Boosting Afghan Security

Over 100 European police trainers and law experts from 16 EU countries and a handful of non-EU states will begin a three-year mission in Afghanistan on June 17, officials said. The number of officers, which include the some 40 German representatives already there, is to be expanded to around 160 over the course of the mission.

A burgeoning drug trade, widespread corruption and insurgent violence are among the challenges the local police are preparing for.

Mission includes southern regions

The mission's main objective is "to improve cohesion and coordination (of Afghan police) through mentoring, monitoring, advising and training," said Brigadier General Friedrich Eichele, the German mission commander who will head the EU task force.

Police trainers would be armed for purposes of self-defence, but would have to rely on the NATO-led ISAF peacekeeping force for protection, said Eichele, who added that the running costs for the first year would amount to 43.6 million euros ($58.8 million).

Dubbed EUPOL, the German-run mission will be headquartered in the capital city of Kabul but will encompass regions throughout Afghanistan including southern provinces where insurgent fighting has been most intense, said EU Special Representative for Afghanistan Francesc Vendrell Tuesday from Brussels.

Recent civilian deaths in the region have sparked concerns that the local population has lost faith in the international peacekeeping force.

A minimum contribution

For Vendrell, the project doesn't go far enough.

"I think that the EU has decided to play as big a role as possible, unfortunately not as big as I would have liked," added Vendrell, who said he would have like to have seen it at the same size as the mission in Kosovo. The EU is planning to send 1,500 police trainers if the breakaway Serb province wins independence.

Drugs and corruption fuelling insurgency

Late last year, NATO requested that the EU take charge of building up the police training project. Analysts have said that rampant drug trade and corruption are fuelling the insurgency. According to UN estimates, some 300 illegal armed groups exist in the country.

The US has also put pressure on the EU to speed up progress. Until now, Germany has been the main European country involved in police training in Afghanistan and has trained some 17,000 local law enforcement officers since 2002.

An existing US police mission in Afghanistan involves 500 trainers, including members of private security companies. EUPOL is meant to complement the American force.

The war-torn country currently has a police force of 60,000, which is ill-equipped and riddled by corruption. According to international estimates, some 82,000 officers are needed. The number of Afghan officers trained by the European team would depend on the security situation, said officials.