Unlike the first stage of transition, when places that were already peaceful and for the most part already under government control, this one includes many areas where Taliban insurgents remain active.
The Sarobi district, in the rugged mountains in eastern Kabul Province, is an example. Although the district center remains firmly in government hands and has been quiet for the past two years, the highway through here continues to experience Taliban ambushes, and insurgents remain active in many remote villages, according to the district governor, Mohammad Haqbeen.
“We want that responsibility and we are ready for that responsibility,” Mr. Haqbeen said. “There are still some problems in some areas but we can handle them.”
French troops are believed on the verge of pulling out of the area, which after they first arrived three years ago was particularly troubled. Ten French soldiers were killed in an ambush in Sarobi, their military’s worst loss of life since Lebanon in the 1980s. Mr. Haqbeen said he was not allowed to say how soon French forces would leave, and the transition process allows for a gradual handover rather than an abrupt one.
“We are ready for the second phase, and we’re not alone, we also have the Afghan National Army,” said the district police chief, Col. Ahmadullah Oria. “We may still need our international partnhers alongside us for training, for mentoring and for support when necessary.”
Five more provinces are being handed over to Afghan control under the transition plan, along with 13 other districts or cities around the country, said Aimal Faizi, the spokesman for President Hamid Karzai. He said approval for the specific areas to be handed over was finalized Sunday in a meeting of the President’s National Security Council.
In Helmand Province, the districts of Marja, Nad Ali and Nawa will be taken over by Afghan authorities, who had earlier assumed control in the capital of Lashkar Gah. That puts all of central Helmand under Afghan government control, which has symbolic significance since the present surge of new American forces began with a 2010 offensive in Marja, a Taliban stronghold, which took months longer to subdue than the American Marines had initially expected.
Helmand Province has seen higher numbers of coalition casualties overall than any other province in the course of the ten-year-long conflict.
While those Helmand districts are firmly under coalition control now, they remain troubled with roadside bombs, and arrests of Taliban suspects and discoveries of hidden arms caches are a regular occurrence.
Another troubled area to make the transition will be several districts in Wardak Province, including Maidan Shah, Jalrez, and at least part of Besud district, Mr. Faizi said.
Mr. Faizi said the full provinces to be handed over include Samangan, Balkh, Daikundi, Takhar and Nimrooz, all of which have some areas where insurgents remain active.
In the first stage of transition, only two full provinces were included in the handover, Bamian and Panshir in central and north Afghanistan, both of which have had virtually no insurgent activity.
Adding Sarobi District brings all of Kabul Province under government control for the first time.
The transition process is intended to gradually transfer primary responsibility for security from the NATO-led coalition to Afghan authorities completely by 2014, when American combat troops plan to be completely gone, and most other NATO forces are expected to join them.
The capital of this district, with bazaars lining the main highway that goes from Kabul to the Pakistan border, was teeming with policemen Sunday.
As recently as three weeks ago, insurgents ambushed a NATO fuel convoy on the highway, setting one tanker ablaze, Gov. Haqbeen said. Colonel Oria said with the steep mountain terrain it is impossible to completely eliminate such attacks, but that the insurgents no longer had the capacity to cut the highway or attack population centers.
“There are insecure districts all around us, but in my assessment security has improved eight percent since last year,” Colonel Oria said.
Mr. Faizi said that President Karzai decided against including Kandahar City in this stage of transition, despite requests from community leaders to do so. NATO officials were reluctant to see the city, the traditional base of the Taliban, turned over just now. In recent months, the president’s brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, as well as the mayor, Fareed Hamidi, were assassinated there.
Taimoor Shah contributed reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan.
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