Security in 17 more areas to change hands

KABUL (PAN): The Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) on Wednesday announced the 17 provinces where the second phase of security transition to Afghan forces would take place.

At a conference with governors in Kabul today, IDLG chief Abdul Khaliq Farahi told Pajhwok Afghan News they were ready to take over the security responsibility in Daikundi, Nimroz, Parwan, Samangan, Sar-i-Pul, Takhar and Balkh provinces.

Farahi said the security transfer would also take place in some districts of Badakhshan, Badghis, Ghazni, Helmand, Herat, Kabul, Ghor, Laghman, Maidan Wardak and Nangarhar.

The process in Badakhshan includes the provincial capital Faizabad, Shahr-i-Buzurg, Yaftale Sufla, Arghanchkhwa, Baharak, Tishkan, Kishm and Argu districts.

Qala-i-Naw, the capital of Badghis, and Aab Kamari district, Ghazni City, Nawa district of Helmand, Herat province, excluding Shindand and Chasht-e-Sharif districts, Sarobi district of Kabul and Chaghcharan, the capital of Ghor, are also due for the switch.

The Qarghayee district of Laghman, Behsud, Kama, Khewa and Surkhrod districts and Jalalabad in Nangarhar, the Hesaye Awal and Hesaye Daum districts and capital of Maidan Wardak will also change hands.

These were the areas where security switch would take place, but the number might vary, Farahi said, adding President Hamid Karzai would officially announce the final list at the Istanbul conference in Turkey on Nov. 2.

Maidan Wardak Governor Halim Fidayee told Pajhwok Afghan News there was no security problem in Maidan Shahr and the Hesaye Awal and Hesaye Daum districts of the province.

In other districts, an Afghan National Army (ANA) brigade and 1,500 policemen be deployed to pave the ground for the security switch in next phases, Fidayee said.

“Our goal is not only the transfer of the security responsibility, but to improve people’s economy, generate employment opportunities and boost local governance,” he remarked.

Takhar Governor Abdul Jabbar Taqwa said the northern province was all set for a complete security transfer. But he asked for more police personnel and equipment.

Laghman Governor Eqbal Azizi said they had tried to include as many districts as possible in the second phase. But since some of them border volatile Kunar and Nuristan provinces, only Qarghayee district was chosen for the switch.

“Our goal is to assess the governors’ problems in the field of security and resolve them,” Farahi said, expecting the provincial chief executives to meet Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, the Security Transition Commission head, and President Karzai to discuss the hurdles.

The first phase of the security transfer from international troops to their Afghan counterparts began from central Bamyan province on July 17 and ended in Panjsher.

Kabul, excluding Sarobi district, Mehtarlam, Lashkargah, Herat City and Mazar-i-Sharif have gone through the process in the first phase. The process is scheduled to be completed by 2014 across the country.

mbg/mud

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