Security forces conduct massive military operation in Musa Qala

Truthful, Factual and [email protected] Vol:X Issue No:37 Price: Afs.15Eye on the News

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KABUL: Afghan National Secu-rity Forces (ANSF) have launchedmilitary operations in parts ofMusa Qala district of Helmandprovince to recapture the areafrom Taliban insurgents, officialssaid on Friday. Provincial spokes-man, Omar Zwak, said that Af-ghan forces have started a largescale operation in Musa Qala dis-trict and clashes are ongoing be-tween the security forces and theTaliban. Zwak did not provide de-tails about casualties. On Wednes-day officials from Musa Qala saidthat the area was in danger of col-lapsing into the hands of the Tal-iban. There was however contra-dictory reports with some Pro-vincial Council members who saidthat Musa Qala had already col-lapsed to the Taliban. In additionthey say insurgents have torcheda clinic and a school. The councilmembers said the other day thatthe insurgents have also stolen aradio system from the police forc-es . But, Mohammad Jan Rasou-lyar, Deputy Governor of Hel-mand has not confirmed reportsof its collapse but said that heavyclashes continue and that byThursday more than 150 Talibaninsurgents had so far been killed.The Afghan and foreign air forcesare also supporting the groundforces in the battle field, accord-ing to the officials. In addition,

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KABUL: The residence of formerJihadi leader, Abdul Rab RasoulSayyaf, came under rocket attackson Friday, said a source close tothe Jihadi leader. Fahim Kohda-mani said two rockets landed in

KABUL: At least one army sol-dier has been killed and two oth-ers injured, when a suicide bomb-er detonated himself near a vehi-cle of Afghan National Army(ANA) in Kabul, said Kabul po-lice chief. Abdul Rahman Rahimisaid that the incident took placearound 5:30 pm on Friday in Niaz-beg area, the 5th district of Kabulcity. No one has claimed the re-sponsibility of the blast so far.

It is worth mentioning thatmilitants have recently intensifiedtheir terror attacks across thecountry, particularly in Kabul city.

Sayyaf s residence in Paghmandistrict of Kabul province, caus-ing damage, but there were no ca-sualties. Kohdamani said thatperpetrators of the rocket attackswere enemies of Jihadi figures andpeople of Afghanistan. No onehas claimed the responsibility of

the rocket attacks so far.The Jihadi leader is frequent-

ly delivering speeches against theTaliban militants, terming the in-surgent group as slaves of foreigninterests.

Following the recent terrorattack Shah Shaheed area of Kab-

ul that killed and injured scores ofcivilians, Ustad Sayyaf said thatthe Taliban are being used againsttheir nation. Hinting at revelationof Mullah Omar s death in Kara-chi city of Pakistan, Sayyaf saidthat slaves and oppressors will diein the worst ways.

AT News Report

Security forces conductmassive militaryoperation in Musa Qala

AT Monitoring Desk Taliban insurgents once again hadretaken control of Astana Babaarea of Shirin Tagab district ofFaryab province. Shirin Tagabdistrict governor Loqman Gahriksaid that Astana Baba area onceagain collapsed to the Taliban onWednesday. According to officialsthe area was cleared of insurgentsin an operation led by first Vice-President General Abdul RashidDostum in which more than 80villages were cleared, 50 Talibanwere killed, four were arrested andmore than a hundred joined thegovernment s peace process. Thedistrict governor said Thursdaythat after Dostum left for Sar-e-Pul on Wednesday the Talibanused the opportunity to carry outattacks and re-captured mostparts of the Astana Baba area ofShiren Tagab district. There are noreports on casualties yet.

Suicideblast killsANA soldierin Kabul

AT News Report

Islamabad urgesAfghan govtto protect itsKabul mission

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan hascalled on the Afghan governmentto ensure protection of its diplo-matic mission and staff in Kabul.Pakistani officials claim that Af-ghan agents are harassing the Pa-kistani staff, particularly thoseliving outside of the embassy com-pound.

Officials at the Pakistani dip-lomatic mission also have report-ed kidnapping attempt against itsstaffer. The developments haveforced the embassy personnel torestrict movement and most ofthem have moved to the embassycompound, the officials sad. Theofficials alleged that the kidnap-ping attempt took place in Shahr-e-Naw area of Kabul earlier thisweek, when unidentified men triedto abduct an official of Pakistaniembassy. Qazi Khalilullah,spokesman of Pakistan s ForeignMinistry urged Kabul to takesteps to prevent these incidents,saying security of Pakistani dip-lomatic personnel and premises inAfghanistan is a top priority. Wehave conveyed our concerns to therelevant authorities in Afghanistanand we have been assured that allpossible measures will be takento ensure that safety of our per-sonnel and premises in Afghani-stan is ensured, Khalilullah said.

Afghan authorities have notyet commented on the allegations.Relations between the two coun-tries strained after a wave of ter-ror attacks in Kabul that killed andinjured more than 400 people.Following the terror attack, Pres-ident Ashraf Ghani said that Pa-kistan is not doing enough to stopinsurgents from using trainingcamps across the border to stagedeadly attacks in Afghanistan.

AT Monitoring Desk

Taliban-designateddistrict chief heldin NangarharJALALABAD: Four militantscommanders were killed and an-other Taliban s-designated chief forSherzad district nabbed in easternNangarhar province, provincialpolice spokesman said. Col.Hazrat Hussain Mashraqiwal toldPajhwok Afghan News that Tali-ban s shadowy district chiefQudratullah aka Bilal and anothercommander were arrested in Pa-tiabad locality of Sra Rud districtlate Wednesday evening.

Both the detained Talibancommanders were coming on mo-torbike when apprehended by thepolice. They are being quizzed bythe police, he added. However,Taliban have not yet commentedon the incident.

7-member gang bustedin Kunduz: Police

KUNDUZ CITY: A 7-membergroup allegedly involved in sever-al murder cases have been detainedin northeastern Kunduz province,an official said.

Provincial police chief Brig.Gen. Mohammad Qasim Jangal-bagh told Pajhwok Afghan Newsthe men were involved in murder,robbery and launching attacks on

security posts were arrested dur-ing operation by Special PoliceUnit in Nasiri area on the outskirtsof Kunduz City last night.

He said the group was led by anotorious commander Shamso wasunder police observation for long.Several people from victims fam-ilies today arrived at the policeheadquarters and demanded severepunishment of the criminals, hesaid. Shazia whose husband waskilled by one of the detainees saidthat her husband was killed in frontof her eyes by members of thecommander. She urged securityofficials to award exemplary pun-ishment to the murderers.

Sufi Abdul Ghafoor whose sonwas killed by the gang said if thegovernment does not punish thecriminals then give him a weaponto take his son s revenge.

He lamented he had only oneson who was killed, warning tocommit suicide if the perpetratorswere set free. (Pajhwok)

A 7-member group allegedlyinvolved in several murdercases have been detained.

US conducts airstrikes as heavy clashescontinue in HelmandThe US military conducted air-strikes in southern Helmand prov-ince of Afghanistan amid ongoingheavy clashes in Musa Qala dis-trict. The US Forces officials inAfghanistan have said the air-strikes conducted on Thursdaytargeted the individuals threaten-ing coalition and Afghan forces.The officials confirmed that the

airstrikes were carried out in therestive Musa Qala district. In themeantime, the local governmentofficials said the airstrikes by USmilitary were conducted to stopthe Taliban militants from advanc-ing towards the district. The offi-cials further added that nearly 150Taliban militants were killed orwounded during the clashes on

Friday. Helmand is among the vol-atile provinces in southern Afghan-istan where the Taliban militantsare actively operating in its vari-ous districts.

The Taliban militants werelooking to advance towards Lash-kargah the capital city of Helmandprovince after capturing ceratainareas in Musa Qala district duringheavy clashes started earlier thisweek. (KP)

Bloodbath in Faryaband security farce

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AFGHANISTAN TIMES

Embassy of India, KabulPress Notice

Embassy of India, Kabul invites sealed item rates bids on behalf of President of India represented through theDirector(PM), CPWD, Kabul, Afghanistan (e-mail: [email protected], mobile No.+93782205342) fromthe eligible agencies of Afghan/Indian Nationals only for the work of Providing and fixing roller blinds atKabul, Afghanistan ) ,the particular of which are as under:-1. (a) Time of Completion :- 03(three) Months (b) Cost of Bid Document :- Free of Cost (c) Bid Security/ Earnest Money:- US$ 1290.00(INR 90000/-) 2. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA (A) For Afghan Nationals(i) Agency must be owned by Afghan National.(ii)The Agency must be registered with M/O Commerce as contractor having valid TIN (Tax Identity Number)or with AISA i.e. Afghan Investment Support Agency.(B) For Indian Nationals :-(i) Any Agency owned by Indian Nationals and presently working in Afghanistan for Govt. of India or anydepartment of Govt. of Afghanistan. Or The agency owned by Indian national presently working in India withany Govt. Department or with any Govt. of India Undertaking.(ii) The successful Indian Agency if not registered with AISA shall have to get them self registered with thesame within a month after the award of work or before getting any payment from employer.(C) For Afghan/ Indian National Agencies. The intending tenderer /bidder should have successfully completed the similar work mentioned below in theirown name during last seven years ending 31.07.2015.One similar work of value not less than 51600.00 USD (Rs. 35.00 lakh ) Or Two similar works of value not lessthan 38700.00 USD (Rs. 26.00 lakh) or Three similar works of value not less than 25800.00 USD (Rs. 17.50 lakh )Similar work mean the work of providing & fixing of roller blinds or supply of roller blinds

(3) The Joint ventures are not acceptable.(4)(i) The application for issue of bid documents shall be received upto16.00 hrs (AST) 07/09/2015 from theinterested bidders.(ii) The bid document will be issued to the interested agencies upto 16.00 Hrs.(AST) on 08/09/2015.(iii) The last date & time for submission of complete bid document is 09/09/2015 upto 15.30 hrs (AST) atKabul and will be opened at the same day at 16.00Hrs.(AST)Note:- The Indian agency can send the application for getting of Bid Document through E-mail , the biddocument will be issued to them through E-mail for which they can get the print and fill up the rates ,but thebid document to be submitted upto the specified date in hard copy at Kabul only . The earnest money can besubmitted in FDR or in the Form of BG from any Indian Scheduled Bank in INR/US$.

Director(PM) CPWD, EOI, Kabul

Central Public Works DepartmentEmbassy of India

Press Notice1.0 The Director(PM), CPWD,EOI, Kabul, Afghanistan (e-mail: [email protected], mobileNo.+93782205342) on behalf of the President of India invites sealed Item rate tenders from eligible Indian /Afghan Nationals for the following work:

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2.0 Tender forms and other details can be obtained from the office of Director(PM), CPWD, EOI, NewChancery Complex, Wazir Akbar Khan, Kabul, Afghanistan free of cost. The last date of receipt of applicationto purchase the tender form will be 07/09/2015 upto16.00hrs(AST).3.0 Other details/information can be seen on website www.tenderwizard.com/cpwd andwww.eprocure.gov.in. Director(PM) CPWD, EOI, Kabul

Expressing his frustration over the continued delay inrolling out the pilot phase of the electronic identitycard (e-NIC) campaign, the head of the department,Homayoun Muhtat, took to Facebook and revealedthat a wide range of topics are being discussed in cabi-net meetings - but not that of the ID campaign. "Witheach passing day, a decision has not come through re-garding e-NIC.

This also harms the future of hundreds of youthswho have worked in our department with special zealfor months," Muhtat said. Ezmarai Baher, the head ofthe registration department of e-NIC has warned thatfurther delay in the pilot phase rollout campaign of e-NIC could have a detrimental effect on the achieve-ments already made by the concerned department.

"The pilot phase rollout campaign will help us toassess whether, on a technical basis, our national projectfaces an issue or not.

In case there is a problem, the pilot phase cam-paign has to start so that we are able to address thedefects and shortcomings," Baher said. Meanwhile, theOffice of the Chief Executive of the National UnityGovernment (NUG) announced on Thursday that thoseopposing the implementation of the key national projectshould be accountable to the nation.

"The two houses of parliament have already ap-proved the law and it awaits the signature of the pres-ident. The law is now fully implemented.

The decision of the council of ministers has alsobeen implemented on the basis of the same law andsupport of the parliament.

They [e-NIC] officials have assured us that thereare no technical problems, and that the internationalcommunity is also committed financially which indi-cates that there were no serious issues. If someoneclaims he has political reservations, then he should come

e -NIC ch ie f take s toFace bo o k o ve r ID de lay

and share his grievances with thepeople of Afghanistan," deputyCEO spokesman Asif Ashna said.So far a hundred million dollars hasbeen allocated to complete theproject. However persistent de-lays have demoralized internation-al donors who have suspended aidpending the launch.

This has led to the termina-tion of employment of at least 800people who had been hired by thedepartment. It is said that certainelements within the government arestalling the roll out. An issue whichthe people of Afghanistan strong-ly oppose. "The implementation

of the project is amongst the topcommitments of the NUG leaders,but now it has been pushed to thesideline and this could expand thevacuum of mistrust toward gov-ernment," civil society activist Ha-seeb Mutarif said.

Elaborating on the significanceof e-NIC, some Afghan politicalcommentators and analysts havesaid that the implementation of theproject helps the government toreduce expenses, develop goodgovernance, prevent electoral fraudand maintain accurate statisticsabout the population of the coun-try.

Me m be rs o f Jam m at-u d Daw a s e llin g th e ir n e w s pape r an d rais in g fu n ds in Pe s h aw ar.

Men crowd around a newsstandoutside a mosque in northwest-ern Pakistan, buying newspapersand stuffing bank notes into atransparent plastic tub. An Urdu-language inscription on the boxsays, The poor, destitute victimsof natural disasters and the heirsof martyrs await your help. Thisis no ordinary stall, however, andthe newspaper hawked by the

three volunteers on a recent swel-tering afternoon is no ordinarybroadsheet. They are members ofJammat-ud Dawa, which the Unit-ed Nations says is an alias forLashkar-e Taiba. Jammat-udDawa and its leaders have beenon a UN sanctions list of knownsupporters of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and Lashkar-e Taiba is con-sidered one of the biggest militantorganizations in South Asia. It isblamed for the 2008 attack in In-dia that killed nearly 170 peoplewhen gunmen stormed landmarksin the country s financial capital,Mumbai. Jarar, the Urdu-languagenewspaper sold in a back alley ofPeshawar, promotes somethingwith which residents of this north-western Pakistani city are very fa-miliar. Its news stories, opinionpieces, and editorial mostly glori-fy jihad or a violent struggleagainst India, Israel, and other non-Muslim states. It also often laudsthe Afghan Taliban for fightingagainst the Western-backed gov-ernment in Kabul. Peshawar, acity of an estimated 4 million res-idents, first served as a bastionfor Afghan jihadists fighting

against the Soviet occupation ofneighboring Afghanistan in the1980s. But two decades later itbecame one of the most danger-ous urban areas in the world whena new generation of jihadiststurned their guns on Pakistan.Since 2004, 60,000 Pakistan ci-vilians, soldiers, and militants havedied in militant attacks and mili-tary operations against them.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provinceand the adjacent Federally Admin-istered Tribal Areas are the maintheater for most of the fighting.Provincial capital Peshawar hasborne the brunt of jihadist vio-lence. Pakistani authorities, how-ever, are doing little to rein in therhetoric of Jarar and scores of sim-ilar newspapers, magazines, andwebsites that advocate jihad andfocus on the exploits of an arrayof jihadists ranging from Lashkar-e Taiba to the Afghan Taliban andeven Islamic State militants benton expanding their Islamic empirefrom the areas they control in Iraqand Syria to the entire greaterMiddle East. Just a few kilome-ters away from the narrow lanesof Peshawar s center, evidence ofthe jihadist media s success in rad-icalizing youth abounds. Muham-mad Ismail, a twentysomethingstudent at the sprawling Pesha-war University, has been an avidreader of Jarar and other publica-tions for six years. His favoritenow is a weekly called Al-Qalam,whose fiery writings are moldinghis worldview. Jihad is a form ofworship, he told Radio Mashaal.

