Security transition a huge gain for Afghan forces: Gen. Kneip

MAZAR-I-SHARIF (PAN) commander said on Tuesday. 

German General Markus Kneip, who was wounded in a suicide attack in Takhar province on May 29, returned to work three days back.

Two senior Afghan police commanders and two German soldiers were killed in the Taliban assault on a high-level security meeting in Taloqan. Several others were injured in the attack.

In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, the commander of NATO promised continued efforts at bringing peace and security to the region.  

Over the past six months, Gen. Kneip said, Afghan forces had made achievements in the campaign against the Taliban rebels. Scores of militants were killed and captured during the counterinsurgency operation in several northern provinces.

In order to pave the ground for the security transition, Afghan soldiers and police purged several areas near Mazar-i-Sharif of key regional Taliban leaders.

The areas posed a serious threat to security in the provincial capital. Gen. Kneip described the July 23 security transfer in Mazari-Sharif as a big gain for Afghan forces.

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