HERAT – An Afghan police commander and 12 junior officers have defected to the Taliban after poisoning seven comrades, government officials in the western province of Farah said yesterday.
The commander, named only as Mirwais, was in charge of a checkpoint in the Bala Boluk district when he and his unit defected to the Taliban and handed over their equipment and weapons, including military vehicles.
“He was a police commander for a checkpoint in Shewan village. He joined the Taliban with a Humvee, a Ranger , radios and 20 guns,” said Abdul Rahman Zwandai, a spokesman for the Farah governor.
The seven police were poisoned because they refused to join the rebellion, he said. All were taken to the Farah hospital and an investigation would be launched.
Farah, bordering Iran, is one of western Afghanistan’s most insecure provinces, although the west is relatively secure compared to insurgent strongholds in the east and south. – (Reuters)
