MP urges ISAF to aid Afghan forces in Nuristan

KABUL, or lower house of Parliament, on Tuesday called for international troops to help Afghan security personnel in Kamdesh and Barg-i-Matal districts of eastern Nuristan province.

Hamidzai Lali, a member of Wolesi Jirga’s Security Commission, told a press conference in Kabul that government forces controlled only the centres of the embattled districts.

In many areas of Kamdesh and Barg-i-Matal, Arab, Chechen, Pakistani and Uzbek militants were fighting against the local forces, the parliamentarian said, urging NATO-led troops to aid their Afghan counterparts.

“The foreign militants are led by a Pakistani group — Amr Bil Maroof Wa Nahi Anil Munkar — (inviting toward virtue and forbidding from sin),” the lawmaker added.

If Afghan and international forces did not move swiftly to flush out the insurgents, the districts could fall, he warned, accusing the government of failing to take concrete measures to deal with the situation.    

But Gen. Zahir Azimi, the defence ministry spokesman, told a separate news briefing the security situation in the two districts was not that alarming.

There were enough security personnel in the districts, where additional troops could be dispatched from neighbouring Nangarhar and Kunar provinces, the spokesman explained.

“From now on, our security operations will focus on eastern Afghanistan.

mrh/mud

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