Afghan police official accused of helping insurgents make bombs

KABUL, Afghanistan — NATO forces swooped down on the home of a senior Afghan police official, arrested him and accused him of helping insurgents make and plant roadside bombs, Western military officials said Sunday.

The incident, which took place last week in Kapisa province, east of the capital, Kabul, is likely to raise tensions between foreign forces and the Afghan national police. That partnership is considered a crucial element of plans by the Obama administration to pave the way for a drawdown of American forces starting next year.

Before any large-scale Western pullout occurs, Afghan security forces are supposed to take on more responsibility for safeguarding the country.

If the charges against the arrested official are borne out, the case would represent one of the most serious instances to date of complicity by a ranking Afghan security official with the Taliban or other militant groups.

But Afghan officials raised doubts about the man’s guilt, and the Interior Ministry, which oversees the national police, said NATO had been asked for an explanation.

In a statement describing Friday’s raid, NATO did not name the targeted official, who was arrested along with a bodyguard. But provincial authorities identified him as Attaullah Wahab, who served as both the deputy chief and security head of the national police in the province.

The NATO statement said the arrested man was suspected of helping distribute and plant bombs on roads surrounding Kapisa’s provincial capital, Mahmud-i-Raqi. Improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, are the principal killer of Western troops across Afghanistan.

In addition to alleged involvement with the IED ring in Kapisa, the arrested man was also accused of corruption in connection with a road project, of unspecified illegal activities in the district of Bagram in neighboring Parwan province, where the country’s biggest American base is located, and had been linked to a murder last year, NATO said.

Provincial officials expressed bewilderment and wondered aloud whether it could be a case of mistaken identity. Afghans sometimes try to settle clan vendettas or other disputes by giving false information about an enemy to Western forces.

“We don’t know anything about this -- they didn’t coordinate with us,” said Halim Ayar, a spokesman for the governor of Kapisa province. He said he did not know of any allegations of wrongdoing against the police official.

NATO said both Afghan and Western troops, backed up by helicopters, took part in the raid. The statement did not specify the nationality or service branch of the foreign forces leading the raid, but Ayar identified them as American.

Most of the foreign soldiers in Kapisa are French, but U.S. Special Forces sometimes carry out operations in the area.

As word of the arrest spread Saturday, about 300 local people staged a protest in Kapisa’s provincial capital, blocking the main road for about half an hour before dispersing peacefully, Ayar said.

laura.king@latimes.com

Special correspondent M. Karim Faiez contributed to this report.