How Panjwai slipped out of control

Bitter dispute between police forces gives Taliban upper hand in district where Canadians were slain

GRAEME SMITH, Globe & Mail, 6 Jul 07

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KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- Afghan police fought deadly battles against their own colleagues from the intelligence service in Panjwai recently, local officials say, in a bloody example of the chaos that has partly unravelled security in a district where six Canadians died this week.

In the hours after an explosion engulfed a Canadian troop carrier in Panjwai on Wednesday, military commanders described the attack as an exception to the success they have enjoyed in the district. Panjwai has been largely pacified, Canadian officials say, by a year of intense military effort and millions of dollars in aid.

"This part of Afghanistan, the Panjwai area, is one of the safer areas in the province," Brigadier-General Tim Grant said of the latest deaths.

But parts of the district are falling back into Taliban hands, locals say, after security duties were handed to a ragtag police force that quickly found itself overwhelmed by a lack of supplies and reduced to banditry for survival.

The 05 Police Standby Battalion, a reserve unit, became notorious for corruption and desertions soon after it deployed to Panjwai this spring. The police unit also marked a new low point in the recent history of policing in the region when a police commander revived an old feud with an official from the National Directorate for Security, the Afghan intelligence agency.

The personal dispute spiralled into open warfare between the two law-enforcement agencies around the villages of Mushan and Talokan in recent weeks, according to police who survived the battles, and village elders from the district.

At one point, officers from the 05 Battalion say they were besieged in a concrete outpost and watched three of their friends die slowly of gunshot wounds, unable to take them to hospital as they remained trapped for days by hostile fire.

Dozens have been reported killed or injured in the fighting, although it's unclear how many of the casualties were the result of internecine warfare and how many were caused by Taliban fighters returning to take advantage of the feud between government forces.

Ismatullah, a young police commander, said his 05 Battalion unit was assigned in April to take over security in Mushan, about 50 kilometres southwest of Kandahar city. By his own admission, Ismatullah says his men quickly resorted to thievery to supply themselves with things in short supply: money, food, bullets and fuel.

Even their outpost was taken by force, he said, describing how his police chased away a family that had been living in an abandoned clinic and turned it into a small fort.

Ismatullah says his unit contained 40 officers when they arrived in Mushan, but he now commands only a handful of men after 14 died, five were injured, and others ran away.

What remains of his group pulled back last month to the village of Zangabad, where the fighting continues, he said.

"I haven't slept in two days," he said, during a visit to Kandahar city for supplies. "We are ambushed every night. We have enemies from both sides, Taliban and government. It's a bad position."

Ismatullah's mobile phone rang as he talked and he quickly excused himself. Fighting had resumed, he said, and he needed to help his men.

Another police commander from the 05 Battalion, a middle-aged former mujahedeen fighter named Obidullah, said his unit in Zangabad has suffered similar losses. He commanded 50 police earlier this year, he said, but deaths and desertions have left him with 20 men.

The government hasn't given him enough supplies for any part of his job, he said; he even lacked money to give his fallen comrades a proper burial. But the biggest concern facing the local police is the infighting, he said.

"This is a big problem when two arms of the government fight each other," Obidullah said. "The Taliban take advantage of this."

The recent battles in Mushan started without any Taliban involvement, Obidullah said: The conflict was only between tribal relatives of two factions who held grudges dating back to the 1980s. But the infighting weakened the government forces and insurgents were able to seize the western edge of the district, he said.

The feud started with two commanders of the mujahedeen - holy warriors - who fought the Russians together but then squabbled over control of checkpoints around Kandahar after the Soviet retreat, said Haji Abdul Rahim Jan, a local tribal elder.

Both of the mujahedeen have long since died, Mr. Jan said, but their loyal followers Mohammed Azim and Abdul Ghafar continued the feud even after both enlisted as commanders of pro-government forces, Mr. Azim in the police and Mr. Ghafar in the intelligence service.

The NDS has now imprisoned Mr. Azim, the tribal elder said, and the policeman's family continues the feud. Pashtun culture contains a strong imperative for revenge, and Mr. Jan expressed concern that the dispute could grow into a tribal conflict.

"The tribes aren't involved right now, but they could be pulled in," he said.

Lieutenant-Colonel Rob Walker, Canada's battle group commander, said in a recent interview that he knows the 05 Battalion has struggled. The district has grown more restive since early June, he said, but it's hard to tell why the police have suffered so many casualties.

"They started getting hit," he said. "Was it because they were extorting people? Was it because they're soft targets for the Taliban?"