100 police officers killed in Afghanistan every month

KABUL - Nearly 100 police officers have been killed and more than 200 injured each month in the past six months in Taliban-led attacks in Afghanistan, the Interior Ministry said Sunday.

“A total of 595 police forces were martyred and 1,345 others injured in the past six months in the country,” Zamarai Bashary, ministry’s spokesman told a press conference.

The poorly-equipped and trained Afghan police are the most vulnerable forces in the country as they are based in the most remote areas. Besides implementing the rule of law, the police also take part in anti-insurgent operations alongside Afghan soldiers and foreign troops.

The United States and NATO have trained more than 130,000 soldiers and nearly 120,000 police since the ouster of Taliban regime in late 2001.

The US plans to spend billions of dollars on Afghan security forces within the next two years with aims to augment the country’s indigenous forces by over 50,000 additional recruits by November 2011.

The extra Afghan forces on the battleground against the Taliban would help US President Barack Obama’s plan to start withdrawing the American soldiers by mid next year.

In a bid to deny Taliban bases in restive districts, the Afghan government has also established Afghan Local Police (ALP) units by arming and paying local villagers to defend from their area against Taliban insurgents.

Bashary said Sunday that a total of 10,000 ALP forces would be recruited across the country to fill the immediate gap until the Afghan security force reach its targeted strength.