Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Afghan police force has been infiltrated “at every level” by the Taliban, a retired British soldier who mentored police in Afghanistan said.

“The policemen are influenced either ideologically or financially,” former Captain Doug Beattie said in a telephone interview today. “They are not Taliban sleeper cells. They are radicalized once they are in the job.”

While Afghanistan’s Army works well, its police organization “is not a credible force,” said Beattie, who was in Helmand province in 2006 to 2008 and is author of “Task Force Helmand: A Soldier’s Story of Life, Death and Combat” (Simon & Schuster UK, 368 pages, 17.99 pounds ($29.84)). Police recruits are neither vetted nor paid enough, and have a miserable life, he said.

The U.K. Ministry of Defence released today the identities of five soldiers killed at an Afghan police base on Nov. 3 by a Taliban gunman who had infiltrated the force. Six other soldiers were seriously wounded in the shooting in the Nad-e’Ali district of Helmand province.

The soldiers were living and working in the compound as part of a strategy to train and mentor Afghan national police and army officers so that they can function on their own and U.K. forces can return home.

The incident has brought Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s strategy of “Afghanization” into public focus and reignited a debate about whether the 9,000-strong British force should stay in the country. Another stated aim is to prevent the use of Afghanistan as a training ground for terrorists who aim to take lives in the West.

Public Opposition

Public opposition to the war has risen in the past two weeks, according to a poll for Channel 4 News by YouGov Plc, released today.

A total of 57 percent of 1,021 adults questioned late yesterday said victory is no longer possible, while 33 percent said the war can be won. Two weeks ago, 48 percent thought U.K. forces and their allies couldn’t defeat the Taliban, while 42 percent of Britons thought they could.

As a result, 35 percent of respondents said all U.K. troops should be withdrawn immediately, compared with 25 percent two weeks ago. Only 20 percent said the troops should remain “as long as Afghanistan’s government wants them,” down from 29 percent two weeks ago. The figures were weighted to be representative of all British voters.

“We are at a critical juncture between Afghanistan and the international community,” Kai Eide, the United Nations Special Representative in Kabul, said at a news conference today. “We cannot do more of the same, there has to be a change of mindset.”

Kabul Guesthouse

The UN announced today it will move about 600 of its international staff members in Afghanistan following an Oct. 28 attack by Taliban dressed as policemen that killed five UN workers in a Kabul guesthouse. Some of the non-essential staff will be relocated, others will leave the country, the UN said.

Afghanistan’s army has been working well for the past three years because recruits come from the north, Beattie said. “They are Dari speakers, not Pashtun speakers and therefore not as influenced by outside forces.”

Police recruits, on the other hand, are from the community within Helmand, he said. They are Pashtun speakers and face tribal, village, family and insurgent influences.

“There are issues about vetting police, and the training of police,” Simon Lewis, a spokesman for Brown, told reporters in London today. “There’s always more that can be done to explain to the British people what’s being done in Afghanistan. What we’re trying to do is ensure that the streets of London are safe.”

Killed Soldiers

The Ministry of Defence identified today the murdered soldiers as Warrant Officer Darren Chant, Sergeant Matthew Telford and Guardsman James Major from the Grenadier Guards; and Corporal Steven Boote and Corporal Nicholas Webster-Smith from the Royal Military Police.

Their deaths brought to 92 the number of U.K. service personnel who have died in Afghanistan so far in 2009, making it the deadliest year for British troops since the 1982 Falklands war, when 255 died. The previous worst year was in 2007, when 89 troops died -- 47 in Iraq and 42 in Afghanistan.

The Opposition Conservatives have also dismissed the growing calls for troops to be pulled out of Afghanistan.

“The consequences of walking away for our own security would be very serious indeed,” Conservative foreign affairs spokesman William Hague told the BBC’s Breakfast program today. “There is a lot to be done, and we should be very worried about the situation, but we should not pull out now.”

In total, 229 U.K. service personnel have died in Afghanistan since 2001, including those who died in the compound. Britain has about 9,000 troops in Afghanistan, the second biggest contingent after the U.S.

A senior member of the Taliban today said the gunmen who killed the five British soldiers was one of its own, and said he is back with them “safe,” Sky News reported. The Afghan Interior Ministry said the hunt to track him down continues alongside an investigation into the incident.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net or; Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 5, 2009 09:09 EST