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Farah Court Attack Toll Mounts to 53
April 04, 2013
FARAH CITY - Fifty-three people were killed and over 90 others wounded in a well-coordinated insurgent assault on a crowded courthouse in western Farah province on Wednesday, officials ...
FEFA Seeks Early Approval of Election Law
April 03, 2013
KABUL - The Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA) on Tuesday asked the Wolesi Jirga to act fast on amendments to laws on polls and structure, duties and powers of poll ...
DAB Issues 100bn New Afghani Bank Notes
April 03, 2013
KABUL - The Central Bank of Afghanistan — Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) officials on Tuesday announced that fresh banknotes amounting to one hundred billion Afghanis have recently been ...
Kabul, Doha Agree on Taliban Office: HPC
April 03, 2013
KABUL - The office will only be used to further peace talks and not for any other purpose, it said. Providing a safe place to those Taliban members who participate in the talks and guaranteeing ...
Senate Wants New ID Cards Issued Before Polls
April 03, 2013
KABUL - Upper House (Senate) members on Tuesday asked the Ministry of Interior to ensure new electronic ID cards were distributed to the people ahead of the 2014 presidential ...
Mullah Omar Could Run for Presidential Election: Karzai
April 03, 2013
KABUL - According to reports president Hamid Karzai has said that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar could run for president in elections next year.This comes as Karzai earlier this week ...
Ministers Claim Spending Over 50pc of Funds
April 02, 2013
KABUL - Four ministers on Monday appeared before the Wolesi Jirga, lower of parliament, insisting they had utilized more than half of development funds allocated to them in the 2011 annual ...
100 US Scholarships for Afghan Students
April 02, 2013
KABUL - The US embassy in Kabul on Monday said it had arranged 100 Fulbright scholarships for Afghan ...
UK General Warns of Cutting Afghanistan Troops
April 02, 2013
LONDON - Cutting British forces in Afghanistan too quickly could "endanger" progress at a critical time, the UK's top commander there has told a ...
Karzai Softens on Taliban Ahead of Doha Office Opening
April 02, 2013
KABUL - DOHA -- President Hamid Karzai softened his stance on the Taliban in the backdrop of meetings on the Afghan peace process with Qatari leaders before returning to Kabul Sunday ...
HPC Moves to Set Terms for Talks with Taliban
April 01, 2013
KABUL - The High Peace Council (HPC) on Sunday said its members had set conditions for direct peace talks with insurgents, urging all sections of society to lend their weight to the ...
Karzai Returns from Qatar Visit Focused on Peace
April 01, 2013
KABUL - President Hamid Karzai returned to Kabul on Sunday evening from a two-day visit to Qatar that largely focused on making peace with the ...
MEC Hails Progress in Enforcing Anti-Graft Decree
April 01, 2013
KABUL - The Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (MEC) on Sunday released its report on the implementation of the president’s anti-corruption decree, hailing the progress made in combating ...
Opposition Warns Poll Rigging to Fuel Instability
April 01, 2013
MAZAR-I-SHARIF - A key opposition alliance on Sunday warned next year's presidential elections would not be transparent if the government clung to its anti-democratic approach to a proposed poll ...
Iraq, Afghanistan Wars May Cost US $6 Trillion
March 31, 2013
KABUL - The Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost US taxpayers somewhere between $4 to $6 trillion, a new study from Harvard University has ...
Afghanistan States its Conditions for the Trilateral Transit Pact
March 31, 2013
KABUL - The Afghan Ministry of Commerce and Industries said Saturday that Afghanistan will have specific conditions for the trilateral transit pact that is due to be signed among ...
MPs Split on Abolishing IARCSC
March 31, 2013
KABUL - The Wolesi Jirga -- lower house of parliament -- debate on the fate of the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Services Commission (IARCSC) ended on an inconclusive note ...
US Desires Strong, Sovereign Afghanistan: Hagel
March 30, 2013
WASHINGTON - The United States wanted Afghanistan to be a strong and sovereign nation with a significant future, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday, explaining transition is that ...
