By Ali Safi, McClatchy Newspapers –
KABUL, Afghanistan — Eleven U.S.-trained Afghan police officers defected to the Taliban on Monday in southern Helmand province, the spokesman for the province’s governor said.
Daud Ahmadi, the spokesman, said the officers took their weapons and equipment with them — 11 AK-47 assault rifles, two heavy machine guns and three motorcycles.
The U.S. military has made a major effort to train local police officers, seeing the group as essential to fighting the Taliban and maintaining local security. But their loyalty to Afghanistan’s central government in Kabul has long been questioned, as has been their involvement in human rights abuses.
The Afghan policemen went over to the Taliban at 1 a.m. in the village of Deh Zoor in the Musa Qala district, Ahmadi said. Their defection would have no “negative impact on the duties and morale of our security forces,” he said.
“The local police are fighting the Taliban in Helmand every day,” Ahmadi said.
Abdul Wahab, a tribal elder from Musa Qala, said the police officers and the Taliban to whom they surrendered were members of the same tribe.
The Taliban confirmed the defection in a Twitter message.