Afghan president plans security reforms: Diplomats

“Ghani feels there is a need for reform within the armed forces,” Franz-Michael Mellbin, the special representative for the European Union in Afghanistan, said on Monday.
 
“There is an inherent weakness in the way the armed forces have been managing their personnel that didn’t allow the best and brightest to step forward,” he added.
 
Presidential spokesman Nazifullah Salarzai also said that Ghani will remove governors and generals in the northern provinces of Kunduz and Baghdis, as well as Ghazni and Nangahar provinces in the east bordering Pakistan, and Helmand in the south, where the Taliban militants have held strongholds for years.
 
The development comes one day after Kabul police chief General Mohammed Zahir Zahir resigned following a series of attacks by militants in the capital.
 
On November 27, a huge blast hit Kabul. The explosion was followed by gunfire. The attacks were carried out by the Taliban near the Tajik Embassy in Wazir Akbar Khan district, a wealthy district in northern Kabul, which is home to foreign embassies and most of Afghan state institutions.
 
On the same day, Taliban militants attacked a British embassy vehicle in Kabul, leaving five people dead, including a Briton, and injuring more than 30 others.
 
Taliban militants have recently stepped up their attacks against Afghan government troops, foreign forces and civilians.
 
They have vowed to escalate the assaults on Afghan forces and US-led troops, their bases, diplomatic missions and vehicle convoys before the drawdown of US-led foreign forces by the end of the year.