October 28, 2014 84 (1) Kabul... role in ensuring peace in Afghanistan within the framework of regional cooperation, the president believed. About regional economic cooperation, he said Afghanistan wanted to have deep relations with Saudi Arabia. In response, Al Saud said his country respected Afghanistan as an important Islamic state and wanted to improve ties with it. Regional stability was the most important need, he said, promising Riyadh would take all steps to ensure peace in Afghanistan. (Pajhwok) (2) Etisalat... within the country. In addition, these employees can benefit from flexible working hours and study leaves during their final exams. ‘I was not able to continue my education before I joined Etisalat. Now I have a bachelor degree, and this has only been possible with the help of Etisalat`s educational program for its employees.’ said Saleema Hasas, a local employee of Etisalat. Ever since the program has started, numerous local employees have completed their higher education during their employment with Etisalat. Meantime, Samiullah Stanikzai, a local employee of Etisalat and one of the few Afghans in the country with Chartered Certified Accountant qualification has completed his studies with the help of Etisalat`s education programs for local employees. ‘Development of societies where we operate has always been our priority. Etisalat through its educational program is considering to provide Afghan society with experienced leaders so that they can lead both the company and the country toward a better future.’ Said Mr. Salah Zerguerras, CEO of Etisalat Afghanistan, ‘ We are committed to provide the people of Afghanistan with education and job opportunities, and support the people and the government of Afghanistan in all areas that contribute in growth and development of the country.’ Etisalat, one of the fast growing telecom companies in Afghanistan, has strived to play an active role in development of Afghan society through preplanned programs. Strengthening sports at different levels, organizing educational and religious programs, food distribution and supporting various social and cultural programs are some of the areas on which Etisalat, as part of its social responsibilities, has focused since its launch in Afghanistan. About Etisalat Afghanistan: Etisalat Afghanistan is part of Etisalat Telecommunications Group, headquartered in UAE, one of the largest telecommunications groups in the world. Etisalat Afghanistan launched their services in 2007 and has rapidly become the fastest growing telecommunications service provider in the country with an active base of 4 million subscribers. The company aims to be at the forefront of its market based on quality, innovative services and competitive pricing, with unsurpassed coverage in every province in the country. Since 2007, the company has invested US$ 300 million in Afghanistan and is the first telecom company to launch 3.75G services in Afghanistan. (PR) (3) AG, ... was ordered by a presidential decree to reopen the case. Since then, law enforcement officials have simultaneously undertaken efforts to apprehend the suspects in the case that remain at large, some of them abroad, such as former Milli Bank Chairman, Muhibullah Safai, and New Kabul Bank Chairman, Massoud Musa Ghazi. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has reported that it is working with Interpol to track and arrest the men. The Kabul Bank case received international attention in 2010 and 2011, when there was a depositor panic in response to revelations that over 900 million USD had been embezzled by top executives at the bank. President Ghani has given the Attorney General a month and a half to prosecute the case. The Attorney General’s office was able to refer the case to the appellate court according to the timeframe set by the president, but the court of appeal rejected as it had already done three time before. “In the perspective of the Attorney General, there is no problem with the case, unfortunately, it is the fourth time that the appellate court has rejected it,” Attorney General spokesman Basir Azizi said on Monday. “We will soon refer the case to the appellate court after completion of the reassessments.” So far the Kabul police have arrested only seven of the 18 suspects being brought in for the re-prosecution. Two executives of the bank - Sher Khan Farnood and Khalilullah Ferozi - are aid to be in jail, but many others have fled the country. “The Police are conducting their job in this respect and those individuals who fled the country will be arrested in joint support with the Interpol, and this depends on those countries where these individuals have fled,” MoI deputy spokesman Najibullah Danish said. The special court in Kabul had sentenced Muhibullah Safai and Massoud Musa Ghazi to three years imprisonment, but they were released on bail on behalf of the Ministry of Finance (MoF). The two men left the country after President Ghani issued his order to reopen the bank case. “Chiefs of the Mille Bank and New Kabul Bank were released on bail by credible institutions and haven’t returned to the country and still they are on the run,” Azizi said. On the basis of the presidential order, the appeal court is obliged issue the final decision on the case within 45 days. Based on the presidential deadline, the attorney general, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and the central bank were also charged with recuperating the money that was stolen by the bank executives, much of which has been transferred abroad. (Tolonews) (4) Pakistan... its role in the fight against terrorism, blaming Pakistan for failing to stop militants. Some 173 rebels had been killed in the past one week during various encounters with Afghan forces, Siddiqui claimed. (Pajhwok) (5) Ahmadzai.... construction company representatives who called upon him at the Presidential Palace