About 18 Taliban insurgents including their two commanders have surrendered their weapons in northern Kunduz province and joined the government peace and reconciliation programme, local officials said Monday.

The provincial head of the High Peace Council, Asadullah Omarkhel, said that 18 fighters including their commanders Qari Bashr and Mullah Zaman formally renounced their Taliban ties on Sunday as they handed their weapons over to the government.

The insurgents have been fighting against security forces in the several parts of Kunduz, he said.

He said that with these men in the peace process he hopes security will improve in the area where they had been active.

More than 600 insurgents have joined the peace process in the past several months, Omarkhel said.

The Afghan Chamber of Commerce (ACCI) Monday called on President Hamid Karzai to attend to the problems faced by Afghan merchants who have started to go on strike in protest against their ongoing trade challenges.

Afghan traders are striking by refusing to allow their commercial goods to be transported for export to the cities.

ACCI officials said that the president must respond to the merchants and help personally solve their problems which have been plaguing the goods trade for some time.

Many merchants participated in the strike, refusing to allow their commercial goods into cities by halting their freight cars at customs.

"We ask the president to take a decision to resolve merchants problems because we have seen during the past 15 days no high ranking officials have taken any step to solve the issue," ACCI Finance and Administrative Assistant Tawfiq Daware told TOLOnews.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry officials said that they have talked about the merchants' problems with the minister to take to the Council of Ministers in order for a decision to be made on helping traders.

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US leaders have dismissed President Hamid Karzai's inflammatory comments about the US and the Taliban engaging in "daily" talks without involving the Afghan leadership.

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Afghan political leaders have condemned President Hamid Karzai's statement indicating he believes that the US and the Taliban are in talks "daily", accusing him of not speaking for the country but rather for himself.

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At least seven civilians were killed and two were injured in separate incidents in southern Helmand province Monday, local officials said.

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Pakistan risks sparking US sanctions if it pursues its plans with Iran to build a $7.5 billion gas pipeline linking the two nations, a senior US official said in a renewed warning Monday.

"We have serious concerns, if this project actually goes forward, that the Iran Sanctions Act would be triggered," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. "We've been straight up with the Pakistanis about these concerns."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched the construction of a much-delayed section of the gas pipeline with his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari at a ceremony on the border of the two neighbors.

But Nuland added: "We've heard this pipeline announced about 10 or 15 times before in the past. So we have to see what actually happens."

The United States had been seeking alternative plans, saying the move with Iran would take it "in the wrong direction right at a time that we're trying to work with Pakistan on better, more reliable ways to meet its energy needs."

Nuland said the US was "supporting large-scale energy projects in Pakistan that will add some 900 megawatts to the power grid by the end of 2013."

Those projects included renovating the power plants at Tarbela, the Mangla Dam, as well as modernizing others plants and building new dams at Satpara and Gomal Zam, she added.

After the collapse of the Taliban regime, there has been a massive increase in public education. But the private education sector has also grown.

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Taliban insurgents have bashed doctors in eastern Nuristan province to threaten them against giving polio vaccinations, local officials said Tuesday.

Provincial governor Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi said that the polio vaccination campaign has been launched every year in the Waigal district, but this year the Taliban has stopped it.

"The campaign begins every year in the Waigal district which has been under Taliban control in the past two years. There wasn't any problem in the past year with the polio vaccinations, but this time they stopped it and have bashed several doctors," Wahidi said.

"The Taliban told the doctors that it's [polio vaccination] forbidden and you can't start it in the district," he added.

Wahidi said that they have started talking to tribal elders to start negotiating with the Taliban about allowing the polio vaccinations to continue.

The vaccination programme is underway in several other districts in the province "without any problems", he said.

Polio vaccinations have met with violent opposition in neighbouring Pakistan for some time. Afghanistan is one of the only three countries across the globe in which the disease still remains endemic; the other two are Pakistan and Nigeria.

Afghanistan's former Jihadist leaders have been killed over the years by "special circles" in the government who are cooperating with the Taliban, the leader of the National Front has said.

Ahmad Zia Massoud used his speech on the second anniversary of the death of Gen Abdul Rahman Sayed Khili to warn that Afghanistan has Taliban loyalists in its political and military arms who have helped kill former Jihadi leaders such as Khili.

"You saw how many of our leaders were killed in the past five years? The Taliban in cooperation with special circles in the government killed them," Massoud said at the gathering in Parwan province on Monday.

"If the Taliban come to the power once more, believe me, they will kill all who had a part in Jihad [against them]," he added.

Khili was the police chief of northern Kunduz province when he was killed in a suicide attack March 2011 in the province.

Defence Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi also spoke at the commemoration and called for unity.

