June 24, 2013 | Quote
Afghan Police Adapt in Face of US Drawdown
Armored vehicles carrying U.S. and Afghan Special Forces arrive at this remote village and are greeted by dozens of angry men.
They scream that the Afghan Local Police (ALP), men trained by coalition forces to keep the Taliban out, are holding their sons captive inside the fortress-like walls of a police checkpoint on suspicion of working for the Taliban.
What they don't know is that the arrests are fake, a ruse by Afghan special forces soldiers to obtain information on Taliban activity. Among those “arrested” are secret village informants who need to deliver their reports to the Afghan police out of sight of Taliban spies.
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The progress can be seen in Andar, a farming district of mostly unpaved roads in Ghazni province and a known hub for Taliban and al-Qaeda, according to The Long War Journal. Senior Taliban and al-Qaeda foreign fighter facilitators are known to operate in the district.
In recent months, the ALP and other Afghan forces have set up numerous checkpoints throughout the district, carving out territory once dominated by the Taliban and its shadow government. One of those place is the Miri Bazaar, a few blocks of produce sellers, mobile phone shops and auto parts sellers that until recently was largely shuttered by the Taliban.