The US military has suspended its own ban on contracts with Kam Air until the government of Afghanistan finishes its investigation into whether the carrier was involved in drug smuggling.

The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) welcomed the decision saying the government is committed to inspect and evaluate all the documents held by the US military regarding Kam Air's alleged drug smuggling.

"We have been talking with the Afghan government over the issue, and the Afghan government has agreed to conduct a full investigation of Kam Air. We will suspend our action pending the outcome of that investigation," Thomas Collins, head of Public Relations of Isaf told TOLOnews Tuesday.

"When the Afghan government investigation is complete, we will come back together and we will talk, and we will figure out what the next steps are," he added.

The US military last week placed a ban on its forces doing any business including flying with Kam Air after its findings of criminal activity in Afghanistan's largest private airline.

When asked about the facts of the case, Collins said: "Well for obvious reasons, I can't discuss the intelligence. That information is classified.

"We will share with the Afghan government evidence and documents required and they will come to their own conclusion. It's important that the Afghan government be given the opportunities and conduct this investigation and when it's done we will come together and decide what the next steps are."

Collins emphasised that the suspension of its ban does not change anything as the US had no contracts with the carrier.

"The United States did not have any contract with Kam Air, so it basically has no impact because there was no contracts. Just basically its being put aside for the moment until the Afghan government conducts the investigation so Kam Air can continue with its operations as it did before the suspension," he said.

The MOFA confirmed that after meeting with US military officials, it was agreed that Kam Air should continue its business as normal until the Afghan government completes its own investigation.

"We welcome this decision by the US military, and we assure that investigations will be carried out and all the documents and evidence will be evaluated," MOFA spokesman Janan Moosazai said.

Kam Air also welcomed the decision in a released statement.

The US military regional command for Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa had accused Kam Air, its president Zmarai Kamgar, and his relation Toryalai Kamgar as acting in a criminal manner in contradiction with America's interests, thereby incurring the ban on US troops doing any business with the company.

Kam Air responded by calling on the Afghan government to conduct an investigation of its own.

Isaf and Afghan officials are seeking to reassure the people that the insurgency is weakening, despite an apparent increase in Taliban-led suicide attacks this winter season in Afghanistan's capital.

Isaf spokesman Gen. Günter Katz said that the increase in suicide attacks and planting of roadside bombs shows the weakness of the Taliban in engaging in any serious combat against the Afghan National Security Forces.

"They use the media, that is right, so they give a wrong sense of security. But overall, security – particularly in Kabul – is stable and we don't see any worries in terms of violence. And clearly they will continue to lose that fight and what they are doing is they continue their suicide attacks," Katz said at a press conference Monday.

The Ministry of Defense agreed saying that the insurgents no longer seek to fight face-to-face with Afghan security forces, instead opting for suicide attacks and hidden bombs which end up mostly killing civilians.

"The attacks launched in the past two months in Kabul and other provinces have mostly struck civilians. So the attacks don't benefit them because they mentally make people feel uncomfortable, but they launch such attacks [anyway]," spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi told TOLOnews Monday.

Ministry of Interior spokesman said that the Taliban tactic was largely aimed at increasing fear and terror in the people more than actually inflicting damage to the security forces.

"In this winter, the Taliban has launched more suicide attacks [but] they only show more terror to the people," Sediq Seddiqi said TOLOnews Monday.

In the past, the winter season has had fewer insurgent attacks compared to the warmer months, however with three attacks executed or planned in Kabul in three weeks, this appears to be changing.

Two of the attacks were carried out in the second and third week of January on security offices in Kabul, but the third was foiled late Sunday night when six equipped suicide bombers were detained in Kabul's district 4.

Newly-appointed US Secretary of State John Kerry met with students from Afghanistan's National Institute of Music (ANIM) on Monday, describing the group as "ambassadors of peace".

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The US military has suspended its own ban on contracts with Kam Air until the government of Afghanistan finishes its investigation into whether the carrier was involved in drug smuggling.

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South Korea and the United States launched a joint naval exercise involving a US nuclear submarine Monday, as tensions rise on the Korean peninsula ahead of an expected nuclear test by North Korea.

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A major 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit the Solomon Islands on Wednesday, reportedly flattening three villages, as small tsunami waves lapped Pacific coastlines and emergency sirens blared evacuation warnings.

A quake-generated wave of just under one metre (three feet) reached part of the Solomons, and Vanuatu and New Caledonia also reported rising sea levels, before a region-wide tsunami alert was lifted.

