Nato allies are considering a new proposal to sustain the number of Afghan troops at its peak of 352,000 soldiers through 2018, senior Nato officials said Thursday in the allies' Defense Ministers Conference in Brussels.

Last year, Nato defense ministers had endorsed a plan that would have reduced the number of Afghan security forces to 240,000 after 2014 in the wake of diminishing resources.

The current 352,000 mark will cost $6.5 billion a year, of which the Afghan government would pay $500 million, Nato allies $300 million, and the US paying the remaining amount of $5.7 billion.

This comes as Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen praised the growth of the Afghan security forces in the past 12 years and emphasized on the continued support, advisory and training role of the Nato allies after 2014 when their combat mission ends.

"That will be an important milestone. It will mark the progress we have made with Afghan forces in command of combat operations across the nation. And we will make sure that Afghan forces have the support they need as they assume full responsibility for their own security by the end of 2014," the Secretary-General said of 2014, when Isaf will assume an advisory and training role.

The defense ministers meeting involved all 50 members of the Isaf coalition, the defense minister of Afghanistan and representatives from the United Nations and the European Union.

The cumbersome procurement procedure and inefficient budget expenditure system are major challenges to holding timely elections, Independent Elections Commission (IEC) Spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said.

Speaking to TOLOnews on Saturday, he emphasized that bureaucracy in the procurement system at the Ministry of Finance and the long bidding process could impede the purchase of the necessary materials ahead of the elections.

"Our main concern is the budgetary processes for procurement. Considering the paperwork at the Ministry of Finance, if they were given budget responsibility, the work of organizing the elections could face serious challenges," Noor told TOLOnews.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance stressed that procurement laws and procedures will be enforced in all government procurements.

"The Finance Ministry cannot ignore the procurement law for elections procurement process. The ministry distributes budgets to all government organs, and there has been no major challenge so far, and there is no need for the Election Commission to worry," Media Adviser to the Ministry of Finance Najibullah Manali told TOLOnews on Saturday.

He went on to urge that the budget for the IEC should be processed through government channels; otherwise, it could challenge the transparency and independence of the process.

"If foreign donors fund the Election Commission directly, the transparency and independence of the process will come under question," he said.

Insecurity, transparency and budgetary issues are considered to be the main challenges the IEC is facing as it sets out to make the 2014 elections possible.

Both the presidential and provincial council elections will require up to $150 million that apparently will be paid by international donors.

The Ministry of Finance is "ignoring" a decree from the Council of Ministers that waived customs taxes for 3,000 Afghan commercial containers previously stranded in Karachi, the Afghanistan Advisory Board of National Entrepreneurs said Saturday.

Thousands of Afghan commercial containers remained stranded for three months at the Karachi port, forcing Afghan businessmen to pay $50 million in demurrage fees to the Pakistani government. The containers were released about 20 days ago, and Afghanistan's Council of Ministers ordered that these containers be exempt from Afghan customs taxes.

But the exemption isn't being carried out, say Afghan businessmen.

"The Economic Committee of the Council [of Ministers] approved that we are exempt from paying [customs] taxes, but the Finance Ministry is ignoring this approval and has stopped our containers," said Rahmuddin Haji Agha, director of the executive board of the Board of Entrepreneurs.

The Finance Ministry says the exemption goes against Afghanistan's costumes law.

"We act according to the law. Nobody is exempt from paying taxes. If [the Council of Ministers] decided on an exemption, it was probably because of a lack of knowledge," Finance Ministry Adviser Najibullah Manili said.

Meanwhile, over 2000 containers full of foodstuff recently released from Karachi remain stranded at customs check points at Kabul, Kandhar and Nangarhar.

Threats from Al-Qaeda and Hizb-e-Islami have made Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. the most vulnerable capital city in the world, Head of the Transition Coordination Commission Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai said.

"Kabul is the most insecure capital in the world," Ghani said.

