Reg: No 352 Volume No. 3274 Sunday April 17, 2016 Hamal 29, 1395 www.outlookafghanistan.net Price: 15/-Afs

Quote of the Day

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The measure of a man is what he does with power.

Plato

Ghani Tells Governors Keep Security as Top Priority

Illegal Mining Continues to Rise in Afghanistan: Saba

Taliban Attempt to Overrun Kunduz City Foiled,

62 Militants Killed

KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday instructed governors to take steps for security issues, good governance, economic de-velopment programmes and bet-ter service delivery for people.Ghani on Saturday hold a joint video conference with governors, provincial police chiefs, com-mander of military corps and chiefs of National Directorate of Security (NDS) departments of 34 provinces to know the situation of the country, a statement from president’s office said.After hearing the reports of local officials, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani instructed the gov-

KABUL - Minister of Mines and Petroleum Dawoud Shah Saba has expressed deep concerns over the practice of illegal mining in various regions across the coun-try.“Although there are no statistics about the exact numbers of mines which are being extracted illegal-ly, people say that some of these mines are being plundered and extracted illegally,” he said.Meanwhile, a security official in the north has claimed that a com-mander of the Afghan Local Po-lice (ALP) known as Malik has control over a lapis mine in the area and allegedly pays $440,000 USD to the Taliban monthly not to disrupt his activities.Afghanistan is famous for its la-pis lazuli, however, the majority of this wealth is reportedly being smuggled abroad.Smuggling of the stones is said to be one of the main funding sources for the Taliban, militant groups, local warlords and other

ernors to encourage elders, reli-gious scholars and ordinary peo-ple to condemn the imposed war on the country, because terrorists mostly target, children, women, elders and ordinary people, the statement said.Ghani also ordered the governors to concentrate on good govern-ance, economics programmes, delivering of betters services and resolving people’s problems, the statement added.“The priority of the all governors should be maintaining security and fight against enemies,” he said while insisting on the anti-terror-ism efforts. (Pajhwok)

ports. Stones are being exported from here with a lot of difficulties. Because the export of precious stones is banned. The president has banned the export of stones, this has also affected our business. If stones from here are exported abroad, our businesses will be re-vived 100 percent,” local jeweler Nasratullah said.“Our demand is that the govern-ment must find solutions to the issues facing the people, either the government must make the mines state run or prevent the illegal ex-tractions,” ...(More on P4)...(4)

tricts and around provincial capital Kunduz city on Friday,” Jamshidi told Xinhua.According to Jamshidi, 65 more in-surgents were injured in the north-ern region, 53 of them sustained injuries in Kunduz province.Taliban militants who captured Kunduz city for few days in last October launched multi-pronged offensive on several districts and around Kunduz provincial capital Kunduz city early Friday.A total of 13 more militants, accord-ing to Jamshidi, were killed and 10 others wounded ..(More on P4)...(7)

tion to conclude the task,” MP Fa-koor Behishti said.While critics and election monitor-ing groups question government’s willingness for reforms, the presi-dential palace has reassured the Afghan public that reforms will be in place.On Saturday, Afghanistan’s presi-dential palace announced that the presidential decree on electoral re-forms has been referred to the min-istry of justice ...(More on P4)...(11)

KABUL - The Wolesi Jirga on Sat-urday decided to place a 10-day ban on lawmaker Sakhi Mashwani for slapping Rural Rehabilitation and Development Minister Naseer Ahmad Durrani during a session.On Wednesday, the lower house had summoned Durrani, Finance Minister Eklil Hakimi and Public Works Minister Mahmood Baligh to brief the legislators on issues re-lated to their portfolios.Each MP was given three min-utes to question the ministers. Mushwani spoke for three minutes before microphone was switched off. In a fit of rage, he first tried to pounce at ...(More on P4)...(12)

KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday said the government would asphalt for the first time roads in eastern Nuristan province this solar year and would establish hostels for students in all insecure provinces.After hearing problems and de-mands from elders, spiritual lead-ers and women of eastern Nuristan province, the president thanked the people ...(More on P4)...(6)

KABUL - Some Wolesi Jirga members on Satur-day asked the higher education minister to allow migration of female students from one university to another, but the minister said it would create problems.Higher Education Minister Farida Momand ap-peared before the Wolesi Jirga or lower house to brief lawmakers on education related issues and the Kankor (university entry test) exam.Some girls, after passing the Kankor exam in re-mote provinces, could not attend universities due to cultural issues or lack of hostel facilities in those universities, said MP Syed Ali Kazami.He said the Ministry of Higher Education should facilitate these girls in changing their university.“If the issue of migration of girls from one uni-versity to another is not resolved, female students would be unable to take part in the national edu-cation process,” another lawmaker from Maidan Wardak province, Ghulam Husain Nasiri, said.Females could not continue with education if they were not provided with the chance to migrate from one university to another, another lower house member, Abdul Satar Khawasi, said.However, Farida Momand, the higher education minister, said that 80 ...(More on P4)...(10)