I really like the writings of Saadi in Al-Qalam.One section in this magazine updates you on thefighting in Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Palestineevery week. Local observers say Al-Qalam is pub-lished by Jaish-e Muhammad or the Army of Mu-hammad. This banned militant group was foundedby Maulana Masood Azhar, a firebrand cleric whowas released from an Indian prison in 1999 in ex-change for passengers of a hijacked Indian airliner.Pakistani counterterrorism experts say Azhar, wholives in hiding in Pakistan s eastern Punjab Prov-ince, uses Saadi as a pen name. Azhar is consideredto helm two other popular jihadist publications.Daily Islam and weekly Zarb-e Momin are dedi-cated to glorifying Taliban violence in neighboringAfghanistan. Both are published in Urdu, a lan-guage that very few Afghans speak or understand.Faizullah Jan, a journalism professor at PeshawarUniversity, has researched Pakistan s jihadist me-dia for years. He says the jihadist publications seekto foster a particular worldview. These publica-tions want their audience to know how they viewthe developments in Pakistan and abroad, he toldRadio Mashaal. Secondly, they are very success-ful at enticing the youth toward their cause. Thesepublications also help jihadist groups fund-raisingeffort. He says that apart from glorifying violentstruggles, some jihadist publications are now benton portraying themselves as mainstream press.They are now attempting to target all sections of

society, including women and children. Many havewebsites and can be easily purchased and sub-scribed to, Jan said. hsanullah, a newspaper sellerin Peshawar, says jihadist publications are aggres-sively increasing their audience. These publica-tions are not finding many subscribers in Pesha-war s affluent neighborhoods, but their readers are

multiplying in the rural suburbs, he told RadioMashaal.After the Taliban massacred 150 schoolchildren andteachers in Peshawar last December, Islamabadannounced a comprehensive national counterter-rorism plan earlier this year.Key provisions of theplan promised to take strict action against theliterature, newspapers, and magazines promotinghatred, decapitation, extremism, sectarianism, andintolerance.It also promised to ban the glorification of terror-ists and terrorist organizations through print andelectronic media.

But nearly eight months later, Islamabad seemsto have done very little to address these sources ofan accelerating radicalization in the country.

J ih a d is t w e e kly Al-Qa la m .

Muhammad Ismail says "jihad is a form of worship".

American kids love Afghan foodwhile trying lunches from around the world

Most of the American kids have loved the Afghan foodduring an experiment on lunches from the around worldin a school, according to a video published online.

The children were pretty grossed out with an ex-ception of a few food items randomly liked, includingthe single high-enery biscuit kids are served in Af-ghanistan everyday. The video recorded by Cut Vid-eo revealed the kids even proclaiming that they wouldeat it everyday, if they had the choice. I would go toAfghanistan to get that really, really good cube cookiethingamajig, said one of the children, who was partic-

ularly picky eater and found some-thing to dislike about almost ev-ery meal. Another child was veryfascinated by the amount of calo-ries that could fit in such a tinyblock. The children were present-ed with examples of meals fromIndia, Sweden, Japan, Cuba,France, Kenya and Afghanistan.

They also found a Cuban mealof yellow pea soup, taro root, fried

plantain, chicken croquette andrice, while a popular yogurt-baseddrink from India known as chaasand a simple French meal of rata-touille, grilled salmon, rice, brie, abaguette and fruit yogurt were metwith reluctance. The video wasuploaded on YouTube which wentviral in such a short period of timeand attracted more than 200,000views within 24 hours. (KP)

...P12 national fate of Pakistan it s not the country s parliamentthat has decision making powers,but its army s.

Q: There are rumors thatPakistan and a few other for-eign governments have askedthe present Afghan leadershipnot to give you a political rolein the government. You are acapable public servant. Whydoes Pakistan and its allies fearyou so much?

A: I have also heard such ru-mors, but I don t have solid evi-dence to back them.

(Ryan DeBooy/U.S. Army)Q: According to an article

from the BBC, only under/ twen-ty percent of Afghans approveof this current government. AndTolo TV reports that corruptionhas gone up under the presentleadership. Given these reali-ties, will/ the Unity Govern-ment survive?

A: I wouldn t place too muchconfidence on opinion polls. A fewmonths ago, they said that Ghani spopularity was above eighty per-cent. They should explain the nosedive his fame has taken. That Idon t see these polls do.

Q: Any informed politicalperson from around the worldknows that ISI is funding, train-ing, and mobilizing the Talibanto send suicide bombers to Af-ghanistan. Suicide attacks havekilled hundreds of innocentAfghans in recent weeks. Thecurrent government seemstoothless and is obviously notable to get Pakistan to stopthese attacks. Is there anythingthat can be done to make ISIstop its criminal and terroristactivities in Afghanistan?

A: Pakistan is a weak coun-try. It has inherent and defaultweaknesses. Pakistan is not goingto stop terror in my country any-time soon. Therefore, it is up tothe Afghan government to strate-gize ways of getting Pakistan torefrain from interfering in Afghan-

Afghanistan s future: Interview with Amrullah Salehistan diplomatically. Creating trou-ble in a neighboring country is notrocket science.

Q: What will happen to Af-ghanistan after the U.S. leavesthe country given that the ma-jority of the Afghan governmentbudget comes from the U.S.?/

A: Afghanistan is not a con-cept. It is a country with a thou-sand years of history and culture.Without the presence of foreigntroops, it will have more problems,but it won t cease to exist nor willit experience a downward spiral. Itwon t. We will survive as we al-ways have. We may not have someof the comforts of today but wewill be around.

Q: You were extremely ef-fective as the Intelligence Chiefof Afghanistan. What did makeyou so effective as the man incharge of this entity?

It was not just a job for me. Itwas a passion. It was an obses-sion. I was devoted to the cause. Ihad forgotten about myself. It wasall about how to bring aboutchange, how to do things different-ly. It felt like I had found myselfsitting in the cockpit of our histo-ry. It was an excitement. It was anhonor and pride, too. Most of thepeople working with me were likebrothers to me; I was like a brotherto them. There was no atmosphereof stiffness. None. There was nohierarchy when it came to ideas,initiatives and motivation. Therewas no hierarchy when it came todemonstration of will and passionfor accomplishing a big task athand. The hierarchy mattered onlywhen it came to resources, legal is-sues, and making decisions./ So Iwas running the organization likean entity with a flat structure andno walls. I could see everyone andeveryone could see me. That wayof leading/ had created a sense ofownership amongst all. It was acollective leadership. No arrogance.No grand standing. We were alldoing something. We all believed inthe cause. We were in it together.

Q: What do you think of President Ghani asa leader? What are some of the major differenc-es between President Ghani and PresidentKarzai?

A: I/ don t want to comment on former PresidentKarzai. In my view President Ghani needs to createa space in which consensus and a sense of we-nesscan emerge. To do that he would need to sacrificesome parts of his intellectual and professional ca-pacities. He is smart and knows things, for sure.However, he doesn t want to recognize those aroundhim who are also smart, and from whose knowledgeand expertise he can learn. It frustrates him to seeofficials who don t share his world view. He tries todownload his knowledge into his cabinet s head aHerculean task. To borrow his analogy, he is Mir-crosoft 10 and a number of his cabinet members arethe ancient Word Perfect. There is a mismatch. Willhe change and reverse his own default system orupgrade his cabinet members? I don t know.

Q: How will the death of Mullah Omar affectthe Taliban?/

A: Mullah Omar was never behind making strat-egies and planning operations. He was a myth keptin a mythical space. It was the ISI that planned andorganized everything then and now. Though with themythical figure gone the new leadership has to estab-lish its legitimacy and prove its effectiveness on theground. Not easy. Certainly, Omar s death has weak-ened the Taliban and will continue to do so. Inshal-lah.

Q: Will the struggle for power within theTaliban group make ISIS stronger in Afghani-stan?

There is no ISIS in AfghanistanQ: Please tell us a little about the movement

you have founded? What kind of activities is yourmovement engaged in?

A: Afghanistan Green Trend (AGT) stands forthree distinct objectives. A) de-radicalization and antiextremism; b) Youth empowerment; c) Fight againstcorruption, elitism, and injustice. We have aroundeighty thousand members and volunteers. We areknown for our street power, advocacy, efficiency,and pan-Afghan stand and vision.

Q: If you had to choose between freedom anddemocracy and order and security, which onewould you choose and why?

A: All of them are essential for a happy, justexistence, so I would like to have all of them./ We, theAfghans, should have all of them. We are entitled toall. I have been fighting for these rights all of my lifeand will continue to remain in the fight until we are inpossession of these rights.

Q: What are you reading these days?A: I am reading a couple of history and geopoli-

tics books at the moment.

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Afghanistan sjournalists underfire, again

Qasim Muzafari of the BidarDaily newspaper in Balkh prov-ince and Jamshid Hakak of AsiaTV in Herat have both experi-enced the sometimes deadly oc-cupational hazards of Afghan jour-nalism. On August 26 unidenti-fied attackers stabbed Muzafari,who is hospitalized in critical con-dition. On May 8, a policeman inHerat attacked Hakak after a ver-bal dispute, inflicting skull andfacial injuries that required hishospitalization.

Muzafari and Hakak aren talone. On August 27, the nongov-ernmental media freedom advoca-cy group Afghan Journalists Safe-ty Committee (AJSC) releasedstatistics that indicated that 39Afghan journalists had been vic-tims of violence or threats of vio-lence in the first six months of2015. One reporter was killed and23 were beaten or otherwise as-saulted. The AJSC attributed themajority of those incidents 28of the 39 to Afghan governmentauthorities. Those statistics aredismaying, but not surprising.Human Rights Watch has docu-mented increasing intimidationand violence against Afghan jour-nalists from both government fig-

ures and private parties over thepast two years. Those incidents,combined with a lack of govern-ment protection and waning in-ternational support, are jeopardiz-ing media freedom in Afghanistan.The Afghan media advocacy or-ganization Naistated that 2014 hadbeen the most violent year onrecord for journalists in Afghani-stan, with attacks up by 64 per-cent from 2013. While AJSC at-tributes 72 percent of violence andthreats against journalists fromJanuary to June 2015 to govern-ment authorities, the media alsoface threats from the Taliban, whoexplicitly threatened in a Decem-ber 13, 2014 statement

to attackany journalists seen as support-ing Western values. In Decem-ber, Afghanistan s chief executiveofficer, Abdullah Abdullah,pledged decisive action to protectjournalists from attack and toprosecute those responsible forsuch abuses. Those 28 incidentsof threats and violence by gov-ernment authorities against jour-nalists in the first six months of2015 are a poignant reminder ofthe dangerous gap between thegovernment s rhetoric in supportof media freedom and its failureto back those words with action.(HRW)

Afghan journalists seek cover in Kabul on Jan. 18, 2010during a series of co-ordinated attacks by Taliban militantsin the Afghan capital that killed at least 10 people andinjured 32. © 2010 Shah Marai/ AFP/ Getty Images

By Phelim Kine

The view froman Afghan taxi driver

I take taxis or rickshaws every-where in Herat. Most of the timesI avoid taxis instead I take rick-shaws because I can save somemoney and give it to the poor. Isay this not to show off my vir-tues but to describe the desperateeconomic conditions people are in.Any amount of money can helpmitigate their hunger. Today, onmy way to the doctor I took a taxibecause I was in a hurry. The cabdriver looked really interesting his physical stature and formlooked like an elite soldier, whichprompted me to start a conversa-tion and ask him: how is business.He said it was alright not asgood as it used to be and finishedhis sentence saying that there snot maza in anything anymore.Maza means taste but in the ver-nacular sometimes people say thatbusiness maza nadara, whichmeans business is not too good.The long taxi drive and the rushhour spearheaded our conversa-tion into political issues. In a coun-try like Afghanistan, everythingand everyone is political. Neces-sities and pressing social and eco-nomic matters have made every-one political. To be political is tobe bedar (awake) in this country.So no matter whom you meet theissue that they want to discuss ispolitics. We, the driver and I, cameacross a number of traffic cops and his disgust for them becameobvious immediately. He talkedabout his morning and that he waspulled over by a cop for havingrun through a red light. While hewas being questioned as to whyhe committed this traffic violation,an important car which meant itbelonged to some high rankingcommander or wali (governor) didthe same thing as this cab driverhad done. Instead of pulling overthis traffic violator, and to the taxidriver s surprise, this cop and hiscolleagues didn t even bother go-ing after the car. In Afghanistan,there are some laws and legal mea-sures in place but they onlyapply to the poor. The rich andthe governing class can get awaywith anything and everything.Murder someone and if you havemoney, you will walk away scot-free. These are things that haveturned people away from the gov-ernment to the point that somewant to join ISIS or the Taliban inorder to be free from oppressionand subjugation. The taxi drivercontinued to register his frustra-tions with the government. He

said this current government isover. It s been six months, he said,since its employees have beenpaid. He said every public offi-cial knows that this governmentcannot work and that it is doomedto collapse. He said they are hereto enrich themselves and walkaway. It s amazing how muchcorruption there s in the govern-ment of Afghanistan. You cannotfind one government office thatis free from corruption. The highdegree of corruption combinedwith the regular abuse of peopleby the security officials are driv-ing the people into the arms ofthe insurgents. August 19th is theday I rode with this cab driver tosee my doctor. It s also the dayAfghans claim to have gottentheir independence from the Brit-ish. A number of celebrationswere underway throughout thecity of Herat. For example, at thestadium of Herat there were alarge number of people talking andcelebrating their independence.Around the city there were smallgatherings in which a mullah or aprominent leader talked aboutAfghanistan s heroic history andhow Afghans have always main-tained their independence. As mytaxi was making a turn toward ourdestination we heard a bunch ofpeople clapping to the words ofwhoever was speaking to them.The driver started laughing outloud. He said he doesn t knowwhat our officials and politiciansare thinking; either they are mador we are mad. He interruptedhimself right away and said, Iknow we, the Afghans, are notmad. These politicians aren t madeither. They are just too stupidcelebrating an independence thatdoesn t mean anything becauseAfghanistan is still occupied andhas become a rentier state. Howcan we claim independence whenwe are so dependent on foreigngovernments? Independencemust mean not only political in-dependence but also economicindependence. As we got closerto my drop-off spot, the driversaid, I m so tired of the govern-ment that sometimes I m tempt-ed to join ISIS in Afghanistan.Then he looked at me as if to im-press me with the seriousness ofhis tone and said, Sometimes Iam tempted to join ISIS so I cankill as many officials as I can. Itpays $500 a month. What can beworse than that?

