On July 30, 2003, President Karzai announced, “Security Sector Reform (SSR) is, in short, the basic prerequisite to recreating the nation that today’s parents hope to leave to future generations.”  The Government is reconstructing the institutions of the state with a vision to ensure stability into the future.  The key to attaining stability is rapid, but enduring reform of the security sector.  This is not possible in isolation, prompting the Government to approach economic and social growth holistically.

Our goal, with the support of the international community, is to establish a legitimate monopoly on force and law enforcement in Afghanistan.  As a result, this will provide a secure environment for the rights of the Afghan people, the freedom of movement for people, commodities, and ideas, and social and economic development.

Five-Year Strategic Benchmarks

• Program 1: National Defense
• Program 2: Internal Security & Law Enforcement
• Program 3: Disbanding Illegal Armed Groups
• Program 4: De-Mining

Achieving Our Goals

• National Security Policy
• National Security Strategy
• National Security Sector Reform Strategy
• Foreign Policy

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Five-Year Strategic Benchmarks

The following four sub-programs have been developed to meet the overall national objectives:

Program 1: National Defense  

Through end-2010, with the support of and in close coordination with the Afghan Government, NATO-led ISAF, Operation Enduring Freedom, and their respective Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) will promote security and stability in all regions of Afghanistan, especially by strengthening Afghan capabilities.

By end-2010, the Government will establish a nationally respected, professional, ethnically balanced, Afghan National Army (ANA) that is democratically accountable, organized, trained, and equipped to meet the security needs of the country.  It will be increasingly funded from Government revenue, commensurate with the nation’s economic capacity.  Support will continue to be provided in expanding the ANA towards the ceiling of 70,000 personnel articulated in the Bonn talks; and the pace of expansion is to be adjusted on the basis of periodic joint quality assessments by the Afghan Government and the international community against the agreed criteria, taking into account prevailing conditions.

The roles of the ANA are 1) to secure the borders and deter external threats 2) to defeat terrorist forces 3) to disband, reintegrate, or imprison IAGs, and 4) to manage internal security threats and emergencies in cooperation with the ANP.

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Program 2: Internal Security and Law Enforcement

By end-2010, a fully constituted, professional, functional, and ethnically balanced Afghan National Police and Afghan Border Police with a combined force of up to 62,000 will be able to meet the security needs of the country effectively and will be increasingly fiscally sustainable.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) provides nation-wide law enforcement services and manages local administration in all provinces and districts throughout Afghanistan. Achieving the above goal will be ensured by: 1) reforming the MoI command structure, 2) reforming MoI local government structures, 3) instituting legislative roles in the MoI, 4) training and equipping the ANP to full staffing establishment, 5) fully integrating all payments into normal government budget procedures, and 6) policing national borders against crime with ANA support. 

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Program 3: Disbanding Illegal Armed Groups 

All illegal armed groups will be disbanded by end-2007 in all provinces.

It is estimated that there are at least 1,800 IAGs with a total strength of approximately 125,000 that do not respond to central control from Kabul.  Many are heavily involved in illegal activities such as drug smuggling and human rights violations. 

The purpose of the DIAG process is to disband those IAGs that threaten human security and the rule of law.  As a result, the Government can create a secure and stable environment for Afghans and the international community to invest in the future of Afghanistan.

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Program 4: De-Mining

By end-2010, in line with Afghanistan’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Afghanistan’s Ottawa Convention obligations, the land area contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance will be reduced by 70%; all stockpiled anti-personnel mines will be located and destroyed by end-2007; by end-2010, all unsafe, unserviceable, and surplus ammunition will be destroyed.

Despite the progress made by the mine action community over the past 15 years, Afghanistan remains heavily contaminated by mines and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO).  This contamination continues to have a devestating effect on human lives and livelihoods.  Mines and/or UXO kill or injure an estimated average of 100 Afghans every month.

Afghanistan signed the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty at the Ottawa Convention on 1 March 2003.  In addition to committing itself to the above-mentioned goals, the Government will provide mine risk education, assist landmine survivors, and meet established reporting requirements as agreed.

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Achieving Our Goals 

National Security Policy (NaSP)

Afghanistan's NaSP requires the complete restructuring of existing institutions, demanding cooperation between different agencies and ministries.  Only by joining the different elements of the security forces and judicial process can a stable future be envisioned.  The role of the National Security Council (NSC) in terms of such coordination is key to achieving Afghanistan's national security and law and order objectives. 

The NaSP identifies the following key objectives:

1. National defense of sovereign territory and air-space;
2. The defeat of all terrorist forces and disbandment of all IAGs;
3. The security of national borders;
4. The establishment and maintenance of the rule of law in support of the ANP;
5. The elimination of the trade in illegal narcotics;
6. The elimination of mines and unexploded ordnance;
7. The development of mechanisms for the transfer of security management from the international community to the full control of the Afghan security forces, sequentially, as the security situation improves.

Two strategic areas are central to achieving the Government’s vision: 1) the National Security Strategy that covers all operational security activities, and 2) the National Security Sector Reform Strategy which builds the capacity of Afghanistan's security sector to manage itself without external assistance.

Click Here for a graphic outline of the NaSP.

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National Security Strategy

The National Security Strategy embraces and coordinates those strategies and activities that directly relate to national and human security.  These include the activities and plans of Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan (CFC-A and ISAF), the ANA and ANP, National Directorate for Security, and the Justice and Foreign Affairs sectors.  These activities are coordinated through the National Security Forum, a bi-monthly NSC meeting chaired by the President and attended by relevant representatives from the aforementioned groups.

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National Security Sector Reform Strategy

The National SSR Strategy addresses how the capacity of Afghanistan's security sector can be built to eventually take full responsibility for all national security activities.  Over the past four years, security sector reform has been coordinated across five pillars: 1) defense, 2) policing, 3) justice reform, 4) Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR), and 5) counter-narcotics.  

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Foreign Policy

For the Government, the first line of defense against external threat is an effective foreign policy based on a series of good neighborly arrangements and strong collaboration on regional security and trade development.  The key tenet of Afghanistan’s foreign policy is that the State of Afghanistan is entitled to full sovereignty, security, stability, prosperity, democracy, and human rights, as well as the rights and benefits due to any member of the United Nations.  The people of Afghanistan are entitled to enjoy national unity, territorial integrity, political independence, equality, and the basic conditions for living with dignity.

Useful Links:

Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups

Afghanistan's New Beginnings Program

International Security Assistance Force