# Canada finances TV cop show in Afghanistan



## GAP (23 Nov 2010)

Canada finances TV cop show in Afghanistan
Published On Tue Nov 23 2010 Allan Woods Ottawa Bureau
Article Link

Canada is underwriting a propaganda campaign to transform the image of the notorious Afghan national police in the hearts and minds of the country’s television viewers.

The half-million dollar initiative casts Lt. Humayun as a dedicated, incorruptible Afghan National Police officer trolling the streets of Kabul to settle tribal disputes and put drug traffickers and warlords out of business. The popular Saturday evening television series, Separ, is sort of an Afghan version of Paul Gross’s Mountie in the popular Due South series.

The two dozen planned episodes of the show are intended to educate the country on the roles and duties of the Afghan National Police (ANP), a force that is hardly better trusted than thugs and terrorists it is meant to be targetting.

“This is about the promotion and progress of the police in Afghanistan, the ANP,” said Abdul Salam Abid, a director with Kabul’s Awaz Communications, which has already produced seven episodes of the show. “This is to show that the police are in the service of the people.”

The Canadian International Development Agency kicked in $400,511 to finance the programming, according to government records. The European Union contributed about $150,000.

The national police force has rarely been perceived as being in the service of its citizenry. The problem is that police officers have been in such demand that, until recently, they were being recruited, handed a uniform and gun and sent out the door, expected to learn their skills on the job in a war zone.

Many fled, either because of poor pay or the dangerous work conditions. Those who stayed have become notorious for their often casual regard for the laws.

“The vast majority of the police did not know the law they were responsible to enforce, having been brought into the ANP under the ‘Recruit and Assign’ model without proper training,” said a report released this month by the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan. “Some policemen abused the Afghan population and engaged in criminal activity.”
More on link


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## VIChris (24 Nov 2010)

Does that sound like an exorbitant  amount of money to produce  a reality show in a country like Afghanistan to anyone else?


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## brihard (24 Nov 2010)

VIChris said:
			
		

> Does that sound like an exorbitant  amount of money to produce  a reality show in a country like Afghanistan to anyone else?



They had to pay seven actors before they got one to stick around long enough to film the whole season.


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## Navalsnpr (24 Nov 2010)

Well, if the media chooses only to put the bad news stories on the wire, then maybe this is a good mechanism to transmit the good stories to Canada and the World.


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## mariomike (24 Nov 2010)

"The popular Saturday evening television series, Separ, is sort of an Afghan version of Paul Gross’s Mountie in the popular Due South series."

Preview:
http://www.youtube.com/user/awazproductions

Theme music sounds familiar.


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## Colin Parkinson (25 Nov 2010)

It’s not a bad idea, how many people joined the Mounties because of their image? Creating the ideal to aspire to and telling people that they should aspire to that role model is a start. Talking to a young police officer in Malaysia how he copes with the rampant corruption, he said, day by day. He says to himself, “Today I will not take a bribe” Each day is a small victory. Now if a 100 young police officers do not take a bribe that day, it starts to show and changes peoples opinions and then they will be less willing to offer a bribe.


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## Big Red (25 Nov 2010)

The difference is you don't watch "Due South", then on your way to work the next day see Mounties shaking down people at checkpoints, smoking crack in the ditch outside their Detachment, and sleeping under their pickup trucks on duty. A TV show alone won't change the public image of the chaos we've created with the formation of the ANP.


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## mariomike (25 Nov 2010)

Maybe a new theme song?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iISyPz5XRyI&feature=related


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## brandon_ (26 Nov 2010)

how many people in afghanistan actually have a tv to watch something like this ?


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## mariomike (26 Nov 2010)

brandon_ said:
			
		

> how many people in afghanistan actually have a tv to watch something like this ?



2007:
"In a more recent study of Afghanistan's five most urban provinces, two-thirds of all people said they watched television every day or almost every day.":
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/world/asia/31iht-kabul.4.6921752.html


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## brandon_ (26 Nov 2010)

Oh wow..


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## iciphil (29 Nov 2010)

Bad Boys Bad Boys, what d'you gonna do, what'd'you gonna do when they come for you!


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## Arctic Acorn (6 Dec 2010)

brandon_ said:
			
		

> how many people in afghanistan actually have a tv to watch something like this ?



Thank you! This may have some limited utility to the wealthy living in urban centres, but it won't do a damn thing to influence/inform anyone living in the area they are trying to target. 

Why not do a radio serial? Hell, if we could just translate "Afganada" into Pashto, and introduce an Afghan character. Problem solved, where is my beer?


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## mariomike (6 Dec 2010)

0tto Destruct said:
			
		

> Thank you! This may have some limited utility to the wealthy living in urban centres, but it won't do a damn thing to influence/inform anyone living in the area they are trying to target.
> 
> Why not do a radio serial? Hell, if we could just translate "Afganada" into Pashto, and introduce an Afghan character. Problem solved, where is my beer?



This 13 October, 2010 report says that TV has started replacing radio:
http://www.altaiconsulting.com/docs/media/2010/Afghan%20Media%20in%202010.pdf


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## Arctic Acorn (6 Dec 2010)

mariomike said:
			
		

> This 13 October, 2010 report says that TV has started replacing radio:
> http://www.altaiconsulting.com/docs/media/2010/Afghan%20Media%20in%202010.pdf



This means we're winning...right?


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## mariomike (7 Dec 2010)

Looks like the show may have some competition.
7 December, 2010
"Afghan TV Show Aims To Burnish Police Reputation":
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/07/131857237/afghan-tv-show-aims-to-burnish-police-reputation

"A new television cop show has hit the airwaves in Afghanistan."


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## The Bread Guy (9 Dec 2010)

1)  Correction (or, as worded by the _Toronto Star_, "(Latest edition of) THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN EDITED FROM A PREVIOUS VERSION" re:  who's paying:  


			
				GAP said:
			
		

> .... The Canadian International Development Agency Department of Foreign Affairs kicked in $400,511 to finance the programming, according to government records. The European Union contributed about $150,000 ....



2)  Some competition, also funded using Western government funds:


> It's the night shift at a Kabul checkpoint, and police officer Mohammed Saleem will soon be searching suspicious vehicles for hidden bombs, checking ID papers - and watching his favorite TV show.
> 
> A new TV series called "Eagle Four" has gained a devoted following in Afghanistan, chronicling life in an imaginary, elite unit of Kabul police that operates free of the corruption, brutality and drug addiction that infect the real cops.
> 
> ...


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