Security to be transferred in Mehtarlam

JALALABAD (PAN): Security responsibility for the eastern city of Mehtarlam will be handed to Afghan forces today, an official said.

The NATO press office in Bagram told Pajhwok Afghan News that the hand-over ceremony would take place on an Afghan National Army (ANA) base in the Qarghaye district of Laghman.

International and Afghan military officials will also participate in the ceremony.

Faizanullah Pattan, the Laghman governor’s spokesman, said that Afghan forces were fully ready to take over security responsibility for the land and the people.

Part of the ceremony will take place in the provincial governor’s office, he said.

President Hamid Karzai announced the security transition process in March, on the first day of Nawruz, the solar new year.

The first phase of the process will take place in seven provinces. The transition is expected to be complete throughout the country by the end of 2014.

On Sunday, Bamyan was the first province in which security was transferred completely to Afghan forces.

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