invasion of the country. The force, named al-Sahwa (Awakening), played a role in curbing violence and returning calm to Iraq.
HJL/HGH/MMN
