106 graduates join Afghan Border Police in Kunduz

Up to 106 newly- graduated policemen joined the Afghan Border Police (ABP) in the country's northern province of Kunduz on Thursday. "A total of 106 policemen were commissioned to the ABP on Thursday morning after completion of nine-month training period in a police training center in provincial capital Kunduz city," Zabardast Safi, commander of the training center, told reporters in a ceremony. The police officers will be deployed to northern Kunduz bordering Tajikistan, he added. In an unrelated development, Afghan forces supported by the NATO-led coalition troops detained an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan financial facilitator in Kunduz, on Wednesday, the coalition confirmed in a statement earlier Thursday. "The arrested leader is suspected of being heavily involved in purchasing and trafficking weapons for use in attacks on Afghan and coalition forces in Kunduz province," it said. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is a Taliban-linked group of militants active in northern Afghan provinces. The security force also detained multiple suspected insurgents in the operation. The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group launched annual spring offensive on May 3 against Afghan government and about 100,000 NATO-led troops.