Home » Afghanistan
Assassinations of Afghan Officials Were Plotted in Pakistan: Karzai Office
September 25, 2011
KABUL - There is mounting evidence to suggest that the targeted assassinations of prominent Afghans in the past six months were plotted in Pakistan, deputy spokesman for President Karzai, Seyamak Herawi, said on Saturday. "There is evidence with Afghans and with the United States that shows all attacks on Afghan leaders and elders, who ...
Turkish Team Pledges Equipment for Hospitals
September 25, 2011
KABUL - A Turkish delegation on Saturday pledged modern equipment for the Ataturk and Aliabad hospitals, the Ministry of Public health said.
Led by Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ, the team visited different parts of Aliabad Hospital, promising that the Turkish government would also reconstruct its sanatorium.
The delegation also held a meeting with Public Health Minister ...
S.A. Needs a Million New Jobs Per Month to Reduce Poverty: WB
September 25, 2011
WASHINGTON - South Asia has seen an accelerated job growth and a substantial decrease in poverty over the past three decades, second only to East Asia, says a World Bank report, released during the IMF-WB meetings. The region will be the largest contributor to the global workforce over the next two ...
Rabbani’s Death an Irreparable Loss: Pakistan
September 25, 2011
KABUL - The martyrdom of Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani is an irreparable loss not only for the Afghan nation, but the entire Muslim world, the Pakistan ambassador to Afghanistan said on Saturday.
"Rabbani was a close friend of Pakistan. Our affiliation with him deepened when Rabbani, along with other jihadi leaders, was engaged ...
Fateha Offered for High Peace Council Chief
September 25, 2011
KABUL – Tens of Thousands of people offered fateha for Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani at different mosques in Kabul and Pakistan's commercial hub Karachi on Saturday. Assassinated by a militant posing as an emissary of a top Taliban leader, the former president was laid to rest in the Wazir Akbar Khan ...
Time to Act Against Haqqani: Musharraf
September 25, 2011
KARACHI – Former Pakistani president, General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf, the Former Pakistani President has said that Pak-US relations have reached to a critical stage and it's time for Pakistan to take a decisive action in this ...
Tens of Thousands Attend Rabbani Funeral
September 24, 2011
KABUL - A surging crowd of mourners on Friday touched and kissed the coffin of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, assassinated by a suicide bomber claiming to carry a Taliban peace message, and vented at their own government and its efforts to reconcile with the insurgency.
Ex-president Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani's funeral prayers, attended by foreign dignitaries and senior government officials, were offered amid tight security at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on ...
Abdullah Wants Ex-President’s Assassins Unmasked
September 24, 2011
KABUL - The government should urgently investigate High Peace Council chairman Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani's assassination and bring the attackers to justice, a top opposition leader demanded on Thursday. The former president was killed in a suicide attack at his residence in the high-security area of Wazir Akbar Khan on Tuesday evening. He ...
Tajikistan Begins to Supply Electrical Power to Afghanistan
September 24, 2011
DUSHANBE - Tajikistan will begin to supply electrical power via the 220 kV power transmission line from Sangtuda in Tajikistan to Pul-i Khumri in Afghanistan in the near future, Nourmahmad Kholnazarov, the head of the power industry department within the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI), said in an interview with ...
Silk Road Revival Vital to Regional Stability: Rassoul
September 24, 2011
WASHINGTON - The Afghan government is working to regain its historic role as a land bridge connecting South and Central Asia with the Middle East, Foreign Minister Dr. Zalmai Rassoul has said.
Convinced that the idea of a New Silk Road holds the promise of achieving an economically vibrant regional order, spanning across ...
Moon Appraises Turkmenistan’s Contribution to Afghanistan in Development
September 24, 2011
BAKU - Turkmenistan considerably contributes to the peaceful development and social and economical infrastructure restoration of the neighboring Afghanistan, that kindly impacts the whole region, Itar-tass reported. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated about this after the meeting with Turkmenistan President Gurbangulu Berdimuhammedov within the 66th UN ...
