858 newly graduates join Afghan army in northern province

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Up to 858 newly graduates were commissioned to the Afghan army in the country's northern province of Balkh on Thursday, an army commander said.

"Today, after a nine-week training phase at army Corps 209 Shahin Headquarters' training center in Mazar-i-Sharif city, a total of 858 graduates were commissioned to the Afghan National Army (ANA) to serve the nation," General Aminullah Mubin, deputy commander of regional army Corps 209 Shahin, told Xinhua.

The new graduates are prepared to be deployed to any part of the country to provide security for their people, he said.

The Afghan government and NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan (NTM-A) have stepped up efforts to train and equip Afghan police and army recently.

The process of handing over security responsibilities from over 100,000 U.S. and NATO-led forces stationed in Afghanistan to Afghan forces began in July, 2011 and would be completed by the end of 2014 when Afghanistan will take over the full leadership of its own security duties from foreign forces.

Under the U.S. President Barack Obama's withdrawal plan, the last of 33,000 U.S. surge troops pulled out from Afghanistan in September. Enditem

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