The former Kabul Bank's powerful shareholders claim they have repaid all their loans, but the head of the special tribunal on the Kabul Bank collapse has insisted they still owe money.

Shamsul Rahman Shams said Wednesday that Mahmoud Karzai and Mohammad Hassin Fahim have not repaid their loans from the former Kabul Bank.

He said the issue is being followed by the Financial Disputes Resolution Commission (FDRC) but without any satisfactory results.

"Still, the issue about the debts of Karzai's brother who was one of the shareholder's of Kabul Bank and Hassin Fahim has not been resolved. The issue is being studied by the Financial Disputes Resolution Commission but it has not been fruitful," Shams said.

President Hamid Karzai's brother Mahmoud Karzai owes $9 million and the vice-president's brother Mohammad Hassin Fahim owes $3 million, he added.

Mahmoud Karzai rejected the statement, saying that he is only in debt of $6 million to Shahin Money Exchange whose owner was former Kabul Bank chariman Shir Khan Farnood.

In turn, Karzai accused the tribunal, the Financial Disputes Resolution Commission and the Kabul Bank Receivership Department for complicating matters.

"These three organisations have made the issue so complicated," he told TOLOnews. "I only borrowed $6 million from Shahin Money Exchange and did not borrow from Kabul Bank."

"I wish the bank crisis was being assessed abroad in the US or Dubai courts," he added.

Hassin Fahim did not respond to TOLOnews' requests for comment.

FDRC head Abdullah Dawran said the bank's crisis is very complicated, but that most of those who were part of its collapse are being accounted for.

"Karzai and Fahim are part of the commission's work but there are others who have a hand in the crisis who we're dealing with here," Dawran said Wednesday.

Shams' comments come ahead of the verdict of the Kabul Bank special tribunal on the involvement of 22 people in Kabul Bank's collapse in 2010.

The police chief of Kashinda district in northern Balkh province has been killed with three other police officers in an insurgent attack claimed by the Taliban.

An improvised explosive device, believed to have been detonated by remote control, exploded at about 3:00pm in Kashinda while the district governor was patrolling the area with the security forces.

The blast killed the district police chief Nasruddin and three other police officers, and injured the district administrative officer Delbar, the police commander in the North Zone 303 told TOLOnews.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in an email.

A Taliban spokesman has dismissed the outcome of a conference in London between the leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Britain which aimed to work towards a peace deal within six months.

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Afghan traders said on Thursday that they are not able to pay the high demurrage demanded by the Pakistan transport companies for their containers stuck in Karachi port.

Demurrage in this case refers to fees that the transporters can demand for the extra time the containers have been left in their charge.

A letter sent from Pakistani transport companies to the Afghan traders has asked each Afghan company to pay over $185,000 demurrage to Pakistan.

"The [Afghan] government should be responsible to talk to Pakistan and stand against this cruelty of them," Afghan trader Ahmad Shah told TOLOnews.

"This is not acceptable for us. We are not able to pay. The government should take a decision," a trader and member of the Egg and Meat Association said.

The Afghan Commerce and Industries Minister said that he will discuss this matter on Sunday with Pakistani officials on his official visit to the country.

" I will share this issue in the session of commerce ministers which will be held in Pakistan on Sunday," Anwar ul-Haq Ahady told TOLOnews Thursday.

Ministry officials added that the economic committee has decided that all Afghan containers stopped in Karachi port will be exempt from customs tax.

About 3,700 containers have been stopped in Karachi port for three months.

The Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently claimed that Afghan traders were being fined for each day the containers remain at the port, amounting to $50 million in three months.

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.

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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.

Afghan traders said on Thursday that they are not able to pay the high demurrage demanded by the Pakistan transport companies for their containers stuck in Karachi port.

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Afghan citizens paid as much as US$3.9 billion in bribes to officials in 2012, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Underscoring the immensity of the estimated amount, the UNODC said it is about double the government's revenue gained for its services in 2010 and 2011, and about one-fourth the amount pledged at the Tokyo conference in July by the international community to support Afghanistan's development.

The bribes are primarily paid to officials in the police, local government, judiciary, and education sectors, it added.

"Nobody in this country or interested in this country would deny the fact that corruption is a major problem, plaguing the government services and the way overall, the government is being perceived," UNODC regional representative Jean-Luc Lemahieu said Thursday at a press conference in Kabul.

The 2012 figure is a substantial increase on the UNODC's estimated total for 2009 of $2.4 billion.

However, some achievements in the battle against graft have been made. According to the study in which 6,700 citizens were interviewed – 42 percent of whom were women – there has been a nine percent decrease in the number of people who pay bribes, although the average bribe amount has increased a massive 40 percent to $214, up from $158 in 2009.