Tide of War Receding in Iraq, Afghanistan: Obama
September 22, 2011
WASHINGTON - The tide of war is receding in Iraq and Afghanistan, President Barack Obama said on Wednesday in his address before the UN General Assembly in New York.
"At the end of this year, America's military operation in Iraq will be over," Obama said. "We will have a normal relationship with a sovereign nation that is a member of the community of nations. That equal partnership will be strengthened by our support ...
Millions of Afghans Face Hunger: Oxfam
September 22, 2011
KABUL - A UK-based organization has called for international donors to step up food and water deliveries to vulnerable Afghans in several provinces of the country before the onset of harsh winter.
Oxfam said about three million people were going hungry because of a drought that had gripped northern and western parts of the impoverished ...
Killing of Rabbani Strategically ‘Significant’: US Military
September 22, 2011
WASHINGTON - The killing of former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani and other assassinations by insurgents are strategically "significant" but will not force a change in war strategy, the US military's top officer said Tuesday. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman ...
Rabani’s Funeral Set for Friday
September 22, 2011
KABUL - The funeral ceremony of former president Prof. Burhanuddin Rabani, who was assassinated in a suicide attack on Tuesday evening, is scheduled for Friday, officials said.
High Peace Council Chairman Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani and leader of Jamiat-e-Islami Afghanistan, a Jihadi party that resisted Soviet ...
Best Tribute to Rabbani is to Carry Forward Peace Efforts: Manmohan
September 22, 2011
NEW DEHLI – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday condemned the assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani as a "senseless act" of terror and said the best tribute to him would be to continue his task of securing a peaceful future for people of his ...
Three-Day Mourning Announced
September 22, 2011
KABUL - The Cabinet announced on Wednesday a three days national mourning over the killing of former president Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani, with the national flag flying at half-mast.
Rabbani was assassinated on Tuesday evening along with three members of his panel in a suicide attack at his residence in a highly security ...
Afghans Mourn Ex-President on World Peace Day
September 22, 2011
KABUL - Afghans gathered to mourn assassinated former president and chief peace negotiator Burhanuddin Rabbani on Wednesday, World Peace Day, as fears mounted that his death could deepen ethnic divisions and nudge the country towards civil ...
Prof. Rabbani Killed
September 21, 2011
KABUL – Professor Burhanuddin Rabani, Former President and head of Afghanistan Peace, Reconciliation and Reintegration Program (APRRP), set up by Afghan government to work toward a political solution with the Taliban, was assassinated Tuesday evening in Kabul by a suicide bomber concealing explosives in his turban. Four of Rabbani's bodyguards and a key presidential adviser, Mohammad Masoom Stanakzai, also died.
The turban bomber entered Rabbani's house in Wazir Akbar Khan, a ...
One of Bombers Detained: MoI
September 21, 2011
KABUL - Security forces have arrested one of the two suicide attackers who assassinated former president Burhanuddin Rabbani on Tuesday evening, a Ministry of Interior (MoI) spokesman said.
One security official, who did not want to be named, said three members of the council were also killed in the attack. However, the source did ...
Minister Promises 50pc Cut in Poppy Cultivation
September 21, 2011
KABUL - Counternarcotics Minister Zarar Ahmad Muqbil said on Tuesday poppy cultivation would be reduced by 50 percent over the five years.
Under a new policy, farmers would willingly stop growing the illicit crop, he told the "Meshrano Jirga, or upper house of Parliament."
The policy, scheduled to come into effect in three months, would be ...
More Offices to Fight Violence Against Women
September 21, 2011
KABUL - The Attorney General office is set to establish special offices to fight violence against women in six provinces of the country. The agreement was signed on Tuesday between the Attorney General Office and the International Development Law ...
$150m Heroin Lab Destroyed: Australian Commander
September 21, 2011
LASHKARGAH - A heroin laboratory, destroyed during a joint operation in southern Helmand province two days ago, was worth $150 million, a foreign official said on Tuesday.
The operation was conducted in Baghran district late on Sunday, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) media office said, ...
