Local commander on security operation in Kandahar.

(11 Dec 2001)
++TOKO MATERIAL++
Spin Boldak, Afghanistan
1. Various, compound of anti-Taliban fighters
2. Low angle, Afghan flag riddled with bullet holes
Kandahar, Afghanistan
3. Gul Agha, Governor of Kandahar, embracing soldiers who have allied themselves with him
4. Various, press conference
5. SOUNDBITE: (Pashtu) Gul Agha, Governor of Kandahar:
"Our most important priority is to establish peace and security for ordinary citizens in the streets and on the highways. To do that requires an organised police force which will be totally distinct from ordinary fighters. The next priority is to activate some basic services such as health and transportation and the forming of basic army units in Kandahar as part of a national army. Parallel to this is establishing an administration both in the cities and in the districts. Then we can think of how to help people in terms of relief and development."
5. Cutaway of fighting force
6. SOUNDBITE: (Pashtu) Gul Agha, Governor of Kandahar:
"An international peacekeeping force has two major functions. They are directly responsible for peace in major areas. Also because if we are to organise the army it will take a long time to make them disciplined."
7. Pan of press conference
STORYLINE:
As men with rifles roamed the grounds of the governor's mansion, the new chief of the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar vowed on Tuesday to rid the streets of armed groups.
Gul Agha Sherzai declared that the city would not descend into the lawlessness that characterised it when he was last governor, between 1992 and 1994.
Sherzai said his top priority was to establish peace and security for ordinary citizens in the streets and on the highways.
Sherzai added that the next priority was to activate basic services such as health and transportation and to form basic army units in Kandahar as part of a national army.
Many of the triumphant fighters in Kandahar are ethnic Pashtun tribesmen who lay siege to the city until the Taliban agreed to abandon it last week in a deal with Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's interim leader.
But discipline is low and there is a sense of unease in Kandahar despite the sudden departure of the Taliban and the end of U-S bombing on the city's outskirts.
Sherzai said he had appointed a new police chief, Zabit Akram, to help establish civilian authority.
He said a total of 300 uniformed police officers were expected to be on the streets soon, and planned to expel illegally armed men from the city limits within one to two days.
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