Afghan Local Police

The Afghan Local Police (ALP) was a US-UK sponsored local law enforcement agency, defence force and militia in Afghanistan as part of the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs. Formed primarily as a local defence force against Taliban insurgents, its members had no power of arrest and are only authorised to investigate crime if requested to do so by the Afghan National Police (ANP).

The ALP was established at the request of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Summer 2010 and is paid for by the United States. Officers undergo three weeks military and police training by ISAF personnel and receive weapons and a uniform. They are intended to defend their villages from insurgent attack and allow the ANP to focus on offensive operations. It was originally intended to function for between two and five years.

The US government provided funding in February 2013 to expand the ALP to 45,000 members and to provide the programme until at least 2018, anticipating the withdrawal of most foreign troops from the country by the end of 2014. The ALP has received a mixed press with its members being involved in several green on blue attacks, though it has borne a heavy cost in its fight against the Taliban – suffering casualty rates twice that of the ANP and Afghan Army.

International funding for the ALP ended on 30 September 2020, and it was disbanded later that year. However, as NATO forces withdrew from Afghanistan in June 2021, the acting Minister of the Interior announced plans to arm 30,000 personnel as part of the ALP.