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[Joining an ever expanding list of Western-occupied garrison state colonies, including Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Macedonia.] Friday January 11, 11:12 PM Afghan troops withdrawal from Kabul in line with agreement Afghan troops left the streets of Kabul for their barracks in line with the interim government's commitment to hand over responsibility for the capital's security to police and international peacekeepers. General Din Mohammad Jurhat, a senior security official in the interior ministry said around 5,000 to 6,000 Northern Alliance soldiers had left the city over the past three days. "Around five or six thousand soldiers have left Kabul. More will leave Kabul in a week," he told AFP. "Another five or six thousand divided between the police and the military will remain." Interior Minister Yunus Qanooni on Wednesday ordered the Afghan military to quit Kabul within three days and leave the city's security duties to Afghan police and an international peacekeeping force. The arrangement was formalised in the Military Technical Agreement (MTA) signed last week between the international community and the interim authorities. The MTA specified that security in the capital would be left in the hands of a fledgling police force and specially-authorised Afghan military units backed by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). A senior aide to the country's former king Mohammed Zahir Shah welcomed the troop pull-out. "It is a positive step towards avoiding confrontation and competitions. It makes the city securer," former army general Abdul Wali, who is also the son-in-law of the former monarch, said by telephone from Rome. Northern Alliance troops interviewed by AFP Friday said they were forbidden to carry weapons outside their barracks and that some of their comrades had already been sent home on leave. Earlier in the day Major Guy Richardson, the British spokesman for the ISAF confirmed the withdrawal had begun. "What the interim administration has said is those people who are from outside Kabul should return from whence they came," he said. "This from HQ-ISAF's perspective is good because they (the interim administration) are taking it a stage further than what is specified in the MTA. "We are delighted with the interim administration's compliance with the MTA." At Bala-e-hisar Fort southeast of the capital, Jan Mohammad, 38, a deputy to commander Haji Mohammad Almas, told AFP that troops were withdrawing from the centre of Kabul. "Yes, it's the last day and it will be finished," he said. Brigadier Mohamad Ghani said most of the troops under his command were withdrawing to Parwan province northwest of Kabul, and to Logar province to the south. "We have most of our soldiers in Logar now on a security mission," Ghani said. ISAF sources told AFP that a comprehensive intelligence blueprint on the security situation in Kabul would be developed over the coming weeks. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail! http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/ ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
