NATO troops have handed control to Afghan forces in the northeastern province of Panjshir, the latest in a series of security transitions in the country.

Sunday’s handover ceremony makes Panjshir the sixth area to be put under Afghan security responsibility over the past week.

Panjshir province, which lies about 130 kilometers from Kabul, has been a fiercely anti-Taliban stronghold where NATO forces have had little presence.

Over the past week, NATO has transferred security control to Afghan forces in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand province, Bamiyan province and the cities of Herat and Mehterlam .

Most districts in Kabul province will also soon be handed over to local forces. Kabul city has been under Afghan security responsibility since 2008.

The transfers are the first phase of a plan that will place the country’s security under Afghan control in the next three years. International combat troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.