300 new members of the territorial army will be soon deployed in the western Afghan provinces of Herat and Ghor, Major General Noorullah Qaderi, commander of 207 Zafar Military Corps, stressed on January 14.
“You are familiar with the landscape and know about the areas. Also, people are with you and if you want to gain people’s support, many people will support you,” Qaderi told the soldiers, according to TOLOnews.
“The situation will change one hundred percent. The reason is that they are from those areas and they are familiar with the landscape. They will use all their abilities to support government forces,” Mohammad Haseb Akhundzada, commander of the 1st regiment of the military corps stressed on the same issue.
This group of soldiers passed a 3-month training course only, but Kabul officials are optimistic about their deployment.
“They have received general information about mines, unexploded devices, practical works and leadership taught by foreign advisors and after completing the training, they received graduation certificates,” Colonel Nazir Ahmad, commander of the training battalion of 207 Zafar Military Corps said.
The Kabul government formed the ‘territorial army’ in 2018. The formation, which is designed to support the existing pro-government forces, is expected to include up to 36,000 fighters.
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