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600 militiamen surrender weapons in northern Afghanistan
Kunduz, Oct 22: More than 600 Afghan militiamen have surrendered their weapons in the early phase of an ambitious nationwide demilitarization programme, an official said today.
Kunduz, Oct 22: More than 600 Afghan militiamen have surrendered their weapons in the early phase of an ambitious nationwide demilitarization programme, an official
said today.
The pilot phase of a UN-backed programme to strip
100,000 combatants of their weapons and set them on the path
to a new life is now in its third day in the northern city of
Kunduz, 60 kilometers from the Tajikistan border and 250
kilometers from the capital Kabul.
Since Monday, 620 militiamen serving under two local commanders have handed in AK-47s, mortars, machine guns and anti-tank weapons.
"We have collected 560 weapons from 620 soldiers," Paul Cruickshank, the operations manager of the UN-backed Afghan New Beginnings Programs (ANBP), told reporters at the weapons collection site.
Outside the gate in a dusty yard strewn with disused tanks left over from past wars, another 170 uniformed militiamen queued up to hand over their weapons.
A total of 1,000 local combatants are targeted for disarmament in Kunduz this week, as a pilot for the national programme, which has a time frame of three years.
Bureau Report
Since Monday, 620 militiamen serving under two local commanders have handed in AK-47s, mortars, machine guns and anti-tank weapons.
"We have collected 560 weapons from 620 soldiers," Paul Cruickshank, the operations manager of the UN-backed Afghan New Beginnings Programs (ANBP), told reporters at the weapons collection site.
Outside the gate in a dusty yard strewn with disused tanks left over from past wars, another 170 uniformed militiamen queued up to hand over their weapons.
A total of 1,000 local combatants are targeted for disarmament in Kunduz this week, as a pilot for the national programme, which has a time frame of three years.
Bureau Report