"All Afghans shared in the Jihad period. We are a great nation and we are all brothers," he said.

Massoud also said that the Taliban are often given better roles in politics.

"There are some contradictions in the government which again will see us put the country in political and economic isolation. The government wants a strong presence of Taliban in political and military matters," he said.

National Coalition leader Dr Abdullah Abdullah said that there are concerns among the former Jihadists of such plots against them.

"The people are really worried about what will happen and what plots are going to be made against them," he said.

Afghanistan's government repeatedly blamed Pakistan as being a safe haven for insurgency in the region, but rarely do political leaders talk openly about the Taliban supporters in the Afghan government ranks.

Afghan lawmakers Tuesday elected Mirwais Yasini as first vice speaker of the lower house in their fourth vote after the previous three days of voting had failed to reach a majority.

Voting began for the fourth day in a row at around 09:00am and finished about 01:30pm with Mirwais Yasini receiving 129 votes to be first vice speaker and Sayed Ikram with 113 votes for secretary.

Obaidullah Klimzai who was also nominated for the post of the first vice speaker received only 75 votes.

Daoud Kalakani who was also nominated for the position of secretary received 88 votes.

"Finally after four days the lawmakers have elected those nominated for the post. I congratulate all of you [lawmakers] and I hope that they do a good job," Speaker of the House Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi said.

On Monday, the lawmakers elected Saleh Mohammad Saljoqi as the second vice speaker of the house.

Several lawmakers were nominated for posts on the parliament's administrative board, but most of them were rejected over the past three days.

The lawmakers first vote was held Saturday after parliament reconvened following the winter break.

Political parties have recently called for parliament to make the approval of the election law the top of its agenda.

The election law has been delayed because of disagreements between the parliament and senate on the nature of an independent election commission, specifically, whether or not two foreign observers can be part of the Electoral Complaints Commission.

Afghanistan's Second Vice President Tuesday called on the country's judicial organs to place harsher penalties on drug smugglers as he inaugurated a hospital for drug addicts in the country's capital.

Mohammad Karim Khalili said that government anti-narcotic efforts will not have a positive result if the smugglers are not prosecuted in country.

"This is true that a number of smugglers have been arrested but the main smugglers and drug traders have not been prosecuted," Khalili said.

"I ask Afghanistan's Attorney General and High Court to prosecute the smugglers," he said.

Khalili inaugurated the new 300-bed hospital in south Kabul's Jangalak area which will have 24-hour treatment for addicts, built amid government concern over the high number of addicts in the country.

According to the Ministry of Public Health and United Nation's counter-narcotics office, Afghanistan now has over 1 million addicts.

The ministry has said that 81 percent of the addicts are men, 13 percent are women and 8 percent are children.

A good presidential election will benefit not only Afghanistan's future but also the future of the region, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) chief said Tuesday.

Fazal Ahmad Manawee spoke at a gathering organised by the Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA) in Kabul saying that there are several people trying to provoke distrust among the people over the upcoming election, but the IEC is aware of its importance.

"The election which decides the fate of the country is important in our country as well as for the regional countries," Manawee said.

"We ask the government, the political opposition, and the international community to help bring trust and positive thinking about the election," he added.

The TEFA held the meeting to discuss advocacy for women to participate in the upcoming 2014 poll, under the title "Coordination of Advocacy Efforts to Increase Women Political Participation".

"We ask the Independent Election Commission to consider gender balance in all its procedures," TEFA chief Mohammad Naem Ayoubzada said.

More than a year remains until the presidential poll but there is already a strong focus on what is being done to ensure a transparent election.

President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday continued his criticism of US intentions in Afghanistan with a pointed speech claiming the Americans are eyeing off Afghan mines and warned that now the Afghan government knows.

"Americans have asked Afghans to give them Afghanistan's mining contracts, and I said 'Bring your contracts'... Lots of mines are hidden in Helmand and from the start they have been doing their investigations and finishing their photography. But now they understand that we know about them," Karzai said in a speech during an official visit to southern Helmand province Tuesday.

Karzai also repeated his condemnation of the Taliban's attacks as a backhanded support for the US military in Afghanistan because they only serve to prolong the US presence instead of removing it.

He also blasted the Taliban leaders for going outside Afghanistan and "drinking coffee" with foreigners, while in Afghanistan they kill civilians in the name of fighting foreigners.

"The Taliban leaders who are staying in Pakistan and Quetta are traveling daily to different countries in special planes and negotiating with foreigners. Two months ago in France they had a meeting with foreigners and with some Afghan opposition groups in Paris. There they are drinking tea and coffee and here in Kabul and Khost they are killing widows and trying to show their power to America. But it is not power as much as a service for America," Karzai said.

