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Sixty percent of Afghan police ill-equipped: US

* US general says Afghan army more reliable than police
* US to donate 186 aircraft by 2012

KABUL: Afghanistan’s fledgling army has made “tremendous progress” in its training and in the fight against Taliban insurgents, but 60 percent of the country’s troubled police force is not properly equipped, a senior US officer said Thursday.

Maj. Gen. Robert Durbin, who oversees the training of Afghan security forces, said only 40 percent of the 70,000-strong police force is properly equipped with weapons, communication equipment and vehicles, but the resources are now in place to fix the shortages. On the other hand, the 35,000-strong Afghan National Army is sufficiently equipped and trained and is taking the lead in the counterinsurgency fight throughout the country, Durbin said, speaking at the end of his 18-month tour in the country.

“We are witnessing firsthand the Afghan National Army taking the lead in combat operations against Taliban and Al Qaeda,” Durbin said. Building Afghan security forces is a cornerstone of the exit strategy for the US and NATO-led forces in the country, and by all accounts the Afghan army is far more reliable than the police force.

The army recently completed the first joint US and Afghan operation planned and led by Afghan army commanders. The US army says the Afghan military will increase its role in future operations so that it may one day plan and lead them on its own, though no timelines have been set for when that might happen.

Despite the progress, serious challenges for the army remain. It has no reliable air force, its medical units are subpar and its logistics component - getting food and supplies to soldiers - is weak. The United States will provide six helicopter gunships to Afghanistan’s fledgling air force in August this year, part of a plan to supply 186 aircraft to the country, the head of the Afghan air force said on Thursday. The shipments, which will come in several batches to be completed by 2012, do not include jet fighters for the country where US soldiers form the bulk of NATO and coalition troops in the fight against Taliban insurgents.

“We will be supplied with 186 aircraft, such as reconnaissance planes, helicopters, helicopter gunships and fixed-wing planes,” General Abdul Wahab Qahraman told Reuters. “America will provide us with all these aircraft and we are engaged in discussions about it, but we will not have jet fighters before 2012 and God knows what happens after that.”

Washington will donate the aircraft to Afghanistan as part of its multi-billion dollar assistance effort, Qahraman said. By 2012, Afghanistan will have full control over all of its air bases, except for Bagram, the major former Soviet base north of Kabul which is the hub for US-led troops in the country. agencies

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