Portraits, 2nd prize
Afghan police recruits
Ton Koene
for <em>De Volkskrant</em>
for <em>De Volkskrant</em>
10 February, 2011
Recruits at a police training center run by Germany in Kunduz, Afghanistan.
Ton Koene
Ton Koene (48) holds a degree in humanitarian practice from Oxford University. After graduating in 1989, he worked for sixteen years for Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF), primarily...
Kunduz, Afghanistan
A new recruit at a police training center run by Germany in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Young men recruited into the Afghan police force are often from rural areas where education is poor, and are largely illiterate. Many join the police solely for financial reasons—a police officer earns about €130 a month—but their loyalty to the government is thin. Harsh working conditions, and the risk of being killed by the Taliban, lead to many leaving the force before their contract ends.
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