The appearances don't lie: The center, originally built for civilian purposes, is a war zone. The 50 Afghan policemen and army troops stationed here come under attack by the Taliban almost every afternoon at 5 o'clock. The shooting goes on until about 9 p.m. After that, there is no point in continuing, as the Afghans, whether police or Taliban, have no night-vision equipment.

The good news is that the two platoons of Afghan security forces haven't lost a single man since March, despite the near-constant fighting. To be sure, there are still no civilians here, the bazaar is closed, and the police are constantly nagging for more coalition support. But at least they are not running away, as many of them were as recently as last year.

Coalition efforts may be slowly bearing fruit in Wardak province, southwest of the Afghan capital of Kabul. The U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division was deployed to Wardak earlier this year as part of the increased American effort to turn the war in Afghanistan around. Security has improved a lot here since.

"They are phenomenal," says 1st Lt. Johnny Cochrane, who has been working with the Afghan police in Jaghto. "I have been out patrolling with them. They are good, they are not bullshittiing. They are some of the best police we have here."

To be sure, this central plank of NATO's rebuilding effort -- training the Afghan security forces and making them responsible for security -- still seems wobbly. For one thing, the ethnic composition of the Afghan forces seems skewed towards the northern groups: Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaras.

In fact, the one police station in the area that doesn't seem to come under near-constant attack is the one where the policemen are Pashtu, the dominant southern ethnic group and the support base of the Taliban. Most Pashtu men are reluctant to join the police, either because the Taliban threaten them or because they do not support the government, which they see as dominated by northern groups and foreigners.

Meanwhile, among Afghan civilians, there is little trust in the police. In Mamkhel, a small village of about 200 hundred houses, people told U.S. forces that they couldn't turn to the police for protection from the insurgents, because the police are "as bad as the Taliban." They complained of theft and harassment. The Americans insist the police forces have come a long way, and that many of the more corrupt members have been fired. But they admit that more has to be done.

Another problem is that neither the Afghan police nor the army are very good fighters, although the army, especially, has gotten a lot better. But as even their French trainers readily admit, there's still plenty of room for improvement. "They can't shoot very well, they can't do proper tactics, and often they are not very motivated," says Capt. Dupont, an officer with a French training team responsible for getting the Afghans into shape.

"The good thing is that the Taliban are no better," he adds, smiling.

For the time being, the security improvements in this province may be due mostly to the increased American presence. But the 50-strong Afghan security outpost in Jaghto is now fighting mostly alone, and, seemingly, with a fair amount of success.

**Balint Szlanko is a London-based freelance journalist embedded with the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army in Wardak and Logar provinces, Afghanistan, for the month of July. WPR will be featuring his reporter's diary, as well as news briefings and photo features, while he is there.