The rapid and profound changes have generated excitement among top U.S. military officials in Afghanistan, fueling hope that such groups could reverse insurgent gains by providing the population a degree of protection that the police, the Afghan army and even international military forces have been unable to deliver.
But plans to expand the program have been stymied by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who fears the teams could turn into offensive militias, the kind that wreaked havoc on the country in the 1990s and prompted the rise of the Taliban. “This is playing with fire,” an Afghan government official said. “These groups may bring us security today, but what happens tomorrow?”…
“At the end of the day, how sustainable would a program like this be?” said a State Department official based in Kabul, who like other officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal disputes. “It runs counter to the goal of giving the state a monopoly of force.”…
Instead of waiting for Karzai’s approval, the Special Forces command has moved forward with pilot projects here and in nine other villages, hoping to show that the forces being created are not militias. The command allowed a Washington Post reporter to visit four of the sites this month.
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