Religious and government leaders in eastern Ghazni province cancelled a music concert yesterday saying it was "haram" under Islam, a sign of the growing influence of Taliban extremists, Ghazni lawmakers said Wednesday.

Two Afghan singers, Mohammad Anwar Azad and Abass Neshat, were to perform at the concert in Ghazni's Jaghori district to celebrate the Persian new year, but the district government and Ulema council forbade it, forcing it to be cancelled.

The district council and the religious Ulema said in a statement said that music is prohibited in Islam, calling it "haram" - forbidden.

A number of Ghazni lawmakers in parliament on Wednesday criticised the statement, warning that it was a sign of the Taliban's influence.

Under the Taliban regime all music and musical instruments were banned, unless it was a form of chanting the Koran.

The local Ghazni Ulema Council said in its statement: "We condemn any gathering, under any name which is against Islam regulations or values. Such a gathering creates disagreements and insecurity as well. We prevent any such gathering."

Lawmaker Mohammad Ali Akhlaqi rejected the statement.

"The religious groups should not stand against holding some parties which are for the occasion of Nowroz and shows our culture," he said.

"Holding concerts are part of the freedom of speech," MP Assadullah Saadati said. "These people want to take away our freedom. In fact, they violate [Afghanistan's] sovereignty -- each village or each district should not give separate orders on these issues."

Islamic scholar Nazir Ahmad Hanafi said music was not haram but there are some conditions.

"Music is not forbidden in Islam but it there are some conditions. Today's music is not [always] acceptable," he told TOLOnews.

It is said that extremism is on the rise in the Jaghori district where the Ulema has previously cancelled similar events and were also behind the recent whipping of a girl as punishment.

Top news in this Bulletin:

A number of Afghan diplomats in Qatar have said that the Taliban will send negotiators to the Gulf nation who are expected to be moderate and open to a deal.

{youtube}jB30J6YAYNo{/youtube}

Read more...

A United Nations envoy Wednesday said that the top priority ahead of Afghanistan's presidential election is to found an impartial, trustworthy, and independent structure for the electoral complaints.

Special Representative of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan Jan Kubis made the statement at a press conference in Kabul while stressing the UN's cooperation and support to ensure a transparent and broad election.

Kubis relayed the messages of the recent UN Secretary Council, saying the Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon had stressed the importance of Afghanistan's transparent election.

"The Secretary General ... stressed the need to reach an agreement on an impartial, credible, and independent electoral dispute resolution mechanism, and he marked this as a very critical, essential element of future electoral architecture. As another core element he mentioned the appointment of a respected, widely-accepted chairperson to the Independent Electoral Commission," Kubis said.

Working period of the head of the Independent Elections Commission (IEC) will end prior to the April 2014 election.

Kubis also highlighted Ban Ki-Moon's concern for women's rights in Afghanistan.

"The Secretary General, while recognising certain progress, he stated very clearly that he remains deeply disturbed that despite some improvements in prosecuting cases of violence against women, there is still a pervasive climate of impunity in Afghanistan for abuse of women and girls," he said.

Afghanistan has witnessed an apparent rise in cases of such violence, distressing actions which many parts of the country seem ambivalent about.

Meanwhile, the IEC is seeking for the final approval of the election law.

The commission's deputy Abdulkhaliq Hussaini Pashaee on Wednesday said that the Afghan parliament needs to approve as soon as possible the election law in order to clarify the IEC's competencies and structure.

He also added that the plan for transporting all election-related material and equipment is to be decided on in 10 days.

"We call upon the parliament – from this tribune – to make the election law their agenda of general meetings before anything else," he said, adding that the media should avoid reports that may trigger violence or tribalism.

"We hope that they (the media) won't provide negative comments from the TVs and Round Tables because this is a national process, and we should not harm this national process, but rather cooperate with and assist it," he added.

The IEC has sent the list of 6,918 polling booths to security organisations so that they can inspect and test out the security challenges in these areas and secure the locations.

The registration of voters – that was meant to begin by April 21 – has been postponed until May 26, while the prefixed election date remains April 5, 2014.

Afghanistan on Wednesday cancelled a planned army visit to Pakistan to protest against alleged cross border shelling, the latest sign of deteriorating relations between the troubled neighbours.

Read more...

The Syrian opposition opened in Qatar on Wednesday its first "embassy," a day after opponents of President Bashar al-Assad were given Damascus's seat at the Arab League.

Read more...