International policy digest

Waseel Jan, who looks to be 10 years old, fought for over 75 days against the Taliban to avenge the killing of his father bythe Taliban. He is a resident of Khas Urozgan district of Urozgna province. His bravery was appreciated however at thesame time he has been awarded books and a pen instead of the guns. He fought alongside his uncle against the Taliban.

In Badakhshan, strongmenplundering historical sites

FAIZABAD: Emboldened by lin-gering insecurity, gunmen are dig-ging up historical sites to plunderthe national wealth in parts of re-mote northeastern Badakhshanprovince -- home to the region srich cultural heritage and a key linkbetween China and South Asia.With a diverse ethno-linguistic andreligious community, the people ofBadakhshan retained opulent cul-tural heritage and they have pre-served unique ancient forms ofmusic, poetry and dance. Badakhs-han was an important trade centreduring antiquity. Lapis lazuli wastraded exclusively from the prov-ince as early as the second half ofthe 4th millennium BC. Badakhs-han s significance stemmed fromthe Silk Road passed through it,geo-economic location and being ahub of trade in silk and ancientcommodities between the East andWest. Badakhshan has vast ruby,emerald, azure, amethysts and goldreserves, as well as historical sites-- some of them thousands yearsold. Thanks to the authorities neg-ligence in their registration andmaintenance, many sites have beenpillaged. Additionally, residentscomplain, insecurity in manyparts of the province has enabledlocal strongmen to dig up thesesites illegally and smuggle the an-tiques thus found. Under Article 9of the constitution, mines, under-ground resources and ancient sitesare state property. Their protec-tion, use, management and modeof utilisation are regulated by law.Director of Information and Cul-ture Sher Ali Qasimi acknowledg-es the unlawful digging and plun-der of many precious sites in Wa-khan, Ishkashim and Daryem dis-tricts. The department has specialforce at its disposal to guard theserelics and mines in volatile locali-ties, he argues. They have dis-patched a string of letters to thesecurity organs for the protectionof the state assets and preventingthe smuggling of artefacts, but theirreminders have fallen on deaf ears,complains the official. His col-league Haji Beg Sabri also confirmsillicit excavation by irresponsibleindividuals in the Qala Hesar areaof Daryem district. He quotes oneman named Ihramuddin as sayingthat up to 30 men had dug up aspecial site for 20 days in line withorders from their commanders. Thedepth of digging is estimated at 15metres. During the illegal excava-tion, the workers found stonedpaths made of soft clay and build-ing roofs could not be broken evenwith pick-axes. But Ihramuddin re-fuses to give details about the arti-facts found at the 48-acre site,which dates back to the Buddhistera, in Qala Hesar. According toSabri, an archaeologist, wood fi-bre, mulberry wood and valuablerugs were recovered from the loca-tion, where a tunnel is situatedbeneath the fort. In the past, whenthe tunnel s mouth was open, peo-ple used to go inside. They sawseveral rooms, with staircases. Theofficial, who recently visitedDarayem district, says: Situatedin front of Qala Hesar is Qala Khan-

dan. From the look of them, theseforts used to be security installa-tions. At the moment, only theirboundary wall can be seen. One ofthem belonged to a sister of theHesarak ruler. In the vicinity, thereis a village called Khandan Citywhere prehistoric undergroundgraves can be found on top of eachother beneath. Piece of earthen jarshave also been found in the pri-mordial village, lying cheek by jowlwith Ganda Kafiran (Dirty Unbe-lievers) area a landscape dottedwith Bamyan Buddha statues ingrottos. Half a century back, resi-dents say, the villagers lived in thesecaves -- which like dozens of oth-er relics -- are now under threat.Sabri also blames the Badakhshan-based German Provincial Recon-struction Team (PRT) for excavat-ing and taking away unspecifiedartefacts from historical sites in theShahr-i-Safa area of Daryem dis-trict. Syed Abdullah, an inhabitantof Jurm district, alleges gunmen aredigging up historical sites that arethreatened by war. The powerfulmen smuggle whatever comes theirway, he complains, urging the gov-ernment to crack down on thesegunmen, who are intent upon ru-ining the national treasure. The 10centuries old shrine of Nasir Khus-raw, a renowned poet, philosopherand traveller of the 11th century,was also damaged in fighting, localofficials said earlier in the month.Writing exclusively in Persian, hisbooks have been preserved throughthe centuries by the communitiesof the upper Oxus and Badakhs-han, in Tajikistan and Afghanistan.The militants reportedly damagedthe shrine after they captured Yam-gan district two months ago. Alsoharmed by the Taliban were partsof the Mullah Barat ReligiousSchool, which had been recon-structed by the Aga Khan CulturalDevelopment Network (ACDN)in three years. The militants, whostayed in control of the Balkhishrine for a month, partially burntand smashed this registered cultur-al heritage. The shrine gate, about10 years old, was pulled down andset alight. An anti-aluminiumplaque, inscribed with the archi-tectural plan for the building, wasshot down and broken to pieces.The fighters also ransacked theguardroom besides breaking theshrine lock. AKDN officials saythey will rebuild the sites, subjectto the availability of funds andguarantees from locals that theywould not be damaged again.ocated in Jurm district is a monu-ment to Mir Syed Ali bin Shahab-ud-Din Hamadani (1314-1384) --a Persian Sufi of the Kubrawi or-der, a poet and a prominent Mus-lim scholar. He was very influen-tial in spreading Islam and shapedthe culture of the area. Also knownas "Shah Hamadan" and as Amir-iKabir (the Great Commander), hewrote several short works on spir-ituality and Sufism. To avoid per-secution in his homeland at thehands of Timur, he moved to Kash-mir with seven hundred followers,during the reign of King Shahab-Uddin. Situated in the same dis-

trict is a worship place built byKhalifa Khan Arifi. Additionally,famous writer and diplomat ShahAbdullah Yamgi, who authoredhighly acclaimed books like Arma-ghan-i-Badakhshan and Lehja HaiPamiri, was also from Jurm. A re-nowned poet and critic of his time,Yamgi penned many articles. Histomb is currently in a state of di-lapidation. Information and Cul-ture Department official AbdurRaziq claims registering 20 histor-ical sites over the past 14 years.Four of them have been rebuilt byAKDN, but the rest remain at therisk of being destroyed. Particu-larly endangered are the relics inTaliban-controlled areas, he warns,saying: We don t have enough fi-nancial and technical resources toinspect these sites from time totime ... or prevent them from de-struction. AKDN official FazalKarim Ahmadi says they have useavailable resources to renovate theNasir Khusraw Balkhi shrine,Mullah Barat Madrassa, Mir YarBeg shrine and Faiz City in Yam-gan district. AKDN, which has setaside $500,000 for the reconstruc-tion projects, is poised to recon-struct the Mir Yar Beg Park by theend of the current year. While wait-ing cooperation from the depart-ment concerned in registering thehistorical sites, Ahmadi says theyhave drawn up plans to reconstructtwo wooden houses on the 300years old Kokcha River bridge, inFaizabad. The Kokcha River is ap-proximately 140m wide and thebanks are steep sided near the base.River levels and width vary ac-cording to the season. The homesare situated close to the SyedaMakhfi Park in Qaraquzi village.He says reconstruction of the siteswill begin soon. The sites alreadydamaged will be renovated on apriority basis, he adds, urging theDepartment of Information andCulture to give AKDN informa-tion about the endangered sites assoon as possible. He explains theywill try to use the local materialsthese relics are made of. For therenovation of the sites, the AKDNhas hired the services of experi-enced and professional peoplewho have repaired similar areas inKabul, Herat and Badakhshan.Local mud masons are beingtrained by these professional ex-perts. For instance, we hire indi-viduals -- masons or carpenters --who are skilled in using locallyavailable materials. Right now, wehave 70 of them being trained ascarpenters in Faizabad. TheAKDN has masons and carpen-ters from Faryab and MaidanWardak provinces as well. Theyare training others on renovationhistorical sites. Two of the masonsand one carpenter are especiallyskilled in using local materials.

Dost Mohammad, who has 12years of experience in masonryincluding work on historical sites,has been trained by AKDN in Her-at City, Mazar-i-Sharif and Faiza-bad. He is presently impartingtraining to his juniors on how touse local raw materials in Yamgandistrict. (Pajhwok)

Badakhshan has vast ruby, emerald, azure, amethysts and gold reserves, as well as historicalsites -- some of them thousands years old. Thanks to the authorities negligence in their regis-tration and maintenance, many sites have been pillaged.

LASHKARGAH: A cook waskilled mysteriously while six po-licemen went missing from a se-curity check post in the Garmsardistrict in southern Helmand prov-ince on Friday, a security officialsaid. Wishing to go unnamed, theofficial told Pajhwok AfghanNews that a cook at a securitycheck post in the Amir BulandAgha area of the district killedmysteriously. He said that six po-licemen went missing along withtheir weapons and a vehicle andsecurity officials had started in-vestigations to locate the missingofficials. There are a number ofother security check posts andmilitants could not dare to ap-proach that particular check postor kidnap policemen from there,the official said. Taliban said theyopened fire on the security checkpost on Thursday night killing onepoliceman while the rests fled thecheck post. (Pajhwok)

CHARIKAR: Militants gunneddown a policewoman in Jablu Sir-aj district of central Parwan prov-ince on Friday, provincial policecheif said.

Mohammad Zaman Mamozaitold Pajwhok Afghan News thatthe policewoman had been killedin Izzatkhel locality of the dis-trict on Thursday. He said thatpolice had detained one suspectin connection of her killing whowas being interrogated. NadiraGaya, Parwan women affairs di-rector, said that the slain polcie-woman Zarghoona was dischrag-ing her duties at the Jablu Sirajpolice station. She said that Zarg-hoona had been targetted at 100meters distance from her home inIzzatkhel village. Late Zarghoonahad only one son. (Pajhwok)

Militants killpolicewomanin Parwan

Cook killedmysteriously; 6police missingin Helmand

MAIDAN CITY: ProvincialCouncil (PC) members in centralMaidan Wardak province onThursday discussed at length ad-ministrative, judicial and otherprovincial issues with the gover-nor who pledged to extend all co-operation to resolve problem ofthe people.

Attaullah Khogyani, the gov-ernor spokesman, told PajhwokAfghan News that GovernorHayatullah Hayat and other localofficials attended the meeting heldat the governor house.

PC head Ahmad Jaffari toldthe meeting that several issueswere there at central and districtlevels which needed immediatesolution. Most of the schools, hesaid had no buildings while someneeded reconstruction. In addi-tion, he said that children of doz-ens of schools were in dire needof textbooks. PC members alsopointed out lack of electricity fa-cilities amid complaints againstgovernment officials to the gover-nor. Scores of guards who had toserve in districts and different ar-eas were discharging their dutieswith high officials instead, thegovernor was told.

Jaffari also briefed the gover-nor on deteriorating security situ-ation throughout the province andurged him to improve law and or-der.

The governor assured PCmembers that he would use all theavailable resources address all is-sues. He mentioned that PresidentMohammad Ashraf Ghani had giv-en him deadlines to resolve civil,administrative and judicial issuesin three months. (Pajhwok)

Maidan WardakPC members,governor pledge toresolve problems

AFGHANISTAN TIMESSATURDAY . AUGUST 29, 2015

Bangladesharrests twomore suspectsin blogger'skillingDHAKA: Police in Bangladeshhave arrested two more suspectedmembers of a banned militantgroup thought to be behind theslaying of a secular blogger in thefourth such deadly attack this year.

Dhaka Metropolitan police of-ficial Mahbub Alam said KausarHossain Khan, 29, and KamalHossain Sardar, 29, were arrestedin raids in the capital city lateThursday and that they were sus-pected members of the AnsarullahBangla Team blamed for attacks onatheist bloggers and writers.

The arrests follow the arreststwo weeks ago of two other sus-pects, Saad-al-Nahin and MasudRana for involvement in the killingof the 28-year-old blogger NiladriChottopadhay Niloy.

Read more: 2 suspects arrestedin Bangladesh blogger murder caseAlam said the latest arrests were aresult of interrogations of the two.Niloy was hacked to death on Aug.7. His wife, Asha Moni, filed amurder case against four unnamedpersons, and the seriousness of thecase meant the investigation washanded to the Detective Branch ofthe police from the regular police.

Police would not provide moredetails about Khan and Sardar butsaid they were out on bail afterbeing accused of attempted mur-der in an attack on another blogger,Asif Mohiuddin, two years ago.

Mohiuddin has since fled forGermany. Miloy was known to hisfriends as an atheist blogger whoseonline name is Niloy Chowdhury.His family and friends said he hascriticised radical Islamists at homeand abroad, and had sought policeprotection after receiving threats.The police asked him to leave thecountry for his safety, they said.

The United States has ex-pressed its concern over the kill-ing, while the United Nations calledfor Bangladeshi authorities to en-sure accountability and preventsuch violence. UN Special Rappor-teur Heiner Bielefeldt is scheduledto visit Bangladesh from Mondayto assess the state of freedom ofreligion and belief in the SouthAsian country. In February,Bangladeshi-American bloggerAvijit Roy was hacked to death onthe Dhaka University campuswhile walking with his wife. Knowmore: Third secular blogger hackedto death in Bangladesh Two oth-ers were attacked and killed inMarch and April, one in Dhakaand another in the northeasterncity of Sylhet. Know more: Uni-dentified attackers hack US bloggerto death in Dhaka Investigationsinto those cases have made no head-way.

India has begun more than threeweeks of celebrations to mark the50th anniversary of what it claimswas victory in the 1965 war withPakistan. President PranabMukherjee laid a wreath at themartyr's memorial at Delhi's IndiaGate monument on Friday. Mean-while, eight civilians have been re-portedly killed as India and Paki-stan exchanged fire in the Kashmirregion.Kashmir, claimed by both coun-tries in its entirety, has been a flash-point for more than 60 years.

Major Waheed Bukhari, aspokesman for Pakistani Rangers,

told Reuters news agency that fivecivilians had been killed and 48others treated for injuries after fir-ing from the Indian side in theSialkot area. And across the bor-der, India's Border Security Forcesaid three civilians had died and 22were wounded in firing across theborder in the Jammu region. Bothsaid the other side had opened firefirst, and their accounts could notbe independently verified.

The South Asian rivals havefought two wars and a limited con-flict over the region. 'Victory car-nival' The 1965 conflict began whenPakistan sent up to 30,000 troops

into Indian-administered Jammuand Kashmir. Indian soldiers in-vaded Pakistan in retaliation.

Over the years, both sides haveclaimed victory. Pakistan cele-brates 6 September every year as"Defence of Pakistan Day" with a21-gun salute and a victory parade.Indians meanwhile believe thattheir forces had the clear upperhand in the war.

