(Repeats story issued on Wednesday)

By Terry Friel

KABUL, Feb 28 (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 on Wednesday 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 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.

Samarqand manager Alexandra Skorobogatova, who was on holiday when the raid happened, returned and asked the police what had happened to the $8,000 worth of alcohol: "They said: 'It's burned'. How can you burn beer?" she asked angrily.

A Tajik arrested at Samarqand and the eight Nepalis from Four Seasons remain in jail. The Nepali government says it has not been told of the arrests and is demanding an explanation.

"The government will make inquiries on why they were arrested and it is serious about this issue," said Junior Labour Minister in charge of foreign workers, Ramesh Lekhak. "The government will take all necessary steps after obtaining full details."

The Afghan Interior Ministry and Palace did not answer emails on this issue and the spokesmen from the ministry, palace and police could not be contacted by phone.

POLICE BACKBONE

The police are a key plank in a new U.S. approach to focus on the local security forces and reconstruction, spending billions of extra dollars over the next two years.

But while most analysts say the army is doing well in terms of professionalism and establishing a multi-ethnic mix in a heavily tribal nation, the police are widely condemned.

The poorly paid police -- Taliban fighters get more money a month -- are seen by most Afghans as "corrupt, abusive and lacking discipline", a report released last week by the Center for Strategic and International Studies said.

"The ordinary Afghan has been caught between the abusive elements of the government -- mainly the police and local commanders -- and the Taliban, with both sides threatening their safety and affecting their ability to go about their daily lives," it said.

Samarqand will now close within the next few weeks. With it will go $200,000 of lost foreign investment and 23 Afghans will lose their jobs in one of the poorest countries in the world, with 40 percent unemployment and no real economy beyond opium.

Other guesthouses are also closing or losing business, with more jobs being lost. More are considering doing the same.

Even in the capital, Kabul, jobs are hard to come by. Across the country, there is almost no industry and little hope beyond helping the U.N., foreign security contractors or aid groups.

Five years after the Taliban's ouster, the failure to create jobs, build a non-drugs economy and give ordinary people security, as well as water, education and other infrastructure is driving some Afghans back into the arms of the insurgents.

"The Afghan government is not interested in private enterprise," said the restaurant owner who has not yet been raided. "They think everyone should work for the government.

"But private enterprise is the answer."

(Additional reporting by Gopal Sharma in Kathmandu)

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