Hurray for militias? Not so fast: Lessons from the Afghan Local Police experience

Vanda Felbab-Brown

Small Wars and Insurgencies, 2016, vol. 27, issue 2, 258-281

Abstract: Drawing on my fieldwork on militias in Afghanistan over the past decade, this article explores their security and political effects, with special focus on the Afghan Local Police. It analyzes changes in local security environments, effects on the Taliban insurgency and support for government, and the sustainability of and control over the militias. Key lessons include: Militias have a strong tendency to engage in abusive behavior – itself a new driver of conflict. Militias are least likely to abuse communities when they emerge spontaneously, face an abusive external force, and if major rifts and conflicts are absent from the community. Although militias might be local, their effects are not.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1080/09592318.2015.1129169

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