The war was fought on thewestern front where for over threeweeks more than 100,000 Indiansoldiers fought against Pakistan's60,000 troops. The fighting killedmore than 8,000 men, most of them

Pakista is. On Friday morning,Prime Minister Narendra Modi"praised the courage & bravery ofour Armed Forces" on Twitter:Narendra Modi The celebrationsbegan on 28 August, the day Indi-an troops captured the strategicHaji Pir Pass in Pakistan. They willgo on until 22 September - the dayIndia and Pakistan agreed to a UN-sponsored ceasefire. The mainevent - a "victory carnival" with ashow of military might, song anddance - is planned for 20 Septem-ber on Rajpath - the wide boule-vard in the city centre where theannual Republic Day parade is

held and where India recently or-ganised a record-breaking yogaevent. Indian soldiers on Haji Pirpass

Image caption The celebrationsbegan on 28 August, the day Indi-an troops captured the strategicHaji Pir Pass The celebrations willalso include seminars, photo exhi-bitions and a concert. Many Indi-ans support Mr Modi's decisionto hold the commemorative events- but critics say holding a carnivalis in bad taste. The 1965 war wasone of four between India and Pa-kistan since independence fromBritain in 1947.

India s Haryana sets up all-womenpolice stations

On Friday, the northern Indianstate of Haryana inaugurated all-women police stations to deal withcrimes against women in all its dis-tricts. The BBC's Geeta Pandeyreports from Gurgaon. A two-sto-rey building in Sector 51 of thisbustling city is being given a freshcoat of paint; lights and fans arebeing fitted; phone lines are beinginstalled; and new curtains, com-puters, stationery and water-cool-ers have been ordered. The build-ing - until recently the office of thetraffic police - is where Gurgaon'sfirst all-women police station willbe inaugurated on Friday. "It willbe a one-stop shop for women,"Gurgaon police commissionerNavdeep Singh Virk told the BBC."We have identified the personnel- the 27-member police team willbe headed by an inspector. We willhave workers from non-govern-mental organisations and counsel-lors and we will provide legal as-sistance and help with rehabilita-tion too. A 50-member contingentof anti-riot policewomen will alsobe based there and used in law andorder situations." InspectorUmesh Bala has been chosen tolead the women's police station inGurgaon Inspector Umesh Balawho has been chosen to lead thewomen's police station in Gurga-on has impressive credentials - apolice woman for 30 years, she hasdone long stints dealing withcrimes against women and also su-

pervises a telephone helpline start-ed by the police to help women indistress. She appears to have theright attitude for the job too. "Mostof the complaints we receive herefrom women are about sexual ha-rassment and stalking. The accusedmen often tell me 'she was myfriend'. And I tell them 'but nowshe is not, so lay off. She is notyour personal property'."

Gurgaon, described as India's"millennium city", has in recentyears been transformed from farm-ing fields to a bustling technologyhub and is home to corporate of-fices, call centres and outsourcingindustries. But attitudes are slowto change and most parts of thestate remain rural, where traditionand modernity - filtering in fromproximity to places like Gurgaon -sit in a tight, sometimes uneasy,embrace. Gurgaon police commis-sioner Navdeep Singh Virk says thewomen-only police stations willhelp change the perception thatpolice are gender-insensitive

The state, like much of northIndia, is steeped in patriarchy - ithas the worst sex ratio in the coun-try where caste and gender dis-crimination are rampant.

And crimes against womenhave remained consistently high -according to the National CrimeRecords Bureau, the state record-ed 8,974 cases of crimes againstwomen, including 3,501 cases ofdowry harassment, 1,174 rapes

and 230 gang rapes.In March, the state govern-

ment was heavily criticised in theassembly with opposition partiesexpressing concern over women'ssafety. And reports say police be-haviour has failed to inspire muchconfidence - in April, the NationalCommission for Women said it hadreceived hundreds of complaintsof police apathy where womenvictims had failed to get their com-plains registered. India's policeforce is drastically short of wom-en. According to a recent reportby the Commonwealth HumanRights Initiative, women make uponly 6.11% of India's 2.3 millionpolice force. Gurgaon commission-er Mr Virk agrees the shortage is ahuge problem: "There are only 350women police in Gurgaon, we needat least 1,000."

But, he believes that the newwomen-only police stations willhelp change the perception thatpolice are gender-insensitive. In-spector Bala agrees: "At present,a lot of women do not want to goto the police station. They feelmore comfortable telling us abouttheir problems, they can talk to uswithout shame or guilt." In her ear-lier roles, she says, she was oftenapproached by women who insist-ed that she investigated their com-plaint.

"But I could take up a case onlyif it was assigned to me. Nowthings will be different."

ECP is sue ssche dule fo r LGpo lls in Is lam abadThe Election Commission of Pa-kistan (ECP) announced on Fridaythe schedule for local governmentelections for the federal capital.

LG polls will be held on No-vember 30 in the Islamabad Capi-tal Territory (ICT) as per the re-vised schedule issued by the ECP.Further, the ECP will start the pro-cess of delimitation of constituen-cies from tomorrow.

Nomination papers can be filedfrom October 24 to October 27,the source said, adding that thescrutiny of the papers will be donefrom October 31 to November 4.Further, the final list of the candi-dates is expected to be issued byECP on November 4. On Thurs-day, the Supreme Court (SC) haddirected the ECP to issue theschedule of LG polls in the ICTon Friday (today). Additional At-torney General Amir Rehman, ap-

pearing before a three-judge bench,informed the apex court that therules for LG polls in Islamabadwere framed and notified on Au-gust 20. The ECP Director Gener-al (Legal), Muhammad Arshad in-formed the bench, We will issuethe schedule tomorrow (Friday).However, he failed to provide aspecific polling date. Earlier, onJuly 8 on the request of the ECP,the court had allowed the commis-sion to issue a revised LG electionschedule for Islamabad, which wassupposed to be held on July 25.Needless to say, in view of the

fact that the expected legislation isnot as yet in place, the ECP maynotify a revised schedule for thesaid elections if this becomes nec-essary on account of delays in Par-liament , the three-judge bench,headed by Justice Jawwad S Kha-waja, had said.

PH OTO: AFP/ FILE

KATHMANDU: Nepal's govern-ment has vowed that protests inwhich 14 people have been killedwill not derail a constitutional pro-cess that is in the final stretch, eventhough pressing ahead could fur-ther anger ethnic minority groupson the southern plains. In the mostserious incident, nine people werekilled this week when protestersattacked a police post in the farsouthwest of the poor Himalayanstate, which lies sandwiched be-tween India to the south and Chi-na to the north. The governmentdeployed the army to restore or-der following the protests bymembers of a minority group calledthe Tharus. Together with anothergroup of plains people, the Mad-hesis, they demand autonomy un-der plans to turn Nepal into a fed-eration. "I don't see any possibili-ty for the process to stop," LawMinister Narahari Acharya toldReuters. Nepal, which emergedfrom a civil war in 2006, has allbut completed work on a perma-nent charter that would carve thecountry of 28 million people intoseven federal provinces. TheTharus, a group that numbersabout 1.7 million, want a separateeighth province - but their demandshave been rebuffed as unworkableby the government. A great deal isat stake for the country. Adoptionof the constitution, which requiresa two-thirds majority in parlia-ment, would start a transformation

in which a new president, primeminister and speaker would bechosen. Prime Minister SushilKoirala has invited protest leadersto Kathmandu for talks, but theyrefuse to attend unless a curfew islifted and 15 arrested activists -some charged with murder - are re-leased. "Without this we will notgo for talks," said Ram JanamChaudhari, who leads a caucus ofTharu lawmakers. The escalationled one government leader to ac-cuse India of instigating the pro-tests. That prompted a rare inter-vention by Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, who urged Nepalto make the constitutional processmore inclusive. Ashok Mehta, aretired Indian army general andexpert on Nepal, dismissed theaccusation of meddling but urgedthat the protesters' demands beaddressed - including for an eighthstate. "The plains are simmering,"Mehta told Reuters. "There is aneed for a pause to take on boardthe concerns of the plains people."Bishnu Raj Upreti, head of theNepal Centre for ContemporaryResearch, said the frustrations ofmarginal communities had beenexploited by politicians who op-pose the constitution and want to"create trouble". "The governmentshould reach out to the people atlocal, constituency level," he said."This will help ease the tension.Otherwise the feeling of injusticewill be cemented further."

Ne pal says w illn o t le t pro te s tsde rail co n s titu tio nAdoption of the constitution, which requires a two-thirdsmajority in parliament, would start a transformation in whicha new president, prime minister and speaker would be chosen.

Landslideskill fivein Nepalquake zone

KATHMANDU: Landslides trig-gered by heavy rainfall killed atleast five people in central Nepal,four of them in a shelter for survi-vors of a devastating earthquake,police said on Friday (Aug 28).

Rescuers in Nepal's Nuwakotdistrict are still searching for a nine-year-old boy missing since an over-night landslide crushed two bam-boo and tin shelters built for fami-lies displaced by the April 25 quake.

"The landslide occurred around2.00am, burying the shelters whilethe victims were sleeping inside,"said district police chief SiddhiBikram Shah. "We have recoveredfour bodies and have been search-ing for the missing boy since earlymorning," Shah told AFP.

Six quake victims injured in theaccident have been taken to hospi-tals in Nuwakot and neighbouringKathmandu for treatment, he said.

In a separate incident, an 80-year-old woman died when a land-slide slammed into her house inNuwakot, he said.

Scores of people die fromflooding and mudslides during theannual monsoon season in Nepal.

Experts warn that the Hima-layan nation could see more land-slides this year after the 7.8-mag-nitude quake.

Heavy rainfall is also hamper-ing delivery of relief supplies tomountainous villages reeling fromApril's massive earthquake, whichkilled nearly 8,900 people and de-stroyed some 600,000 homes.

More than three dozen peoplelost their lives last month in mul-tiple landslides in western andsouthern Nepal, including a stu-dent who died when mud and rocksburied his school.

Another 35 people were killedin June when a landslide smashedinto villages in northeast Nepal.

Landslides triggeredby heavy rainfall killedat le as t five pe ople ince ntral Ne pal, four o fthem in a shelter for sur-vivors of a devastatingearthquake, police saidon Friday (Aug 28).

US to suppo rt Sri Lan kaplan to in ve s tigate w ar crim e sCOLOMBO: The United Stateswill sponsor a resolution on SriLanka next month at the UnitedNations Human Rights Councilbacking Colombo s plans for rec-onciliation and to conduct an in-vestigation into possible warcrimes during the final stages ofthe island s civil war, a top Amer-ican diplomat said.

The announcement signals areversal of Washington s long-standing insistence on an interna-tional inquiry. Since 2012, theUnited States has sponsored threeresolutions all adopted de-manding accountability from SriLanka s government. In March2014, the rights council approvedthe opening of a United Nationsinvestigation into allegations of warcrimes by both the Sri Lankan gov-ernment and the Tamil Tiger rebelsin the last seven years of the 26-year war, which ended in 2009. Thereport on that inquiry is due at therights council s session in Genevanext month. Election workers gath-ered on Sunday in Colombo, Sri

Lanka, to prepare for the country sparliamentary vote onMonday.Former President Con-cedes, Then Reverses, in Sri Lan-kaAUG. 18, 2015 Nisha Biswal,assistant secretary of state forCentral and South Asian affairs,made the announcement after atwo-day visit to Sri Lanka for talkswith the new government that wasreinstalled in parliamentary elec-tions this month. She said that acredible domestic inquiry wouldrender a more durable outcomeand that the United States sensednew hope for reconciliation withthe island s Tamil minority. Tiesbetween Colombo and Washingtongrew strained during the tenure ofPresident Mahinda Rajapaksa,who resisted international pres-sure to investigate war crimes alle-gations and suffered a surprise de-feat in an election in January elec-tion. Tom Malinowski, assistantsecretary of state for democracy,human rights and labor, who ac-companied Ms. Biswal on the vis-it, said the new government s ap-

proach under President Maithri-pala Sirisena had been to protectthe country s interests withoutbeing defensive.

The government has reachedout, it has listened, it has engagedin dialogue with everybody, Mr.Malinowski said. It has acknowl-edged the need of truth-telling andaccountability. In doing that, it haswon a tremendous amount of trustand confidence.

He said trust in the new gov-ernment was encouraging the in-ternational community to give SriLanka the time and space it re-quires to deal with difficult is-sues of its past.

Ms. Biswal said, We are in-credibly proud of the journey thatis being undertaken here; the storythat is unfolding in this great coun-try is one that stands as a testa-ment to the rest of the world.

The American delegation metwith Mr. Sirisena, Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe and leadersof the Tamil National Alliance, themain Tamil party, during the visit.

Bangladesh won t let its citizens seea film about its deadliest industrial accidentMovies can elicit strong emotionswhen they recreate traumaticevents, and in Bangladesh, perhapsno subject matter more so than thedeadly 2013 factory collapse atRana Plaza in Bangladesh, whichkilled 1,134 and shook up thenation s rapidly growing garmentindustry. Now, a court inBangladesh has declared a six-month ban on a movie that retellsthe story of a woman trapped inthe rubble for 17 days, purport-edly because of the graphic car-nage it depicts. The decision, whichapplies to screenings both inBangladesh and overseas, comes inresponse to a writ petition by alabor group that argues the movie,titled The Rana Plaza, wouldnegatively portray Bangladesh s

$25-billion apparel industry. Ap-parently the group is concernedthat showing a factory riddled withsafety hazards collapsing and kill-ing more than 1,100 people would

not arouse positive emotions forBangladesh s 4 million or more gar-ment workers. The court had pre-viously instructed Nazrul IslamKhan, the movie s director, to re-move certain scenes that censorsidentified as too cruel, he toldUCAnews, a Catholic news site,which Khan says he did. The film

tried to portray unpleasant truthsabout the industry, not to harm itsreputation, but to promote publicawareness, Khan said. He intendsto appeal the ban, and called it aconspiracy. A Bangladeshi movie

theatre worker removes posters ofa film Rana Plaza in Dhaka,Bangladesh, Tuesday, Aug. 25,

2015. Bangladesh's High Court hasimposed a six-month ban on thescreening of the movie about a gar-ment worker who was rescuedfrom the rubble 17 days after afive-story factory complex col-lapsed more than two years ago,killing more than 1,000 people. ABangladeshi man tears down post-ers for Rana Plaza. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

Bangladesh undoubtedly hasmuch to protect in its garment in-dustry. It accounts for nearly 82%of the country s exports, and whileits workers are notoriously under-paid, it has also been a path out ofcomplete poverty for many. It sso important to Bangladesh thatthe country is working to doubleits garment exports by 2021.

The story depicted in themovie centers on Reshma Begum,a real-life survivor of Rana Plazawho was caught in the building sruins for more than two weeks.

