Police ordered to wear new uniforms at all Kabul checkpoints

Kabul Police Chief Wali Jan Hamza said on Thursday that all police at checkpoints in the city will wear the new uniform once the distribution process has been completed. 

In a series of tweets, Hamza said this will help improve security and order in Kabul. 

“After completing the distribution of uniforms; no policeman has the right to stand wearing local clothes at a police checkpoint,” Hamza said. 

A Kabul Police Headquarters spokesman meanwhile said: “During a meeting, the Kabul Police Chief gave special recommendations and instructions to the officials in order to create better security and order for the citizens; he also discussed the uniforms characteristics and importance.”

Last week the Ministry of Interior unveiled the new police uniform, which is dark blue, instead of the grey-blue uniform worn by police under the old government.

Also, the Republic’s tri-color flag has been replaced by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) flag. 

At the unveiling, the interior ministry’s spokesman Nafi Takor said: “So far, 20,000 uniforms have been provided, which will first be distributed in Kabul and Kandahar provinces and then this process will continue throughout the country.” 

Takor said the uniforms had been supplied by a local contractor and that 100,000 more would be delivered in the near future. 

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister of Security, Mullah Abdulhaq Akhundzada, who is currently in the north of the country, to assess the security situation, said that the ministry will soon start distributing new police uniforms in the northern provinces, especially in Balkh.

“According to the decision of the leadership of the Islamic Emirate to build a uniform, work is underway and in the coming days, uniforms will be distributed to all forces of the Ministry of Interior,” said Akhundzada.