Afghanistan on Thursday beat Bahrain in the Asian T20 cricket by 72 runs, raising its chances of qualifying for the World Cup 2015 after beating Oman earlier this week.

Afghanistan proved too strong for Gulf nation, setting a 157 run target for Bahrain with Gulbadin Naib batting the highest score for the Afghans with 46 runs.

Bahrain could not even double Naib's batting score, making only 85 runs. Naib shone again in the bowling, taking four wickets in four overs.

Naib was named man of the match.

Afghanistan will next face UAE and Kuwait in the T20 championship on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

The Asian T20, hosted by Nepal this year, has 10 teams competing. The top two teams will head to the 2015 World Cup.

The Afghan team playing in Nepal includes Mohammad Nabi Esakhel, Karim Sadiq, Shapoor Zadran, Nasim Briz, Najibullah Zadran, Fazal Niazi, Gulbodin Naib, Samiullah Shinwari, Shafiqullah Shafaq, Mohammad Nasim, Mohammad Sami Agha, Aftab Alam, and Hamza Hotak.

About 200 soldiers on Thursday graduated to the special operations forces of the Afghan National Army, ready to be deployed to the frontlines of the war against insurgents, army official said.

Deputy Chief of Army Staff Gen Azal Aman said at a graduation ceremony for the new commandos that the soldiers had been professionally trained and people should trust them as they are now responsible for the security of major parts of the country.

The ANA soldiers received 12 weeks of intense training to graduate to do special operations.

"The army soldiers have been professionally trained during their study and currently there are over 60,000 [special forces] soldiers ready to serving their citizens," Gen Aman said.

The graduates told TOLOnews they were ready to go to the insecure provinces.

"We go to perform out the tasks with the knowledge that we learned during our training," one of the graduates said.

The Afghan special forces training centre takes 200 to 300 soldiers per training course that usually runs for three months. It is expected that 300 soldiers will be part of the next course at the centre.

The United Nation's office in Afghanistan on Thursday highlighted the importance of women's active participation in the upcoming presidential election and peace talks in Afghanistan.

At a gathering in Kabul discussing the role of women in society, a spokesperson of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama) said that the coming year will be a critical year for determining the role of women in Afghanistan, particularly politics.

"Women, like men, should participate in the election and the women should show the candidates of the election that it is impossible to come to power without women. So the women should have a good plan in the election and also they should know what is going on in the peace talks with opposition groups," Unama's Director of Strategic Communication Dr. Massoumeh Torfeh said.

Women in education, politics and security were also present, with some of the guest speakers noting that if there was more women involved in these sectors then Afghan society would be different in its attitudes to them.

"There is still no place for women in the field of politics. If there were more places available for them, surely the country's condition will change," lawmaker Shankai Karokhil said.

A university student who attended the gathering told TOLOnews that students were also hopeful of a future with more women in leadership positions.

"We want roles for women in government. Afghanistan will not reach a favorable place without women's roles," student Sadaf said.

The treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan is frequently highlighted in the media and is a focus of the work of many non-government groups. However, as the cases of violence against women continue to rise, some have questioned whether those in power in government and law enforcement take the matter seriously enough.

The Senate's first vice speaker on Thursday said a new law aimed at removing Afghan diplomats with dual nationalities or foreign wives was not appropriate given Afghanistan's situation.

Read more...

The Afghan government Thursday rejected the claims in a report by Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) which suggested Kabul backs the Taliban in Pakistan.

The Afghan Government Media and Information Center (GMIC) retaliated with a counter-claim that Pakistan's military, especially the ISI, are the backers of the Taliban.

The Ministry of Interior (MOI) warned that the report presented to Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday could be a conspiracy against Afghanistan.

MOI spokesman Sediq Seddiqi said: "Releasing this report could be an attempt to betray the people of Pakistan and make another conspiracy against Afghanistan."

The report suggests that President Hamid Karzai's administration is working with groups linked to the main Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan movement.

It said that anti-Pakistan groups, particularly from Afghanistan, were providing "strong support" in terms of money, logistics and training and this was "one of the main factors for increased militancy".

The reaction in Kabul Thursday was strong, with the head of the GMIC Sefatullah Safi describing Islamabad as thinking Afghanistan is still in the 1990s.

"Pakistan's activities so far show that it does not support a powerful Afghanistan. And Afghanistan is not agreed with such logic today. It is wrong if Pakistan's aim is to use a weak Afghanistan to reach its interests," he.

