Karzai announces second wave of Afghan transition

The second wave of transition from NATO to local control in Afghanistan will include six provinces, seven cities and dozens of districts, a statement from President Hamid Karzai's office said Sunday.

The announcement means that more than 50 percent of Afghanistan will soon be under the control of local forces and officials, although the statement did not give a date for when the second phase would begin.

The first phase of transition started in July, part of a process which should see all foreign combat troops leave by the end of 2014.

The provinces being handed over in their entirety in the second phase are Balkh, Daikundi, Kabul, Takhar, Samangan and Nimroz.

The cities being handed over are Jalalabad, Ghazni city, Maydan Shahr, Faizabad, Chaghcharan, Shibirghan and Qalay-I-Naw. Jalalabad is one of Afghanistan's main cities, close to the border with Pakistan.

"With today's decision by the president, over half of the country's population would now be covered by the transition process," a statement from the president`s office said.

The second tranche of places which will be transitioning is significantly larger than the first which was heralded as a success by officials. But the process has not been smooth, with insurgents continuing to bomb those areas and staging high-profile attacks. (S008)

Source: ANTARA