here. A statement from the Palace said the president urged them to lift their professional capacity and skills to be able to safeguard a long-term partnership with the government. Ahmadzai also underlined the importance of regulating the alliance of engineers to guarantee quality construction and have a reliable data on civil engineers and their skills. Hinting at growing investment in the sector, the president noted engineering colleges should be upgraded in line with modern knowledge and techniques. He asked construction companies to prove their ability to earn first-hand contracts. Ahmadzai warned against trading of contracts and threatened stern legal action against those found guilty of this practice. He assured the visiting delegation their concerns would be addressed thoroughly. (Pajhwok) (6) Ahmadzai... the security officials are saying that the Islamic State has not managed to infiltrate in Afghanistan so far. However, insurgents belonging to a faction of the Hezb-e-Islami led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said earlier in September that they consider to join the Islamic State militants who are currently fighting in Syria and Iraq. There have been growing concerns regarding the growth of extremism in educational institutes, specifically in Kabul university amid fears that the insurgent groups have infiltrated among the university students to hire them for insurgency activities in the country. (KP) (7) Massoud ... agreement to form a unity government was reached between Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and Dr. Ghani’s camps following mediation by US Secretary of State John Kerry to resolve the election deadlock which was marred by massive fraud. (KP) (8) MoI A statement from the embassy said the US government would hand over a state-of-the-art Media Operations Center for use by professors and students of Kabul University. At the signing ceremony, US diplomats and representatives from the ministry discussed university partnerships, scholarship programmes and other forms of partnerships. (Pajhwok) (8b) Gov ...Hundreds of Afghan soldiers lose their lives every day by putting the security of the nation first; however, they receive no attention when they need the government’s support. Arif and soldiers like him are continuously demoralized by the government’s negligence toward their health. “I was referred from one organization to another,” Arif said. “I went to the parliament and met legislators. They referred me to the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and some other institutions, but no one listened or resolved the issue.” Meanwhile, the MoD recently reported of the initiative to distribute modern health services to all army soldiers. “We have the best hospitals in the country, including 200-bed military hospital of Sardar Mohammad Dawoud Khan and 400-bed military hospital,” MoD spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said. “But we must not forget that the expectations of the wounded and ill soldiers are much more.” In the past a year, the ANSF took the security responsibility of more than 90 percent of the country from foreign troops. Since then, their casualties have also increased. Since 2001, about 6,500 ANA soldiers have been killed in roadside explosions and suicide attacks and hundreds of others-- including the National Directorate of Security (NDS) forces-- have been injured. The number of security personal serving in different ranks of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) is expected to reach 352,000 by the end of the year. (Tolonews) (9) State-... the company needed government subsidy to survive, but after its privatization, the company is in profit and this year has made around 300 million AFN. “When the Breshna Company was owned by the government, it had losses...But now we have considerable net revenue, and provide better services,” Breshna Company head Mirwais Alemi said. While comparing Breshna Company income to the government owned companies, a number of House of Representative members said that potential government revenues have been wasted. “We know of the widespread corruption in the government owned businesses and there is no one to oversee them,” said Muhammad Azim Mohseni, Deputy at the Financial and Budget Commission of House of Representatives. “The wasting of government income is very concerning and the gov- ernment must ask the heads of government owned businesses about their decreased revenue.” Breshna Company officials have argued that poor management and strategy are the main causes of the failings of government owned businesses. In addition to the 34 government owned businesses the Ministry of Finance has reported on, the government has not said anything about the partially active ones, but officials did say that some partially active government owned businesses rent their properties to the private sector for high prices and then only pay part of the revenue back to the government. (Tolonews) (10) US Engine... of the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) by Kabul and Washington, it has restarted operations, preparing for an ongoing, if reduced, presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan after this year. In its first step, USACE signed an agreement with ABA, giving it certification for material testing laboratories. On the basis of the agreement, any company that doesn’t do proper quality checking of construction materials will be excluded from the agreement and their license will be cancelled by the USACE. “The U.S. army corps engineers has completed almost eight billion dollars worth of construction in Afghanistan over the past decade comprising over one thousand projects, we are down to our last ten percent of projects with one hundreds projects remaining in Afghanistan, with the remaining value of 700 million dollars and that will extend until December 