Eye on the News [email protected] Truthful, Factual and Unbiased Vol:XI Issue No:232 Price: Afs.20 www.afghanistantimes.af www.facebook.com/ afghanistantimeswww.twitter.com/ afghanistantimes SUNDAY . MARCH 26. 2017 -Hamal 06, 1396 HS AT Monitoring Desk militants dead. Afghan and US forces regular car- Two group commanders ry out strikes against Daesh mili- KABUL: At least 22 militants named Zabihullah alias Shino and tants in the province. Security of- loyal to the Islamic State (IS) aka Daz Gul were among those killed ficials said that during the last year, Daesh terrorist group have been in the raids, he added. Daesh group suffered significant killed in an airstrike attacks in east- It is worth mentioning that casualties, forcing the terrorist ern Nangarhar province, provin- Nangarhar is among the relatively group into a very bad situation. cial official said on Saturday. calm provinces in eastern Afghan- According to statistics provid- Provincial governor spokes- istan but the anti-government ed by security department, last man, Attaullah Khogiani said that armed militant groups have recent- year more than 1,900 Daesh fight- airstrikes targeted Daesh hideouts ly increased their insurgency ac- ers were killed and the group’s ac- in Milo area of Nazian district on tivities in some parts of the prov- tivities were also limited to parts Friday evening, leaving 22 Daesh ince during the recent years. Both, of Nangarhar province. Scanners at Kabul’s gates within 2 months: MoI KABUL : Scanners to detect told Pajhowk Afghan News instal- and northern gates of Kabul, he bombs such as vehicle-born explo- lation of the scanners would be said. He said the scanners could sive devices will be installed at the completed within two months. not be installed in winter because four major entrances to Kabul with- The devices would be installed some persons had to be trained to in next two months, an official said on the eastern, western, southern manage the devices. (Pajhwok) on Saturday. The scanners were provided to Afghanistan by China So far in December 2016, when Beijing delivered its first military aid to Kabul in January that year. The cargo contained among other things no good logistical equipment, parts of mil- itary vehicles, ammunition and weapons for the Afghan National Editorial page 06 Defense and Security Forces ruption in security organs “a big (ANDSF). Ministry of Interior’s tragedy” for the country, asking deputy spokesman Najib Danish the government and other related organs to seriously investigate the issue and take measure for solu- tion. “Corruption exists in police and army crew,” said member of the Lower House Aref Rahmani. “We are aware of corruption in contracts of food, uniform and weapons in security organs.” Even some checkpoints dealing by the enemy due to corruption, he in- sisted. He said that the president’s office, security high council and parliament should combat to root out corruption in security organs. Female MP Nahid Farid said that “broad corruption and insecurity SIGAR claimed that commanders selling fuel, food and even changed to a wheel of interest for weapons of the Afghan forces to Taliban. some figures.” “Corruption will lead the system to collapse, if not contorted,” she added. She added By Farhad Naibkhel Head of the SIGAR, John Sop- that Afghan government must se- ko said Thursday evening at Duke riously hold step to address the KBAUL: Members of the Wolesi University that corruption and Jirga (Lower House) of Parliament issue. Another legislator Sayed Ali mismanagement is the main factor Kazemi said that based on some on Saturday expressed deepest behind failure of security forces in concerns over the Special Inspec- report not only Afghans, but West- Afghanistan. Sopko claimed that ern clusters were also involved in tor General for Afghanistan Recon- commanders selling fuel, food and struction (SIGAR) regarding cor- corruption. Kazemi added that even weapons of the Afghan forc- high percentage of donation trans- ruption in security organs. They es to Taliban. He said that also urged the government to seriously ferred back to abroad, so it is the ghost soldier salary also goes to time to the parliament follow the probe the report and take mea- the commanders’ pocket. Parlia- sures to address the issue. issue and clear all dimension of the mentarians called existence of cor- issue. Ghani calls for sustained focus on girls’ education The United States Defense Secre- relationship and to make certain it tary James Mattis in a meeting with gets stronger every year, between India's National Security Adviser, two democracies that have many Ajit Doval, at the Pentagon on Fri- common interests, many common day said the two countries are security challenges," Mattis said. faced with common threats, the Meanwhile, India’s National Secu- Associated Press reported. The rity Advisor