As the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul plays a major role in the security and stability of all other parts of the country, but threats from insurgents in Kabul's surrounding provinces have made it the most insecure city, according to Ghani.

Kabul, which is located in the center of Afghanistan, is surrounded by Logar, Wardak, Parwan, Kapisa and Laghman provinces, where insurgents from Al-Qaeeda, Hizb-e-Islami and a host of other insurgent groups have widespread presence.

Security officials from the central province of Logar said that insurgents linked to Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the Haqqani Network and Hizb-e-Islami are active in the province and the security forces are not strong and well equipped enough to repel these insurgents.

"Insurgents linked to Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Hizbe-e-Islami and Haqqani Network are active in this province," Logar Police chief Abdul Saboor Nasrati said, adding that Charkh, Baraki Barak and Kharwar districts have witnessed the most insurgent activity.

In Wardak, 48 km west of Kabul, more than 100 insurgent groups remain active.

"101 insurgent groups, including Al-Qaeda, the Haqqani Network, the Taliban and Hizb-e-Islami are active in Wardak province," Wardak Police Chief Sardar Mohammad Zazai said.

As foreign forces withdraw and the spring fighting season beings, the activities of insurgents in these areas are expected to escalate.

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Pakistani officials on Saturday asked Afghanistan to transfer the recently captured high-level Pakistani Taliban leader, Mawlawi Faqir Mohammad.

The leader was recently arrested by Afghan security forces in the Momand Darra district of the eastern Nangarhar province while he was travelling from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Pakistan said Mawlawi Faqir Mohammad is involved in the killings of innocent Pakistani civilians and must be handed over, threatening it would refer to Interpol if the transfer doesn't take place.

The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Afghanistan is looking into the request, cautioning that there is "no such mechanism" for transfer of prisoners between the two countries.

"There is no such mechanism between the two countries. Such a mechanism was not even agreed in the London negotiations," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Janan Mosazai said Saturday.

Pakistan recently released several low- to mid-level Taliban prisoners as a gesture of goodwill for the Afghan peace process but refused to handover the prisoners directly to Afghanistan. Afghans have criticized Pakistan for insincerity in the releases and expressed concern that the released militants might take up arms again.

The World Bank will fund horticulture development projects in 20 provinces at cost of $120 million over the next six years, Afghan officials announced Saturday.

About 50,000 acres are expected to be converted to gardens under the project, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock. Officials said the Bank pledged to pay more if spending of the current allocation remains on track.

"If we are able to spend the money in three to four years, the Bank will pay more money. Our pledge is to spend the money transparently and in coordination with the relevant agencies," said Naqibullah Salik, Horticulture Coordinator at the Ministry of Agriculture.

The fund will result in the creation of horticulture projects in Kabul, Bamiyan, Kapisa, Panjshir, Nangarhar, Laghman, Logar, Paktya, Herat, Farah and a number of northern provinces.

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Threats from Al-Qaeda and Hizb-e-Islami have made Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. the most vulnerable capital city in the world, Head of the Transition Coordination Commission Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai said.

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The Ministry of Finance is "ignoring" a decree from the Council of Ministers that waived customs taxes for 3,000 Afghan commercial containers previously stranded in Karachi, the Afghanistan Advisory Board of National Entrepreneurs said Saturday.

Thousands of Afghan commercial containers remained stranded for three months at the Karachi port, forcing Afghan businessmen to pay $50 million in demurrage fees to the Pakistani government. The containers were released about 20 days ago, and Afghanistan's Council of Ministers ordered that these containers be exempt from Afghan customs taxes.

But the exemption isn't being carried out, say Afghan businessmen.

"The Economic Committee of the Council [of Ministers] approved that we are exempt from paying [customs] taxes, but the Finance Ministry is ignoring this approval and has stopped our containers," said Rahmuddin Haji Agha, director of the executive board of the Board of Entrepreneurs.

The Finance Ministry says the exemption goes against Afghanistan's costumes law.