Recently, the Afghan government has said it is capable of progressing in peace negotiations without cooperation from its neighbour Pakistan, a process which Kabul previously said Islamabad played an important role in.

One Afghan political analyst said Pakistan is attempting to weaken the ability of Afghanistan to negotiate.

"Pakistan is trying to weaken the Afghan government's demands in Qatar and so lead it to lose. On the other hand it is trying to secure Taliban's demands," Ajmal Balooch told TOLOnews.

Kabul–Islamabad relations have deteriorated recently despite some promising steps being made earlier this year when the Afghan High Peace Council went to Pakistan and the presidents of both countries met in London.

Nothern Jawzjan provincial council and residents have accused the provincial attorney general's office of indifference in fighting against corruption, claiming that cases are rarely followed up or are influenced by personal preferences.

Local officials said that the staff in the attorney general's office are not fairly investigating the cases brought before it and sometimes make decisions based on their own wishes.

Abdul Hai Hayat, provincial council chief said that if the local officials do not seriously fight against the corruption then the people will not trust the government.

"We are worried about this situation. The people will lose their hope and such conditions brings about a gap between the government and the people," Hayat told TOLOnews.

A man whose son was injured in an accident by another driver claimed that the Jawzjan attorney general changed the story in his son's file and charged the boy as being responsible for the incident.

"The office took a decision in favor of the driver. I don't know whether my son will be arrested or they will force me to pay a fine," the man told TOLOnews.

The Jawzjan attorney general refused to talk to TOLOnews on the matter.

Top news in this Bulletin:

The Senate's first vice speaker on Thursday said a new law aimed at removing Afghan diplomats with dual nationalities or foreign wives was not appropriate given Afghanistan's situation.

 {youtube}NF5eamGSNLM{/youtube}

Read more...

Top news in this Bulletin:

Islamabad said on Thursday that Afghanistan had over-reacted in cancelling a military trip to Pakistan over a cross-border incident.

{youtube}BDC8gIWuLvY{/youtube}

Read more...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on Friday ordered missile units to prepare to strike US mainland and military bases, vowing to "settle accounts" after US stealth bombers flew over South Korea.

The order came after US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, with tensions soaring on the Korean peninsula, said Washington would not be cowed by Pyongyang's bellicose threats and stood ready to respond to "any eventuality".

Kim directed his rocket units on standby at an overnight emergency meeting with top army commanders, hours after nuclear-capable US B-2 stealth bombers were deployed in ongoing US joint military drills with South Korea.

In the event of any "reckless" US provocation, North Korean forces should "mercilessly strike the US mainland... military bases in the Pacific, including Hawaii and Guam, and those in South Korea", he was quoted as saying by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

While North Korea has no proven ability to conduct such strikes, Kim said: "The time has come to settle accounts with the US imperialists."

The youthful leader argued that the stealth bomber flights went beyond a simple demonstration of force and amounted to a US "ultimatum that they will ignite a nuclear war at any cost".

Both China and Russia asked for all sides to cooperate to prevent the situation worsening on Friday.

China, North Korea's sole major ally and biggest trading partner, appealed for calm and said "joint efforts" were needed from all parties to prevent the situation deteriorating further.

Russia urged all sides involved in the stand-off to refrain from muscle-flexing, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warning that the flare-up could spiral.

"We can simply see the situation getting out of control, it would spiral down into a vicious circle," he told reporters at a news conference.

"We believe it is necessary for all not to build up military muscle and not to use the current situation as an excuse to solve certain geopolitical tasks in the region through military means," he said, calling on all sides to create conditions for the resumption of talks.

A South Korean military official quoted by Yonhap news agency said a "sharp increase" in personnel and vehicle movement had been detected at the North's mid- and long-range missile sites.

The defence ministry declined to confirm the report, saying only that all strategic sites in the North were under intense South Korean and US surveillance.

The B-2 flights, which followed training runs by B-52 bombers, were part of annual drills between the United States and South Korea, which North Korea each year denounces as rehearsals for war.

Pyongyang has been particularly vocal this time, angered by UN sanctions imposed after its long-range rocket launch in December and the third nuclear test it carried out last month.

Kim's order formalised steps already taken by the Korean People's Army (KPA), which put its strategic rocket units at combat-ready status on Tuesday. The following day it cut the last remaining military hotline with South Korea.

Tens of thousands of North Korean soldiers and civilians held a huge rally and march in Pyongyang on Friday, in support of a possible military strike against the United States.