Sirens were heard in Fiji while the alert remained in place, locals said. "Chaos in the streets of Suva as everyone tries to avoid the tsunami!!" tweeted Ratu Nemani Tebana from the Fiji capital Suva.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cancelled its regional alert at 0350 GMT, about two and a half hours after the powerful quake struck at 0112 GMT near the Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomons.

The US Geological Survey said the quake hit the Santa Cruz Islands, which have been rocked by a series of strong tremors over the past week, at a shallow depth of 5.8 kilometres (3.5 miles).

Two powerful aftershocks of 6.4 and 6.6 magnitude were also recorded.

"Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated," the Hawaii-based Pacific centre said after the 8.0 quake, before lifting its tsunami alert for several island nations.

Some villages on the Santa Cruz islands were destroyed, according to a hospital director.

"The information we are getting is that some villages west and south of Lata along the coast have been destroyed, although we cannot confirm this yet," the director of nursing at Lata Hospital told AFP.

"There was continuous shaking in Lata but no damaged buildings here," he added.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation cited emergency service authorities in the Solomons as saying three villages were destroyed by the quake. Officials could not be reached for confirmation, with phone lines down.

Hospital director Augustine Bilve said patients were being evacuated to prepare for any injured from the villages along the coast.

"We were told that after the shaking, waves came to the villages. So far, we are waiting in Lata and are evacuating patients in case there are any casualties."

In 2007 a tsunami following an 8.0-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands homeless. The quake was so powerful that it lifted an island and pushed out its shoreline by dozens of metres.

A Taliban facilitator was captured in a joint Afghan and Nato troop operation in Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province on Wednesday, Isaf said.

"The detained Taliban facilitator is believed to have overseen the management of weapons caches for his Taliban network and ensured the facilitation of equipment, vehicles and weapons to insurgent fighters," Isaf said in a statement.

He is also accused of having acquired and transferred large amounts of IED-making materials to weapons caches throughout the district, it said.

The security force also detained two suspected insurgents and seized nearly 700 pounds of illegal narcotics as a result of the operation.

It comes as a local Taliban leader was arrested in Maiwand district of Kandahar Monday, the statement added.

The leader is believed to be responsible for coordinating insurgent operations, including the distribution of weapons and funds to insurgent fighters attacking security forces in the province, Isaf said.

One suspected insurgent was also captured during the operation, it added.

President Hamid Karzai signed a long term strategic agreement with Norway on Tuesday before flying to Egypt for the Islamic summit which begins today.

The agreement signed with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in the capital Oslo Tuesday night specifies the framework for security, and economic and development cooperation between the two countries, Karzai's office said in a statement.

In a press briefing after the signing, Karzai praised Norway for its cooperation with Afghanistan during the past ten years and Stoltenberg said Norway remains committed to assist Afghanistan in military and civil sectors.

Afghanistan has signed similar agreements with the US, Italy, UK, France, Germany, Australia and India.

Karzai left shortly after the signing to attend the Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Egypt which will discuss political and economic cooperation between Islamic countries.

Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi opened the summit Wednesday, despite weeks of mass protests in Cairo and other cities against his leadership and what his critics claim are moves to strengthen the interests of his Muslim Brotherhood group.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also attending the summit and was publicly warned on Tuesday by a prominent Egyptian cleric against Shiite Iran interfering in the affairs of the mostly Sunni Gulf Arab nations.

Karzai had earlier visited London on Sunday and Monday where he met with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

The three held talks with high-level government delegations from all sides to agree on stronger regional cooperation and security measures.

Four Iranian nationals have been arrested by Afghan border police for attempting to smuggle drugs out of Afghanistan into Iran, local officials said Wednesday.

"The men wanted to carry 1200 kilograms of heroin to Iran which is when the border police captured them," border police commander Gul Nabi Ahmadzai told TOLOnews.

The police have started investigating the men, he said.

The four men were caught in western Herat province which borders with Iran.

The Afghan government policy to release Taliban prisoners is "completely incorrect" and threatens the peace process, the Truth and Justice party said Wednesday.

Mohammad Hanif Atmar, head of the Truth and Justice party's commission on politics, criticised the release of Taliban prisoners in Pakistan as requested by the Afghan High Peace Council, saying their fate is unclear and the government has not seriously considered their future.

"The government's policies over the release of imprisoned Taliban from Pakistan is completely incorrect and this action will cause the peace process to confront failure," Atmar said at a press briefing.

Around 30 members of the Taliban imprisoned in Pakistan have been released recently but it is not clear where they now are.

He pointed out that it is the government's responsibility to bring these released prisoners into the peace process, but it has failed to do so.