"We act according to the law. Nobody is exempt from paying taxes. If [the Council of Ministers] decided on an exemption, it was probably because of a lack of knowledge," Finance Ministry Adviser Najibullah Manili said.

Meanwhile, over 2000 containers full of foodstuff recently released from Karachi remain stranded at customs check points at Kabul, Kandhar and Nangarhar.

The World Bank will fund horticulture development projects in 20 provinces at cost of $120 million over the next six years, Afghan officials announced Saturday.

About 50,000 acres are expected to be converted to gardens under the project, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock. Officials said the Bank pledged to pay more if spending of the current allocation remains on track.

"If we are able to spend the money in three to four years, the Bank will pay more money. Our pledge is to spend the money transparently and in coordination with the relevant agencies," said Naqibullah Salik, Horticulture Coordinator at the Ministry of Agriculture.

The fund will result in the creation of horticulture projects in Kabul, Bamiyan, Kapisa, Panjshir, Nangarhar, Laghman, Logar, Paktya, Herat, Farah and a number of northern provinces.

A suicide bomber was gunned down by Afghan security forces before detonating his explosive-laden vehicle near an Intelligence office in Kabul city, officials said.

The bomber was identified and shot down as he was approaching an office of the Directorate of National Security (NDS), responsible for liaising with police force.

The incident took place about 9:45am local time and the target was the intelligence office, said deputy Kabul police chief Gen Daoud Amin.

The security forces defused the bomb in the SUV, he added.

There were no Afghan security forces or civilians casualties in the firing. The area was cordoned off for further investigation.

In the same day, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle near an NDS compound in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. At least two security guards were killed in the incident.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Shortly before the Jalalabad attack, an assailant detonated a van packed with explosives at a highway police checkpoint in Logar province, also in the east.

That explosion wounded three police officers but no one was killed, said Deputy Police Chief Rais Khan Abdul Rahimzai.

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Widespread abuses in North Korea and Mali are set to be the subject of heated debate at the 22nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, which kicks off Monday, observers say.

Around 100 ministers and other dignitaries are set to take part in the most important of the council's three annual sessions, which will last from February 25 through March 22.

Among the many resolutions set to be adopted during the final two days of the session is one that would pave the way for a commission of inquiry into rights abuses in secretive North Korea.

It would mark the first "initiative to do a comprehensive investigation on systematic violations of human rights and crimes against humanity" in North Korea, Juliette De Rivero, head of Human Rights Watch's Geneva office, said.

The resolution, to be tabled by Japan and the European Union, comes after UN human rights chief Navi Pillay last month decried the "deplorable" situation in North Korea.

Pillay stressed that "an in-depth inquiry into one of the worst, but least understood and reported human rights situations in the world is not only fully justified, but long overdue."

She described meetings in December with two survivors of North Korea's network of political prison camps -- believed to hold at least 200,000 people -- listing rampant violations inside the camps that "may amount to crimes against humanity."

Last year, for the first time, both the UN's General Assembly in New York and its Human Rights Council in Geneva adopted strong resolutions by consensus condemning North Korea for its systematic rights violations.

It remains to be seen whether the commission of inquiry resolution will pass with consensus -- which is by far preferred in the council.

Russia, China and Cuba, which have often in the past demanded votes on such resolutions, are not among the rotating list of 47 member states this year, leaving Venezuela as the only likely obstacle to full consensus, observers say.

Another expected resolution during the coming session will be on conflict-torn Mali, amid reports of widespread human rights abuses, including by Malian troops which with France's help have been struggling to expel Islamists from the vast northern territory the militants seized last April.

France has asked the UN Security Council to quickly deploy observers to oversee the human rights situation in the country, and NGOs in Geneva expect the rights council to adopt a resolution on this issue.

Julie Gromellon of the International Federation for Human Rights' Geneva office, told AFP she wants a resolution to create a surveillance system aimed at warding off "retaliations" once French troops leave the country.

