Taliban insurgents captured and took away 28 local police and 5 national police in northern Faryab province on Wednesday evening, local officials said.
The northern Faryab province parliamentarians said that these local police forces went missing after a clash with the Taliban in Ghurmach district of the province.
The Taliban launched an attack on four check posts of local police in Ghurmach district where 33 local and national police were taken away by insurgents.
They added that both sides have suffered casualties as a result of the clashes but the exact figure is not clear.
“During the clashes, Taliban took away 28 local police and 5 national police in Ghurmach district, local officials as well confirmed the reports,” MP Rangina Kargar said.
Meanwhile, Faryab’s Governor Mohammadullah Baktash confirms that a number of police forces have vanished from the area but he does not tell about the exact number of the forces.
“A number of the police officers have disappeared, it is unclear if they previously compromised with the Taliban or their ammunition finished,” Baktash said.
The parliamentarians said that clash is still going on in the area but the Ministry of Interior rejected the claims.
“I don’t confirm the continuation of clashes. Based on the reports, the police retaliated to Taliban’s attack. We have casualties but the figure is still unclear,” the Ministry of Interior’s Spokesman Sediq Sediqi told TOLOnews.
It comes as the recruitment process of local police was criticised in the country but the officials of police training centre in Kabul assured on the ability of police forces, especially the local police.
“National police training is going forward based on high standards in order to strongly fight against the insurgents. Afghan security forces can defend their country in any condition,” Head of Police Training Centre Abdul Basir said.
“We have been training the Afghan national police for years. We started the phase of training directly, and then we had the phase of training the trainers. After that we did the phase of monitoring, so we are about to leave the country in the hands of the Afghans which is the right thing to do. In my opinion, the training has been carried on professionally, so I am sure that Afghan police will be able to handle whatever situation with highest skills,” Italian Trainer at Police Training Centre Alexander de.Ferary told TOlOnews.
It comes as parliamentarians warned that insecurity may spread in all northern parts of Afghanistan.