Kandahar District to Receive Another 400 Police Amid Security Concerns

Kandahar provincial police commander Abdul Raziq vowed to "clean up" and secure the southern province's Ghorak district, including hiring another 400 local police, after residents raised concerns over the lack of security.

Raziq responded to residents' fears at the struggling security situation - three months after Afghan forces were handed security control from Nato - saying that more personnel would be hired and the highway cleared of hidden bombs.

The police chief said that he accepted all the challenges faced by Ghorak, which is situated in the northwest of Kandahar and shares a border with Helmand province.

Ghorak residents had called on the government to solve the security problems faced by the locals, particularly improvised explosive devices (IED) along the main highway connecting the Maiwand district in Kandahar and Sangin district in Helmand.

"Soon the clean up of the highway in this district will start and we will hire 400 [more] local police for the security of this province," Raziq said.

"The highway connecting Maiwan and Sangin districts, we promise to clean up soon," he added.

He also asked the residents of the district to join the Afghan national police and local police forces until the challenges were resolved.

Ghorak residents also complained to authorities of inadequate health care and lack of safe drinking water in the district.