Such a resolution is expected to be tabled by the group of African nations, with support from France and the United States.

A review of the situation in Sri Lanka will also be a priority during the coming session, according the NGOs, which are demanding a resolution paving the way for an international probe.

The situation in Syria -- where a spiralling civil war has left an estimated 70,000 people dead, spurred more than 850,000 people to flee the country and left more than four million others in dire need of aid -- will also be on the agenda.

A UN commission of inquiry on Syria will officially present its latest report, which was published earlier this month and which flagged up war crimes by both government forces and rebels.

The rights council will also debate a report published last month by a group of independent experts that found that Israeli settlements were leading to widespread violations of the rights of Palestinians and urged Israel to withdraw all settlers.

Iran said Saturday it will not go beyond its obligations or accept anything outside its rights under the non-proliferation treaty (NPT), ahead of talks with major powers on its disputed nuclear drive.

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At least 17 Taliban insurgents were killed and four arrested in operations led by Afghan security forces in the past 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said.

"During the past 24 hours, Afghan National Police, Afghan National Army, NDS and Coalition Forces launched four joint clearance operations in Nangarhar, Laghman, Kandahar and Logar provinces," the ministry said in a statement.

The forces also seized one AK-47 assault rifle, 16 different types of mines, 14 heavy rounds and 1,000 kilos of ammonium nitrate, the statement said.

The statement also said that Afghan forces discovered and defused eight anti-vehicle mines in Helmand and Balkh provinces.

But the Taliban issued a rebuttal statement in which they "strongly rejected" the Ministry of Interior's updates on Taliban casualties.

The Ministry of Water and Energy said on Sunday that a Pakistani company will do the survey and design of the Farah River Dam, a $4 million project.

The National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) is expected to complete the project in 18 months. The ministry has hailed the project as the first of its kind by a Pakistani company in Afghanistan.

The dam will be paid for by Afghan government funds and, once completed, is expected to meet all the irrigation and energy needs of Farah province.

"The dam's storage capacity will be more than one billion cubic meters. At the same time, it can irrigate more than 68,000 acres of agricultural land and produce about 27 megawatts of electricity, which can meet the electricity needs of Farah Province," said Muhammad Ismail Khan, minister of energy and water.

About 545 large, medium and small dams will be built or refurbished across the country. About 111 of these dams are a priority for the ministry.

Two young Afghan actors will walk the red carpet at the 85th Academy Awards Monday after their US-directed film was nominated for Best Live Action Short.

Jwanmard Paeez and Fawad Mohammadi are the protagonists of Buzkashi Boys, the first Afghan-acted film to get an Oscars nomination.

Paeez and Mohammadi play two friends - one working in his father's blacksmith shop, the other working as an ispandi boy, asking people for money in return for blessing them with smoke from ispand to ward off evil spirits. They dream of national glory by aspiring to become champion buzkashi players.

The kids in real life, however, are very different; Fawad Mohammadi is an orphan who never acted in any films previous to Buzkahi Boys. He sells maps in the upscale Shahr-e-Naw district of Kabul. Jawanmard, the son of an established Afghan actor, has been acting since the age of five.

Director Sam French said his intention behind making the film was to reflect a different side of Afghanistan, one beyond the popular characterization of it as a country at war.

The Oscar nod seems to have inspired Afghan filmmakers to focus on developing indigenous Afghan cinema. Filmmaker Faqir Nabi urged his Afghan counterparts to develop the artistic merits of their own movies instead of imitating Indian or Pakistani movies.

"The nomination of Afghan actors for Oscars is a remarkable honor and achievement for Afghanistan. The Afghan filmmakers were previously imitating Indian and Pakistan movies and were focusing on action movies. This movie is a step forward for the Afghan film industry to be more artistic and professional," Nabi said.

Buzkashi Boys is squaring off against four other films in its category.

