Afghan President Ashraf Ghani emphasizes to take the Police Force out of warfare and get them back to what they ought to be doing – law enforcement.

President Ghani, speaking in the graduation ceremony of 500 fresh policemen today January 13^th, underlined that interference in the affairs of the Ministry of Interior must be put an end to. He warns, “No security officials have the right to kill a suspect.”

Ghani says, “Interference in the affairs of MoI must reach its minimum. There is no place for illegal armed men in our law. Thieves and smugglers cannot threaten the police, nor can they swear at the police. If you want the support, you have mine and my administration’s full support.”

To this date, the police conduct anti-insurgency operations, the ones that leave them with excessive casualties. Now, however, the president wants them to get back to their actual responsibilities, meaning, to enforce the law and order. “The police have to stop fighting the war and from now on, they should return to their actual jobs, enforcing the law and order,” says Ghani.

In the meantime, Massoud Andarabi, the Acting Minister of MoI says, “The trends that had been promoted in the MoI on basis of personal interests, have been diagnosed which will be replaced with standardized mechanisms. New schemes to restore security in Kabul are also being applied.”

The 500 fresh police force graduates from the National Police Academy are strongly expected to professionally bring reforms in ‘actions and procedures’ in order to add to the effectiveness of operations that have been launched to lower crimes in Afghanistan.

President Ghani, took the ceremony as an opportunity to address the fact that operations of the security forces cause civilian casualties. He said, “No security officials, even the top ones, have the right to kill a suspect.”

Ashraf Ghani’s strong emphasis on the legitimate use of power comes after the incident of a week ago when five people, including an ex-jihadi commander named Amir Satar Ghorbandi, were killed in an NDS operation in Kabul.