Karzai made similar remarks in a speech on Sunday in Kabul saying that the Taliban was colluding with the US to ensure an ongoing military presence in Afghanistan after 2014.

The new US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, who was in Kabul at the time, dismissed the comments as not making any sense, while US Ambassador to Afghanistan James Cunningham described them as "inconceivable".

The White House also responded saying that nobody believed his statement.

"That's categorically false, and nobody believes it," White House spokesman Jay Carney said about Karzai's remarks.

"The United States has spent enormous blood and treasure for the past 12 years supporting the Afghan people...in the effort to ensure stability and security in that country," he added.

However, Karzai seemed undeterred Tuesday repeating the claim that was rejected by US and Afghan leaders alike that the US and Taliban are secretly meeting while leaving the Afghan government out of negotiations.

Newly-elected first vice speaker of Parliament Mirwais Yasini told TOLOnews that Afghanistan's government needs to appreciate the assistance of the West and warned that Karzai risked pushing Afghanistan's relationship into an irreparable crisis.

"We must move forward conscientiously so our relations with the world, the West and our neighbors won't be damaged," Yasini said Tuesday.

MP Ahmad Bahzad agreed saying that Karzai's views should not affect the relationship.

"When the international community escorted Karzai into the presidential palace, they didn't come with his invitation. So too, they should not leave now with all these protests and accusations," he told TOLOnews.

"Afghanistan needs the support of the international community and obviously the Afghan people needs the help of the international community," he added.

Despite Karzais' remarks the White House has said that the US President's Barack Obama decision for a 2014 withdraw of soldiers from Afghanistan and helping build the Afghan security forces has not changed.

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President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday continued his criticism of US intentions in Afghanistan with a pointed speech claiming the Americans are eyeing off Afghan mines and the "government knows about it."

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President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday said that the government will take control of Bagram prison from the US next week - the third time in less than a week that he has named a new deadline.

Karzai said in a speech in southern Helmand province yesterday that the handover will happen next week on Saturday or Sunday.

On Sunday he had said it would happen this week. And last Wednesday he said it would happen last Saturday.

"I am sure you are all aware of the arguments about the Bagram prison handover. I urge you all to stand with me and say that Karzai is right, and we want to take responsibility of the prison and those who are innocent should be released. God willing, this demand will be implemented practically, by Saturday or Sunday next week," he said during an official visit to Helmand yesterday.

The handover was due to take place on Saturday with a signing ceremony when the US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel was visiting, but was delayed after disagreements over a few points in the new memorandum.

More than 3,000 suspected Taliban insurgents are being detained at Bagram. Last September, the US handed control of most of the high-security prison over to the Afghans, but did not transfer 600 or so detainees captured after the inital memorandum was signed in March 2012.

The White House said on Monday that the US is continuing to work with Afghanistan on the transfer of the prison to the Afghans.

North Korea confirmed Wednesday that it had shredded the 60-year-old armistice ending the Korean War, and warned that the next step was an act of "merciless" military retaliation against its enemies.

A lengthy statement by the North's armed forces ministry added to the tide of dire threats flowing from Pyongyang in recent days that have raised military tensions on the Korean peninsula to their highest level for years.

The statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency argued that the real "warmongering" was coming from the United States and its "puppets" in Seoul.

"They would be well advised to keep in mind that the armistice agreement is no longer valid and (North Korea) is not restrained by the North-South declaration on non-aggression," a ministry spokesman said.

"What is left to be done now is an action of justice and merciless retaliation of the army and people" of North Korea, the spokesman said.

The North announced last week that it would nullify the 1953 armistice and peace pacts signed with Seoul in protest over joint South Korea-US military manoeuvres that began on Monday.

Because the Korean War was concluded with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the two Koreas have always remained technically at war.

Voiding the ceasefire theoretically opens the way to a resumption of hostilities, although observers note this is far from the first time that North Korea has announced the demise of the armistice.

The armistice was approved by the UN General Assembly, and both the United Nations and South Korea have repudiated the North's unilateral withdrawal.

"The terms of the armistice agreement do not allow either side, unilaterally, to free themselves from it," said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.

The North has also threatened to launch nuclear strikes against the United States and South Korea in response to fresh UN sanctions adopted after the North carried out its third nuclear test last week.

While the threats have been mostly dismissed as bluster, there are strong concerns that the North will attempt some form of military provocation in the coming weeks.

The South's Yonhap news agency on Wednesday quoted a senior military source as saying sorties by North Korean fighter jets in recent days had reached "unprecedented" levels, with around 700 counted on Monday alone.

As well as nullifying ceasefire agreements, the North severed a Red Cross hotline that was one of the few means of communication between Pyongyang and Seoul, which do not have diplomatic relations.