The bulk of the threats emanating from Pyongyang have been dismissed as bluster. North Korea has no confirmed missile capability to reach the US mainland -- or indeed Guam or Hawaii in the Pacific.

But Washington has opted to match the threats with its own muscle-flexing.

"We will be prepared -- we have to be prepared -- to deal with any eventuality," Hagel told reporters at the Pentagon.

US military intelligence has noted that the North's warlike rhetoric has not, so far, been matched by any overtly provocative troop build-up.

Analysts warned against reading too much into what is the latest in a long series of incremental rhetorical upgrades.

President Hamid Karzai Saturday left Kabul to travel to Qatar where he is expected to discuss plans to negotiate with the Taliban including opening a political office for the group.

Read more...

Afghanistan will have specific conditions for a trilateral transit pact with Pakistan and Tajikistan, the Afghan Ministry of Commerce and Industries said Saturday, suggesting that the conditions set in the Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Agreement (APTA) should not be in the new pact.

The ministry said that the new agreement should carry equal facilities for all three countries – especially for the Afghan and Tajik traders – such as insurance services, bank guarantees, and free trade between Afghanistan and India via Pakistan's Waga port.

Afghanistan will propose these suggestions at the first meeting between representatives of the three countries, the Afghan minister of commerce and industries told TOLOnews.

"We don't want the past issues to be repeated again, and have Tajikistan also affected by those problems. There should be an open way, that would mean if Pakistani traders can use Afghan soil freely, in the same way Afghan and Tajik traders should be able to use Pakistani soil," Deputy Minister Muzmel Shinwari said.

"There should be a healthy competition, and not only beneficial to one country. Our current position is stronger than that of 2010, it's more firm. Pakistan needs us more than we needed them in 2010," he added.

According to the ministry, the new agreement will increase commercial exchange across the region.

Afghanistan's Parliament will again summon 11 government ministers whose ministries did not spend more than 50 percent of their development budgets in 2011.

To watch the programme, click here:

{youtube}dutR8BizzCs{/youtube}

Read more...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on Friday ordered missile units to prepare to strike US mainland and military bases, vowing to "settle accounts" after US stealth bombers flew over South Korea.

Read more...

The Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost US taxpayers somewhere between $4 to $6 trillion, a new study from Harvard University has claimed.

In a report released Thursday, Harvard public policy Professor Linda J. Bilmes said the US has already spent nearly $2 trillion on the military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, but this is just a fraction of the overall cost when the ongoing expenses of medical and disability care for veterans is taken into consideration.

The study was widely reported in US media, highlighting that the massive debt already incurred by the wars – $2 trillion is about 20 percent of America's debt measured from 2001 and 2012 – will only grow and will dominate federal budgets for decades to come.

"As a consequence of these wartime spending choices, the United States will face constraints in funding investments in personnel and diplomacy, research and development and new military initiatives," the report said.

Bilmes pointed out in the report that payments to Vietnam and the first Gulf war veterans are still rising, with the peak of disability payments for troops in the last century coming decades after the wars ended.

The Washington Post reported that Bilmes' estimate is higher than a similar study by Brown University's Eisenhower Research Project, which placed the wars' costs at about $4 trillion.

Both estimates, however, are much higher than what US officials projected when they planned to go to war in Iraq, the Post said.

Taliban and Haqqani leaders have been captured during joint Afghan and Nato troops operations Saturday, Isaf said.

An operation in Sabari district of eastern Khost province, a joint security force arrested a Haqqani leader who is accused of obtaining improvised explosive devices and other weapons for distribution to multiple insurgents commanders, Isaf said in its operations update.

The statement did not name the captured leader, who is also alleged to have led some attacks.

Meanwhile in the Shah Wali Kot district of southern Kandahar province, a Taliban leader and an insurgent were captured in a joint operation, according to the Isaf statement.

"The leader is believed to be responsible for multiple insurgent operations, including IED attacks against Afghan and coalition forces throughout northern Kandahar," it added.

Also, several insurgents have been captured in a separate operation in search of a senior Taliban leader in Nad Ali district of southern Helmand province, Isaf said.

The operations update did not mention a Ghazni airstrike, first reported by Reuters, in which nine Taliban insurgents and two children were killed Saturday, according to local officials.

Isaf had not confirmed the deaths at the time of this report, but Afghan officials said civilians were among the dead and a Reuters reporter saw the bodies of at least two children who were said to have died in the airstrike.