The survey states that the breakdown of bribes paid to the private sector versus the government sector showed that 30 percent of interviewees had paid bribes to non-governmental organisations compared to 50 percent who had paid bribes to a government department. In money terms, $600 million was paid to for the non-government sector which was 15 percent less than that paid to the government.

In the police force, bribe-taking has decreased from 52 to 42 percent, but the corruption in the education sector has increased from 51 to 60 percent.
"The Afghan population considers corruption as the number two most important issue after the insecurity problems," Lemahieu said.

Indicating corruption proportions across different parts of Afghanistan, the study showed that bribes were paid by 71 percent of the population in the west, 60 percent in the north-east, 40 percent in the south, and 39 percent in central areas.

It also noted that in the south of the country, most of the bribes were provided by non-government organisations and individuals especially the elders, mullahs, and those within the Taliban.

"Among the tribal elders, representatives of local areas, district councils, provincial councils, and aid organisations, there is corruption. People have complained. They have complained of consulates where you have to pay $400, $500, $800 to $2000 dollars to get a visa," said Mohammd Rafi Amini, Director General of Strategy and Policy at Afghanistan's High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption.

The UNODC said a strong political will was needed to reduce the nation-wide corruption and called on citizens to put their strongest efforts into wiping out the problem.

The United States will support Afghanistan's election process but it will never endorse a specific candidate, the US envoy to Afghanistan said Thursday.

US Ambassador James Cunningham made a visit to northern Balkh province where he met with governor Atta Mohammad Noor and discussed the upcoming presidential election.

He said that Afghanistan's presidential election is of special importance and the US will support it to ensure it runs successfully.

"We discussed the importance of the presidential election in 2014 and I assured him that the United States is ready to do everything we can to support the success of the election. We encourage all the election's stakeholders, the government, the opposition, and civil societies to work closely together in the interests of the Afghan nation," he said in a joint press conference with Noor in Mazar-e-Sharif.

"An outcome which is broadly accepted by Afghans no matter who they vote for is essential for Afghanistan's future," he added.

Cunningham took the opportunity to praise Afghanistan's achievements over the past decade, saying that education, telecommunications, media, economics and agriculture had made significant progress in the last ten years.

When asked his opinion on the release of Taliban prisoners, Cunningham said it was a matter for the Afghan and Pakistani governments to discuss.

"On the release of the Taliban, that is a subject that is under discussion between your government and the government of Pakistan. It is a concern as well that the prisoners not be released and go back into fighting and working in the insurgency and we hope that the discussion between governments produces better mechanisms [for that]," he said.

Noor also addressed reporters, saying he has doubts that the upcoming election will be fair and transparent, identifying security and the use of the old voting cards as key problems.

"The olds cards were used for fraud in the last election and there will probably be more fake cards made in the coming election so the government should distribute new voting cards and should create an better complaints commission for those who complain," he said.

Cunningham ended the press briefing emphasising that the US will continue to support Afghanistan after 2014.

The chief of Afghanistan's Local Police on Thursday said he believes that regional spy agencies are attempting to prevent the police from forming units in some of the remote parts of Afghanistan.

Alisha Ahmadzai said there is pressure from both inside and outside Afghanistan warning him to not set up ALP forces in some of the country's villages.

In an interview with TOLOnews, he said that he believes at least one of the threatening phonecalls he has received on the matter came from Iran.

"There are some unknown people and groups and sometimes they are threaten me to not create local police in villages -- I think they are regional intelligence agencies," Ahmadzai said.

He said the government will continue to establish ALP units in villages because they are useful for security at a local level, and those who oppose the formation are opposing peace.

"There are some groups taking advantage of the insecurity and that is why they don't want local police to exist in villages," he said.

The ALP is now about 20,550 strong with most of the recruits working in their local districts.

It was first set up about 27 months ago in the Gizab district of Uruzgan province.

A teenage girl has fled with her family from their home in eastern Nangarhar province to live in Kabul after receiving ongoing threats from the man who kidnapped the girl more than a year ago.

Zamzama, who was kidnapped with her brother last year, told TOLOnews she has received threats to marry her former abductor Taj Mohammad or she will be kidnapped again and her intimidators will ensure her reputation is destroyed.

Zamzama said that when she and her and brother were kidnapped, Taj Mohammad took them to a mountainous area of the Noor Valley in Nangarhar, but her father received the help of some provincial council members and they were released three days later.

While Taj Mohammad was charged with the kidnapping, he was freed and is now threatening to repeat the act, Zamzama claimed Thursday.

Zamzama's father Abdul Matin believes those sending the threats have the support of Nangarhar province's former police chief Karim Gol.

Gol no longer works for any government structure but he holds much power in the area, Matin said, and the local officials "even the governor" seem afraid to further inspect Zamzana's case.

Matin added that although he alerted Nangarhar provincial governor Gul Agha Sherzai to the threats, nothing has changed and so he decided to move the family to Kabul to protect his daughter.

