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Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups – an overview
The formal UN program to Disarm, Demobilize and Reintegrate the 63,380 officers and soldiers in the Afghan Military Forces has moved into its final but most important “reintegration” phase. The $142m UN DDR Program will conclude in June 06 having provided every
officer and soldier with a $700 personal reintegration package. DDR was not however, responsible for addressing those Militia, once described as Independent units, that would not pledge their loyalty to those factions that formed the MoD, nor was the Program meant to deal with the organized militia acting as criminals or address those
government officials that retained links to armed groups challenging the authority of the government.
For this reason, the GoA, with the assistance of the Japanese Government, acting in its capacity as the lead nation on behalf of the international donors, is implementing a follow on program to DDR known as the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG). The $13m annual Program has access to $35m+ of earmarked development funds, and will run in parallel to other GoA initiatives such as implementing the new gun law and reforming the private security companies until Dec 2007 in accordance with the Afghan Compact.
 DIAG is required because it is estimated that there could be up to 125,000 personnel, operating in up to 1,200 groups, of varying degrees of sophistication, that fall within the definition of a five person or more, Illegal Armed Group (IAG) that challenge the
capacity of the regional government's security agencies. The most recent thinking suggests that the actual number of hard core criminals, actively involved in illegal activities, is fortunately small. For this reason, the first phase of the national DIAG program is focusing on disbanding the top four IAG's in each Province in parallel to dismissing linked government officials that retain relationships with IAGs and abuse their position's of trust.
The DIAG Steering Committee, chaired by the 2nd Vice President, together with the DIAG Forum, comprise representatives from the key GoA Ministries and the international community who collectively develop policy and direction for day to day issues that
are administered by the Program's Secretariat in conjunction with a Joint Secretariat. The Disarmament and Reintegration Commission Secretariat (D+RC), is responsible for coordinating and implementing both DIAG and DDR within the Ministries and in the provinces.
Implementation
The D+RC comprises 14 national staff, funded by USAID, who are responsible for coordinating the operational, development and public information working groups with assistance provided by several embedded mentors provided by the UN's Afghanistan New Beginnings Program (ANBP).
Operating in unison to the specialized working groups is the Joint Secretariat (JS). The JS comprises working level representatives from the D+RC, the MoD, MoI and NDS, the Coalition, ISAF and UNAMA. The JS co-ordinates all operational aspects of the working groups but in particular cross references and coordinates intelligence received from the field. The pooled intelligence is shared and all decisions are verified using three sources under delegated authority or referred to the Forum, before being disseminated to the Provincial Security Committees (PSC).
The JS first came to the public' attention in July 05. It assumed responsibility for initially collating, then establishing monitoring procedures and subsequently recommending to the Electoral Complaints Commission which candidates standing for the Wolesi Jirga and Provincial Councils should be banned for retaining links to armed groups.
Key to the success of the DIAG program is the ability of the PSC to deliver. The PC's are responsible for implementing DIAG and comprise the regional GoA players, together with reps from UNAMA and the PRT who are all overseen by the Governor who chairs the meetings. The PSC collates local information, assesses the security situation, co-ordinates with the field and then implements and monitors the DIAG program in accordance with the central policy and the D+RC's day to day advice.
The D+RC has recently issued the PSC's with operational guidelines requiring them to commence the main phase and open discussions with the top four identified IAG's and the linked government officials. This process will ultimately conclude with their disbandment through either negotiation or enforcement and agreement that the IAG is now compliant. The discussions then lead onto operational and development matters that are communicated through public information initiatives.
Operations.
Weapon Collection Points (WCP) have been established in every Province by the local security officials to receive weapons handed in either as part of the Program or as part of the new gun laws. Receipts are issued by the person administering the WCP when a weapon is handed over. The weapons are then registered and transported, by ANBP, back to a central depot where they are refurbished and where appropriate, reissued to the GoA 's security forces - see
refurbishment of small and light weapons film.
Development
The D+RC's guidelines set out how and when Provincial
Development Committees are entitled to ask to commence discussions to request assistance and identify and obtain approval to use development resources earmarked for the DIAG program. The resources have been provided to assist communities to implement initiatives that will improve local governance and kick start the provision of facilities. This in turn will create an
environment that will encourage other existing Government programs and NGO's to implement their programs and further improve the day to day life of the
communities. It is hoped that a lawful environment will encourage both the public and private sector to invest and implement their own programs that will further improve good governance,
attract investment and meet with the wishes of the community.
The DIAG Program is evolving and maturing as
attempts are made to turn theory into reality on the ground
-similar to forcing a square peg into a round hole. Key to the above is the role of the D+RC
and the buy in by the Afghan's and its ability to implement a GoA program in the field.
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