2017,” said Colonel Peter Helmlinger, the head of USACE. Meanwhile, ABA officials assured that the construction material being used in the labs would be checked according to modern standards. “An agreement was signed between USACE and ABA, and after signing of the agreement today, all companies in Afghanistan must meet the standards and ABA will provide certificate to the companies that have the standards,” ABA chairman Naeem Yasin said. USACE officials have said that in addition to building military facilities for the Afghan security forces, they will also work in the social service and civil infrastructure spheres. They promised to help revive the Kajaki Dam in Helmand and Dalah Dam in Kandahar. (Tolonews) (11) New ... gazette without any delay. He said the publication was a legal necessity and important for the people concerned in order to have sufficient information about the newly approved measure. According to Kohistani, a deliberate delay in publication of an approved law was a serious crime. He said individuals responsible for the unnecessary delay should be punished in accordance with the criminal law. Meanwhile, an official at the Ministry of Justice said the publication had been delayed due to some difficulties in translation of the law into Pashto, Dari and English languages. Abdul Rahim Daqiq, the publication in-charge at the ministry, said technical issues in the law would be resolved in 15 days and the law would be ready for publication. Earlier, the Mines Ministry had rejected the existence of any technical difficulties in translation of the act. Javed Noorani, a mining expert, said publication of the new mining law had been delayed due to recent amendments to some articles of the law. He said the law was first brought to parliament in 2012 and the first man who opposed the bill was incumbent president Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. Noorani alleged one reason behind the delayed publication could be President Ghani’s opposition to it. However, some experts suggest further amendments to the law if some clauses are in conflict with the country’s interest. They stressed prompt publication of the law. (Pajhwok) (12) Call E.... permanent and 15 contractbased teachers and we will try to prepare more students for the entrance test,” he said, saying 10,000 students were expected to attend the second phase. Deputy Governor Mohammad Hanif Gardiwal told Pajhwok Afghan News many high school students from Nangarhar were often denied the change to make it to university. He said the Higher Education Ministry should expand enrolment capacity at universities so that more students could be absorbed. He said they planned to conduct pre-entry test preparation programmes in various parts of the province in order to enable students to pass the entrance exam. Shabana, one of the students who attended the preparation programme, said a number of students could not quality the entrance test because they lacked proper information about the exam. (Pajhwok) (13) Offensive... attacks after capturing two security posts in the Surkhabad and Kala Masha areas, killing eight policemen. Residents of the said areas say insurgents have expelled residents from their homes to use them as bastions for attacks on security forces in Yakh Tun, Surkhabad, Korkosham, Charpayan, Woni and several others villages. However, government officials are yet to confirm these reports. The governor’s spokesman, Samim Khpalwak, told Pajhwok Afghan News the military operation had been launched in the Ghorak district but latest updates could not be ascertained because telephones did not work in the area. Ghorak, which is about 100 kilometres north of Kandahar City, shares borders with Helmand and central Uruzgan provinces. The insurgents had been in control of the town until they were driven two years ago as a result of a military operation. However, residents say the government’s writ could be felt only in the district centre, where a foreign forces’ military base exists. The rebels rule all villages and roads connecting with the district centre. In previous interviews with Pajhwok Afghan News, residents had said that insurgents had not only intensified their activities but had also mined the highway leading to Kandahar City. Seeped in poverty and deprived of basic facilities of life, the district’s population is estimated at 8000 individuals, with most associated with farming and livestock. (Pajhwok) (14) UK Pu... problems in Afghanistan cannot be solved without foreign aid, but there had been problems stemming from the presence of foreign troops.” He said the withdrawal of foreign troops would leave the rebels with no excuse to continue fighting because they had long been claiming their fight was against foreign troops. Meanwhile, 215th Maiwand Military Corps deputy commander Gen. Ghulam Farooq Parwani told Pajhwok Afghan News the last group of UK soldiers left the Camp Bastion at the Shorab Base on Sunday. He said three Afghan National Army (ANA)’s battalions had been deployed to the adjacent Camp Bastion and the Camp Leatherneck, where an airport has also been built. “Foreign troops would not take part with us in operations in the past as well, but we had some agreements on assistance when needed,” said Parwani. Maj. Gen. Syed Malook, the 215th Maiwand Military Corps commander, had said the withdrawal of British troops from Helmand would create no security vacuum. He said the Afghan troops had the ability to conduct operations on their own. In late 2001, the British troops arrived in Afghanistan as part of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan to topple the Taliban regime and crush Al Qaeda. Since 2005, the British troops had been stationed at Camp Bastion and their numbers reached 10,000 in 2006. The number of UK troops was reduced to 2500 two years ago when security transition began. The British troops will