Afghanistan shuffles border security control

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: The Afghan government on Saturday handed over control of the Afghan Border Police (ABP) from the Interior Ministry to the Defense Ministry.

President Ashraf Ghani said this change in command was in line with the four-year national security plan aimed at ensuring unity of command, efficiency and reform.

He said restructuring of the border police force would bring billions of dollars to the government.

“In four months [multi-billion dollar Turkmeni-stan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline] TAPI will reach our soil,” Ghani said.

The World Bank economist-turned-politician is aiming to turn Afghanistan into a regional hub for transit of goods, natural resources and people.

“A number of groups make different propaganda. Freedom of speech is one thing, the national interests of the country is another. The Constitution has ordered us to defend the country’s interests,” Ghani said. “Anyone who makes these claims that senior government officials have links with Daesh should bring the allegation to the court; otherwise they should stop this.”

“Some minor circles in the country are propagating against some government officials. Their accusations are baseless and are mere enemies’ propaganda,” he said. The remarks by the president come after some MPs accused the head of National Directorate of Security, Masoom Stanekzai and the National Security Advisor Mohammad Hanif Atmar of having links with Daesh militants.

However, Ghani said he had full trust in the security team of the government.

He said Daesh is escaping and that the group is under severe pressure by the Afghan security forces.

The 19,000 soldiers of the border force were previously led by the Interior Ministry, that had been termed as the “heart of corruption” by Ghani.

Taking charge of the force, Defense Minister Tariq Shah Bahrami said reforms, including a rise of up to 5,000 Afghan afghanis ($75) in salary, were being considered.

He added that the move would enable the Afghan army to reach out to the border forces in remote areas to counter drug trafficking and the movement of terrorists when needed.

Gen. John Nicholson, commander of the U.S. Forces in Afghanistan and the Nato-led Resolute Support Mission (RSM), reiterated support for the government’s security plan.

“The Taliban cannot win in the face of these constant improvements in the MoD [Defense Ministry] and in the MoI [Interior Ministry]… the Taliban’s choices are to reconcile, to live in irrelevance or to die,” he said.