SECURITY
Jawzjan Men Caught while Selling Weapons to Taliban
Jawzjan: Police in northern Jawzjan province arrested two people who were selling weapons to the Taliban, an official said on Tuesday. Police Chief Brig. Gen. Rahmatullah Turkistani told that Nasrullah and Inayatullah were arrested red-handed at around 11:00am while shifting weapons to the Taliban for purchase. He said the two accused bought the weapons from government officials. Pajhwok
Taliban Bomb Making Facility Destroyed in Balkh: NDS
Kabul: The Talban’s bomb-making facility has been destroyed in security personnel raid in northern Balkh province, the intelligence agency said on Tuesday. In a statement, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) said its personnel conducted a raid on a tip-off it received about the bomb making centre of the Taliban. The NDS personnel seized 395 remote controls, as many remote control plates, 15 different types of landmines, 800 of electric capsules and 18 antennas of walkie-talkies. Pajhwok
Taliban Claim Shooting down US Drone in Nangarhar
Nangarhar: An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of American forces has crashed in the Batikot district of eastern Nangarhar province, with the Taliban claiming to have shot down the drone. A security official, who wished to go unnamed, confided that the drone crashed in Second Farm area on Monday afternoon. The area is under Taliban control. The rebel group reportedly seized the wreckage. Pajhwok
Political
Hekmatyar to Appear in Kabul Soon: Amin Karim
Kabul: Hizb-I-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) on Tuesday said the party would have effective part in future elections and they were not worried about the sanctions imposed on the party’s leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who would soon appear in the capital Kabul. Mohammad Amin Karim, head of the HIA delegation negotiating with the Afghan government, told media that his party was not concerned over the international restrictions imposed on HIA leadership because it was the responsibility of the government to remove them. Pajhwok
IEC Meeting Discusses Transparency in Future Elections
Kabul: Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Tuesday held consultative meeting with different groups of people in order to provide a credible environment for the conduct of upcoming Wolesi Jirga and district council elections. IEC held its first consultative meeting with representatives of political parties in the capital Kabul. The meeting talked about different issues including minimizing election constituencies. The IEC also discussed its future development programmes with the participants. Pajhwok
Foreign Affairs
ANP Concerned at Tense Kabul-Islamabad Relations
The Pakhtun nationalist Awami National Party (ANP) has voiced its concern over the increasingly frigid relations between Kabul and Islamabad. Ties between the neighbors, long haunted by mistrust, have deteriorated after a series of deadly attacks and an intensifying Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. Pajhwok
