WASHINGTON - Although they lag behind the Afghan National Army in terms of training and capabilities, the Afghan National Police (ANP) was fast catching up, a top US general in Afghanistan said on Wednesday.

“They (Afghan police) are moving up rapidly,” Major Gen Lee Miller, commanding general of Regional Command Southwest, told Pentagon reporters in a video conference from Afghanistan.

The training, advising and assisting mission was going quite well, he said, adding US forces in his area of operation were shifting from combat advising quickly into infrastructural advising.

“In train, advise and assist, we're not just focused on the Afghan army. We're also focused on the Afghan police. Now, we did originally start with the army years ago. We've been working with the police since.”

The army had a leg up on the police, who were rapidly moving up and catching up with the army in terms of capabilities, Miller explained.

The police, he said, had their own training area at Lashkargah, the capital of southern Helmand province. “Soon they'll change the name of it to the Helmand Training Facility. And they are moving out rapidly.” (Pajhwok)