KABUL - The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Abdullah Ab-dullah, said that those who no longer have the facilities they used to have, are unhappy with the continua-tion of the National Unity Government’s (NUG) tenure. Ab-dullah urged political figures to cooperate with the government, instead of creating problems and criticizing the activities of the NUG.Recent remarks by the US Secretary of State John Kerry’s about the legal ten-

KABUL - The Delhi Policy Group (DPG) in a new report has said that re-gional nations must ac-celerate efforts to improve the balance of trade with Afghanistan and help the country bolster its military capabilities.In a new report issued under the title ‘The Trou-bling Transformations in

KABUL - A number of delegates at a gathering in Kabul on Saturday said that the High Peace Coun-cil (HPC) has not achieved much because peace can-not be gained through soft policies aimed at the Taliban. Organizers of the event said that govern-

armed groups.An Afghan security official mean-while told the Associated Press that a local commander of ALP controls a lapis mine in the north and smuggles it to Kabul and then to Pakistan.“If anyone tries to transfer the stones which are the assets of Af-ghanistan and smuggle them to an area and country, we will not allow them to do so and we will arrest the person involved in the smuggling,” Kunduz police chief general Qasim Jangal Bagh said.“We are facing problems in ex-

KABUL - Afghan National Secu-rity Forces (ANSF) have once again thwarted Taliban attempts to capture Kunduz provincial capital Kunduz city, 250 km north of Kabul after in-flicting huge casualties to the Taliban fighters, an army spokesman in the northern region Nasratullah Jamshidi said Saturday.According to Jamshidi, 62 Taliban fighters were killed since Friday else-where in northern provinces, 49 of them in Kunduz.“A total of 49 Taliban rebels have been killed and 53 others injured since Taliban offensive in some dis-

KABUL - Some Afghan lawmakers in the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament) have said that there is no will on the part of government leaders including President Ashraf Ghani and his CEO Abdullah Ab-dullah to step up efforts to kick start the reform process in the country’s election system.“There is no will for election reforms by government leaders as they feel reluctant to focus on the necessary arrangements and their determina-

Iran Calls on EU to Help Settle Afghan Refugees’

Problems Forever

Govt. Seeks Financial Assistance to Bring

Refugees Home

2nd Polio Case Detected in Kunar

Girls’ University Migration to Create Problems: Momand

Abdullah Terms Uproar over Continuation of NUG’s

Tenure as Personal

DPG Urges Extended Regional Cooperation

Govt. Asked to Review Peace Strategy

Mashwani Banned from Attending

Sessions for 10 Days

Nuristan to Have Asphalted Roads for First Time: Ghani

TEHRAN - Iranian Inte-rior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli underlined Tehran’s determination to find a permanent solution to the problems of the Af-ghan refugees, and called on the European Union (EU) to help Tehran facili-tate Afghan refugees’ re-turn to their homeland.“We have asked the Eu-ropean Union to render

KABUL - The Afghan government is finalizing agreements with some European member states and the European Union to handle the return of Af-ghan refugees, currently in limbo in Greece.The full details of the memoranda of under-standing have yet to be an-nounced, but Afghan of-ficials have told VOA that the Afghan government will seek support from the

ASADABAD - A second polio case has been de-tected in eastern Kunar province, the public health director said on Saturday.Dr. Ihsanullah Fazli told Pajhwok Afghan News the one-year-old child, son of Abdul Wali, belonged to Wand village of Shultan area in Shaigal district. It was the second polio case

the necessary assistance to help Afghan refugees’ return to their country,” Rahmani Fazli told report-ers on Saturday.He reiterated that the Eu-ropean countries should feel responsible and give the necessary help for the repatriation of 3 million Afghan refugees to Af-ghanistan. The Iranian in-terior ...(More on P4)...(3)

European Union, includ-ing financial support, to handle the crisis.“We have been in conver-sation with our European counterparts and have established a joint techni-cal committee comprised of various organizations and ministries to find a solution to the problem,” said Hafizullah Miakhil, spokesperson for the Af-ghan Ministry of Refugees and ...(More on P4)...(8)

to be detected in Kunar and the third nationwide, he added.Over the past four years, polio vaccination cam-paign could not be im-plemented in the Shaigal district due to Taliban’s opposition, a reason he cited behind the infection.The director said anti-polio ...(More on P4)...(9)

ure of the NUG sparked a strong reaction from some politicians. The former president Hamid Karzai also said that Kerry’s re-marks were in contrast with the national sover-eignty ...(More on P4)...(1)

Afghanistan’ the DPG has assessed Afghanistan’s security, political and eco-nomic transformations and the overall gains made by the country in various spheres such as politics, economy, security and its trade balance with the re-gion.In the report, the DPG has ...(More on P4)...(2)

ment doesn’t have an in-clusive strategy for bring-ing peace to Afghanistan,The gathering was organ-ized by Kabul citizens’ council and delegates said that government needs to review its peace strategy.“Peace can be brought, when ...(More on P4)...(5)

Critics Slam Constant Delays in Getting Reform

Decree to Parliament