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Military Facilities to Be Created in Sheberghan
July 22, 2012
KABUL - The general commander of Afghanistan public order says the construction of large and equipped facilities for military trainings will start in Sheberghan. Gen. Zemaray Paikan, the general commander of Afghanistan public order, said if the necessary land is provided, the work on creation of these ...
US Shifts 2,353 Inmates to Afghan Control
July 22, 2012
KABUL - So far 2,353 prisoners held at the notorious Bagram detention center in central Parwan have been shifted to Afghan custody since the signing of an agreement on transferring the prison to local authorities, the Ministry of Defense said on ...
Leaders Reiterated Commitment to Fight Terrorism
July 19, 2012
KABUL - Afghan efforts to negotiate with the Taliban need Islamabad's help if they are to be successful, the leaders of Afghanistan, Britain and Pakistan emphasized on Thursday, following three-way talks in Kabul.
British leader David Cameron and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met Pakistan's Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf for the first time, as British and NATO combat troops prepare to leave Afghanistan in 18 months' time.
During the talks, Karzai reiterated the "urgency" of a ...
US Lawmakers Pass Defense Bill; Afghan War Slammed
July 19, 2012
KABUL - Following two days of a heated debate on the war in Afghanistan, American lawmakers on Thursday okayed a $606 billion defense budget for 2013, media reports said.
Although members slammed the conflict as a sheer waste of lives and ...
Frank Talks with Ashraf to Yield Results: Karzai
July 19, 2012
KABUL - President Hamid Karzai on Thursday said he had held candid and frank discussions with Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on ways of combating the scourge of terrorism in the region. He hoped the negotiations would be result-oriented.
In response to an invitation from Karzai, the ...
‘Massive’ Govt. Changes to Begin Saturday or Sunday: Karzai
July 19, 2012
KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he will announce the promised "massive changes" to his government on Saturday or Sunday, on the back of state visits from both Britain and Pakistan on Thursday.
In a press conference with UK Prime Minster David Cameron, Karzai stressed that the changes to his government would happen ...
Success in Afghanistan is not Dependent on Taliban Deal: Cameron
July 19, 2012
KABUL - Success in Afghanistan is not dependent on a deal with the Taliban - but it would help, British Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday.
In an exclusive interview with Tolonews in Kabul, Cameron said that if the Taliban fail to join a peace process they will be defeated ...
Pakistan and Afghanistan are Two Natural Allies: Ashraf
July 19, 2012
KABUL - A new building for the Pakistan embassy, named the Quaid-i-Azam Complex, was inaugurated in Kabul on Thursday, the embassy said.
Visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf opened the new building in the Kart-i-Parwan neighborhood in the presence of Afghan ministers and political ...
Taliban Reluctant to Start Dialogue with Afghan Government
July 17, 2012
KABUL - The Taliban are willing to resume talks with the US under certain circumstances but are reluctant to begin dialogue with the Karzai administration, a Taliban source told Pakistan's Daily Times Newspaper.
After the Tokyo conference, efforts to convince the Taliban to talk with the Afghan government were ramped up with Pakistan taking a major role in this regard, according to a spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign office Abdul ...
Work on Salma dam to continue, promises India
July 17, 2012
HERAT CITY (PAN): An Indian diplomat on Monday reaffirmed New Delhi’s commitment to continuing work on the Salma dam -- one of the mega friendship projects India is implementing in western Herat province.
An Indian newspaper reported on July 14 that the project, which ...
Int’l Community will Stand by Afghanistan Beyond 2024: Crocker
July 16, 2012
KABUL - US Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker said Sunday that his country and the international community will stand by Afghanistan beyond 2024.
Speaking in a press conference in Kabul, the outgoing ambassador said that Afghanistan faces many challenges ahead, but the major achievements that have been made cannot be ignored.
"Afghanistan is still facing security, economic, development and organizational structure challenges; but we should not ignore our past achievements," Crocker told ...
