The local militias meant to provide a layer of local security in unstable areas of Afghanistan. A temporary measure until adequate numbers of Afghan security forces could be recruited.

Loosely modelled on the tradition of Pashtun village militias known as arbakai, the programme seeks to emulate the “Sons of Iraq” counterinsurgency experiment in Iraq.

Unlike the Afghan security forces, whose personnel are usually stationed away from their homes often among rival ethnic groups, the militia members are mostly home-grown Pashtuns who are motivated to secure their own communities. The U.S. military claims that this counterinsurgency approach have subdued insurgents and helped tip formerly ambivalent communities toward the government.

But sceptics of this approach argue that state-sanctioned militias are a bad gamble in a country where loyalties can change with the wind. And in the absence of a strong state there is no guarantee that armed groups would not cooperate with the insurgency or use their enhanced power to settle old feuds along tribal or ethnic lines.

The Wardak Province Afghan Public Protection Program (APPP) was established in 2009 by U.S. Special Forces as one of the first pilot programmes, in response to a shortfall of troops and worsening security.
Wardak is a crucial province since it is just outside the capital Kabul and is bisected by the country’s main national highway.

The militia is partly formed by recruits rejected by the army or the police, for their age, abilities or previous sympathies with the Taliban. Some of the roughly 1,200 APPP members are barely teenagers; others are grandfathers. In short supply of uniforms and armed with no more than Kalashnikov rifles they receive poor training and they are paid irregularly.

Ghulam Muhammad, a former mujahideen commander, is the head the programme. He fought against the Russian and later, in a distinctly Afghan twist, he fought with the Taliban and spent time in detention before siding with the Afghan government.

So far they were able to secure some areas around the district centre but they face an uncertain future.
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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, November 2009: AP3 Members patrol the outskirts of a village.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, November 2009: The governor of Wardak province, Halim Fidai, talks to a member of the government in his office in the provincial capital Maidan Shah. The governor is one of the main advocates for the establishment of the local militia to secure the volatile region under his control. During the previous years almost all Wardak fell into Taliban control and the police and Afghan army have not enough personnel to secure the area.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, November 2009: American Army Special Forces officials talk to the Wardak province governor during a meeting in his office in Maidan Shah, the capital of Wardak province. The collaboration between American Special Forces and the governor was the first step toward the creation of the AP3 militia.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, November 2009: An AP3 member stands on a martyr's grave. Flags and ribbons are used to commemorate the dead. In some of the graves, members of the AP3 are buried, some are Taliban and some are casualties of the previous war with the Russians.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, November 2009: An AP3 member sits inside a garrison house.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, June 2010: Ghulam Muhammad, a former mujahideen commander and currently head the programme, visit an AP3 garrisom in Wardak province.
  He fought with the Taliban and spent time in detention before siding with the Afghan government.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, November 2009: Abdul Sattar Pacha, an AP3 member, sits in a garrison house allocated by his unit. Abdul is originally from Nangarhar province and joined the AP3 only recently.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, November 2009: Azimi, 28, a member of AP3 militia, sits on his bed in a garrison house. He was fighting with the Taliban before joining the militia. After fighting for various anti-government factions he joined the AP3 militia hoping his family will be safer under government protection.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, November 2009: AP3 members take a break in a garrison located in a remote area of Wardak province.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, November 2009: An AP3 member take a break in a garrison located in a remote area of Wardak province.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, November 2009: Policemen sit in a patrol car on the Kabul-Kandahar Highway. Linking Afghanistan's two largest cities, this highway is a key portion of Afghanistan's national road system or "Ring Road". Securing sections of this road was one of the main reasons for the establishment of the AP3 program.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, November 2009: A car accident on the Kabul-Kandahar Highway. Linking Afghanistan's two largest cities, this highway is a key portion of Afghanistan's national road system or "Ring Road". Securing sections of this road was one of the main reasons for the establishment of the AP3 program.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, November 2009: A police patrol car reaches an AP3 outpost in a remote area of Wardak province.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, June 2010: AP3 Members patrol the outskirts of a village.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, November 2009: A villager greets members of AP3 militia patrolling the neighbourhood. Close relations with the local population is a major factor for the AP3 militia in the fight against the Taliban.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, November 2009: Policemen and AP3 members guard an AP3 outpost in a remote area of Wardak province.

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  Afghanistan, Wardak province, June 2010: AP3 members take a break in a garrison located in a remote area of Wardak province.