KABUL - Minister of Interior Noorolhaq Ulomi on Saturday mapped out 100-Day plan and said despite the enormous responsibility on the shoulders of his ministry to help secure the country, his police force has made inroads into fighting insurgency and drug smuggling.

He said there was an urgent and immediate need to provide security to the people of Afghanistan but that in doing so the police force needed the cooperation of the people.

Already he said, a number of operations have been successful due to the help of the people.

Among his plans in taking his ministry forward was the need to increase skills capacity among police officers and also to increase equipment. Appointing women in his ministry was also key, he said.

Ulomi said that already 200 women have completed a training program in Turkey and have returned to work at the ministry. In addition another 400 are expected to leave soon and they too will return to work at the MoI.

On corruption, he said that he is committed to rooting out this scourge and that currently the ministry is investigating over 50 cases of graft and already seven police officers have been dismissed.

He said that apart from his 100-Day plan, he has a five-year strategy and that in line with this he will bring in experts to work in the ministry.

But, in the past 100 days, the police force has launched successful operations in the country that has resulted in the arrest of at least 132 insurgents, he noted.

Ulomi says he is also focusing on securing the highways but voiced concern at the mounting casualty toll among police officers.

According to him, he has recently carried out seven trips to provinces to meet with police and hear their concerns.

A major problem facing Ulomi however is that regarding drugs. He said his ministry is concerned about this especially as drugs remains a revenue source for insurgents. He said he was also tasked with the job of curbing opium cultivation. On this note he stated that tons of opium, along with a number of smugglers have recently been arrested. He said police have also made inroads into arresting dealers who distribute drugs on the streets.

He said a recent move in Kabul proved highly successful and a number of arrests were made in an anti-drug operation.

Previously poor relations were experienced between the different security forces, but, said Ulomi, today his ministry shares better ties with the military and with the NDS.

In terms of improving security at key installations, Ulomi said he hoped to be able to provide better security measures at various government projects as well as to mines.

He also said that preventing the infiltration of insurgents into the security forces was also a priority.

The responsibility of air force operations has meanwhile been handed over to the ministry of defense, he said.

Olomi states another area of priority is to secure the borders of Afghanistan. (Tolonews)