Keeping Panjshir Province Secure

PANJSHIR PROVINCE, Afghanistan –  Task Force Cyclone’s 410th Military Police Company out of Fort Hood, Texas, is helping to keep one of the safest provinces in Afghanistan secure by training Afghan National Police in the Dara district of Panjshir using a 30-day “immersion” program.

Dara district is made up of more than 8,500 citizens and is currently patrolled by about 40 ANP manning the expansive, incredibly rugged, mountain terrain.  

To help make those ANP more effective, on March 11, a police mentor team composed of an MP squad and two U.S. civilian law enforcement professionals spent Immersion Training Day 3 focused on community patrols and teaching police more in-depth skills that they will need on village patrols.

In a country that constantly battles corruption, Jeff Caldwell, one of the two civilian LEPs, first laid a foundation of service and integrity, telling the officers, “Sometimes police officers get the mindset that they are only there to arrest the bad guy. We are here not only to enforce the law, but also to support the people of our village.”

ANP Col. Dil Agiha, Dara chief of police, was on hand to watch his officers train, agreed, saying, “The police must be in the service of the people.”  

Panjshir, noted for its strong resistance to the Russians and the Taliban, has become a model for other provinces in security and governance. The security of the province has allowed a Provincial Reconstruction Team to move freely about and help the local government jump start public works projects and provide humanitarian assistance.

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Dustan W. Johnson, police mentor team supervisor, credited the ANP with much of that success.

“The PRT has benefitted from working with the ANP because they get to go places they normally wouldn’t be able to visit,” said Johnson.

U. S. Air Force Lt. Col. Curtis Velasquez, Panjshir PRT commander, was also present to observe the training.  

Velasquez, who has a law enforcement background in the United States, told the class of ANP, “It is an honor and privilege to serve with you. We want to keep the peace out here so that we can help the people stay employed.”

The mentoring team ran the ANP through practical exercises that included breaking up disturbances between villagers and crowd control in a hostile situation. They had to utilize newly-honed skills such as applying handcuffs, disarming a person brandishing a weapon, and even properly taking a fall and recovering.  

In one scenario, 410th MP Soldiers put all of those skills to use by playing the part of village teenagers throwing rocks at a shopkeeper, while ANP had to figure out the best way to react.  

The ANP worked together to arrest the American rollplayers. Paul Protzenko, a civilian law enforcement professional, praised their performance but cautioned them against over-extending their authority.

“You took control by putting the shopkeeper in handcuffs until you could figure out the situation, but remember the community doesn’t like to see good people in handcuffs,” said Protzenko.

Protzenko said the ANP he worked with were, “good natured and good listeners.” He also said that they were “very adaptive,” and picked up skills quickly. One of the biggest challenges he noted was literacy.

The PRT is working to put a literacy program in place to assist the ANP with reports and simple note taking. Velasquez told the ANP, “I am very impressed with your performance. We are brothers in terms of law enforcement. I look forward to seeing all of you on graduation day.”

Agiha said he looks forward to a day when all of Afghanistan was as safe as Panjshir.  

“I hope that one day, all over Afghanistan the police could be like here. Then we would have no more problems,” he said.