Afghan police hunt booze, smokes, chips in raids

KABUL, Mar 1 (Reuters) The soiled, stinking white dinner plates remain untouched where they lay -- a pack of Seven Stars cigarettes on one side, a red corkscrew on the other -- when Afghan police barged into the Four Seasons guesthouse a week ago.

The grimy, down-at-heel hostel was silent, padlocked and deserted yesterday in what may be the last heavy snow of winter.

All eight Nepali staff, including a woman, were hauled off as part of an ''alcohol crackdown'' in which police arrest workers without charge, hold foreigners without telling their governments, physically abuse workers and loot food, alcohol and cigarettes, witnesses say.

''They came like robbers, policemen with guns and pushing people,'' said Amit Shrestha, a Nepali finance manager at Samarqand, an upmarket restaurant near Four Seasons.

The raids underline widespread criticism that the police, supposed to be a key weapon in the battle for security in the face of a mounting Taliban insurgency, are corrupt, badly trained and hold themselves above the laws they are charged to enforce.

They also highlight the lawlessness in a country where parliamentarians accused of war crimes vote themselves an amnesty -- then give thousands of people a free hot lunch to join a rally in their support -- and some villagers take disputes to Taliban parallel courts because they do not trust the government system.

''It's not about the alcohol, it's about the law and corruption,'' said the manager of a restaurant not yet hit.

''It's quite a reflection on the state of law and order,'' said the manager who did not want to be identified. ''If they come to me and say to me you are running an illegal operation and you must close within two weeks, that's fine. That's not what they are doing.'' OSTENSIBLY ALCOHOL The Kabul guesthouse and restaurant raids are ostensibly a crackdown on sales of alcohol, banned to Afghans but ambiguously allowed to foreigners in licensed restaurants and bars.

However, as well as 8,000 dollars in wine, spirits and beer, the 100 police who raided Samarqand, armed with AK-47s -- also looted five cans of Pringles crisps, 50 packs of cigarettes, 19 lighters, and demanded the storeroom be opened.

Many stuffed bottles of whisky into their baggy grey winter uniform coats and drank the beer as they worked, witnesses said.

''They were just laughing. It's like they were having a big festival at the same time,'' Shrestha said.

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