said the two coun- two sides discussed strengthening tries are interested to work togeth- the relationship between India and er. "We share the values, we share KABUL : President Ashraf Ghani U.S, the report said. "We're delight- the democracy, we all have a very on Saturday commended the even- ed to have you here. Democracies common objective and interest. handed development of northern like ours need this sort of dialogue Both of the regions, that I come Balkh province, attributing the and we've had a strengthening of from and also globally, that we are achievement to Governor Atta the relationship over the last sev- able to work together, share our Mohammad Noor’s leadership. eral years. And no relationship ideas and thoughts and bring about Ghani gave the governor full credit stays the same. They either de- some new innovative changes and for his dedicated work to develop cline or they get better, they get improvements,” he added. This was the province. ‘Noor had always stronger and our intent here today Doval's first meeting with Mattis. pleaded with Kabul for the is to continue to strengthen the (Tolo News) progress of the province, not for personal favours, he said. At an event marking the start of the new academic year in the provincial capital, the president promised investment in education. He said 6.2 million textbooks would be dis- tributed to schools across the coun- try over the next fortnight. While stressing the need for sustained focus should on girls’ education, he likened investment in females to investment in Afghanistan’s fu- ture generations. (Pajhwok) SUNDAY . MARCH 26, 2017 AFGHANISTAN TIMES several neighboring districts. Since 2015, IS has attacked several government installations and villages in several other dis- tricts of the province as well. In some areas, they closed public schools and replaced them with their own religious seminaries. Afghanistan welcomed a re- cent call by General Nicholson for a few thousand more troops from the U.S. or other coalition part- ners to help in the battle against IS. "We stand confident that the new U.S. administration under President [Donald] Trump will remain strategically engaged and continue its support," Afghani- stan's Foreign Minister Salahud- din Rabbani said in an appearance at the Atlantic Council in Wash- ington this week. He described Nicholson's call as "an appropri- ate decision considering the pre- vailing security challenges still fac- ing us." Rabbani was one of dozens of foreign attendees at Wednesday's meeting of the Global Coalition to counter Islamic State. The 68-na- PESHAWAR/KABUL: Pakistan’s however, ongoing crackdown was tion group met to accelerate inter- crackdown against Afghan nation- badly affecting the business. “Pa- national efforts to defeat IS world- als illegally staying in the country kistani government crackdown was wide. Afghans stronger now than is badly hitting the famed Afghan against Afghan refugees was creat- in 2016 carpet business, as a large number ing labor problems for establish- Rabbani met with Secretary of of artisans have left Peshawar and ment like their factories,” he said, State Rex Tillerson and discussed other parts of the country. adding that currently they were how Afghanistan and Pakistan can Over the past many years, finding it difficult with hiring arti- U.S. forces in Afghanistan are up- ers, and their territorial control "Ultimately, we should ap- routinely conduct counterterror- cooperate in curbing IS cross-bor- Peshawar had turned into major sans. He said a carpet measuring ping the fight against an expanding from more than 10 districts to fewer plaud U.S. efforts to cut down the ism operations together. U.S. war- der activities, U.S. officials said. market for the famed Afghan car- six feet weaved by four people Islamic State offshoot based near than five. Numbers falling presence of IS fighters in Afghani- planes carried out hundreds of air- Pakistan was not part of the con- pet business as artisans escaping takes at least three months to com- the Afghan-Pakistan border and are "In 2016, we believed that stan," said Michael Kugelman, a strikes against IS targets in Afghan- ference. bouts of violence across Afghani- plete, while the pricing is deter- determined to defeat the extremist year began with about 3,000 or so South Asia specialist at the Wood- istan during the first seven months According to media reports, stan sought shelter in Peshawar and mined by quality of material as group in the country this year, U.S. ISIS-K members in about 12 dis- row Wilson Center in Washington. of last year. many IS members in Afghanistan its adjoining areas and where they well labor. “This has in turn also military officials tell VOA. tricts in southern Nangarhar," "But the broader problem is the U.S. military spokesman belong to the Orakzai tribe in Pa- also setup their looms.