The US and Nato allies revealed Friday they may keep as many as 12,000 troops in Afghanistan after the combat mission ends next year.

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The Council of Ministers gave preliminary approval to the Law of Mines in its Monday's session, a presidential statement said Saturday.

The approval is seen as an important step for Afghanistan to attract large investors in the mining sector, billed as one of the country's most important source of revenue that could help put Afghanistan on the path to financial self-sufficiency.

"Approval of this law will provide more opportunities to identify and extract mines in the country and ensures national and foreign investments in this sector," Ministry of Mines Senior Advisor Asad Zamir told TOLOnews on Sunday.

Approval of the law was stalled previously because the Council of Ministers thought the law gave foreign companies too much space to exploit Afghan natural resources.

Afghan analyst have welcomed the decision and urged the government to vigorously implement the law.

"We welcome this decision and urge the government to fully enforce this law," economic affairs analyst Hamidullah Farooqi said Sunday.

The Ministry of Mines has identified 1,400 mines in different parts of the country. It is expected that the incomes from mines sector will cover nearly half of the Afghan government budget by 2016.

Human Rights Watch expressed concern Sunday over Iran's reported execution of several Afghans for drug trafficking-related offenses.

The Afghans sentenced to death did not receive fair trials and were not given opportunities to seek assistance from the Afghan government, said Hearther Barr, Human Rights Watch's Afghanistan researcher.

"We know that when people are sentenced to death in Iran they often have not received a fair trial and in the situation of Afghans, they are not given the opportunity to get assistance from the Afghan government," Barr said.

The dead bodies of several Afghan refugees who were recently executed in Iran arrived in northern Takhar province and were buried on Saturday. The refugees were sentenced to death for drug trafficking, reports suggest.

"According to our reports, only seven Afghans were executed in Iran in the past four months," spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations Islamuddin Jurat said Sunday.

The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Iranian officials to inform the Afghan government about death sentences issued for Afghan refugees in Iran.

"We have urged the Iranian government several times to at least inform the Afghan government about the execution of Afghan refugees in their country," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Janan Mosazai told TOLOnews on Sunday.

The Iranian embassy's media relations officer in Afghanistan, Farzad Amin, did not confirm the reports but said that he would investigate them.

"We have heard about execution of Afghan refugees from Afghan media outlets, but it has not been confirmed by the Iranian government yet. We will comment about this once it's confirmed," Amin said.

The government announced it will investigate a recent report by a foreign media outlet accusing Afghan security forces in Helmand province of rape, torture, drug use and robbery.

British newspaper The Independent reported Sunday on a soon-to-air BBC investigation that alleges that Afghan forces in Helmand behave "just like criminals."

The investigation details incidents of molestation of underage boys and detention and subsequent execution of several civilians for alleged connection with the Taliban, according to The Independent.

The government has promised to investigate the allegations and prosecute any perpetrators.

"Anyone found guilty will be punished. We will sent a delegation to Helmand to investigate the report," Ministry of Interior Spokesman Sediq Sediqi said.

The Ministry of Defense Spokesman General Zahir Azimi also emphasized that anyone found guilty would be severely punished.

"If we find evidence about involvement of ANA soldiers in such acts, they will be severely punished," Azimi told TOLOnews.

Afghan analysts warn that such incidents of abuse by the security forces would erode the public's confidence in the government.

"Such incidents can increase the gap between the government and the public in the future," military affairs analyst Noorulhaq Olomi said.

Afghan security forces are slated to take on security responsibilities for all of Afghanistan by the end of 2013. The report comes at the heels of a UN investigation that found widespread torture at government prisons.

The report prompted a government investigation that resulted in a presidential decree prohibiting torture and threatening to prosecute officials found guilty of prisoner abuse.

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President Hamid Karzai on Sunday ordered the expulsion of US Special Forces from Maidan Wardak province, west of Kabul, after hearing reports of "torture and murder of Afghan citizens" by these forces.

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