Antonio Giustozzi is a Research Fellow at IDEAS, London School of Economics.

Mohammed Isaqzadeh holds an MPhil from Oxford University and teaches at the American University in Kabul. He is co-author of a paper on Afghanistan's paramilitary policing.

"This is the first serious, comprehensive and convincing account of how policing in Afghanistan really works. Giustozzi and Isaqzadeh's impressive study of the political dynamics of Afghan policing extends the police-studies agenda and is essential reading for anyone interested in the political economy--or reform--of policing."--Alice Hills, Chair of Conflict and Security, University of Leeds, and author of Policing Post-Conflict Cities

"The most comprehensive account to date of the history of policing in Afghanistan, especially of the critically important and yet highly problematic post-2001 efforts to rebuild an effective police force in Afghanistan. The book contains a wealth of details about the structure and organization of the police, recruitment and retention issues, and the various reform efforts of the past decade. The most useful contribution of the book, however, is that it looks at policing not simply from a technocratic perspective, which other studies of police reform efforts in Afghanistan have tended to do, but as an inherently political task...this study provides a much clearer and compelling explanation for the successes and many more failures of internationally-driven police reform efforts in Afghanistan."--Andrew Wilder, Director of Afghanistan and Pakistan Programs, United States Institute of Peace, and author of Cops or Robbers? The Struggle to Reform the Afghan National Police

"I enjoyed reading this book, from which I learned a great deal about the processes and problems of policing Afghanistan. It is well-researched and, given the public and academic interest in Afghanistan, ought to find a wide readership."--Cornelius Friesendorf, Frankfurt University