Women Should have Equal Role in Elections: UNAMA
March 30, 2013
KABUL - At a gathering in Kabul discussing the role of women in society, a spokesperson of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that the coming year will be a critical year for ...
Pakistan’s Terms Impossible to Meet: Faizi
March 30, 2013
KABUL - Accusing Pakistan of scuttling efforts at ending the 11-year insurgency, a top presidential aide has indicated Afghanistan will explore other ways of restoring peace and ...
26 Inmates Freed on First Day of Bagram Transfer
March 27, 2013
KABUL - The full responsibility of Bagram prison was handed over to the Afghan government on Monday after US troops handed over around 4,000 prisoners to Afghan National Security Forces ...
Political Parties Warn Karzai against Deals with Taliban
March 27, 2013
KABUL - Afghanistan's political parties fear that President Hamid Karzai may negotiate away some of the gains made against the Taliban in an attempt to secure a peace deal with the ...
Taliban Insurgency will Outlast Withdrawal: US General
March 27, 2013
WASHINGTON - The Taliban insurgency will continue after coalition combat forces withdraw from Afghanistan in late 2014 but the Afghan government will survive, the ex-chief of the NATO-led ...
Kerry Praises Plans for 'Safe' Afghan Elections
March 26, 2013
KABUL - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Afghan President Hamid Karzai made a show of unity Monday, shortly after the U.S. military ceded control of its last detention facility in ...
Ministries Asked to Draft Law on Census
March 26, 2013
KABUL - The Council of Ministers on Monday ordered the drafting of a new law on population census, the Office of the Administrative Affairs ...
MPs Argue with MoI Official on Private Security Firms
March 25, 2013
KABUL - The Wolesi Jirga's Commission on Internal Security on Saturday insisted President Hamid Karzai's decree dissolving all private security firms had not been fully implemented, an ...
Karzai Calls on Taliban to Stop Targeting Schools
March 24, 2013
KABUL - President Hamid Karzai ushered in the new school year with the ringing of the first bell and a speech calling on the Taliban to abandon the practice of targeting schools for ...
Doubts over Bagram Handover Ahead of Deadline
March 24, 2013
KABUL - The head of the parliamentary defense committee on Saturday said that he does not believe the US will transfer all control of Bagram prison and its detainees to the Afghan ...
3 Million Children Still Deprived of Education
March 24, 2013
KABUL - Despite improvement in the quality of education and staff capacity, three million children remain out of school across the country, Education Minister Ghulam Farooq Wardak said ...
MPs Accused of Trying to Save Ministers’ Skin
March 24, 2013
KABUL - Lawmakers on Saturday accused some of their colleagues and members of the Wolesi Jirga Administrative Board of trying to exclude the issue of summoned ministers from the house agenda since the ...
Joint Nawroz Celebration to Boost Cooperation: Karzai
March 23, 2013
KABUL - President Hamid Karzai on Thursday hoped the joint celebration of Nawroz -- the new solar year -- by political leaders would pave the ground for regional peace, prosperity ...
Rise in Violence against Women Linked to Culture: UN
March 20, 2013
KABUL - The rising violence against women in Afghanistan is linked to cultural values, the UN special envoy to Afghanistan said Monday, revealing the statistic of a 20 percent rise in ...
Electronic ID Cards Distribution to Start in 4 Days
March 20, 2013
KABUL - The long-awaited distribution of electronic ID cards will start Hamal 3 (March 23) after Nowruz, Karzai's office said ...
Accord Inked with Turkey on Trade Fairs
March 20, 2013
KABUL - Afghanistan and Turkey on Tuesday signed an agreement enabling businesspeople from the two sides to conduct trade fairs on each other’s ...
Govt. Hits Back at NATO, Says War Aimless
March 20, 2013
KABUL - The Afghan government has hit back at remarks by the head of NATO who said Kabul must recognize the sacrifices made by other states, calling the alliance's war on terrorism in ...