The Afghan National Civil Order Force (ANCOF), formerly known as the Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOP), was an

Afghan National Army Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

(ANA) force responsible for civil order and counterinsurgency. In March 2018, most of the ANCOP personnel of the

Afghan National Police The Afghan National Police (ANP; ps, د افغانستان ملي پولیس; prs, پلیس ملی افغانستان), is the national police force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, serving as a single law enforcement agency all across ...

were transferred to the

to form the ANCOF with their role remaining the same. The remaining 2,550 ANCOP personnel in the Afghan National Police formed the Public Security Police (PSP). The ANCOF consisted of eight

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...

s. In June 2020, the ANA began disbanding the ANCOF brigades with personnel to be integrated into ANA Corps. The ANCOP was developed in July 2006 by Colonel Jack Stankiewicz, US Army, Police Reformation Directorate, CSTC-A. It had stations in major cities and towns across Afghanistan.

Role

ANCOP's mission was to provide civil order presence patrols, prevent violent public incidents, and provide crisis and anti-terror response in urban and metropolitan environments. Like the

Afghan Border Police The Afghan Border Force (ABF) was responsible for security of Afghanistan's border area with neighboring countries extending up to into the interior and formed part of the Afghan National Army. In December 2017, most of the Afghan Border Police ...

, ANCOP used to be a branch of the

(ANP), under the nation's Ministry of Interior Affairs. However, both units, ANCOP and Border Police were transferred to the Defense Ministry.

Organization

Afghan National Police training center of Balkh

ANCOP's 5,365 authorized strength was commanded by a Major General. ANCOP was divided into five Brigades, each commanded by a Brigadier General. These brigades were stationed in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...

Paktia Paktia ( Pashto/ Dari: – ''Paktyā'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the east of the country. Forming part of the larger Loya Paktia region, Paktia Province is divided into 15 districts and has a population of roughl ...

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...

Herat Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safē ...

, and

Mazar-i-Sharif , official_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif , pushpin ...

. Given they underwent 16 weeks of training and had a higher literacy rate than the regular Afghan National Police, ANCOP were generally considered a more elite force than the regular ANP that used to oversee them. They were one of the most deployable force of the ANP. Since December 2009, French gendarmes (43 in March 2011) and Spanish officers, Dutch and Polish, under the mandate of the

European Gendarmerie Force The European Gendarmerie Force (EUROGENDFOR) is an operational, pre-organised, and rapidly deployable intervention force, exclusively comprising elements of several European police forces with military status of the Parties in order to perform all ...

, operated in the training center of the Afghan National Civil Order Police to

Mazar-e-Sharif , official_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif , pushpin ...

. The training center in Western Afghanistan's Herat Province was staffed with a contingent of Italian Carbinieri augmented by a number of Polish Military Police and United States Marines. The ANCOP were utilized as a replacement force when a local unit of ANP were sent for initial training to a NATO-led basic training facility. As well, ANCOP were also heavily utilized as a "surge" force of police wherever necessary within the country. As a result, an average ANCOP officer had been deployed on the front lines for a longer average time than his regular ANP counterpart; which had created an inordinate amount of turnover within the ANCOP force.

Salary and benefits

In return for the higher commitment of training and fighting, ANCOP officers were promoted to sergeant and received approximately $265 a month, roughly double the salary of a regular new ANP recruit. The ANCOP personnel have thwarted several insurgent attacks over the last few years in Kabul.

Special Support Battalion

It had two SWAT teams, several explosive ordnance disposal teams, a heavy weapons company, transportation company and logistics support company.http://www.ntm-a.com/news/1-categorynews/2355-new-ancop-battalion-stands-up-in-kabul-?lang=

References

{{Afghan National Security Forces Defunct law enforcement agencies of Afghanistan Gendarmerie 2006 establishments in Afghanistan