This is big news, because there is a lot of money riding on the current set up, and DynCorp was sitting all fat and happy on the CIVPOL contract as the incumbent. Now that DoD is taking it over and issued a new task order, only companies that are pre-qualified contractors for CNTPO get to participate. Those companies are Lockheed, NG, Raytheon, Xe, and ARINC.
The general feeling I am getting about this latest move, is that the DoD wants to have more control over the training of the Afghan police, and give them training that is more military-like. The reason for this, is so these poor guys can actually survive the war, so they can go on to be effective in their normal police work.
The Afghan police are already fighting more war, than doing police work, so it makes sense to harden them up a little. Not too mention that when you have cops teaching Afghan police forces to shoot PKMs or RPGs, then the realm of police work skills gets trumped by war fighting skills. So yeah, DoD would be a better choice.
The other one that was interesting, was the hearing at CSPAN about Afghan National Security Forces. Executives from Dyncorp, MPRI, and Xe all made a showing at this thing, and they all had something unique to say about their little chunk of the war. Which further emphasizes the CNAS report as to the importance of contractors in the war effort.
One thing that was mentioned by Xe, which I think is a great suggestion, is to integrate military trainers with Xe trainers, to insure a quality product. That way, there is no blaming Xe for a poor job, when in fact, there is direct military oversight and integration into the training. This makes sense for unity of effort, and totally makes sense about getting everyone on board with the strategy of the war. I say mix that chocolate with the peanut butter! lol
Probably the best part of military integration with programs like this, is security. It is big military that has the guns, the air support and the communications necessary to make any enemy’s day, a bad day. So for these sites that are located up in the hills, where training and security go hand in hand, having some military folks around with the big guns, would be a nice insurance policy for the defense.
Be sure to check out the thread on this subject at SOCNET, and I look forward to any input from the readership about this. –Matt
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Afghan National Security Forces Contract Training
Friday, December 18, 2009
The December 18, 2009, hearing of the Commission on Wartime Contracting reviewed the adequacy and oversight of contract training for Afghanistan’s national army, national police, and border police — organizations critical for stability as the United States moves toward its newly stated goal of beginning withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country in July 2011.
At the end of November 2009, Afghan National Army strength was about 96,000; it is expected to grow to 134,000 by the end of October 2010 (40% growth) and is targeted reach 240,000 by 2013 (80% growth). The Afghanistan National Police was near 94,000 and is expected to be almost 97,000 strong by the end of 2009. While there is no programmed end strength set for 2010, the U.S.-led Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan has proposed growing the ANP to 160,000 by 2013 (65% growth).
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