leave Afghanistan over the next two months and a small number will remain in Kabul to train Afghan forces beyond 2014. The UK lost 453 soldiers to the Afghan conflict during the past 13 years. (Pajhwok) (15)No Factory... rofessional workers, he had to wind up the factory. Jafar, a daily wager, who supports his family of seven members, said he often returned home without finding any work. “If factories are established, it would not only create jobs, but also develop the country and increase the government’s revenue.” (Pajhwok) (16)7 Dead as Hussain said the third bomber fought with security personnel after the site was surrounded by security forces. The fire exchange lasted at least three hours, he added. As usual, the militants claimed responsibility for such attacks, with the group’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying several Afghan security forces had been killed in the wellcoordinated attack. (Pajhwok) (17) Herat plea that there is a real threat to his life in Afghanistan. The protesters urged the government to take stern action against those involved in writing and publishing this article. Participants of the rally, mostly Herat University students, said deliberate acts of disrespect to Islam should not be tolerated. (Pajhwok) (18)Kabul... reason behind the insecurity is the government’s vague policy toward the Taliban. “The president must have a clear definition of enemy; not having a clear definition of enemies of Afghanistan will empower the Taliban,” military analyst Saleh Muhammad Regestani said. This is while during his first week at office, President Ashraf Ghani had ordered the country’s security institutions to take a new strategy in maintaining the capital’s security. “Security forces need to take serious preparations for security of the capital and it’s surrounding areas,” the president had stressed. The insecurities in Kabul are as a part of the growing insecurities all around the country in the past few months. (Tolonews) (19)Work on... accident, but has not provided details about where the rockets were fired from. “Further investigations are underway,” MoI spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said. Analysts claim that a main reason behind the insecurity is the government’s vague policy toward the Taliban. “The president must have a clear definition of enemy; not having a clear definition of enemies of Afghanistan will empower the Taliban,” military analyst Saleh Muhammad Regestani said. This is while during his first week at office, President Ashraf Ghani had ordered the country’s security institutions to take a new strategy in main- taining the capital’s security. “Security forces need to take serious preparations for security of the capital and it’s surrounding areas,” the president had stressed. The insecurities in Kabul are as a part of the growing insecurities all around the country in the past few months. (Tolonews) NYC boy being observed for possible Ebola symptoms NEW YORK - A nurse who treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone was being allowed to go to her home state of Maine after New Jersey forced her into quarantine, and the U.S. military said Monday it was isolating personnel returning from West Africa. A dozen soldiers were in isolation at a military base in Italy, including Major General Darryl Williams who oversaw the military’s initial response to the Ebola outbreak, even though none are showing symptoms of the virus that has killed nearly 5,000 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Dozens more troops will be isolated in the coming days as they rotate out of West Africa, where the U.S. military has been building infrastructure to help health authorities treat Ebola victims, the Pentagon said. Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, described the precautions as “enhanced monitoring. With concerns about the spread of Ebola to the United States still high, a 5-year-old boy who arrived from Guinea has exhibited a low-grade fever and will be tested for the virus in New York, city officials said. They said the results will be available later on Monday. The case of nurse Kaci Hickox, put into quarantine on Friday under a New Jersey policy that exceeded precautions adopted by the U.S. government, underscored the dilemma that federal and state officials are facing in trying to prevent the spread of Ebola. Governor Chris Christie, who has defending his state’s policy of automatic quarantine for medical workers returning from treating patients in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, said on Twitter that Hickox would be allowed to return to Maine and can complete her 21-day quarantine at home. The New Jersey Department of Health said in a statement that Hickox “has thankfully been symptom free for the last 24 hours” and that in coordination with federal health officials and her doctors “the patient is being discharged.” “She will remain subject to New Jersey’s mandatory quarantine order while in New Jersey. Health officials in Maine have been notified of her arrangements and will make a determination under their own laws on her treatment when she arrives,” the department said. The 21-day quarantine matches the incubation period of the virus. The department said she will be taken to Maine “via a private carrier not via mass transit or commercial aircraft.” A lawsuit is now unlikely, her attorney said on Monday. “She was quietly happy,” said attorney Steven Hyman, who said he had spoken to the nurse by telephone. “She wants this part of her ordeal to be over. She wants to return to her life.” Hickox publicly criticized her quarantine, saying public health experts and not politicians should be making quarantine decisions. The health department said she was “initially found to have no symptoms but later developed a fever,” prompting the decision to put her in isolation, it said. (Reuters)