Transition in Herat

In July this year, the security of the city was transferred over to Afghan control. Since then, people on the street say they are happy with security in the city and have faith in their security forces, although they see the need for them to develop.

“Kidnappings have decreased and fights have decreased. There were a lot in the past in the districts but now it has decreased. After the foreign forces left Herat the security became better,” says one street vendor.

A driver who passes through Herat on business regularly tell us, “the security condition in Herat province is normal and if we have a good leadership from the ANA, ANP and other security forces, we'll have the capability and have a healthy force”.

Beating the challenges

However, outside the city in the wider province there are still security challenges. Five Afghan soldiers died last month after their vehicle hit an IED and in the last weeks a logistics company working with ISAF and Afghan police were targeted by suicide bombers.

Herat's police chief General Sayed Agha Saqib says the number of attacks that are foiled vastly outnumber those that are successful.

“We've been arresting terrorists groups inside the city who had plans for suicide attacks. For example, we found one car that had tons of explosives, IEDs, suicide jackets and night papers, threatening local people. It was all confiscated by police. Another time, we found and confiscated a lot of suicide jackets, IEDs and weapons. So all this shows how hard Afghan security forces are working,” he explains.

And Herat's governor, Daud Shah Saba, claims that it's the extra funding from both the international community and the Afghan government that's helped security forces develop and take more responsibility.

“Economically as well the gains in Herat were tremendous. We got almost 200 million dollars worth of assistance from Italy; millions of dollars from the United States and a good amount from our development budget just because of transition. And we hope the transition could end up in a transformation of our economy and our society,” the governor says.

Afghan commitment to security

Despite the large investment in training Afghan Security Forces, they've been criticised in the media for being under-equipped and for lacking morale. Although he agrees his men could benefit from better equipment, General Saqib rejects that Herat's police are under-motivated.

“Unfortunately we hear people saying the police or the ANA have no morale. But what's your definition for morale? A terrorist is wearing a jacket and about to make a suicide attack and the police arrest him. They put themselves in front of him and arrest him. They know that they will die but still they arrest him. So I don’t know how you define morale?”

But even with these challenges, Governor Saba's resolve is to keep the lead Afghan when it comes to security and to take responsibility for more and more of their province as the transition process moves forward.

“Right now the preparation is for 2014 and by then we hope to increase the level or number of the police to the optimum level that could protect the districts,” says Governor Saba. “The amount of money that will come to Herat for this purpose is around 540million dollars, which is a huge amount.”

Expanding Afghan responsibility

On 27 November, Afghan security responsibility was officially extended to the rest of Herat province, with the exception of the Shindand, Obi and Chisht Sharif districts. This decision is part of the second round of transition to Afghan lead, through which areas from 18 provinces - more than half of the population - will be gradually handed back to the Afghan national security forces. Implementation of transition in those areas will start in the coming days and will take up to 24 months to be complete.