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EC Funds €1.5mlnfor Drought Victims
November 22, 2011
BRUSELS - The European Commission (EC) is releasing new funding of €1.5 million to provide food assistance for around 72,000 victims of the drought in northern Afghanistan. This brings the Commission's humanitarian response to this crisis to €4.5 million. "The drought is taking a heavy toll in northern Afghanistan, where the affected ...
3,000 Tons of Gas Hoarded at Hairatan Port: Ahadi
November 22, 2011
KABUL - Following reports of gas hoarding by traders, the government has sent a delegation to the Hairatan to resolve the problem as soon as possible, the minister of commerce and industries said on Monday. Last week, the ministry fixed at 55 Afghanis ($1.34) the price of one kilogram of gas, but the rate hovers between 80 and 100afs in the ...
Sweden Promises Reconstruction Help Beyond 2014
November 22, 2011
AIBAK - The Swedish ambassador promised on Monday his country would continue supporting Afghanistan beyond 2014 when all foreign troops are scheduled to pull out.
Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News during his visit to northern Samangan province, Torbjörn Petterson said Sweden would switch its focus to ...
Afghan Team to Pakistan in Rabbani Probe
November 22, 2011
KABUL - Afghanistan is sending an official delegation to Pakistan "soon" to investigate the killing of Kabul's peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani, a presidential spokesman said on day. Pakistan has agreed to accept the delegation, spokesman Aimal Faizi told reporters, adding that it could leave as early as ...
Govt. Can’t Fix Gas Prices: ACCI
November 22, 2011
KABUL - The Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) on Monday blamed the government for fixing gas prices, saying that it did not have the power to do so.
Last week, the Ministry of Commerce fixed at 55 Afghanis ($1.34) the price of one kilogram of gas, but the rate hovers between 80 and 100afs ...
No Permanent Bases Good for Afghanistan: Abdullah
November 21, 2011
KABUL - Leader of Change and Hope Coalition, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, on Sunday said no country's permanent military bases are good for Afghanistan.
But Dr Abdullah said long-term strategic partnership with the United States and other countries will be in the interest of Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Mr Abdullah once again emphasized that the Traditional Jirga held to discuss strategic partnership with the US was ...
US Respects Tribal Assembly’s Recommendations
November 21, 2011
KABUL - The United States said on Sunday it respected the traditional Afghan institution of Loya Jirga, which overwhelmingly supported the idea American bases in the country for a decade.
The grand tribal assembly concluded on Saturday with the release of a 76-article declaration, recommending the creation of American military ...
USAID Project Benefits Over 400,000 Women
November 21, 2011
KABUL- More than 400,000 women in 180 districts across the country have been provided economic development support, vocational training, improved family healthcare, education and literacy training under a USAID-funded project, the agency said on Sunday. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker told participants of a capstone ...
Senate Concerns about Jirga Removed: Yazidyar
November 21, 2011
KABUL - The Meshrano Jirga, or upper house of Parliament, on Sunday said its concerns regarding the traditional tribal assembly's authority and decisions had been resolved. Prior to the event, rumors circulated that delegates would make key decisions on the strategic pact with the US, the deputy chairman of the ...
Protest Flares in Eastern Provinces Against U.S. Deal
November 21, 2011
SURKHROD - Around 1,000 people, mostly students, took to the streets in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday to protest against plans for a long-term partnership deal with the United States, which they fear could lead to an extended presence of U.S. troops. Afghan political and community leaders endorsed the idea of a ...
Taliban, HIA Say Jirga to Fuel Regional Tensions
November 21, 2011
KABUL - The Loya Jirga's endorsement of the idea about US military bases would fuel regional sensitivity and make Afghanistan a hub of a long, drawn-out power struggle, Afghan insurgents warned on Sunday. The four-day traditional assembly concluded on Saturday with the endorsement of the strategic cooperation agreement between the US and ...
Afghanistan has Big Plans for Biometric Data
November 21, 2011
KABUL - Afghanistan has many dubious distinctions on the international-rankings front: 10th-poorest, third-most corrupt, worst place to be a child, longest at war. To that may soon be added: most heavily fingerprinted. Since September, Afghanistan has been the only country in the world to fingerprint and photograph all travelers who pass through Kabul ...