"The Nangarhar provincial governor lives in a palace and you have to wait a week to meet him. How could he solve the case?" Matin said.

Nangarhar provincial spokesman told TOLOnews that efforts are being made to arrest Taj Mohammad and that it is not yet clear who is supporting or protecting him.

Zamzama called on President Hamid Karzai to address her case.

"I want the president to help me. How would he react if it was his sister or daughter?" She said.

Civil society activist Mohammed Yusof Amin said the government needs to seriously address the problem of abductions if it is truly concerned about people's sense of security.

"The government has the responsibility to address this case. How long will the armed be allowed to go against the law?" He said.

In a recent high-profile abduction case, a boy was kidnapped in western Herat province for whom the kidnappers received $90,000 as a ransom, but they still killed the child apparently in order for their identities to remain hidden.

Top news in this bulletin:

Afghan citizens paid as much as US$3.9 billion in bribes to officials in 2012, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

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NATO Secretary General urges political leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina to implement necessary reforms.

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Thousands of Egyptian protesters clashed with police in several provinces in rallies calling on Islamist President Mohamed Morsi to fulfil the goals of the revolt that brought him to power.

More than 120 people were injured in the unrest across the country Friday, the health ministry said.

In Cairo, protesters lobbed petrol bombs and set off fireworks, as security vans charged towards demonstrators who fled down the large avenue flanking the presidential palace.

Clashes also erupted in several cities and towns in the Nile Delta province of Gharbiya, where the health ministry said 28 people had been injured, mainly from tear gas inhalation.

In the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, 20 people were hurt in sporadic clashes between police and protesters, said the ministry.

The confrontations came after thousands took to the streets across Egypt answering a call by opposition groups for "Friday of dignity" rallies.

Prime Minister Hisham Qandil condemned the violence as "unjustifiable" in comments cited by the official MENA news agency.

Those responsible were "damaging the stability of the country and obstructing the interests of citizens", he said.

In recent months, Egypt has witnessed regular, often bloody, protests against Morsi.

His opponents say he has betrayed the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak, accusing him of using his power to promote the interests of his Muslim Brotherhood, long banned under his predecessor.

The country has been deeply divided between Morsi's mainly Islamist supporters and an opposition of liberals, leftists, Christians but also deeply religious Muslims calling for rights and the separation of religion and state.

Shortly after Muslim noon prayers, marchers set off from several locations in Cairo to Tahrir Square and the presidential palace, banging on drums, waving flags and clapping in unison.

In Tahrir, several thousand protesters carried a huge Egyptian flag as they listened to speeches and music from the stage.

Several hundred protesters also gathered outside the presidential palace chanting "Freedom, where are you? Brotherhood rule stands between us," a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood movement from which Morsi hails.

Protests against the Islamist president also took place after the weekly Friday Muslim main prayers in several of Egypt's 27 provinces.

In the Nile Delta city of Kafr el-Sheikh, police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd outside a government building, as protesters hurled stones at the security forces, MENA reported.

In the city of Tanta, police clashed with protesters who tried to break into the municipal council building, MENA added.

Thirty-eight opposition parties and movements issued the joint call for the rallies. They want a new unity government, amendments to the Islamist-drafted constitution and guarantees for the independence of the judiciary.

The protests come after several incidents of police violence that have provoked public outrage and angry demonstrations.

Earlier this week, the death of a pro-democracy activist following days in police custody sparked fury and reignited calls for police reform -- a key demand of the uprising that toppled Mubarak in 2011.

The protester's death came just days after footage aired live on television of a man stripped naked and beaten by riot police during demonstrations near the presidential palace.

Both incidents confronted Morsi with uncomfortable parallels with the old regime.

And only a few days ago, clerics issued fatwas to justify killing opposition leaders.

Radical cleric Mahmud Shaaban, a professor at Sunni Islam's main seat of learning Al-Azhar, gave the green light to kill opposition leaders including former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei and ex-presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi, during a talk show on a satellite channel.

Another hardline cleric, Wagdi Ghoneim, called on Muslims to "kill the thugs, criminals, and thieves who burn the country", state media reported.

Security was stepped up outside the homes of ElBaradei and Sabbahi ahead of the protests, following orders from the interior minister, witnesses told AFP.
The presidency condemned the fatwas as "terrorism".

"Some are promoting and inciting political violence while others who claim to speak in the name of religion are permitting 'killing' based on political differences and this is terrorism," the presidency said.

Pakistan has agreed to give a formal role to the Afghan government in the release of the remaining Taliban prisoners amid concerns that those being released are returning to the insurgency.

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The Afghan High Peace Council (HPC) on Saturday welcomed Pakistan's decision to give a formal role to the Afghan government in the release of the remaining Taliban prisoners amid concerns that those being released are returning to the insurgency.