Lodin Seeks Public Support for War on Graft
July 16, 2012
KABUL - High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption (HOOAC) head Azizullah Lodin on Sunday said the fight against graft could succeed only when security problems were overcome and the general public supported the drive.
Addressing a gathering on the HOOAC's effectiveness in Kabul, Lodin ...
Council of Ministers Still to Discuss AISA Officials Claims
July 16, 2012
KABUL - The upcoming Council of Ministers session will decide about the resignation of the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) officials and their claims of rife corruption in the agency, the presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi told TOLOnews on Sunday.
"The issue [of corruption] is still a claim by the seven staff ...
Iran Legalizes A Million Afghans
July 16, 2012
KABUL - More than a million Afghan refugees living with their families in neighboring Iran have been issued with passports as part of the first phase of their identification and registration process, an official said on Sunday.
The process that began on March 21 had concluded on June 21, Ministry ...
Views on Media Law Submitted to Ministry
July 16, 2012
KABUL - A media-support organization on Sunday submitted journalists' suggestions for amending a draft mass media law to the Ministry of Information and Culture, officials said.
Stressing the freedom of the press, Nai asked the deputy minister of information to amend the proposed law based ...
Release of Taliban Inmates Merely Strengthens the Insurgency: ANF
July 15, 2012
KABUL - Releasing insurgents from prisons is strengthening the "trenches" of the Taliban, Afghanistan National Front chairman, Ahmad Zia Massoud, said Saturday.
Speaking at the "Woman's Rights in Society" conference in Kabul, Massoud spoke of the recent government move to release 79 suspected insurgents from two prisons, saying it would only lead to great insecurity in the country.
"The government has an interest in the insurgent groups. Which ...
UNOCHA Concerned Over Afghanistan’s Future
July 15, 2012
KABUL - The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is concerned over the future of Afghanistan as ongoing conflict and natural disasters continue to affect the country, a UN spokesman told reporters here on Friday.
"OCHA says Afghans are facing an uncertain future, despite ...
Ahmad Khan Samangani Killed
July 15, 2012
KABUL - Ahmad Khan Samangani, member of Wolesi Jirga and a key leader in Samangan was among 17 people killed in the suicide attack on his daughter's wedding party in Aibak, Samangan's capital. The dead included provincial intelligence chief Khan Mohammad, former Samangan governor Iqbal Munib and the Jamait-i-Islami party leader for ...
US Gives Kabul $151m to Maintain Rule of Law
July 15, 2012
KABUL - The US would provide Afghanistan $151 million in assistance to help maintain the rule of law and execute counternarcotics and law-enforcement programs, an official said on Saturday.
An agreement to the effect was signed between Deputy Foreign Minister ...
Karzai Renews Offer of Talks to Taliban
July 14, 2012
KABUL - The international community has vowed $18 billion in assistance to Afghanistan and his administration would do its best to use the aid in a proper way, President Hamid Karzai said on Thursday.
At a press conference in Kabul, the president said $16 billion were pledged in aid at this week's Tokyo Conference for the next four years. More than 70 countries and international organizations attended the donors' meeting.
However, Karzai said the actual assistance to the war-torn nation ...
AACN Seeks Probe into AISA Fraud Charges
July 14, 2012
KABUL - The Afghan Anti-Corruption Network (AACN) on Friday voiced its deep concern at the collective resignation of seven senior Afghan Investment Support Agency (AISA) officers.
The experts, who accused the new head of the agency of corruption and ...
China Role Important in Afghanistan Reconstruction: Grossman
July 14, 2012
BEIJING: China is playing a very important role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, said Marc Grossman, US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"China has given development assistance to Afghanistan to ...
No Teacher to be Retired Forcibly: President
July 14, 2012
KABUL CITY - President Hamid Karzai, during a meeting with recently forcibly retired university teachers, on Thursday said nobody could push them into calling it a day, the President Palace said.
Ex-chancellor of Kabul University Prof. Hamidullah Amin, former ...
