The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said on Sunday it plans to double the number of special police forces as these forces have performed well in the fight against the insurgents.
 
This is part of government’s four-year strategy to bolster the strength of the Afghan forces. Under the new plan, the current structure of police special forces will be increased from three to six units.
 
“The preliminary work for recruitment in these units has started. In the first phase, the programs related to the training of these units will be started. They will be included within the framework of special units,” said Najib Danish, spokesman to MoI.
 
The Interior ministry says it will focus highly on the process of hiring new recruits who are willing to join the police special units.
 
“These programs require a special training regime and those hired in the unit need to be suitable in terms of their physique, height and strength,” said military commentator Mohsin Mukhtar.
 
In March, the Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) also announced that it plans to double the number of elite special forces from 17,000 troops as part of government’s four year strategy to further strengthen the abilities of the conventional forces in their campaign against the Taliban insurgents and amid growing threats.
 
Defence ministry officials said that under the four-year strategy Afghanistan’s armed forces would be much stronger than today.