PASAB, Afghanistan - The running joke among many Afghanistan is not whether you'll be given a shakedown when passing through a checkpoint, but how much will be extorted from you.
It's a time-honoured Afghan practice that Canadian troops aim to halt.
Over the last 10 days, soldiers from the provincial reconstruction team (PRT) base in nearby Kandahar have begun conducting anti-corruption patrols, targeting areas where residents have reported illegal roadblocks.
The problem is particularly bad in the Zhari district, where lately thousand of refugees who fled fierce fighting last fall are beginning to trickle back to their shattered villages.
Many of those who have homes arrive to find them looted, by either retreating Taliban militants or local thugs. International agencies have been slow in delivering basic food and shelter, and then the evacuees suffer the further indignity of having to pay illegal tolls on major roads.
"It alienates everything we're trying to do,'' said Sgt. John Courtney, a reservist and civilian-military co-operation (CIMIC) team member at Patrol Base Wilson.
There have been reports, near the village of Senjaray, that the roadblocks are run by uniformed Afghan National Police officers -- something that sullies the force's already blackened reputation. Irritated citizens also claim a powerful, former militia commander-turned local politician is behind the racket.
The accusation is "nothing more than innuendo'' at this point, says the former commander of Canada's PRT, who launched the anti-corruption operation.
"Like everything else, people will say the governor is corrupt; OK show me,'' said Lt.-Col. Simon Heatherington, whose assignment ended Monday.
"It's like saying (in Canada) the prime minister is corrupt; OK show me. It is something we're trying to rationalize (to the Afghans) that when you make an accusation like that against a political figure or a leader of a tribe, you've got to have the evidence to support it.''
That's where military police and RCMP members from the reconstruction base come in. They, along with a team of infantry, have gone out looking for roadblocks, taking photographs of the alleged impersonators and checking identification cards.
All evidence of activity is handed over to the local Afghan police
chief and the governor because, as Heatherington said: "It's a crime
and it falls to the purview of the police to do something.''
Checkpoint extortion common in many parts of world
The Canadian involvement is strictly to help them identify where an illegal checkpoint may or may not be, he said.
The problem of checkpoint extortion is not new to Zhari district -- or even Afghanistan. It is endemic in many parts of the world.
It's a favourite vehicle for powerful tribal leaders and militia commanders to collect money. During the Taliban times, the practice was virtually eliminated, and today some Afghans, who look back fondly on the days of the hard-line regime, use the roadside shakedowns as the easiest example of corruption under President Hamid Karzai.
"It's frustrating, especially since we're trying to do reconstruction and win the confidence of the people,'' says Courtney, a student in civilian life.
More of these anti-corruption patrols are planned for the near future as Afghan authorities attempt to restore a sense of order in the restive farmland west of Kandahar, which was used last year by the Taliban as a staging zone for attacks into the provincial capital.
"We're not going to simply write it down and walk away,'' said Heatherington.
"It's not going to be a one-shot deal. We've got to keep doing it and keep the pressure on.''