In Bangladesh,no one is abovethe lawIn the past two years, strikes, ar-son, street violence and broad-day-light assassinations have wrackedBangladesh. The instigators havebeen the opposition political partycalled the Bangladesh NationalistParty or BNP along with its ex-tremist ally, the political partyJamaat-e-Islami. Their objectivewas to destabilize the democrati-cally elected Awami League gov-ernment and to terrorize anyonewho did not agree with their medi-eval thinking. The BNP, headed byformer Prime Minister KhaledaZia, began the campaign of disrup-tion when it boycotted the 2014national election. The BNP andJamaat-e-Islami resorted to violenttactics to wage a campaign of do-mestic terror against innocent citi-zens. They terrified the countrywith firebombs and destructionprompting work stoppages thathampered the country s economy.In one three-month period earlierthis year, more than 160 peoplewere burned to death in the BNP-Jamaati attacks, with hundredsmore injured. There must be ac-countability for these horrificcrimes and it must go all the wayto the top. This is why the gov-ernment is considering conveninga tribunal to hear evidence aboutKhaleda Zia s complicity in theviolence she unleashed onBangladesh over the past twoyears. The attacks on civiliansaround the 2014 election were un-precedented. The butchery wasshocking. BNP-Jamaat-e-Islamiterrorists chased down and mur-dered both leaders and followersof the Awami League, the govern-ment party, in crowded marketplaces in broad daylight. BNP-Jamaati terrorists marked the an-niversary of the 2014 spree withmore violence. Innocent boyssleeping in buses were burned aliveby BNP-Jamaati firebombs, whilelocal headquarters of the rulingAwami League Party were vandal-ized and its leaders and followingswere targeted again. In April of thisyear, the BNP putatively agreedto rejoin the democratic processand participate in mayoral elec-tions. But it was a charade. All alongthe BNP intended to pull out ofthe election on the day of voting,hoping to cause chaos anddelegitimize the elections. TheBNP said it staged the pullout be-cause of widespread voter fraud.But the Election Commission re-ported voting irregularities at only62 out of 2,180 polling places.More damaging, recordings ofphone calls were disclosed onlinein which BNP officials were heardplanning the mid-election pullouton orders from Khaleda Zia. Un-der the leadership of Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh seconomy has surged, growing over6.2 percent annually. Women par-ticipate in the public and privatesector in greater numbers than everbefore. Poll after poll confirms thevast majority of Bangladeshiswant the same thing: a secular de-mocracy based on time honoredBengali traditions of tolerance andpeace.

I should have beeninformed aboutDr Asim's arrest:Qaim Ali Shah

KARACHI: Sindh Chief MinisterSyed Qaim Ali Shah on Friday ex-pressed concern over the arrest offormer federal minister and chair-man of the provincial Higher Edu-cation Commission (HEC) DrAsim Hussain and lamented overthe fact that he was not taken intoconfidence over the arrest. Thisis not fair and unwarranted, saidthe chief executive while talking tomedia just after inaugurating theBegum Nusrat Bhutto underpassin Karachi on Friday. It is notappropriate to arrest any indi-vidual at will, we do not practicethe law of the jungle in Sindh,stated Qaim. The chief ministersaid after the arrest of Dr Asim hehad spoken to the Corps Com-mander and the DG Rangers, whotold him there were serious com-plaints against the former petro-leum minister. But when they sentme the details of the complaintsagainst Dr Asim I found them tobe in general without solid sub-stance, he recalled. Sufficientevidence against Dr Asim does notexist, I should be made aware ofarrests before they happen, addedthe chief minister.

AFGHANISTAN TIMESSATURDAY . AUGUST 29, 2015

News-in-Brief

Arab coalitionhits Houthipositions in Yemen

The Saudi-led coalition con-ducted a series of airstrikes tar-geting Iranian-backed Houthipositions in the coastal city ofal- Hudeida, Al Arabiya Newschannel reported Thursday.

The air strikes also hit se-curity forces camps in Yemen'scentral province of al-Baydathat were seized by theHouthis earlier this year.

They also targeted thehomes of some Houthi leadersin Saada, a Houthi strongholdin northern Yemen.

Meanwhile, heavy clashestook place in al- Hudeida be-tween Houthis and forces loy-al to legitimate President AbdRabbi Mansour Hadi. Since lateMarch, the Saudi-led coalitionhas bombed Houthi militias andforces allied to deposed leaderAli Abdullah Saleh, in a bid toput the government of interna-tionally recognized PresidentAbdrabbu Mansour Hadi backin power.

Al-Qaeda-ledforces advanceon Syria airbase

Syria s Al-Qaeda offshoot andother rebel groups advanced onFriday towards a military air-port that is the last remaininggovernment-held facility in thenorthwestern province of Idlib,a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatoryfor Human Rights said that Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-NusraFront and other armed Islam-ist groups seized the en-trance to the Abu Duhur air-port after carrying out severalsuicide bombings on motor-bikes and seizing several po-sitions on its outskirts.

Syrian state television saidthe army had killed a largenumber of Al-Nusra terroristsand destroyed their arms andequipment at the facility.

The Observatory said airstrikes were launched in re-sponse to the onslaught, andthat 16 Syrian soldiers and 18rebels were killed in the fight-ing The so-called Army ofConquest, a collection of Is-lamist and jihadist forces, cap-tured the Idlib provincial capi-tal in March and has since driv-en the Syrian military frommost of the province.

Libyan peace

talks stall

after negotia-

tor quits

Libya's unofficial governmentdropped out of the latest roundof U.N.-backed peace talks onThursday, soon before theywere due to start, in anotherdisruption to efforts to endmonths of conflict.

A representative of thefaction said it needed more timeto form a new negotiation teamafter a senior member quit, andwould return to the table whenit was ready, but gave no indi-cation of when that might be.The United Nations formallyopened the session with othergroups in the Moroccan cityof Skhirat, but there was littleprospect of any progress with-out one of the main sides in aconflict that has brought Libyato its knees in the four yearssince the overthrow of Muam-mar Qaddafi. The faction tookover Libya's capital Tripoli lastyear, forcing the international-ly-recognized government andits elected parliament to moveeast. Armed groups loyal toboth sides have continued tofight over territory and resourc-es. Islamist militants, includ-ing ISIS, have also gainedground. The recognised govern-ment agreed to a peace deal lastmonth, but the Tripoli factionrefused to sign. The latestround of talks was meant toiron out remaining differences.A senior member of the Tripolidelegation quit on Wednesdayfollowing what his politicalparty described as differenceswith the head of the Tripoliparliament, known as the GNC,over the talks. Both sides facedivisions and pressure fromhardliners. This is not becausewe want to leave the U.N. dia-logue, Mowafaq Hawas, a rep-resentative of that parliament,told Reuters about the delay.The United Nations issued astatement saying the Libyanfaction had agreed to take partin the next round, but did notgive a date. All sides have beendiscussing a U.N. proposal thatcalls for a one-year governmentof national accord in which acouncil of ministers headed bya prime minister and two dep-uties would have executive au-thority.

A Syrian re fu ge e ch ild crie s o u ts ide h is fam ily te n t at a re fu ge e cam p in th e e as te rn Le ban e s e bo rde rto w n o f Arsal, Le ban o n . (AP)

The U.N. humanitarian chief urgedThursday the Security Council, itsmost powerful body, to push for asolution to end the conflict in Syr-ia that has killed more than a quar-ter of a million people.

With all the will in the world,humanitarian action cannot be asubstitute for political action. TheCouncil must exert leadership topush for a political solution,Stephen O Brien said after a short

trip to Syria earlier this month.It is difficult to find words

that would justly describe the depthof suffering that the Syrians faceon a daily basis. Having just re-turned from the country, I haveseen a glimpse of this grim realitymyself, he said. I left the coun-try deeply saddened and out-raged, he added. The needless andimmense suffering of ordinary Syr-ians and the abhorrent destruction

this conflict has wrought on thecountry. I am angry, because we asthe international community arenot allowed and are not able to domore to protect Syrians who morethan ever need our unfaltering sup-port, he added. The U.N. repre-sentative who was visiting Syriafor three days also discussed withsenior government officials theneed to strengthen protection ofcivilians. I urged the government

to grant full and unhindered accessto all people in need, whereverthey may be located. Since theconflict began over four years ago,more than a quarter of a millionpeople have been killed in Syriaand over a million people injured,according to the United Nations.

Some 7.6 million people havebeen displaced inside the country.Over one million people have hadto leave their homes this year alone.

More than 70dead in Austrianm igran t truck trage dyThe bodies of more than 70 deadmigrants have been recovered froman abandoned truck found on anAustrian motorway, more than theinitial estimate of between 20 and50, the Austrian government saidFriday, according to Agence FrancePresse.

The number was confirmed byinterior ministry spokesmanAlexander Marakovits. The lorrywas found on Thursday morningon a motorway near the borderswith Slovakia and Hungary.

No further details on the iden-tities, ages or origin of the deadwas available, but Austrian policein the eastern state of Burgenlandwere due to give a news confer-

Iraq PM ordersopening of green zone

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Friday ordered securitycommanders to make it easier forcivilians to get into Baghdad s for-tified Green Zone as well as givingbetter access to streets across thecountry closed by political andsecurity factions.

In online statements ahead ofstreet protests expected in the capi-tal and southern cities, Abadi alsoordered a legal committee to review

the ownership of state propertiesand return illegally gained assetsto the state.

Militias, political parties andinfluential figures have closed offmany areas in Baghdad and othercities in recent years in responseto widespread car bombing cam-paigns. Abadi ordered command-ers to implement a plan to pro-tect civilians ... from being targetedby terrorism .

ence at 11:00 am (0900 GMT).The refrigerated, 7.5-tonne

lorry had Hungarian number platesand the markings of a Slovakianpoultry firm. The driver was no-where to be seen and Austrian andHungarian police have launched ajoint investigation.

German Chancellor AngelaMerkel, in Austria for a summitwith Balkan leaders on Europe'smigrant crisis on Thursday, saidshe was shaken by the hor-rible news.

This is a warning to us totackle this migrants issue quicklyand in a European spirit, whichmeans in a spirit of solidarity, andto find solutions, Merkel said.

Virginia teen to besentenced for helping ISISA Virginia teenager is set to be sen-tenced for helping another teentravel to Syria to join ISIS and pro-viding other aid to the militantgroup.

Seventeen-year-old Ali ShukriAmin of faces up to 15 years inprison when he s sentenced Fri-day in federal court in Alexandria.Prosecutors, however, could rec-ommend he serve less time.

Amin pleaded guilty in June

to conspiring to provide materialsupport to terrorists. He wouldhave otherwise been graduatingfrom high school with honorsaround the time of his plea. Juve-niles rarely face charges in the fed-eral system.

He admitted helping anothernorthern Virginia teenager travel toSyria, as well as using Twitter andother social media to solicit dona-tions and support for ISIS.Nige ria m arks 50 0

days s in ce Chibo kgirls abductio n

Relatives of over 200 Nigerianschoolgirls kidnapped by BokoHaram mark 500 days since theabductions with hope dwindling fortheir rescue despite a renewed pushto end the armed group's rebellion.

The landmark on Thursdaycomes amid a security crisis innortheastern Nigeria, where fight-ers have killed more than 1,000people since the inauguration ofPresident Muhammadu Buhari inMay.

Boko Haram fighters stormedthe Government Secondary Schoolin the remote town of Chibok inBorno state on the evening of April14 last year, seizing 276 girls whowere preparing for end-of-yearexams.

Fifty-seven escaped but noth-ing has been heard of the 219 oth-ers since May last year, whenabout 100 of them appeared in aBoko Haram video.

Nigeria's abduction sagaParents of the missing girls are

unhappy at what they see as a lackof inadequate effort from their gov-ernment.

"The government's responsehas been very slow. If these girlswere their biological daughters Idon't think they would still be

missing. It's because they don't careabout the poor," Esther Yakubu,mother of a missing girl, said.

Buhari says his governmentwill not stop looking for the girls.

Shehu Garba, a presidentialspokesperson, said there has been"intensified intelligence gatheringand reconnaissance in a given loca-tion in the northeast".

"In the past, government hadcontended with intelligence thatwas very peripheral. I think we'regetting something deeper and clear-er and more specific," he told AlJazeera. The mass abductionbrought the brutality of the rebel-lion unprecedented worldwide at-tention and prompted a viral so-cial media campaign demandingtheir release backed by personali-ties from US First Lady MichelleObama to the actress Angelina Jo-lie. An 8,700-strong Multi-Nation-al Joint Task Force, drawing inNigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon,and Benin, is expected to go intoaction soon.

In a report published in April,Amnesty International quoted asenior military officer as saying thegirls were being held at variousBoko Haram camps, including inCameroon and possibly Chad.

Relatives of more than 200 missinggirls mark grim landmark amid renewed pushto end rebellion in northern Nigeria.

Former Ukraine rebelhead starts support groupfor Russian fighters

MOSCOW: A former leader of pro-Russian separatist rebels in east-ern Ukraine on Thursday an-nounced he was launching a sup-port network for Russian volun-teers who fought in the conflictand the families of those killed.

"A lot of people lost theirhealth, lost their jobs, there are thefamilies of the fallen," AlexanderBorodai said at a news conferencein Moscow. Kiev and the West saythat Russia is deploying its regu-lar troops to eastern Ukraine toback up the pro-Russian separat-ist region. Moscow insists that itscitizens fighting in easternUkraine's Donbass region are alleither volunteers or troops on leavefrom their jobs. The new Union ofDonbass Volunteers will be for "allof those who took part in defend-ing Donbass in one way or another.Everyone who was there," Borodaisaid. "They all need help, we needto help them. For that we need tounite," said the former self-pro-claimed prime minister of the self-declared Donetsk People s Repub-

lic. He estimated that "between30,00 and 50,000 Russian volun-teers" fought in eastern Ukraine.The organisation aims to gain thesame status and benefits for vol-unteers who fought in easternUkraine as for veterans of militaryconflicts, Borodai said. "The idealwould be if we could at some pointget volunteers equated with veter-ans of military action," he said. "Weunderstand it's very complex, thatthe government didn't send peoplethere and therefore isn't obliged toanswer for them... That's a long-term task." Borodai, a Russian citi-zen, is returning to the public eyeafter quitting as 'prime minister' ofthe self-proclaimed DonetskPeople's Republic in August lastyear in favour of a local man,Alexander Zakharchenko.

The new veterans' organisationwill have offices in Moscow, theCrimea peninsula and in the south-ern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, Borodai said. He added it wascurrently being registered by theRussian justice ministry and wouldhold its founding congress in Sep-tember. Borodai said the groupwould not be collecting public do-nations on the street. He did notspecify how the organisationwould be financed, but said itwould recruit a number of "seri-ous" donors. Former rebel leaderIgor Strelkov, also a Russian citi-zen, already heads a Moscow-based group called Novorossiyathat raises funds for Donbass.

Strelkov is frequently criticalof the current rebel leadership aswell as the Kremlin and the neworganisation seems to be designedto deflect attention from his.

Borodai's union "should givevolunteers legal status and unlike(Strelkov), it won't criticise theauthorities in the Donetsk andLugansk People's Republics," arebel source told Gazeta.ru newssite.

