Nato-led forces have handed over responsibility for security to Afghan control in three former Taliban strongholds in the restive Helmand province, the provincial governor's office said Saturday. Afghan security forces took control of Nad Ali, Nawa and Marjah Friday as part of the second wave of security transition announced by President Hamid Karzai at the end of November.
British forces have been operating in Nad Ali, a farming community, since 2006 and recently said the joint security effort had led to an 86 percent drop in violence in 2011 compared to 2010. But the insurgent threat in the district remains, underlined two days ago when 10 Afghan police were killed after their vehicle struck a roadside bomb. And locals say that while security may have improved in some areas, Taliban continue to operate and they still suffer from intimidation.
There are about 130,000 ISAF troops fighting alongside government forces in Afghanistan. The transition process is intended to allow all foreign combat troops to leave Afghanistan in staged withdrawals by the end of 2014. Afghanistan's troubled south was the focus of a 30,000-strong troop surge announced by the United States in 2009 designed to quell the Taliban-led insurgency once and for all. Officials including Helmand governor Gulab Mangal toured the three districts Friday. He praised the improvements in security and called on locals to enlist their sons in the Afghan army and police, a statement from the governor's office said.