By NNN-Bernama
Melbourne : Australia will send additional federal police officers to Afghanistan to help train the local force, Australia ’s Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Sunday.
He said Afghanistan needed help to build its own police force, as international troops could not be there forever.
“We are looking at a greater complement of Australian Federal Police to go to Afghanistan,” Smith told the Nine TVNetwork.
“They’ll be part of, if you like, the capacity-building aspects that we are doing in Afghanistan, training the Afghan police.
“So, training of their own police force is very important and it’s one of the roles we envisage for the Australian Federal Police (AFP).”
Just four AFP officers are currently in Afghanistan.
Fairfax newspapers here reported today the AFP officers could also be used to counter the illegal drugs industry in Afghanistan, which produces 93 percent of the world’s opium.
The United Nations has warned that the illegal drugs trade has brought widespread corruption, which has penetrated all levels of government and police.
An AFP team recently visited Oruzgan province in southern Afghanistan, where Australian troops are based, to investigate a possible role for an expanded force, Fairfax newspapers reported.
The boosted police force was just one type of nation-building assistance the government was considering offering Afghanistan, Smith told the Nine Network.
The aid could include building Afghanistan ‘s bureaucratic, judicial and legal capacity, infrastructure such as roads, schools and hospitals, or humanitarian assistance.
“We are giving consideration to that,” he said.
Smith also called for the NATO nations to provide a stronger military commitment to Afghanistan.