Ministry of Interior Affairs (Afghanistan)

The Democratic Republic period

During the period where Afghanistan was a communist state known as the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, those that worked for the Ministry of Interior (MoI) were referred to as “Sarandoy”. This label included traffic police, provinical officers and corrections/labor prison facility officers. The Ministry of Interior also had female personnel who were tasked with interacting with female civilians, such as when searching them at checkpoints. Those who worked for the Ministry of Interior were tasked with fighting “counter-revolutionaries”, securing government and party components and ensuring the safety of important structures. As of 1982, the Ministry of Interior may have had its own intelligence agency. The Sarandoy were a centrally commanded force and companies, battalions, and brigades reported to the “Directorate of the Defense of the Revolution of the Ministry of Interior”.

It should also be noted that a gendarme forces also existed during the monarchy and Daoud Khan’s republic, and that personnel under the Ministry of Interior were trained by Turkey from the 1950s well into the 1970s. Additionally, both West Germany and East Germany trained those in the Ministry of Interior and on the eve of the Saur Revolution in 1978, Afghanistan’s officer corps and MoI personnel contained personnel who received training in the United States. Regardless, the Sarandoy had far more numbers and were more effective due to the cooperation of the Soviet MVD and its “Kobalt” units in 1981 and 1982 where 12,000 of these Sarandoy personnel were trained at MVD facilities in the Soviet Union between 1978 and 1986, many of them being junior commanders and NCOs. 2,500 of these Sarandoy personnel would be trained in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic for past excellence in combat.

The first Islamic Emirate period

During the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001), Abdul Samad Khaksar (also referred to as Mohammad Khaksar in some news reports) was a Taliban deputy Minister of the Interior, who is notable because he offered to help the US deal with al-Qaeda and became an informant for the Northern Alliance. Khaksar was assassinated on January 14, 2006 by Taliban gunmen.

Joint Task Force Guantanamo counterterrorism analysts described Khairullah Khairkhwa as a former Taliban Minister of the Interior. However, during his second annual Administrative Review Board hearing Khairullah Khairkhwa disputed this allegation.

The Islamic Republic period

During the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021), the ministry maintained the Afghan National Police, the General Command of Police Special Units and the General Directorate of Prisons and Detention Centers (GDPDC).

Police forces

• Afghan National Police (ANP)
  • Afghan Uniformed Police (AUP)
  • Public Security Police (PSP)
  • Afghan Border Force (ABP)
  • General Directorate for Intelligence and Counter Crime (GDICC) (formerly Afghan Anti-Crime Police (AACP))
  • Afghan Public Protection Force (APPF)
  • Counter Narcotics Police of Afghanistan (CNPA)
  • Afghan Local Police (ALP)
• General Command of Police Special Units (GCPSU) (Dari: قوماندانی عمومی قطعات خاص)
  • Afghan Territorial Force (ATF) 444
  • Crisis Response Unit (CRU) 222
  • Afghan Special Narcotics Force - also known as Force 333 or Commando Force 333. The force was a counternarcotics paramilitary unit, founded at the end of 2003 with training and assistance from British advisers. It carried out drug interdiction missions in remote areas of the country against high-value targets such as drug laboratories. The Department of Defense provided the unit with intelligence and airlift support. All of its operations were sanctioned by the President and Minister of Interior Affairs. It operated regularly with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on raids and seized hundreds of tonnes of illicit drugs.
  • Provincial Special Units