The Foreign Service Journal, May 2008

police departments, which are often controlled by local warlords and mili- tia.” While there is without a doubt corruption in the ANP, this is hardly a unique phenomenon in the Afghan government, including the military. But what is interesting here is that in 2006, Amb. Neumann himself strongly supported the inclusion in the ANP of local militia — notorious for warlord connections and corrup- tion — over the objections of State’s Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, which is responsible for managing the police training program in Afghanistan. In Amb. Neumann’s defense, he was in the difficult position of trying to ensure the survival of the freely elect- ed Karzai government with any avail- able legitimate tool. And the ANP was one such means. We provided the police with tactical training (putting traditional police training and functions on temporary hold), and threw them into the breach to fight the Taliban. ANP casualty figures reflect that history. But now is not the time for vast new, expensive and probably unwork- able programs, but to demand a return on our investment in the ANA. It’s time for that force to step up to the plate, leave their secure bases and, with NATO leadership and mentor- ing, take the fight to the Taliban. Joseph Schreiber FSO, retired, working part of the year for the INL bureau in Afghanistan San Jose, Costa Rica Defending the U.S. Dorothy Shea’s February Reflect- ions column, “Foreign Service Mo- ments,” wimps out on the subject of handling verbal attacks on our coun- try. While the specific incidents she cites appear to cause her “intense dis- M A Y 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 7 L E T T E R S