Japan protests against Chinese media call for emperor s apologyTOKYO: Japan has lodged a pro-test with China over a call byChina's Xinhua state news agencyfor Japan's Emperor Akihito toapologize for its past military ag-gression, a Japanese governmentspokesman said on Friday. Thenews agency's commentary was"significantly discourteous" to theemperor and it conflicted withChina's position on the issue, the

chief government spokesman said."It is utterly unfavorable as itcould throw cold water on the re-lationship between Japan andChina which is on the recoverypath following two meetings be-tween the leaders," Chief CabinetSecretary Yoshihide Suga told anews conference. "Japan stronglyprotested ... through diplomaticchannels." Japan invaded China in

1937 and ruled parts of it brutallyfor the next eight years. Westernand Chinese historians estimatemillions of Chinese civilians werekilled. Sino-Japan relations havelong been affected by what Chinasees as Japan's failure to atone forits actions. Xinhua said this weekJapan's then Emperor Hirohitonever apologized to the countriesand people that suffered during the

war and said his successor, Akihito,should do so. Emperor Akihitomarked the 70th anniversary of theend of World War Two on Aug. 15with an expression of "deep remorse"over the conflict. Ties between theneighbors have thawed slightly sinceJapanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abeand Chinese President Xi Jinpingmet at multilateral gatherings in Apriland last November.

So uth Sudan re be ls , arm y againaccuse e ach o the r o f attacks afte r pactJUBA: South Sudanese rebels andthe army have accused each otherfor the second time this week ofattacks, this time barely a day af-ter President Salva Kiir signed apeace deal that looks increasinglyfragile. Rebel leader Riek Macharsaid that South Sudanese govern-ment troops had attacked townsheld by the insurgents but armyspokesman, Col. Philip Aguer, re-jected the accusation and said itwas the rebels who had attackedthe government soldiers. Late onThursday, state television said Kiir

had decreed that a permanentceasefire, meant to end a 20-monthconflict, would go into effect atmidnight on Aug. 29. Kiir signedthe peace deal on Wednesday butsaid he had "serious reservations"on a number of provisions in thepeace proposals, including plansto demilitarise the capital. Duringthe signing ceremony Kiir said therebels had attacked governmenttroops in the north of the country.[ID:nL5N11134B] Kiir's long-timerival Machar, who is expected tobecome the country's First Vice

President under the deal, signed theagreement last week in Ethiopia.Kiir and Machar have signed sev-eral ceasefire deals before only toviolate them within days. Macharsaid in a statement late on Thurs-day that a government convoy ofgunboats and ferries had attackedthe rebel-held towns of Tayar andGanylel in Unity State, which hassuffered some of the worst of theviolence over its oilfields. He saidthe government's latest offensivewas aimed at capturing ports inUnity and neighbouring Upper

Nile State. "The government of-fensive against the SPLM/SPLA(rebels) is continuing unabated de-spite Salva Kiir signing the Agree-ment on Resolution of the Con-flict in South Sudan," Machar said."We are wondering whether thegovernment is genuine on signingthe agreement. We condemn theregime's continued offensive in thestrongest possible terms." "OnWednesday it was the rebels at-tacking the SPLA in Nhialdiu andthe SPLA repulsed them.(Reuters)

Kim Jong-Un creditsnukes not talks fordeal with S-Korea

SEOUL: North Korean leader KimJong-Un said nuclear weapons --not negotiating skills -- secured thisweek's "landmark" agreement withSouth Korea, as he dismissed anumber of officials from a top mili-tary decision-making body. Chair-ing a meeting of the powerful Cen-tral Military Commission (CMC),Kim credited the North with strik-ing the deal that ended a tense mili-tary standoff with the South,Pyongyang's official KCNA newsagency said Friday. The agreement,reached after marathon day-nighttalks in the border truce village ofPanmunjom, pulled both sides backfrom the brink of an armed con-flict and committed them to start-ing an official dialogue. But Kimmade it clear that sitting down totalks would not entail North Ko-rea discussing the end of its nuclearweapons programme, which theyoung leader said was key to main-taining peace in the first place.

The Panmunjom agreement"was by no means somethingachieved on the negotiating tablebut thanks to the tremendous mili-tary muscle with the nuclear de-terrent for self-defence", Kim re-

N o rth Ko re anle ade r Kim Jo n g-Unde live rs a s pe e ch atth e 4 th n a tio n a lco n fe re n ce o f w arve te ra n s , inPyongyang(AFPPhoto/-)

portedly told the meeting. TheCMC, which is the ruling party'stop military policy-making body,handled the recent crisis, and theKCNA report suggested Kim mayhave ordered a mini purge after-wards. The meeting "dismissedsome members of the Central Mili-tary Commission and appointednew ones and dealt with anorganisational matter," it said,without elaborating on the reasonfor the dismissals. Since takingpower in North Korea followingthe death of his father, Kim Jong-Il, in December 2011, Kim Jong-Un has repeatedly reshuffled hissenior military leaders. The latestinter-Korean crisis had its roots inlandmine blasts earlier this monththat maimed two South Koreansoldiers on patrol along the borderwith the North. Seoul blamedPyongyang and responded byswitching on banks of giant speak-ers, which had lain silent for morethan a decade, and blasting propa-ganda messages into North Korea.

The North denied any in-volvement and threatened to attackthe propaganda units as cross-bor-der military tensions soared.

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We a r e a n a t ion a l in st i t u t ion a n d n ot t h e vo ice o f a gov t o r a p r iva t e o r ga n iza t ion

Article 38:Personal residences shall be immune from trespassing. No one, including the state, shall have theright to enter a personal residence or search it without the owner s permission or by order of anauthoritative court, except in situations and methods delineated by law. In case of an evident crime,the responsible official shall enter or search a personal residence without prior court order. Theaforementioned official, shall, after entrance or completion of search, obtain a court order withinthe time limit set by law.

Pakis tan s

in te rfe re n ce in

Afghan is tan

The US is m a king Pa k is ta niw iv es d iv orce their husb a nd s

Murtaza Haider is a Toronto-based academic and thedirector of Regionomics.com.He tweets @regionomics.

Pakistanis should welcome peo-ple-to-people contacts with therest of the globe and resist narcis-sist xenophobia that feeds con-spiracy theories. Illustration byKhuda Bux Abro

The United States is behindthe increase in divorce rates inPakistan.

If you live in Pakistan, youmust be used to hearing and per-haps making such and even moreoutrageous statements. But not I.

I arrived in Pakistan last week.

Even before PIA s plane took offfrom Toronto airport, my fellowpassengers had already resortedto what I know now was theirfavourite pastime: America bash-ing. Shuja Khanzada was assas-sinated because he was about toexpose America s involvement interrorism in Pakistan, whisperedmy fellow passenger, while wewere delayed by an hour at thetarmac.

With hundreds of millionsspent on PR, and billions more inhumanitarian aid, America contin-ues to struggle to build a positiveimage in Muslim countries. With

extremist mullahs on one hand andSocialists and Marxists on the oth-er, the anti-American propagandain Pakistan thrives in madrassahsand universities alike.

What distinguishes Pakistanfrom the rest is how readily will-ing its educated class is to fall forpropaganda. I was surprised, toput it mildly, when I heard a rath-er distinguished group of Islama-bad-based male professionalsnodding in agreement to the claimthat the US was behind the sud-den increase in divorce rates inPakistan.

I couldn t resist to probe,How so?

Well, Americans are award-ing thousands of scholarships forhigher education to Pakistaniwomen. On their return, thesewomen are more in tune with theAmerican values than they arewith those of their homeland.They ultimately leave their hus-bands, explained one.

That this statement is factu-ally untrue is a minor concern tome. I am alarmed about the factthat it is virtually impossible for

a few hundred urban women toinfluence the divorce rates in thelargely rural Pakistan.

Let s look at this in a system-atic way. First, has there been adramatic increase in divorce ratesin Pakistan? I believe the statis-tics are not available to make aconclusive statement.The published research is rathershoddy.

Lawyers interviewedfor recent news reports

did notattempt to hide the misogyny-lad-en twisted logic and argued thateducation has led to financial in-dependence for women, who are

now increasingly asking for di-vorce instead of compromising .

It is strange that those whohold such an opinion do not ques-tion the practice where Muslimmen can arbitrarily divorce theirwives and are not bound to anycommunal or legal arbitration.

I divorce thee times threeis the trump card Muslim menhave used to break off marriag-es instantaneously. However,when women request for arbi-tration on divorce, these mensee red.

Let s analyse the claim aboutthe Americans exclusively fund-ing Pakistani women for highereducation, which the conspiracytheorists believe is causing thesurge in divorces in Pakistan.

The Fulbright program in Pa-kistan, for instance, providesscholarships for doctoral andMasters studies abroad. In 2015,the Fulbright program inPakistan enrolled 180 students. Asurvey of 86 of the 180 revealedthat a mere 27 per cent of the 2015class were women. So from a to-tal of 180, I expect fewer than 60

to be women.Even if the entire lot of Ful-

bright women who will eventu-ally graduate a few years downthe road divorce their spouses,they still cannot possibly influ-ence the 90 million Pakistaniwomen on the matter of divorce.

Aisi Taisi HypocrisyAn even stronger strand of

anti-American sentiment comesfrom certain members of the mili-tary. Senior decorated army offic-ers may be equally gullible orbiased. Confidential diplomaticdispatches

from the US embassyin Islamabad revealed that Anne

Patterson, the US Ambassador toPakistan in 2008, received aston-ishingly naive and biased ques-tions about America when sheaddressed Army s National De-fence University in Islamabad.

The elite of this crop of colo-nels and brigadiers are receivingbiased NDU training, with nochance to hear alternative viewsof the US, the dispatch quotedthe ambassador.

Not much has changed sincethen. The tit-for-tat song, AisiTaisi Hypocrisy, written in re-sponse to the Indian Aisi TaisiDemocracy is yet another exam-ple of the flourishing anti-Westsentiments in Pakistan. Writtenby Hassan Miraj, a major in Paki-stan Army, and sung by my young-er cousin, Mujtaba Ali, the songdraws a contrast between the illsin India and Pakistan. However,the song squarely puts the blamefor Pakistan s ills on the white race(a euphemism for Americans),Arabs and the news media. Scape-goating at its best.

America should not be judgedonly for the misdeeds of CIA and

Pentagon. The same goes for Pa-kistanis, who should not be seenin the narrow context of martiallaws or the intelligence intrigues.

American universities may beexpensive, but they are the bestin the world. That Pakistani stu-dents are welcomed in the US isno intrigue. Pakistanis shouldwelcome people-to-people con-tacts with the rest of the globeand resist narcissist xenophobiathat feeds conspiracy theories.

As for the surge in divorcerates, maybe, just maybe, it is timefor Pakistani men who beat theirwives to stop doing so.

Once again the Taliban unleashed the floodgates of terror. Once again the

nation witnessed the bloodbath. The coldblooded Taliban, the merchants of

hatred and bloodshed, killed at least 19 members of Afghan Local Police

(ALP) and two civilians in the northwestern Faryab province. Yes, Faryab, a

province that made headlines in media for military operation launched by

the First Vice President Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum. In the contemporary

history of the world, no incumbent president or deputy president has gone

to the battlefield, organized and led military operations however Dostum

did it. He made a difference. Yet at the same time the operation was a com-

plete farce, from beginning to the end as when he was in the battlefield, the

Taliban ran away, and when he was out from Faryab province, the Taliban

came back. Now Dostum is in Sar-i-Pul and the Taliban are out. When he

leaves they will come back. So, the operation is not yielding the desired

objectives. Battling the Taliban needs a long term strategy not quick fixes.

Besides that the government s security policy in other provinces is also

failing. When the governors and tribal elders of certain volatile provinces

call for help and increased deployments of security forces, the call is fallen

on deaf ears in Kabul and when some districts fall to the Taliban the govern-

ment s machinery comes into movements and dispatches battalions to re-

claim the lost districts. What is the result? It takes weeks to retake the lost

areas at a higher cost. The government needs overhauling its security strat-

egy. As Amrullah Saleh, the ex-spy chief and dynamic young man with good

political insights on the political landscape of the country besides profes-

sional skills, says that the issue the government s competence and delivery,

so is the general publics view regarding the government. All their hopes

have dashed to the ground. The government so far has failed to deliver. The

current leadership looks unnerved as too many things have gone messed up.

The topsy-turvy start of the government, the drawdown of coalition troops,

the decline in international aid, the continued fall of Afghani (national cur-

rency) brought the government under a heavy pressure, which is why it looks

failing to live up to the expectations of the people, who had dared the Tali-

ban s threat and swelled before polling stations to reject the Taliban and

elect the new government. The most pressing challenge is the government

will have to survive sans assistance from the US troops once they com-

pletely pull out from the country. The United States President Obama says

that the last American troops will leave Afghanistan at the end of 2016. So,

Kabul has one year and a few months to devise its own security plans while

keeping in mind that beyond 2016, it wouldn t have the backing of Ameri-

can troops. Though this is very much satisfactory that Afghan national secu-

rity forces have been demonstrating well against the Taliban yet the govern-

ment needs to overcome the security loopholes in the volatile provinces.

Bloodbath in Faryaband security farce

http://www.afghanistantimes.af

The views and opinions expressed in the articles are those of the author(s)and do not reflect the views or opinions of the Afghanistan Times.

Disclaimer:

SATURDAY .AUGUST 29, 2015

AFGHANISTANTIMES

Letter to editor will be edited for policy, content and clarity. All letters must have the writer sname and address. You may send your letters to: [email protected]

ETTER TO THE EDITOR

Boost healthcare servicesQuality health service is need of the hour for Afghanistan. Most of Afghans are faced with lack of quality health services in mostparts of the country particularly in remote areas. Many public hospitals have been equipped with modern equipments but expertsare needed to use the medical machines effectively.Several Afghans spend huge amount of money and send their patients for treatment abroad particularly to neighboring countriesof India and Pakistan.Besides that, people living in remote areas are faced with lack of professional health workers. In some areas like Badakhshanprovince, nurses are filling the gap of medical doctors as there is no medical doctor to provide health services for the residents.

It is the duty of all related organization including the Ministry of Public Health to pay attention to this problemand overcome it through different ways including sending new graduated medical doctors to remote areas.Ahmad Rishad, Khairkhana, Kabul

The Silk Roads that trace civilization:Long before the West rose to power, Asianpathways were connecting peoples and places

The west s fixation on its own history has led us to ignore the vast terrain of the Silk Roads , to which we owe ourcivilisation, and thus to misunderstand its peoples. In his new book, Peter Frankopan aims to correct our perspective

As a child, one of my most prizedpossessions was a large map ofthe world. It was pinned on thewall by my bed, and I would stareat it every night before I went tosleep. Before long, I had memo-rised the names and locations ofall the countries, noting their cap-ital cities, as well as the oceansand seas, and the rivers thatflowed into them; the names ofmajor mountain ranges anddeserts, written in urgent italics,thrilled with adventure and dan-ger. By the time I was a teenager,I had become uneasy about therelentlessly narrow geographicfocus of my classes at school,which concentrated solely onwestern Europe and the UnitedStates and left most of the rest ofthe world untouched. We hadbeen taught about the Romans inBritain; the Norman conquest of1066; Henry VIII and the Tudors;the American War of Indepen-dence; Victorian industrialisation;the battle of the Somme; and therise and fall of Nazi Germany. Iwould look up at my map and seehuge regions of the world that hadbeen passed over in silence.