Afghan Exit more Costly, More Difficult than Iraq: Pentagon
July 12, 2012
KABUL - The Pentagon's No 2 official said Tuesday that the US military's withdrawal from Afghanistan will cost billions of dollars and be far more difficult than the departure from Iraq, USA Today reported.
The official emphasized that the pace of withdrawing nearly 20,000 US troops from Afghanistan as well as their gear by October will face challenges.
"It's a very austere logistics environment to
ANF Blames Govt. for Rishkhor Incident
July 12, 2012
KABUL - Afghanistan National Front (ANF) on Wednesday condemning the incident of Rishkhor said; Those who have opened fire on defenseless people should be prosecuted and punished! Afghanistan National Front (ANF) condemned the aggressive attitude of Afghan police in Qayla Patha, ...
Most Asylum Seekers in EU Come from Afghanistan: EASO
July 12, 2012
The report by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) showed that in 2011 28,000 Afghans applied for asylum in the EU, the highest number in the decade since the war began.
EASO Executive Director Robert K. Visser said Afghans were "by far the biggest" asylum seeker group in ...
Women’s Healthcare Worrying: UNFPA
July 12, 2012
KABUL - Reproductive healthcare remains a major challenge for women in Afghanistan due to cultural barriers and lack of proper medical facilities for pregnant women across the country, the United Nations ...
Afghan, NATO Forces Pressing on Haqqani Network
July 12, 2012
KABUL - The Afghan army and the NATO-led coalition troops have been stepping up mounting pressure on the Haqqani network, a Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militant group accused of strings of high-profile attacks in the insurgency-hit country in recent ...
Stop Violence against Afghan Women: EU
July 11, 2012
KABUL - The European Union condemned recent horrific violence against Afghan women and urged the government to protect vulnerable people.
The EU Special Representative for Afghanistan Vygaudas Usackas criticized the public execution of a 22-year-old female by Taliban in central Parwan province and beheading of a 30-year-old woman and her two children by her divorced husband in Ghazni province early ...
Donors’ Money will Be Spent Prudently: Afghanistan
July 11, 2012
KABUL - The Afghan government assured international community that the development aid pledged at the just-concluded Tokyo Conference would be spent according to the country's 10-year strategic plan. "Assistance pledged by Japan would be spent by Afghan government ...
Taliban Deny Peace Talks with Afghan Govt.
July 11, 2012
KABUL - Taliban on Tuesday refuted President Hamid Karzai's remarks that they are ready for peace talks with the Afghan government.
Karzai had told reporters in Tokyo, Japan's capital, that at a recent Kyoto meeting between Afghan and Taliban officials, the militant group ...
Extrajudicial Execution was Un-Islamic: Afghans
July 11, 2012
KABUL - Under Shari'a law, death by stoning is prescribed in cases of adultery committed by married men and women. But Islamic scholars, ordinary Afghan citizens, and even the Taliban say that the recent trial and execution of 22-year-old Najiba in Parwan Province was not carried out according to the rules of Islamic ...
Denmark Boosts Women’s Role in Peace Process
July 11, 2012
KABUL - Denmark has initiated a major project to strengthen the role of Afghan women and civil society in the peace and reconciliation process.
At Sunday's Tokyo conference on the future development of Afghanistan, Danish Minister for Development Cooperation Christian ...
Karzai Urges Global Help on Graft
July 10, 2012
President Hamid Karzai on Monday urged the international fraternity to extend greater help to his administration in dealing with pervasive administrative corruption in his impoverished country. A day after donors pledged $16 billion in aid to Afghanistan, the president told a news briefing in Tokyo that he was grateful to the global community for the promises of continued assistance. "I thank all the countries and organizations that have pledged support for Afghanistan." Following decades of conflict, Karzai said that ...
EU Steadfast Partner for Afghan Stability: Piebalgs
July 10, 2012
KABUL - European Union's Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, who attended the Tokyo conference along with Special Representative and head of delegation to Afghanistan Ambassador Usackas, said on Monday the union would remain a steadfast partner for Afghanistan's stabilization and development. The conference took stock of the country's reconstruction ...