US homeland security secretary visits Afghanistan

Fri, 31 Dec 2010

Kabul - US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano arrived Friday in Afghanistan for a three-day trip to discuss with Afghan officials the efforts being made to secure the region, her department said.

Napolitano was to meet with senior US and Afghan officials as well as border security experts from the Department of Homeland Security, the statement said.

Napolitano was due to spend New Year's Eve with US troops. About 100,000 US troops are fighting the Taliban along with NATO-led International Security Assistance Force soldiers and Afghan personnel.

She said the department has sent officials to Afghanistan to help bolster its security and had expanded its efforts in the past 12 months in support of President Barack Obama's policy of civilian engagement.

"Today, I arrived in Kabul with six additional border security and customs officers who will join our ongoing efforts to advise and assist our Afghan counterparts on customs and border control," she said.

Napolitano is to head to the Middle East and Europe after her Afghan trip. She was scheduled to visit Qatar Sunday, Israel on Monday and Belgium on Wednesday to meet with her counterparts and discuss international efforts to ensure the security of global aviation and delivery systems and transnational crime.

In November, a spate of parcel bombs targeting embassies in Europe threatened global aviation security. Two printer cartridges loaded with explosives were discovered aboard US-bound cargo flights from Yemen that raised worries about new terrorist attacks via air-freight packages.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360243,security-secretary-visits-afghanistan.html.