Two police chiefs sacked. Problem solved, right?

Tip of the iceberg:

Afghan police chiefs sacked for negligence (Reuters) By Jon Hemming, KABUL:   The Afghan government sacked two provincial police chiefs for negligence, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday, highlighting problems in a force often accused of corruption and which is key to security in Afghanistan...The Interior Ministry said it had sacked the provincial police chiefs of Dai Kundi in the centre of the country and Wardak just southwest of the capital, Kabul....The police chief in Wardak stands accused of pocketing officers' salaries, leading many in his force to abandon their posts...

Wardak, only an hour's drive from Kabul, is among provinces previously regarded as safe which have witnessed a rise in Taliban violence in the last few months. Only a few hundred Turkish troops from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are stationed there and they are not allowed by their government to conduct offensive operations. MORE

Security in the province therefore largely falls to the police.

CORRUPTION
It was a breakdown in law and order that allowed the Taliban to get a foothold in Wardak and this picture is being repeated across Afghanistan, analysts say.

"The big problem is not the lack of ISAF forces, it is the chaos surrounding the Afghan government national police assets there," said a senior Western diplomat who declined to named.

The problems also affect the Interior Ministry which appoints officers and controls the force.
The ministry "is notoriously corrupt, factionalised and an increasingly important actor in Afghanistan's illegal drug economy," said a report this month by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, an independent think-tank.

A report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Bank last year accused elements in the Interior Ministry of an "increasing role" in organising "protection for criminal markets" and the facilitation of illicit activities.

From 2002 until this year, Germany led the training of Afghan police and contributed some $80 million to a total of around $200 million spent on the force in that time. The European Union has now taken over Germany's role and the United States is ploughing more money in -- $2.5 billion for 2007 alone. But deep-rooted remedies may be needed.

"Without comprehensive reform of the Ministry of Interior, police reform efforts will fail and the money spent on reform will be wasted," the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit said.