Loya Jirga Symbolic Event: UNF
November 21, 2011
KABUL - The United National Front (UNF), an alliance of opposition parties, said on Sunday said the traditional Loya Jirga on the strategic cooperation pact with the US was symbolic and its suggestions would not be enforced. More than 2,000 tribal elders, religious scholars and political leaders attended the grand assembly that concluded on Saturday with the ...
Parliamentarians Differ on Deal with US
November 21, 2011
KABUL - Some Afghan parliamentarians on Sunday supported the Loya Jirga's recommendations on the strategic cooperation pact with the US, but others insisted that American terms and conditions must be made public before the agreement was signed. The four-day traditional assembly concluded on Saturday with the endorsement of the strategic cooperation agreement between the US and ...
No Threat to Neighbors from Afghanistan: Karzai
November 20, 2011
KABUL - President Hamid Karzai on Saturday assured neighbors they would face no threat from Afghanistan's soil, urging them to continue cooperating with efforts at bringing peace and stability to the war-hit country.
In remarks to the concluding session of the Loya Jirga on a strategic agreement with the US, Karzai said the participants had floated valuable suggestions and his government would work on implementing them.
The four-day assembly concluded ...
LJ Delegates Endorse Strategic Deal with US
November 20, 2011
KABUL - The four-day Loya Jirga (LJ) on the strategic partnership pact with the US and a mechanism for peace with Afghan rebels on Saturday asked the government to allow US bases in the country for a ...
Karzai Back U.S. Deal
November 20, 2011
KABUL - Afghan political and community leaders support the idea of a strategic partnership deal that will govern Afghanistan's relationship with the United States, they said on Saturday, but with caveats that could prove tough obstacles to surmount. A declaration made after a meeting of around 2,000 delegates said ...
German FM Pledges Lasting Support to Afghanistan
November 20, 2011
ABUL - German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle held talks with the President Hamid Karzai in Kabul on Saturday ahead of a crucial conference on the future of Afghanistan in the wake of international troop withdrawal. Westerwelle promised that Germany's relationship with Afghanistan would remain strong beyond the 2014 date set for NATO-led combat troops ...
Chinese Company to Extract Amu Darya Oil
November 20, 2011
KABUL - The Afghan Ministry of Mines said on Saturday that CNPC International, China's largest energy company, won the rights to extract oil in the Amu Darya river basin.
The ministry has agreed upon the details of the project with CNPC International. The deal has been sent to the Afghan Council of
Assembly Receives Committees’ Proposals
November 20, 2011
KABUL - The traditional Loya Jirga on the strategic cooperation agreement with the US has received suggestions from all the 40 committees and submitted a summary to a special meeting, the Jirga chairman announced on Saturday. On the fourth and concluding day of the tribal gathering ...
Some Spy Services Tried to Disrupt Jirga: Mohammadi
November 20, 2011
KABUL - Some regional spy agencies tried to disrupt the traditional Loya Jirga on the strategic cooperation pact with the US, the interior minister said on Saturday. The four-day assembly concluded with the release of a 76-article declaration, recommending the creation of American bases in the country ...
Afghanistan Not Serious about Improving Ties with Pak: Khar
November 20, 2011
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said that Afghanistan is not serious in improving ties with her country, otherwise it would not have continuously made 'recriminatory comments' against Islamabad. "Can we overextend our arm without it being reciprocated? No country which is serious about improving ties with ...
US is Powerful, we are Lion: Karzai
November 19, 2011
KABUL - President Hamid Karzai told participants of the Loya Jirga that Afghanistan's relationship with the US should be one between two sovereign countries, saying he wanted national sovereignty to be protected at all costs.
The president, who called the Loya Jirga, appeared to have won over the majority of the audience with his speech, drawing cheers when he compared Afghanistan to a lion capable of standing on equal footing with the West. "It's true that America ...
LJ Delegates Set Conditions for US Military Bases
November 19, 2011
KABUL - Some participants of the traditional Loya Jirga (LJ) on Thursday supported the creation of US military bases in Afghanistan if the conditions set by the Karzai administration were met.