Atmar also mentioned the party's dissatisfaction with the government preparation for the April 2014 presidential poll, warning that it has not made the necessary reforms needed for a robust, transparent election.

The Taliban are not behind the recent suicide offensives in Afghanistan, National Directorate of Security (NDS) said on Wednesday, claiming some other group is behind the attacks.

NDS spokesman Shafiqullah Tahiri said that the modern techniques and equipment use in the recent attacks in Afghanistan's capital reveal a sophistication that is not common among Taliban.

"The attacks, especially the attack on the traffic department, was not the work of the Taliban but some other proficient terrorists were involved," he told reporters at a press briefing Wednesday.

"Now, they are using modern techniques in the attack and also new explosives in suicide vests that have high power," he added.

The six alleged insurgents detained on Sunday in Kabul had aimed to attack some government and private organisations, and were fully equipped with these modern weapons and suicide vests, he said.

Tahiri also claimed that four men believed to have coordinated the attack on the Kabul traffic police headquarters last month have also been detained in NDS operations in different parts of Kabul, but he declined to give details.

Meanwhile, in other NDS operations, the Taliban shadow governor of Kunduz province Malawi Abdul Rahman has been detained.

Separately, 1200 kgs of explosive materials have been seized in Parwan province and two men detained in connection with the incident.

NDS forces have also seized about 700 kgs explosive and 150 weapons in operations in Paktya, Samangan, Ghazni, Balkh and Helmand provinces, Taheri added.

Plans are underway to electronically map Kabul city in order for GPS systems to operate, the Ministry of Communications and Technology said Wednesday.

MCIT officials told TOLOnews that the ministry is working with the Kabul municipal council to develop the GPS [Global Positioning System] for use in the city in order for people to be able to find addresses more easily.

MCIT Deputy Minister of Technical Baryalai Hasam said that the initial plan is to implement a GPS in Kabul and then in all cities of Afghanistan.

Hasam said that once Kabul's streets are named, they will activate the GPS system.

"The GPS is a small device which people can install in their vehicles and the device searches for the selected address on the map and will give them a guide to the destination," he said.

Hasam said that implementation plan for an electronic map in Kabul city requires a detailed survey. The primary survey shows that this project will cost around US$25 million.

International rights watchdog Human Rights Watch has urged the Afghan government and US military not to ignore the problem of child imprisonment, saying that no clear moves have been made to address the problem.

As the two groups spar over who controls detainees and prisons in Afghanistan, HRW researcher Heather Barr said the ongoing imprisonment of children still needs attention.

"As far as we know, there isn't any change in terms of the access to justice, the provision of legal assistance to children, who are in the custody of Americans," Barr told TOLOnews.

"So, yes, we are very worried about both the legal rights of the children who are in the custody of the Americans, and also what has happened and will happen to the children who have been transferred and will be transferred to Afghan custody," she added.

A report from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has previously warned that Afghan children imprisoned at US detention centers have no clear legal representation and are at high risk of ill-treatment. It also mentioned that detaining children with adults is against international conventions.

On the matter of the custody of detainees, and the US handing Bagram prison over to Afghan authority, Barr said, "Well, I think it's clear that the Bagram hand-over will be completed soon. And so, in the future there won't be children in US custody, hopefully. But that means that the Afghan government has to really make sure that it's doing things correctly in the way that it treats these children."

The Americans and Isaf recently suspended the transfer of prisoners to Afghan authorities until a UN report on torture in Afghan prisons is addressed.

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The Afghan government policy to release Taliban prisoners is "completely incorrect" and threatens the peace process, the Truth and Justice party said Wednesday.

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Afghanistan's cricket team soundly defeated a combined Pakistan cricket team Wednesday in the first of six planned matches for the Afghans on a conditioning tour of neighbouring Pakistan.

The hosts bat first at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad but set the target low with all out for only 112 runs.

Afghanistan's newest recruit, Hamza Hotak, shone in his first international match, taking five of the nine wickets and allowing only 15 runs.

The Afghans proved a formidable opponent, making 116 runs with only one wicket lost, ultimately beating Pakistan with 9 wickets and 32 overs remaining.

The Afghanistan XI are playing five one-day internationals (ODI) and a Twenty20 at three venues around the country.

Today's match was against a combined regional team led by Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi and comprised of players from Karachi and Hyderabad. Next, the Afghans will take on a combined team from Multan and Bahawalpur on February 8 and another from Rawalpindi and Faisalabad on February 10.

Finally, they will take on Pakistan A, also led by Afridi, for two one-dayers and a Twenty20.

This will be their second series against Pakistan A in the last two years, having lost a one-day series 3-0 in May 2011.