For my 14th birthday myparents gave me a book by theanthropologist Eric Wolf, whichreally lit the tinder. The acceptedand lazy history of civilisation,wrote Wolf, is one where An-cient Greece begat Rome, Romebegat Christian Europe, ChristianEurope begat the Renaissance, theRenaissance the Enlightenment,the Enlightenment political de-

mocracy and the industrial revo-lution. Industry crossed with de-mocracy in turn yielded the Unit-ed States, embodying the rightsto life, liberty and the pursuit ofhappiness. I immediately recog-nised that this was exactly the sto-ry that I had been told: the mantraof the political, cultural and moraltriumph of the west. But this ac-count was flawed; there were al-ternative ways of looking at his-tory ones that did not involvelooking at the past from the per-spective of the winners of recenthistory. I was hooked. It was sud-denly obvious that the regions wewere not being taught about hadbecome lost, suffocated by theinsistent story of the rise of Eu-rope. I begged my father to takeme to see the Hereford MappaMundi, which located Jerusalemas its focus and mid-point, withEngland and other western coun-tries placed off to one side, all butirrelevancies. When I read aboutArab geographers whose workswere accompanied by charts thatseemed upside down and put theCaspian Sea at its centre, I wastransfixed as I was when I foundout about an important medievalTurkish map in Istanbul that hadat its heart a city calledBalâsâghûn, which I had nevereven heard of, which did not ap-pear on any maps, and whose verylocation was uncertain until re-cently, and yet was once consid-ered the centre of the world.

Another world: the SilkRoads went from China to Tur-key

I wanted to know more aboutRussia and Central Asia, aboutPersia and Mesopotamia. I want-

ed to understand the origins ofChristianity when viewed fromAsia; and how the Crusadeslooked to those living in the greatcities of the Middle Ages Con-stantinople, Jerusalem, Baghdadand Cairo, for example; I wantedto learn about the great empiresof the east, about the Mongols andtheir conquests; and to understandhow two world wars looked whenviewed not from Flanders or theeastern front, but from Afghani-stan and India. Today, much at-tention is devoted to assessing thelikely impact of rapid growth inChina, where demand for luxurygoods is forecast to quadruple inthe next decade (if the current eco-nomic clouds clear) or to consid-

ering social change in India, wheremore people have access to a mo-bile phone than to a flushing toi-let. But neither offers the bestvantage point to view the world spast and its present. In fact, formillennia, it was the region lyingbetween east and west, linkingEurope with the Pacific Ocean,that was the axis on which theglobe spun. The halfway pointbetween east and west, runningbroadly from the eastern shoresof the Mediterranean and theBlack Sea to the Himalayas, mightseem an unpromising positionfrom which to assess the world.This is a region that is now hometo states that evoke the exotic andthe peripheral, like Kazakhstanand Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan andTurkmenistan, Tajikistan and thecountries of the Caucasus; it is aregion associated with regimes thatare unstable, violent and a threatto international security, like Af-ghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria, orill versed in the best practices ofdemocracy, like Russia and Azer-baijan. Overall, it appears to be aregion that is home to a series offailed or failing states, led by dic-tators who win impossibly largemajorities in national elections andwhose families and friends con-trol sprawling business interests,own vast assets and wield politi-cal power. They are places withpoor records on human rights,where freedom of faith, con-science and sexuality is limited,and where control of the mediadictates what does and what doesnot appear in the press.

Burana tower on the site ofthe ancient town of Balasagun(Alamy)

While such countries mayseem wild to us, these are no back-waters, no obscure wastelands. Infact the bridge between east andwest is the very crossroads ofcivilisation. Far from being on thefringe of global affairs, these coun-tries lie at its very centre as theyhave done since the beginning ofhistory. It was here that civilisa-tion was born, and where manybelieved mankind had been creat-ed in the Garden of Eden, plant-ed by the Lord God [with] everytree that is pleasant to the sightand good for food , which waswidely thought to be located inthe rich fields between the Tigrisand Euphrates. It was in thisbridge between east and west thatgreat metropolises were estab-lished nearly 5,000 years ago,where the cities of Harappa andMohenjo-daro in the Indus valleywere wonders of the ancientworld, with populations number-ing in the tens of thousands andstreets connected to a sophisti-cated sewage system that wouldnot be rivalled in Europe for thou-sands of years. Other great cen-tres of civilisation such as Baby-lon, Nineveh, Uruk and Akkad inMesopotamia were famed fortheir grandeur and architecturalinnovation. One Chinese geogra-pher, meanwhile, writing morethan two millennia ago, noted thatthe inhabitants of Bactria, centredon the Oxus river and now locat-ed in northern Afghanistan, werelegendary negotiators and traders;its capital city was home to amarket where a huge range of prod-ucts were bought and sold, car-ried from far and wide. This re-gion is where the world s greatreligions burst into life, where Ju-daism, Christianity, Islam, Bud-dhism and Hinduism jostled witheach other. It is the cauldron where

language groups competed, whereIndo-European, Semitic and Sino-Tibetan tongues wagged alongsidethose speaking Altaic, Turkic andCaucasian. This is where greatempires rose and fell, where theafter-effects of clashes betweencultures and rivals were felt thou-sands of miles away. Standing hereopened up new ways to view thepast and showed a world that wasprofoundly interconnected, wherewhat happened on one continenthad an impact on another, wherethe after-shocks of what hap-pened on the steppes of CentralAsia could be felt in North Africa,where events in Baghdad resonat-ed in Scandinavia, where discov-eries in the Americas altered theprices of goods in China and ledto a surge in demand in the horsemarkets of northern India.

These tremors were carriedalong a network that fans out inevery direction, routes alongwhich pilgrims and warriors, no-mads and merchants have trav-elled, goods and produce havebeen bought and sold, and ideasexchanged, adapted and refined.They have carried not only pros-perity, but also death and vio-lence, disease and disaster. In thelate 19th century, this sprawlingweb of connections was given aname by an eminent German ge-ologist, Ferdinand von Richthofen(uncle of the First World War fly-ing ace the Red Baron ) that hasstuck ever since: Seidenstra en

the Silk Roads. These pathwaysserve as the world s central ner-vous system, connecting peoplesand places together, but lying be-neath the skin, invisible to thenaked eye. Just as anatomy ex-plains how the body functions,understanding these connectionsallows us to understand how theworld works. And yet, despite theimportance of this part of theworld, it has been forgotten by

mainstream history. In part, thisis because of what has been calledorientalism the strident and

overwhelmingly negative view ofthe east as undeveloped and infe-rior to the west, and thereforeunworthy of serious study. But italso stems from the fact that thenarrative of the past has becomeso dominant and well establishedthat there is no place for a regionthat has long been seen as periph-eral to the story of the rise of Eu-rope and of western society. To-day, Jalalabad and Herat in Af-ghanistan, Fallujah and Mosul inIraq or Homs and Aleppo in Syriaseem synonymous with religiousfundamentalism and sectarian vi-olence. The present has washedaway the past: gone are the dayswhen the name of Kabul conjuredup images of the gardens plantedand tended by the great Bâbur,founder of the Mughal Empire inIndia. The Bagh-i-Wafa ( Gardenof Fidelity ) included a pool sur-rounded by orange and pomegran-ate trees and a clover meadow. Inthe same way, modern impres-sions about Iran have obscured theglories of its more distant historywhen its Persian predecessor wasa byword for good taste in every-thing, from the fruit served at din-ner, to the stunning miniature por-traits produced by its legendaryartists, to the paper that scholarswrote on. A beautifully consideredwork written by Simi Nîshâpûrî,a librarian from Mashad in east-ern Iran around 1400CE, recordsin careful detail the advice of abook lover who shared his pas-sion. Anyone thinking of writing,he counsels solemnly, should beadvised that the best paper forcalligraphy is produced in Dam-ascus, Baghdad or Samarkand.Paper from elsewhere is general-ly rough, blotches and is imper-

manent . Places whose names areall but forgotten once dominated,such as Merv, described by one10th-century geographer as a de-lightful, fine, elegant, brilliant, ex-tensive and pleasant city , andthe mother of the world ; or

Rayy, not far from modern Te-hran, which to another writeraround the same time was so glo-rious as to be considered thebridegroom of the earth and theworld s most beautiful creation .Dotted across the spine of Asia,these cities were strung like pearls,linking the Pacific to the Medi-terranean. Urban centres spurredeach other on, with rivalry be-tween rulers and elites promptingever more ambitious architectureand spectacular monuments. Li-braries, places of worship,churches and observatories of im-mense scale and cultural influencedotted the region, connecting Con-stantinople to Damascus, Isfah-an, Samarkand, Kabul and Kash-gar. Cities such as these becamehome to brilliant scholars whoadvanced the frontiers of theirsubjects. The names of only asmall handful are familiar today men like Ibn Sînâ, better knownas Avicenna, al-Bîrûnî and al-Kh-wârizmi giants in the fields ofastronomy and medicine; butthere were many more besides.For centuries before the earlymodern era, the intellectual cen-tres of excellence of the world, theOxfords and Cambridges, the Har-vards and Yales, were not locatedin Europe or the west, but inBaghdad and Balkh, Bukhara andSamarkand. There was good rea-son why the cultures, cities andpeoples who lived along the SilkRoads developed and advanced:as they traded and exchangedideas, they learnt and borrowedfrom each other, stimulating fur-ther advances in philosophy, thesciences, language and religion.

Progress was essential, as one ofthe rulers of the kingdom of Zhao,in north-eastern China at one ex-tremity of Asia more than 2,000years ago, knew all too well. Atalent for following the ways ofyesterday , declared King Wu-lingin 307BCE, is not sufficient toimprove the world of today. Lead-ers in the past understood howimportant it was to keep up withthe times.

A rock sculpture at Rayy inTehran (Alamy)

The mantle of progress shift-ed, however, in the early modernperiod as a result of two great mar-itime expeditions that took placeat the end of the 15th century. Inthe course of six years in the 1490s,the foundations were laid for amajor disruption to the rhythm oflong-established systems of ex-change. First Christopher Colum-bus crossed the Atlantic, pavingthe way for two great land massesthat were hitherto untouched toconnect to Europe and beyond;then, just a few years later, Vascoda Gama successfully navigated thesouthern tip of Africa, sailing onto India, opening new sea routes inthe process. The discoverieschanged patterns of interaction andtrade, and effected a remarkablechange in the world s political andeconomic centre of gravity. Sud-denly, western Europe was trans-formed from its position as a re-gional backwater into the fulcrumof a sprawling communication,transportation and trading system:at a stroke, it became the new mid-point between east and west.

The rise of Europe sparked afierce battle for power and forcontrol of the past. As rivalssquared up to each other, historywas reshaped to emphasise theevents, themes and ideas that couldbe used in the ideological clashesthat raged alongside the struggle forresources and for command of thesea lanes. Busts were made of lead-ing politicians and generals wear-ing togas to make them look likeRoman heroes of the past; magnif-icent new buildings were construct-ed in grand classical style that ap-propriated the glories of the an-cient world as their own direct an-tecedents. History was twisted andmanipulated to create an insistentnarrative where the rise of the westwas not only natural and inevita-ble, but a continuation of what hadgone before.

The Ark fortress in Bukha-ra, Uzbekistan (Bloomsbury)

Many stories set me on theway to looking at the world s pastin a different way. But one stoodout in particular. Greek mytholo-

gy had it that Zeus, father of thegods, released two eagles, one ateach end of the earth, and com-manded them to fly towards eachother. A sacred stone, the ompha-los the navel of the world wasplaced where they met, to enablecommunication with the divine. Ilearnt later that the concept of thisstone has long been a source of fas-cination for philosophers and psy-choanalysts. I remember gazing atmy map when I first heard this tale,wondering where the eagles wouldhave met. I imagined them takingoff from the shores of the westernAtlantic and the Pacific coast ofChina and heading inland. The pre-cise position changed, dependingwhere I placed my fingers to startmeasuring equal distances fromeast and west. But I always endedup somewhere between the BlackSea and the Himalayas. I would lieawake at night, pondering the mapon my bedroom wall, Zeus eaglesand the history of a region that wasnever mentioned in the books thatI read and did not have a name.Not so long ago, Europeans divid-ed Asia into three broad zones the Near, Middle and Far East. Yetwhenever I heard or read aboutpresent-day problems as I wasgrowing up, it seemed that the sec-ond of these, the Middle East, hadshifted in meaning and even loca-tion, being used to refer to Israel,Palestine and the surrounding area,and occasionally to the PersianGulf. And I could not understandwhy I kept being told of the im-portance of the Mediterranean asa cradle of civilisation, when itseemed so obvious that this wasnot where civilisation had reallybeen forged. The real crucible, theMediterranean in its literal mean-

ing the centre of the world wasnot a sea separating Europe andNorth Africa, but right in the heartof Asia.

(Courtesy: The Independent)

By Peter Frankopan

Mercenarymotives behind NorthWaziristan offensive

he Pakistan Army haslaunched a long-awaitedground offensive in the

Taliban-infested Shawal area ofthe North Waziristan tribal re-gion near the Durand Line. Themilitary sweep comes soon af-ter the Obama administrationnotified the Pakistan embassyin Washington of its intentionnot to certify Pakistan scounter-terrorism operations inWaziristan as adequately dam-aging the Haqqani network, aUS-designated terror group.

Non-certification of thecounter-terror campaign, code-named Operation Zarb-i-Azb,will block the release of a newtranche of US financial assis-tance to the Pakistani militaryfrom the Coalition SupportFund (CSF). CSF support hadbeen extended for a year with aspecific stipulation that the USDepartment of Defense wouldcertify the effectiveness of Pa-kistani military operationsagainst the Haqqani network

Relations between the al-lies, which have fallen apartover their divergent interestsand priorities in stabilising themilitancy-plagued Durand Line,may come under further strainas a result of the decision. Giv-en the recent deterioration inties with Kabul amid allegationsby President Ashraf Ghani thatPakistani has failed to rein incross-border terrorists, includ-ing militants affiliated with theHaqqani network, the US deci-sion vindicates the Afghangovernment s claim.

Assistance tied to opera-tions

In the wake of serious con-gressional objections, thelaunch of the Shawal push isamply reflective of Pakistan smercenary motives. Since 2001,the US has been paying Paki-stan $1 billion annually to crackdown on terrorism and extrem-ism. In order to ensure contin-ued aid inflows, Pakistan hasconducted occasional militaryoperations. However, the out-come of these sweeps has beenway short of what the US andits NATO allies have long ex-pected.

Despite receiving billions ofdollars in American assistancein recent years, Pakistan hasnot spent the aid on battlingthe scourge of terrorism. Anumber of defence analystsbelieve that the aid is being ex-pended brazenly on promotingthe menace. Due to its perenni-al economic woes, Islamabadhas grabbed the lion s share ofWestern assistance to Afghan-istan since jihad against theSoviet Union was launched.The foreign aid was used tostrengthen the Pakistan Armyand its nuclear arsenal.

