KABUL - President Hamid Karzai on Saturday approved a second list of areas, home to half the nation's population, where Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) will soon start taking the lead from foreign troops. The handover, expected to begin by early next year, is the second step in a transition that Mr. Karzai hopes will leave Afghan forces in control of the entire country by the end of 2014, when the U.S.-led coalition's combat mission is scheduled to end.
Most of the areas are in the north and west, but the list also includes places that have experienced recent attacks, as well as parts of the country near Taliban-controlled areas.
The first seven areas began transition in July. They were four provincial capitals — Herat, Lashkargah, Mehterlam and Mazer-e-Sharif — as well as all of Bamyan and Panjsher provinces and all of Kabul province, except the restive Surobi district.
The second slate of transition areas that Karzai approved are:
—Nimroz, Dai Kundi, Samangan, Takhar and Balkh provinces.
—Parwan province, except Shinwari and Siahgerd districts.
—Sar-e-Pul province, except Sayyad district.
—Ghazni, the provincial capital of Ghazni province.
—Jalalabad, the provincial capital of Nangarhar, plus Beshud, Kama, Kuzhunar and Surkh Rod districts.
—Maidan Shah, the provincial capital of Wardak province, plus Jalrez district and the Beshud area.
—Badghis districts of Ab Kamari and Qalay-e-Naw, which includes the provincial capital.
—Nadi Ali and Nawa districts of Helmand.
—Qarghayee district of Laghman.
—Surobi district of Kabul.
—Herat province, except for Shindand, Obe and Chishti Sharif districts.
—Eight districts of Badakhshan province — Shahri, Buzurg, Argo, Yaftal-e-Sufla, Faizabad, Arghanj Khwah, Baharak, Tashkan and Kishim.
—Chaghcharan, the capital of Ghor province.
—Shibirghan, the capital of Jawzjan province.
Separately, NATO said two of its service members have been killed in Afghanistan, one in combat operations in the east and the other by a roadside bomb in the south.
NATO statements issued on Sunday did not include any further details. The main brunt of the fighting between international forces and insurgents is taking place in the east and in the south.
The deaths bring NATO's total deaths to 24 this month and 514 for the year. (AP)