The Afghan team is training at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore for four weeks ahead of their international fixture against Scotland in March.

The High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption (HOO) has inspected land-holdings of about 70 top Afghan officials including ministers, provincial governors, and members of the Supreme Court, finding a strong disparity between income and assets.

The anti-corruption office began the task its chief describes as onerous following grave concerns that property ownership in many cases was unclear.

"We have ministers who have houses coming out of ground like mushrooms – not one, but tens of houses," HOO chief Azizullah Lodin told TOLOnews in an interview Wednesday.

"There should be questions asked: where has it all come from? It can't be purchased by the salary from the ministry. The $2,200 they receive is only for the daily expenses they have for other ministers, provincial governors, and other officials," he added.

According to HOO's findings so far, none of the MPs have registered their properties because the country's constitution does not require them too. However, Lodin said that given the problems surrounding corruption in Afghanistan, the MPs should also be required to register their assets.

"We wrote a letter to the parliament to require the MPs to register their properties. They rejected this and said that, 'Based on the constitution, we don't have this obligation, our name is not mentioned in the constitution and we won't register our properties.' So, we addressed this issue to the president so that they can inspect it," Lodin said.

The process of registration of assets of government officials and senior staff has been implemented in six provinces across the country. Currently around 70,000 government staff have registered their properties.

Lodin acknowledged that even if registrations were mandatory, it would be very difficult to check their accuracy given the country struggles to have basic statistics on its population.

Nevertheless, he said it might be possible with cooperation from different organisations – especially those of security – in order to check registrations and avoid "difficulties" throughout inspections.

The Iranian people are ready to march on Israel to "wipe it out" if the Jewish state attacks the Islamic republic, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in statements published Wednesday by Egypt's state news agency.

"The people of Iran are ready to march on Israel to wipe it out if it launches into an adventure against Tehran" and attacks the country, the Iranian president told Egyptian newspaper editors, according to excerpts published by MENA.

"The Zionists... hope to aggress Iran and attack it, but they are very afraid of the Iranian reaction and of the consequences of such an attack," he said in the Arabic transcription of the comments made during a visit to Egypt.

"Our defence forces are capable of dissuading any aggressor and making him regret his act," Ahmadinejad said.

Israeli President Shimon Peres said on Tuesday that the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran was growing under the "terrifying dictatorship" ruling the Islamic republic.

"The Iranian danger has grown," Peres said at the opening of the newly-elected Israeli parliament. "It threatens our existence, the independence of the Arab states, the peace of the whole world.

Much of the international community fears that Iran's nuclear programme includes efforts to develop nuclear weapons, a charge that Tehran denies.

Israel believes that Iran must be prevented from reaching military nuclear capabilities at any cost and refuses to rule out military intervention to achieve this.

Ahmadinejad is on historic visit to Egypt, the first by an Iranian president since Tehran severed diplomatic ties with Cairo in 1980 in protest at the Egypt-Israel peace treaty.

While in Cairo, he is attending a summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation

The United States has tightened sanctions on Iran to further choke off its oil income, saying it was necessary to increase pressure on Tehran over its suspected nuclear weapons program.

It also set sanctions against Iranian media organizations and Tehran's Cyber Police for what it called human rights abuses for censorship.

The US Treasury said that countries continuing to buy Iranian oil would have to retain their payment for the oil, and only allow it to be used for Iranian purchases of goods from them.

That would tighten Tehran's ability to freely use the money it gets from oil exports, which have already been sharply constricted by international sanctions on the country.

"So long as Iran continues to fail to address the concerns of the international community about its nuclear program, the US will impose tighter sanctions and intensify the economic pressure against the Iranian regime," said David Cohen, Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence on Wednesday.

The move on oil revenues came six months after the US said it would deny access to the US financial system to countries buying Iranian oil, with certain countries given exceptions to wind down their trade.

These new rules narrow the exceptions, the Treasury said, and require any country still buying Iranian oil to credit the payment to a domestic account.

"In addition to effectively 'locking up' Iranian oil revenue overseas, this provision sharply restricts Iran's use of this revenue for bilateral trade and severely limits Iran's ability to move funds across jurisdictions," the Treasury said in a statement.

"We are working to make the choices for the Iranian leadership as stark as possible," said a senior US administration official, speaking on background.

"Iran can either meet its international obligations... or it will face increased pressure and financial isolation."

Iran blasted the new move, as it fends off global pressure over its nuclear program, which it says is for peaceful purposes only.

"This is the latest ring in the series of hostile actions against Iran," said Iran foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast.