US Building $100mln Afghan Prison: Pentagon Insanity
September 21, 2011
WASHINGTON - As the Obama administration announced plans for hundreds of billions of dollars more in domestic budget cuts, it late last week solicited bids for the construction of a massive new prison in Bagram. Posted on the aptly named FedBizOps.Gov website which it uses to announce new privatized spending projects, the administration unveiled ...
US, Afghans Must Adjust to Taliban Shift: Mullen
September 21, 2011
WASHINGTON - The top U.S. military officer says the U.S. and Afghan troops must adjust as the Taliban shifts to more spectacular, high-profile attacks and assassinations. Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen says commanders are working with the Afghans to shore up ...
150 Relics Found Near Ainak Copper Mine
September 21, 2011
KABUL - As many as 150 relics have been found near the world's largest copper mine in central Logar province, Ministry of Information and Culture officials said on Tuesday. Discovery of the sites in Kohi Ainak, Shah Mar Tapa, Shah Tapa and Wali Baba villages, close to the mine, began in 2009 and would end ...
Clinton Asks Pakistan to Move Against Haqqanis
September 20, 2011
WASHINGTON - Washington has asked Islamabad to take immediate, strong and effective action against the Haqqani Network, blamed for last week's attack on the US embassy in Kabul, US officials said.
"The issue of counterterrorism and particularly the issue of the Haqqani Network was the first thing on Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's agenda and also the last," a senior State Department official told reporters after the meeting between Clinton and Pakistan ...
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan to Export Electricity to Afghanistan
September 20, 2011
BAKU - Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will commence electricity export to Pakistan and Afghanistan by 2016, KyrTAG reports quoting Kyrgyz Deputy Premier Omurbek Babanov's statement."This project will be an impetus to the development of an export potential of the Central Asian countries ...
German DM Visits Troop in Afghanistan
September 20, 2011
>KABUL - German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere visited Mazar-i-Sharif on Sunday to discuss the withdrawal of his country's troops from Afghanistan. "The most important thing of course is to talk with our soldiers to get an idea of how they see the situation on the ground," de Maiziere told ...
Chasing Haqqanis Inside Pakistan Problematic: ISAF
September 20, 2011
KABUL - There is concrete evidence of the Haqqani Network's involvement in the latest attack in Kabul, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) claimed on Monday.
The group waging attacks from its safe heavens outside Afghanistan must be death with politically, Carsten Jacobson, an ISAF spokesperson, ...
Ghazni Museum Artifacts Being Kept in Kabul
September 20, 2011
GHAZNI CITY - Almost 10,000 antiques of Ghazni Museum, which has been under control of Italian archeologists over the last six years, are being kept in Kabul, officials said on Monday.
Under a 52-year-old agreement with Italy for constructing and curating the museum, 63 blocks were to be constructed. But due to the ...
NATO Forces Cast Afghan Night Raid Net Too Wide: Report
September 20, 2011
KABUL - Foreign forces fighting in Afghanistan have become more accurate in night-time raids on homes, but they have stepped up the number and scope of the controversial operations so they affect more Afghan civilians, a report said on Monday. NATO-led troops improved the way they select targets, and say they ...
Karzai Off to NY to Attend UN General Assembly
September 20, 2011
KABUL - President Hamid Karzai left Kabul for the US on Monday morning to attend the 66th United Nations General Assembly that begins in New York on Wednesday. Expected to highlight the issues facing Afghanistan and the region at large, Karzai would stress the need for continued international support in his ...
Saudi Embassy Closure Causes Problems for Pilgrims
September 20, 2011
KABUL - The closure of the Saudi embassy in Kabul after last week's suicide attacks has created problems for Afghan Hajj pilgrims, visa applicants said on Monday. On September 13, six suicide attackers stormed an under-construction building in the Abdul Haq Square and attacked the US embassy, the ISAF compound, National Directorate of Security ('NDS) and other government ...
Tanin to Chair Panel on Security Council Reform
September 20, 2011
WASHINGTON - The Afghan ambassador to the UN has been reappointed to head a key UN panel on the crucial issue of reforming the Security Council. In fact, the re-appointment of Zahir Tanin was among the first decisions taken by the president of the 66th General Assembly since his ...