Written by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gary A. Witte
300th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
Kunar Province, Afghanistan – The bunkers, sandbags and razor wire common to any police checkpoint in eastern Afghanistan attest to the daily challenges law enforcement faces here.
Yet the latest effort by International Security Assistance Forces aims to refocus the Afghan police mission back toward the public.
U.S. Army Lt. Col. David J. Goetze of Roseau, MN, commands the Kunar Security Forces Assistance Team, one of several teams now working under Task Force Bastogne.
Goetze and his team are partnered with the Kunar Province police chief with the goal of improving the ANP system. This task is seen as not only beneficial to Afghan civilians, but also a way of starving insurgent forces of manpower.
If a stable police force can be provided, it will keep a lot of Afghan males from joining the insurgency, Goetze said.
Members of his team are each assigned to a different aspect of the provincial police, ranging from logistics to intelligence, in order to help improve each section from the top.
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class James E. Tembrock of Elizabethtown, KY, the noncommissioned officer of the team, said one of the challenges they face is clarifying the various techniques taught to Afghan officers by previous advisory teams and then going beyond those standards.
“You have to learn what was done in the past,” he said
During a recent meeting with officers from various police checkpoints in the Watapur District, Goetze emphasized the need to concentrate on community policing rather than heavier armament.
“The Army should be fighting the bad guys, but the police should be establishing law and order,” he told the officers.
Goetze, who is now located at Forward Operating Base Fiaz with the provincial police headquarters, previously led a counterinsurgency course at Fort Leavenworth, KS, for two years.
“I’ve taught all this stuff,” he said. “Now I’m putting it into action.”
