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Media Highlights on Afghanistan 15 May 2012 SECURITY Provincial Council Member, 8 Others Killed in Faryab Explosion. A provincial council member and eight civilians were killed in an explosion in Faryab Province yesterday, officials said. The explosive device was planted on a bicycle at a market and detonated remotely, killing eight civilians and provincial council member Amanullah Shahabzai. The market was busy and full of shoppers when the blast occurred. Officials in Faryab hospital said ten others were wounded in the blast. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. [SAP20120514963354 Tolo News Online in English 1725 GMT 14 May 12 -- Website of independent 24/7 news channel; part of the Moby Media Group] MPs Say Afghan Forces Unable to Take Security Responsibilities. Afghan security forces are not able to take security responsibilities and the third phase of transition will face major challenges, Afghan MPs said yesterday. They said the third phase of security transition should be revised because Afghan forces are still not fully trained and equipped and are not able to hold security without the help of another major military force. Herat MP Saleh Mohammad Saljoqi said, "We are still not ready for the start of third, fourth and fifth phases of transition because the situation is not ready for the Afghan Police and Army. They are not fully trained and equipped yet." Kunduz MP Fatemah Aziz said a hasty security transition could deteriorate the situation in the country. "Even with the presence of foreign forces, our public figures are getting killed, we are in a situation that if the transition takes place, we will go towards insecurity," she added. Military experts believe that security transition will not be successful if government fails to gain the trust of Afghan people. "Nothing important has been done in the past decade to gain the trust of people, if government wants the transition to be successful, it should gain the trust of people." military analyst Noorulhaq Olomi said. [SAP20120514963352 Tolo News Online in English 1725 GMT 14 May 12 -- Website of independent 24/7 news channel; part of the Moby Media Group] ISAF Will Support Afghan Forces in Combat Beyond 2014. ISAF will support Afghan security forces in combat operations beyond 2014 if necessary, ISAF spokesman Gen Carsten Jacobson said yesterday. Speaking at a joint press conference with NATO's civilian spokesman Dominic Medley, Jacobson said ISAF will focus on a supportive role but will help Afghan security forces in combat operations if necessary. "In the course of this next year as transition continues, Afghan security forces move more into the lead of combat operations across the country," he added. "ISAF will increasingly take more of a supporting role but that will include supporting Afghan forces in combat if necessary." [SAP20120514963351 Tolo News Online in English 1725 GMT 14 May 12 -- Website of independent 24/7 news channel; part of the Moby Media Group] US Defends Afghan Police Despite Critical Report. The Pentagon defended a program that recruits local police forces in Afghan villages despite the findings of a US-funded report that found the project has failed to weaken the insurgency and is riddled with corruption and abuse.

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Top officers have praised the Afghan Local Police initiative as a successful tool in rolling back the Taliban in rural areas. But the unpublished study commissioned by the Defense Department and prepared by the RAND Corporation think tank offers a less optimistic analysis, officials said. The report found one in five US special operations teams advising the local police units said the Afghan militia had committed violence or abused civilians. US troops also have alleged the Afghan police engaged in drug abuse, bribe taking, rape and drug trafficking. The report said the presence of the local police had not reduced insurgent activity. Instead, violence usually increased after US special forces entered an area to clear out the Taliban. But once the Americans withdrew with a local police force in place, the violence usually just dropped back to the level seen before the US forces first arrived, it said. Pentagon spokesman George Little insisted the Afghan Local Police program has proven effective and that generally Afghan security forces have made "tremendous progress" that he said has often been overlooked. "We remain very committed to the ALP program," he told reporters. [AFP in English 14 May 12 -Independent French news agency] Locals Complain of Civilian Casualties in Kunar. Locals in Wataput District of Kunar Province said ten civilians were killed in an ISAF airstrike in the district on 13 May. The spokesman for the provincial governor said they have launched an investigation into the incident and are trying to determine the exact number of civilians killed. Tribal elder Mawlawi Mohammad said the strike targeted an area near a water spring where residents collect drinking water. [SAP20120514950060 Radio Killid in Pashto 1230 GMT 13 May 12-- Afghan NGOfunded radio based in Jalalabad] RECONCILIATION Taliban District Chief Joins Peace Process in Herat. The Taliban's district chief for Chesht-e Sharif District in Herat Province, Mawlawi Abdurrahman, and four other fighters have joined the peace process. The militants said they are concerned for their personal safety and urged the government to provide a peaceful life for them. Elsewhere in the province, 15 militants joined the peace process in Shindand District. [SAP20120515950012 Noor TV in Dari 1300 GMT 14 May 12 -- Kabul-based, private channel linked to deceased former president Burhanuddin Rabbani; SAP20120515950009 Television in Dari 1630 GMT 14 May 12 -- Heratbased affiliate of state-run RTA] INTERNATIONAL Pakistan Poised to Resume NATO Supply Lines. Pakistan is reportedly poised to end a nearly six-month blockade of NATO ground supply routes into Afghanistan, succumbing to a key demand of the West ahead of a summit in Chicago next week. Civilian and military leaders today are to discuss reopening the supply route at a meeting of the defense committee of cabinet, which will be followed by a meeting of army chiefs and the regular cabinet tomorrow. Sources familiar with the discussions said the government had already effectively taken the decision to reopen the lines, probably by the beginning of next week, and hoped to be invited to the May 20-21 NATO summit in Chicago. Pakistani and US officials had reached a "broad agreement" on fees and logistics for the fuel and other non-military supplies that would go overland through Pakistan to Afghanistan, one source said. [AFP in English 15 May 12 -- Independent French news agency]
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