Afghan Local Police (ALP) coordinator centres will be formed in eight provinces to monitor their activities and improve mutual relations between local police and the public, the Ministry of Interior (MOI) said Thursday.
MOI Minister Ghulam Mujtaba Patang said the ALP are doing a very important job in the country to protect the civilians from any kind of insurgent threat, but acknowledged that there were some trust problems which the government is seeking to address.
"We are planning to form ALP coordination centres in eight key provinces of the country to improve the relations between ALP and the public," Patang said at a press conference in Kabul.
Local councils can also play a vital role in boosting coordination between the public and police forces, he added.
The ALP was formed in 2010 with the support of the US forces in Afghanistan with the aim of helping the foreign troops and Afghan National Security Forces fight against insurgency.
However, the force has been plagued with problems. Most recently some of the ALP forces have reportedly terrorised their local communities by taking liberties with their privileges, committing crimes of extortion and rape, and using their power for their own interests.
ALP has more than 10,000 members mostly in southern and eastern regions of the country where the Taliban are more active.