The Pakistani government will consult the Afghan High Peace Council through a new coordination mechanism being set up before setting more Taliban prisoners free.

"We would send lists of Taliban prisoners that we intend to release to the Afghan High Peace Council which would comment on the names in those lists," Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani told the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday, Dawn News reported.

The HPC said the move is a strong step towards more cooperation between the two countries.

"Releasing the Afghan Taliban prisoners from Pakistan upon an agreement with the High Peace Council is a strong positive action for the peace talks," HPC member Mawlawi Shahzada Shahed told TOLOnews Saturday.

"It will have a positive effect, and it serves the need for more cooperative peace programmes between countries in the region and the international community," Shahed added.

The decision comes after Pakistani and Afghan leaders met during a trilateral summit in London last week.

The meeting, led by British Prime Minister David Cameron, began with a dinner Sunday evening with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and continued Monday.

They were joined by foreign ministers, chiefs of defence staff, chiefs of intelligence, the Afghan national security adviser and the chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council.

It was the third round of discussions since Cameron instigated the trilateral process last year, but it was the first time that foreign ministers, military leaders and intelligence chiefs are attending.

Pakistan has so far released 26 Taliban prisoners in at least two batches. Those released included some high-profile Afghan commanders and political leadership of the Taliban regime, according to reports.

UPDATE: This story was updated at 7:15pm to reflect the views of the Afghan High Peace Council. The original story was titled "Pakistan to Consult Afghans Before Freeing Taliban Prisoners"

The US military has rejected reports cited by a United Nations committee that its tactics have resulted in the killing of hundreds of Afghan children in the last four year.

The US military on Friday released a statement saying that the claims of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child are "categorically unfounded".

The UN committee based in Geneva - independent of the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (Unama) - stated its concern last week on the measures the US was taking to protect children in armed conflict and that "members of the armed forces responsible for the killings of children have not always been held accountable".

It said it was alarmed by reports that hundreds of children had died in US attacks and airstrikes due to a "reported lack of precautionary measures and indiscriminate use of force."

The US military in a statement released by the International Security Assistance Force, which it leads, responded that the reports were unsubstantiated and cited figures from Unama showing that most civilian deaths and injuries in Afghanistan were caused by insurgents. Furthermore, Isaf reduced civilian casualties by 49 percent last year from 2011, and the number of children killed or wounded in Isaf air operations fell by nearly 40 percent.

It said that to minimise the risk of civilian casualties both Isaf and US forces "employ detailed systems of technical, tactical and procedural checks and balances before employing all weapons in Afghanistan... [and] take precautions to employ force only when necessary, and in a proportional manner."

However, it acknowledged that civilian casualties do occur. "In each case Isaf and US military officials make every effort to meet with the families of those we have harmed and to express our condolences personally," the statement said.

In April, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that 110 children were killed and 68 were injured in 2011 during Afghan airstrikes conducted by pro-government forces, led by the US -- double the child casualties from a year earlier

A local leader of the insurgent group Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) has been arrested in a joint Afghan and Isaf troop operation in the Burkah district of northern Baghlan province Saturday, according to Isaf.

"The detained IMU leader is believed to have overseen intelligence operations for an IMU network and for coordinating IED emplacement in the province. He is also accused of being a Taliban facilitator who provided safe haven for Taliban insurgents traveling through Burkah district," Isaf said in its operations update.

Meanwhile a local leader of the insurgent Haqqani network was captured in a joint operation in Sabari district of eastern Khost province, the statement said.

"The leader is believed responsible for conducting direct attacks on Afghan and coalition forces. He is also accused of being involved in weapons and ammunition facilitation and coordinated the transfer of improvised explosive devices and weapon systems," Isaf said.

One suspected insurgent was also captured and improvised explosive devices were seized in the operation.

Also on Saturday, a Taliban facilitator and a Taliban leader were captured during operations in the Nimroz and Kandahar provinces respectively, according to Isaf.

A trilateral summit last week in London between British, Afghan and Pakistani leaders brought about a commitment for concrete efforts towards a peace resolution within the next six months.

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At least six Afghan civilians have been killed in a roadside bomb blast in southern Helmand province, local officials said Saturday.

The blast took place in the Nad Ali district when a civilian vehicle was drove over the improvised explosive device, district police chief Omar Jan Akmal said.

"Two women and four men were killed in the blast," he told TOLOnews. "The bodies of the victims have been carried away by their families."

Provincial governor spokesman Ahmad Zeerak also confirmed the report and said that all of the victims were civilians.

Zeerak said he believes that the bomb was planted by Taliban insurgents which only "killed innocent civilians once again."

No group including the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Insurgents frequently use improvised explosive devices to target Afghan and Nato troops, but most of the victims are civilians.