The 50,000-strong Afghan National Police (ANP) has got its share of the blame, but both Washington and Kabul have finally recognised that what's needed is to invest greater resources in rebuilding the police force.

As a result, largely thanks to the US opening up its purse strings, about US$1 billion will be spent over the next 15 months to upgrade, equip and reform the ANP, especially in the fight against the illegal drugs trade that provides succour to insurgents and rogue warlords.

To begin with, the ordinary policeman has received a bonanza - his monthly pay has been increased from a paltry US$18 a month to US$70.

President Hamid Karzai's government has also decided to dismiss scores of senior police officers, many of whom are inefficient or corrupt, and import about 700 retired US policemen to act as 'police mentors' throughout the country.

'After the fall of the Taleban, we had to start from zero, therefore many mujahedeen commanders were inducted into the force,' said Lutfullah Mashal, an Interior Ministry spokesman. 'As a result, the ANP has hundreds of generals and not enough captains, while the officer-soldier ratio is the highest in the world.'

'Out of the 300 generals in the ANP, only 64 will be retained,' said Lieutenant-General Syed Sher Agha Rohani, commandant of the National Police Academy in Kabul. 'We've got to create a well-equipped fighting force.'

Although the Afghan police are criticised for the failure to tackle rising crime and terrorism, during the past 31/2 years, 988 policemen have been killed - the highest casualty rate for any national or international security force in Afghanistan. During just one week recently, six policemen were beheaded by Taleban rebels in southern Helmund province.

After the fall of the Taleban, Germany became the lead nation for reconstructing the Afghan police. But Germany's annual financial commitment of about 12 million euros ($113.5 million) was inadequate for rebuilding a national force from scratch.

'Due to the slow pace of police reconstruction, we were compelled to ask for more aid from the international community,' said Mr Mashal.

The US stepped in for the first time at the end of 2003, setting up seven provincial police training centres, a poppy eradication force and a national drug interdiction unit.

But the strategic partnership agreement signed in Washington in May by US President George W. Bush and Mr Karzai increased by several fold America's commitment to rebuilding the Afghan police.

Although Germany will remain the lead nation, its role will now be overshadowed by the new American initiative. According to the US Office of Military Co-operation (OMC) in Kabul - which will spearhead American participation in the police force's reconstruction - the international co-ordination mechanism involving the Afghan government, Germany, the US and some other nations has already been modified.

'Along with Germany, the US will implement a robust mentoring programme and deliver a substantial increase in capability through the delivery of vehicles, weapons, communications and infrastructure,' said a spokesman for the OMC, which has been renamed as the Office of Security Co-operation.

Germany plans to bring in just five police officers as 'mentors', but it has deployed a platoon of military police to train about 1,000 policemen in the Taleban-infested Zabul province.

'It takes a few years and a lot of effort to build a police force,' said General Rohani. 'The US is committing huge resources, and this will make a big difference.'

The piecemeal approach so far has proved to be self-defeating.

For instance, despite the setting up of both the Border Police and the Highway Police, illegal border traffic continues largely unhindered - Taleban rebels, drug smugglers and even child kidnappers who sell their victims in Pakistan for organ transplants. One factor preventing effective border policing is the lack of equipment.

'The Border Police and the highway patrols have no way of alerting each other, since they don't even have satellite phones,' said a western security consultant.

'Now they will not just get satellite phones, but we also plan to buy six helicopters,' said the Interior Ministry's Mr Mashal.

But even with the world's best equipment, the ANP cannot be turned into a professional force until it attracts better recruits and is led by capable officers.

The Afghan government hopes to do this by raising the ordinary policeman's pay, and by weeding out bad officers.

'The fish starts to stink from the head,' said a western diplomat. 'If police commanders are corrupt, how can we expect their subordinates to be professional?'

Afghanistan's police reforms will now begin from the top.