Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Monique Cala - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

As reconstruction efforts get underway in Afghanistan, the shifting in oversight of Afghan police training from the U.S. State Department to the U.S. Defense Department has been slow to develop.

"The State Department was doing an inadequate job in training the police. At least that was the view of the policy people of the time. Ironically, that is exactly the view of today," said Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen on Monday.

DynCorp International, which held the State Department contract, has filed a protest, delaying the transition and forcing an extension of their contract to July of this year.

While a resolution regarding the transition has yet to be announced, Douglas Ebner with DynCorp promised that his organization, "will do nothing to impede the mission” in Afghanistan.

"Our main concern today, however, is not the process and detail of contingency contracting," said Federal Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan Co-Chair Christopher Shays. "It the strategic concern about the roles and responsibility, the planning, the visibility and especially the inter-agency coordination of efforts that rely on contracts."

As pressure mounts on the U.S. to withdraw troops and transition governing power to the Afghan people, the need for a strong police force there is a key issue. According to U.S. officials, the number of Afghan police is expected to grow to 160,000 by 2013.