CivPol's Changing Role

I thought this might be a good opportunity to explain how Canada's Civilian Police (CivPol) Mission to Afghanistan has recently changed.  Canadian police officers have been in Afghanistan since 2005.  These officers have served primarily in Kandahar Province providing basic training to front line Afghan National Police (ANP) officers. This training included some of the basics of police recruit training but also involved going out on patrols with ANP through villages and farmlands, spending considerable time at Police Sub-Stations, and attending village meetings.  Each of these is a very dangerous proposition. Their living conditions were less than glamorous and more difficult than they'd probably care to share.  

Coinciding with the upcoming 2011 shift in the Government of Canada's military mission, the CivPol mission has also changed.  Our rotation is the first group of CivPol to work within this new mission mandate.  The job postings have shifted almost universally from Kandahar to Kabul.  Now CivPol are focused on advising and mentoring the senior ANP officers at the strategic, organizational, and tactical levels of police operations.  Identifying opportunities for training remains a priority for all CivPol members regardless of their particular assignments even within our new mandate.

For the most part this means that CivPol will not be out in the field as much as we have been in the past.  Most of us will likely not travel outside of Kabul.  We all know how dangerous Kandahar has been and continues to be.  I have only spent a few days in Kandahar and even then I never left the monstrous base.  I can tell you that it is a very different place than Kabul.  When you're on the Kandahar Air Field you know without question that you are in a war zone.  Military armoured vehicles, attack aircraft, thousands of armed soldiers, and all the other machines and noises of war surround you.  All these are also present in Kabul but seemingly to a lesser extent.

For those Canadian CivPol who lived and worked out in the field Kandahar was a tough place to serve.  It still is and we CivPol in Kabul often talk and fuss about our colleagues who are still there.  Their professionalism and accomplishments have earned Canada a great deal of respect and credibility by our Afghan and NATO partners.  Our invitation to counsel the ANP senior ranks is largely a testament to those Canadian CivPol who slugged it out in Kandahar.  Their's was, and continues to be, a difficult job, and a job well done.

Thanks for checking in.

Ken.