"We are seeking methods to neutralize the new pressure," he said, quoted by Mehr news agency.

"We could double the trade volume with the countries importing our oil... (for example) we export five, 10, or 20 billion dollars' worth of oil, and instead we can receive the needed goods."

The Treasury stressed that the tightening of Iran's access to foreign trade and foreign exchange would not apply to farm commodities, food, medicine or medical devices

Tehran would be able to tap its accounts held by a bilateral trade partner to purchase such "humanitarian goods" from a third country if necessary.

The United States also placed sanctions on Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, the Communications Regulatory Authority, and the Iranian Cyber Police, citing their extensive efforts to censor news and information flows as well as broadcasting forced confessions of political detainees.

"All of these entities have been involved in the Iranian government's ongoing attempts to shut their population off from the world through various forms of censorship and intimidation," the administration official said.

The sanctions forbid US citizens and entities from doing business with those groups, and lock up any assets they might hold in US jurisdictions.

The new US sanctions came ahead of the fourth round of talks between Iran and six world powers -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany -- in Kazakhstan on February 26 on Tehran's nuclear activities.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Wednesday that Washington hopes for concrete progress in the talks.

"Our hope is that after applying the toughest sanctions we've had in international history... that this round will offer a real opportunity for Iran to discuss substance," she said.

President Hamid Karzai addressed religious scholars at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit in Egypt with a call to condemn suicide attacks as an act prohibited under Islamic law.

According to a statement from Karzai's office, he urged in his address Wednesday to the summit for the religious scholars of the Muslim countries to condemn suicide attacks.

Karzai was quoted as pointing the clerics to the remarks of Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Mufti-e-Azam of Saudi Arabia, whose sermon on the day of Arafat condemned suicide attacks as prohibited in Islam and anyone who attempts or carries out such attacks will not be forgiven by Allah.

According to the released statement, Karzai said, "It is a timely step to focus our attention on some of the gravest and consequential challenges facing us today. From the violence of terrorism to the crisis and conflict in several of our countries, to the ever continuing sufferings of our Palestinian brothers and sisters, the Muslim world is strewn with difficulties.

"Our religious scholars and Ulema must effectively engage in our common struggle against extremists, who undermine the Ummah's progress and stability. To address these challenges, we not only need strong political unison but also sustained effort at raising our standard in human capital and economic development."

Karzai returned to Kabul Thursday morning with the high level Afghan government officials travelling with him after attending the Islamic summit and official trips to both England and Norway.

Before the summit in Egypt, Karzai was in Oslo on Tuesday where he signed a long-term agreement with Norway. Afghanistan has similar agreements with the US, Italy, UK, France, Germany, Australia and India.

Karzai visited London on Sunday and Monday where he met with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

The three held talks with high-level government delegations from all sides to agree on stronger regional cooperation and security measures.

Two local Taliban leaders and two Haqqani facilitators have been captured in joint Afghan and Nato troops operations, Isaf said Thursday.

A Taliban senior leader, who was not named in Isaf's statement, was captured Thursday in the Khugyani district of eastern Nangarhar province, according to Isaf's operations update.

The leader is believed to be a suicide operations facilitator who manages the recruitment, training and movement of insurgent to conduct attacks on government officials and security forces. He is also believed to be directly associated with several Taliban insider attack insurgents and worked closely with Hezb-e-Islamic Gulbuddin leadership, Isaf said.

Furthermore, Isaf said he is believed to have used his village leadership position to recruit suicide bombers and "insider attack" facilitators from Wazir Jihadi High School.

During the operation, the security force also detained one suspected insurgent.

A second local Taliban leader was captured Thursday in the Nad Ali district of southern Helmand province, responsible for the facilitation and construction of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and attacks against Afghan and coalition forces, according to Isaf.

He provided guidance to insurgents, regular network updates to Taliban leadership and placed IED against Afghan National Security Forces, Isaf said.

Meanwhile an Afghan and coalition security force arrested a Haqqani facilitator in Sabari district, Khost province, Thursday.

Isaf said he is believed to have supplied insurgents with funds, weapons and equipment to conduct attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in the district. He is also accused of helping finance the purchase of motorcycles, IED materials, weapons, homemade explosives and fuel to support the insurgency.

Three other suspected insurgents were also captured along with multiple rifles and ammunition.

The second Haqqani facilitator was captured Thursday in Pul-e 'Alam district of eastern Logar province, believed to be responsible for the acquisition, transfer and distribution of weapons and IED components for use in attacks against security forces through the province, Isaf said.

Isaf did not disclose the names of any of the local leaders it says were captured.