Police poised for election security: Patang

KABUL): Interior Minister Mujtaba Patang on Monday said the national police were poised to keep security for upcoming elections across the country.

Patang was addressing a seminar that discussed coordination between security officials in provinces for the April 2014 presidential and provincial elections, joint operations of police, army and intelligence agencies in insecure areas.

Challenges in restoring peace and stability also came under discussion. “I assure you that the year 2014 is the inception of fulfilling the hopes of Afghan people for peace, stability and good governance,” Patang told participants the seminar in Kabul. He reiterated the government’s resolve to hold next year’s elections in a peaceful environment.

The interior minister also said three phases of the security transition had successfully been completed and the fourth and fifth round being planned and conducted in a more better way.

The security transition that began in 2011 is expected to be completed by midyear. Afghan forces currently provide security for more than 80 percent of the country’s populations.

Patang said the enemies of Afghanistan were out to demoralise the Afghans and their forces and create distrust between the people and the government. “The Afghan people are with their security forces and they support them,” he said.

Patang stressed the need for supplying more logistics, ammunitions and arms to the police and their training in line with international standards.

He said special police units in provinces required transportation facilities and a 200-bed police hospital in Kabul needed more equipment.

He said the Afghan forces should be provided with sophisticated weapons like those possessed by NATO forces in order to effectively ward off enemy theat.

The minister said 2,037 policemen were lost to voilence across the country last year, when 3672 others were wounded. He said 395 policemen were killed and 592 others wounded since late March this year.

Chief of Army Staff Gen. Sher Muhammad Karimi said Afghanistan had been imposed the war from outside and under the prevailing situation, joint operational plans of Afghan forces were the need of hour.

He asked the interior minister to arrange a joint seminar involving the three security organs to create better coordination among them for the upcoming elections.

ISAF top commander in Afghanistan General Joseph Danford reiterated NATO’s commitment of continued support for Afghan forces.

He said 89 percent Afghans believed in peace and a huge number of Afghan refugees had returned home from neighbor countries to help rebuild their country. “ISAF will support you for a stable, peaceful and strong Afghanistan.”

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