The grand tribal assembly on the strategic cooperation agreement with the US and setting up a mechanism for peace dialogue with Afghan ...
Night Raids Very Valuable, Necessary: Pentagon
November 19, 2011
WASHINGTON - Night raids, conducted by coalition forces in partnership with Afghans after permission from the Karzai government, perform a "very valuable and necessary" function, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. "The key point for us is that these operations are conducted jointly with the Afghans. We expect Afghan ...
Mujaddedi Supports Strategic Pact with US
November 19, 2011
KABUL - Loya Jirga Chairman Prof. Sibghatullah Mujaddedi said on Wednesday Afghanistan needed a strategic cooperation pact with the United States to prevent foreign meddling. Foreign interference prodded Afghanistan to enter a strategic cooperation agreement with the US, the former president told ...
Foreign Troop Pullout to Pave Way for Civil War: Atmar
November 19, 2011
KABUL - Former interior minister Hanif Atmar fears Afghanistan may plunge into civil conflict if international forces pull out of the country on schedule in 2014. The withdrawal of US and NATO-led troops would pave the ground for a proxy-led war in Afghanistan, Atmar told an audience at a ...
Afghan Heroin Traffic Thrives in War: Russia
November 19, 2011
CHICAGO - U.S. efforts to eradicate Afghanistan's opium poppy crops, which cover an area about the size of New York City, have been "unsatisfactory," Russia's anti-drug czar said Thursday.
Russia is the world's largest per capita consumer of heroin and is coping with an epidemic of HIV/AIDS spread by dirty needles.
Afghanistan has long been the world's leading producer of opium, used ...
Afghan Business Resides Largely in Agriculture: Rahimi
November 19, 2011
WASHINGTON - Observing that the country's business resides largely in agriculture and that the sector is growing fast, the visiting Afghan Agriculture Minister, Mohammad Asif Rahimi, on Tuesday urged the American business community to invest heavily in Afghan agriculture sector and benefit from it."Everyone's work and investment in ...
EU Eyes Partnership Pact with Afghanistan
November, 15 2011
BRUSSELS - The European Union agreed Monday to negotiate a partnership pact with Afghanistan including counter-terrorism, development and fighting drugs, ahead of the departure of NATO combat troops in 2014.
EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels gave the European Commission and EU chief diplomat Catherine Ashton a mandate to negotiate a "Cooperation Agreement on Partnership and Development" with the Afghan ...
Taliban Claims to Leak Afghan Jirga Security Plan
November, 15 2011
KABUL - The Taliban in Afghanistan have published what they claim is a top secret government security plan for a landmark assembly of tribal elders expected to decide on future ties with the US this week.
The alleged plan, published on the Taliban's website late Sunday, features a satellite map of the venue where the event will take place, mobile phone numbers of top security officials ....
India, UN to Host Meeting to Curb Drug Trade
November, 15 2011
KABUL - In association with the UN, India is hosting a 'working group meeting on precursors' to curb heroin smuggling from Afghanistan and illicit trade in precursor chemicals.
The meeting will be held on November 14-15 with the support of the ...
Afghan-US Strategic Partnership Not Finalised: Spanta
November, 15 2011
KABUL - National Security Advisor to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, while speaking at the House of Representatives on Monday, said that the talks between Afghanistan and the United States of America over the long term strategic agreement have not been finalised ...
Taliban Leaders Lose Control Over Fighters: ISAF
November, 15 2011
KABUL - The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Monday said recent militant attacks targeting civilians indicated the Taliban ...
Jirga, A Violation of Afghan Constitution: Abdullah
November, 14 2011
KABUL - The leader of Change and Hope Coalition Dr Abdullah Abdullah on Sunday said that holding the Traditional Jirga is a clear violation of law and it's decisions are unacceptable.
The Traditional Jirga undermines the authority of the Afghan Parliament, he added.
An Afghan traditional Jirga will be held on November 16th to discuss Afghan-US Strategic Agreement.
"It doesn't have any legal base, it's against the Afghan ...