However, a spokeswoman for the presidential Blue House in Seoul said a military hotline was still operating.

"The military communication is working normally and we will seek to convey any message to the North via the channel when necessary," she said.

Wednesday's statement by the armed forces ministry was notable for carrying the first official criticism of South Korea's new president, Park Geun-Hye, since she took office a little more than two weeks ago.

While the spokesman did not mention Park by name, he said the "frenzy" stirred up the "warmongers" in South Korea was orchestrated by the "swish of the skirt made by the owner of Chongwadae (the Blue House)."

He also slammed Park's recent comments that the North's obsession with nuclear weapons would bring about its own collapse as "utter ignorance" and an echo of the "confrontational" policy of Park's predecessor Lee Myung-Bak.

Park had campaigned on a pledge of greater engagement with North Korea, but February's nuclear test put any rapprochement on indefinite hold.

Gunmen shot dead a senior local election official in southwest Pakistan on Tuesday, police said, days before parliament is due to dissolve ahead of national polls.

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US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel said that Afghanistan's security transition is on "the right path" despite his strained two-day visit to the country during which press conferences were cancelled over security concerns and the Afghan president accused America of working with the Taliban.

Upon his return to the US, Hagel remarked on Afghanistan's progress and said there was a "renewed sense of commitment"

"You look over the past 11 years, it's pretty dramatic what's happened in this country," Hagel said. "I'm confident, after being here for two days and getting a renewed sense of commitment, both from the Afghans and our partners ... that we're on the right path."

Hagel left Afghanistan on Monday after meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai as well as the US and Isaf commanders.

He said that he had a "very direct conversation" about the transition with Karzai, adding that the two men have "always had a good relationship."

On the day Hagel left Afghanistan, seven US soldiers were killed, almost as many as the eight American soldiers killed so far in 2013 in the Afghan war.

Five US soldiers died in a helicopter crash in southern Kandahar province on Monday evening. And two US special forces were killed by an Afghan police officer in Maidan Wardak province Monday morning.

Hagel acknowledged there would be challenges ahead for the transition but said it will continue even if the solutions were "imperfect".

"We should always be mindful of the higher purpose of what we're doing and why," he said.

Tensions were high during Hagel's visit after the two countries failed to fully agree on the transfer of Bagram prison north of Kabul from the US military to the Afghans.

The next day, Karzai publicly stated that the senior Taliban leaders and the US are holding talks in Qatar and Europe without the Afghan government.

"The senior leaders of the Taliban and the Americans are engaged in talks in Europe and the Gulf state every day," Karzai said.

Furthermore, there was the sensitive issue of the US Special Forces expulsion from Maidan Wardak province over abuse of civilians.

Hagel sounded hopeful that a deal could be reached on their continued deployment, but acknowledged no breakthroughs were made in his talks with Karzai.

There are around 66,000 US troops in Afghanistan helping over 300,000 Afghan security forces fight insurgency.

An Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan commander and a Haqqani facilitator have been captured Wednesday in separate security force operations in Afghanistan, Isaf said.

"An Afghan and coalition security force arrested an Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan commander during an operation in Kunduz district, Kunduz province, today," Isaf said in a statement.

The commander is suspected of directing subordinate fighters in attacks against security forces as well as being a known improvised explosive device (IED) expert "and to have passed his knowledge of IEDs on to other members of an extremist cell", it said.

Meanwhile, the Haqqani facilitator and one other insurgent were captured in a joint operation in Tanai district of eastern Khost province.

He is suspected of being responsible for multiple attacks on security forces as well as the procurement and distribution of IEDs and other weapons to militant fighters throughout Khost and Paktiya province.

Three other insurgents have been captured Wednesday in a third operation in search of a Taliban commander in Marjeh district of southern Helmand province.

About 13 Taliban insurgents including their commander surrendered their weapons in eastern Kunar province Wednesday and joined the government peace and reconciliation programme, local officials said.

Provincial governor Sayed Fazlullah Wahid said that 13 fighters including their commander Nur Gul formally renounced their Taliban ties today as they handed their weapons over to the government.

"The men were active in the Dongam district of the province and fought against the government. They have joined the peace process with the help of the provincial high peace council," he said.

"We hope that the security improves in the district after they join the peace process," he added.

Dongam district borders Pakistan and has an active insurgency with local security forces and government often targeted for attacks.

It comes after 18 Taliban insurgents including their two commanders surrendered their weapons and joined the peace programme in northern Kunduz province Monday, according to local officials.

Head of the Kunduz High Peace Council Asadullah Omarkhel said that 18 fighters including their commanders Qari Bashr and Mullah Zaman formally renounced their Taliban ties on Sunday as they handed their weapons over to the government.