The local police have said that they will use whatever force is necessary to fight the crime syndicates and that special forces are ready to assist. In the first days after the order took effect, police officers seized vehicles belonging to one of the country’s vice presidents as well as to powerful members of Parliament — moves that would have been unthinkable until recently.

Such initiatives have created a rare sense of optimism in Kabul, leading some to hope that a police force many had given up on may somehow be reinvigorated and armed to stand up to the local mafia as much as to insurgents.

General Roshandil, a 14-year veteran of the country’s special forces, was appointed to lead the Kabul police in September, when deadly attacks were frequent and the city had been turned into a front line of the country’s long war. Aided by a new intelligence chief for the city who had similar counterterrorism experience, and with the support of American advisers, local forces carried out raids to disrupt terrorist cells in Kabul and surrounding areas.

Much of the recent optimism also stems from the appointment last month of Mr. Saleh as interior minister, and from his immediate push to bolster and uplift a national police force that lost about 19,000 men across the country in the past four years alone. A former intelligence chief, Mr. Saleh has vowed to minimize the influence of warlords and local elites over the police and to drive out corruption among its forces.

While the measures he has introduced have been widely welcomed in Kabul, many observers and residents say that combating the rot will require far deeper changes.

“Since last week, public opinion has changed. People are optimistic, and they believe that it is possible to change the situation,” said Wazhma Frogh, the executive director of the Women and Peace Studies Organization.