Pakistan s phony positionBecause of its wobbly econ-

omy, Pakistan can ill-afford mil-itary operations and hence itsheavy reliance on generous aidfrom America and many othercountries. In recent years, it hasbeen insisting on playing anhonest role in curbing terror-ism. In fact, Pakistan s war onterror has morphed into coop-eration with the insurgents. In2011, Al-Qaeda leader Osamabin Laden was killed in a USoperation in Pakistan s north-western garrison city of Abbot-tabad.

What is more is that Tali-ban s supreme leader MullahMohammad Omar died in a

By Mirwais JawadKarachi hospital. Additionally,most of Al-Qaeda membershave been killed in Pakistan,where many more are still hid-ing. By the same token, the Tal-iban s Quetta Shura has beenoperating there, easily movingfrom one place to another.

This covert support for ter-rorism notwithstanding, Paki-stan has been touting its con-tribution to the war on terror.Its military claims having elimi-nated 2,763 insurgents duringthe ongoing offensive that waslaunched in mid-June 2014. Butnot a single warrior s body wasever shown to media. On theother hand, a Pakistani generalsays many terrorists havemoved to major cities includ-ing Karachi, Lahore and Pesha-war to evade the military offen-sive.

No doubt, operations arebeing conducted but their tar-gets and outcome have beensuspect. Looking at the rebelsconnections with the PakistanArmy, particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Is-lamabad is apparently not seri-ous about combating terrorismhonestly. Across-the-boardaction against extremists willimperil Pakistan s own strate-gic interests. Acutely aware ofthis reality, Pakistan has beenin cahoots with different terroroutfits.

Washington s two-facedpolicy

America s policy towardthe Afghan government sarmed opponents has been ir-resolute and vacillating at best.Quite untenably though, itsays the Afghan governmentshould tackle the Taliban prob-lem. But on the other hand,Washington has been at oddsover the Haqqani network,which has been attacking Amer-ican and NATO targets in Af-ghanistan. For this reason, theUS has repeatedly asked Paki-stan to move decisively againstthe group.

Under the strategic coop-eration and bilateral securitypacts, American will stand byAfghanistan in case of foreignaggression. Now is the time forthe US to come to Afghani-stan s rescue. However, Amer-ica, which has not yet adoptedsuch a posture against Paki-stan, is trying to safeguard itsown interests. Again, the con-gressional move is also drivenby similar objectives.

The implementation of thetwo security agreements withthe US must be considered dis-passionately. The Afghan gov-ernment, which can watch theenforcement of both accords,should categorically ask for USsupport. In case of a negativeresponse from Washington,Kabul reserves the right to re-view the agreements.

Kabul s stance vindicatedThe decision on discon-

tinuing CSF payments vindi-cates Kabul s stance, particu-larly on the Haqqani network,which has conducted deadlyassaults in Afghanistan. In theprevailing circumstances, theAshraf Ghani administrationshould mount more pressure onPakistan before taking its caseto international forums. For Af-ghanistan to get justice, a re-course to such global forumscan be expected in near future.

Mirwais is a Kabul-basedindependent writer. The viewsexpressed in this article in noway reflect Pajhwok s policy.


AFGHANISTANTIMES

Recklinghausen, Germany - Thephone call came out of the blueone day last summer, recalls Nas-er Alameen. The Syrian was on hisway home when a voice asked:"Do you want to be relocated?"

For two years, the 52-year-oldman and his family had been livingbetween the highway and the seaon a farm south of Beirut, Leba-non. After they were forced to fleetheir war-torn village near Idlib inSyria, a Lebanese farmer gave themshelter in a small, one room stoneshack in the middle of his bananaplantation.

Together they numbered 20people, including Alameen, his wifeand five of their children, brother-in-law and family, along with neigh-bours and their relatives from Syr-ia. "Why not?" he replied to thewoman from UNHCR on the oth-er end of the phone. "Anything isbetter than this." The Alameenswere among 20,000 people select-ed to take part in a resettlementprogramme for Syrian refugees inGermany, a joint initiative betweenthe United Nations and the Ger-man government. Naser Alameenand 19 others shared a room ofabout 10 square metres [VictoriaSchneider/Al Jazeera]

"We target the most vulnera-ble of the registered refugees,"Audrey Bernard, from the UNH-CR office in Beirut, told Al Jazeera.

Every day, Bernard and herteam screen a database of 1.2 mil-lion names and choose potentialcases matching situations provid-ed by countries willing to take inrefugees. Chance at new life

"They had the flexibility andthe legislation allowing admissionof asylum seekers in their territo-ry faster than standard resettle-ment procedures," said Bernard,commenting on the Alameens' fitwith Germany. The Europeancountry was the first to allow cer-tain Syrians registered in Lebanon,Jordan, Iraq, Turkey, and Egyptto move there without a protract-ed asylum application procedure.

About half of all those select-ed have successfully arrived in theFederal Republic of Germany,where they have a chance to inte-grate and build a new life. ThomasLangwald from the German Officefor Migration and Refugees ex-plained the programme, whichcosts the state about $14m, spe-cifically targets families that "can-not return to Syria" and would have

difficulty settling in the countrythey first fled to. Every candidatehas to undergo numerous inter-views, collective and individual, aswell as medical check-ups. Everyfile is thoroughly vetted by bothUnited Nations and German au-thorities. "We have to make surethe people have no criminal recordor ties to terrorist organisations,"explained Langwald.

The Alameens were approvedin March 2015. A month later theyboarded a chartered plane in Beirutand left the Middle East. Every-thing was different in Germany -the bread, the language, the open-ing hours of the supermarket, re-called Alameen, sitting in the roomthe family shares in their tempo-rary shelter.

At a transit camp in Friedlandvillage, the family discovered thedeep culture differences that setthem apart from the locals. "Wemiss Syria," said Hend, Alameen's

wife. "Suddenly it is so far away."The resettlement programme triesto buffer the culture shock. Uponarrival, they are granted temporaryresidence for two years. They getwork permits and receive socialgrants and free healthcare. Relo-cated Syrians get free German in-tegration classes to learn the lan-guage and culture. The asylumsystem, however, is becomingoverwhelmed in Germany.

The thousands of undocu-mented refugees arriving in Europeevery day can only dream of thebenefits afforded families such asthe Alameens, who are unofficial-ly known as "first class refugees".

Asylum applications for thosearriving in Germany through othermeans can take months to be pro-cessed, which means months ofuncertainty as they are unable towork, live in overcrowded hostelswith no privacy, and realise the lowchance of having their applications

approved. In the first sevenmonths of 2015, Germany re-ceived 195,000 asylum applica-tions. That's more than twice asmany as the same period of 2014,when it received 80,000. One-fifthof the applicants - nearly 42,100 -are from Syria.

According to the interior min-istry, Germany received 140,000refugees from Syria since the con-flict started in 2011. "We are reach-ing our limits," said Langwald.

That's one of the reasons whyGermany has not submitted afourth relocation pledge to the UN."We are hoping for a pan-Europe-an solution, which Germany willthen be part of," Langwald said.

While the resettlement pro-gramme is meticulously organised,municipalities are struggling tocope with the influx of newcom-ers. Sports venues and old ware-houses have been transformed intotemporary residences. Settling in

"Yalla, show what you'velearned," Naser Alameen told hisyoungest daughter, Amina. Theyoung girl timidly recited the al-phabet and numbers, up to 20, inGerman.

The family was allocated ahome for free in Recklinghausen, atown in the former coal region inthe west of Germany. It has threebedrooms, a living room, a kitch-en, and a bathroom. Volunteersgave them two sofas. Many refu-gees, such as the Alameens, wouldbe without furniture if it weren'tfor local support. "Without thevoluntary refugee organisations itwouldn't work," said Esther Ader-holz, a German official. The streetwhere the Alameens have settledin Recklinghausen [VictoriaSchneider] The Alameens get freehealthcare, the children are learn-ing German at a nearby school, andthey've discovered a Turkish su-permarket where they can buy

Middle Eastern food - includingLebanese bread and Arabic yogurt- which makes them feel more athome. Naser Alameen still findsthe language barrier challenging, ex-pressing frustration that he can-not communicate while runningsimple errands. But the familyhas found support in fellow refu-gees and neighbours who are hap-py to accompany the Alameensand translate. Yet, Naser and HendAlameen haven't been able to leavetheir old life behind completely.They worry for their relatives inSyria and Lebanon. Their eldestson was killed in Turkey last year.Their second son, who also livedin Turkey, is facing problems afterattempting to return to Syria. "Hehas changed, we don't know whathappened. His friend was killed,he is living on the streets," Hendsaid as tears rolled down her face."My heart cannot rest until he issafe." (AL JAZEERA)

The deadsea is dyingThe Dead Sea, occupied WestBank - On the Dead Sea's coastin the occupied West Bank, Is-raeli settlers, Palestinians andtourists make the downhill trekfrom the former waterline to itsnew resting place. The Dead Sea,a unique body of water markedby mineral-rich, unusually saltywater - nearly 10 times saltierthan the world's oceans - is dy-ing. Its water level is droppingby roughly one metre each year.

"We think that the currentsituation is an ecological disas-ter," said Gidon Bromberg, di-rector of EcoPeace Middle East(EPME), an organisation thatbrings together Israeli, Jordanianand Palestinian environmental-ists to protect their shared envi-ronmental heritage. "It's unac-ceptable: The unique ecosystemis in severe danger, threateningbiodiversity, and you see dramat-ic sinkholes opening up along theshore," Bromberg said, referringto the large, unpredictable cavi-ties that have appeared recently.Some are so cavernous that theyswallow entire structures.

According to Bromberg, thetwo main reasons for the drop-ping water level are mineral ex-traction by Israeli and Jordaniancompanies in the artificially shal-low southern basin, and the factthat 95 percent of the JordanRiver - the Dead Sea's mainsource of replenishing water - isbeing diverted. The river used toprovide 1,350 million cubic me-tres of water each year (mcm),but that flow has dwindled tojust 20 mcm.

Israel, Jordan, and the occu-pied West Bank all border theDead Sea, and have taken stepsto deal with its disappearance.The first concrete plan wassigned in 2005, when all threeparties signed a letter to theWorld Bank that allowed the in-ternational financial institution toinvestigate the feasibility of a$10bn project to pump 850 mcmof water from Jordan's sectionof the Red Sea to a desalinationplant at the southern end of theDead Sea. The 2,000 mcm of ul-tra-saline brine that results fromthe desalination process wouldthen be pumped to the Dead Seaover the course of 40 years. Bro-mberg said EPME was unable tosupport this project, because the"environmental impact was un-knowable". A main concern forenvironmental groups has beenthe effect that introducing suchhigh volumes of foreign brinewater would have on the DeadSea's unique ecosystem, whichfeatures unique bacterial and fun-gal life forms.

After years of consultationsinvolving government officialsand civil society groups, includ-ing EPME, the original projectwas put on hold. However, theparties continued negotiations,and in February, a final agreementemerged: a $950m "pilot pro-gramme" water-sharing arrange-ment, in which Jordan will con-struct a desalination plant nearAqaba, on the coast of the RedSea. The scheme will produceabout 85 mcm of fresh water ayear. Up to 50 mcm will be soldto the southern Israeli resort cityof Eilat, leaving about 35 mcmfor use in Aqaba city. As part ofthe agreement, Israel will sell an-other 50 mcm of freshwater toAmman from the Sea of Galilee.EPME supports the new waterchange agreement between Israeland Jordan. Bromberg told AlJazeera that this much smallerproject "will have manageableenvironmental impacts that makea lot more sense". However,EPME does not support thedeal s proposed pipeline that willpump desalinated water to theDead Sea from Aqaba, saying theprojected cost of $400m is notrealistic and would only halt thedrop in the Dead Sea's water lev-el by about 10 percent, withoutaddressing related environmentalconcerns. Water sharing deal inthe Middle East signed

Jordan, as one of the world'smost water-scarce countries,stands to gain from the agree-ment. But the Palestinian Au-thority (PA), the governing bodyof the occupied West Bank, wasleft out. Israel and Jordan areapproaching the new arrange-ment bilaterally.

The PA is awaiting negotia-tions with Israel on a separateagreement, in which Israel wouldsell another 20-30 mcm a year tothe West Bank. Clemens Mess-erschmid, a German hydrogeol-ogist who has been working onwater projects in the Gaza Stripand West Bank since 1997, toldAl Jazeera that these agreementswere nothing more than an at-tempt by Israel to cement thecurrent status quo, in which itcontrols water extraction fromthe occupied territories and theJordan River basin then sells thiswater back to Palestinians. "Pal-estinians, by default, are the realloser of these agreements, wheth-er the 'pilot programmes' or the$10bn World Bank scheme,"Messerschmid said. Israel be-came a water-surplus country in2013. Often, programmes en-couraging conservation and recy-cling of waste water are cited asthe reason for Israel's water sur-plus.

Democrats confident Iran deal will survive in CongressDemocrats are confident they willhave enough votes to protect theIran nuclear deal in the U.S. Con-gress, but they face an uphill taskto avoid President Barack Obamahaving to use his veto power toensure the agreement's survival.

"We're getting close," said Sen-ator Richard Durbin, who as Mi-nority Whip is the Democrats'chief vote counter in the Senate,referring to the 34 Senate votesneeded to sustain an Obama vetoif Congress initially rejects thedeal. "I have really been heartenedby the positive response from ourcaucus," he told Reuters on Thurs-day. Obama will be able to savethe agreement if he can deny op-ponents in either the Senate or theHouse of Representatives the two-thirds majority needed to overridehis expected veto.

Senate aides said they expect-ed to reach that threshold beforeCongress returns from recess onSept. 8, ahead of a vote on the dealwhich must take place before Sept17. But achieving the 41 Senatevotes needed to block an expected"resolution of disapproval" of thedeal by the Republican majority -avoiding the need for a veto - re-

mains in doubt, they acknowl-edged. The distinction is viewedas crucial by the White House andother backers of the controversialaccord, which gives sanctions re-lief to Iran in exchange for curbson its nuclear program. If Obamahas to use his promised veto, itwould undercut his ability to claim

broad political backing for the dealagreed by six major powers andIran. The appearance of more uni-ty would strengthen the interna-tional community's hand in forc-ing Iran to comply with the nucle-ar agreement, backers say. A Reu-ters poll released on Thursdayunderlined the growing partisan

divisions over the deal, with 54percent of Republican supportersopposing it, up from 30 percent inApril. Only 16 percent of Demo-crat respondents oppose the deal.

Twenty-seven Senate Demo-crats and two independents haveannounced support for the agree-ment, which was reached in mid-

July and which Republicans saywill empower Iran without effec-tively blocking its path to a nucle-ar weapon. With more Democratsexpected to come out in favorwithin days, the White House isedging toward the 34 Senate votesneeded to sustain Obama's veto andpreserve his top foreign policyachievement from collapse. Is aveto avoidable? Growing supportfor the deal has led to speculationthat Democrats are approaching the41 votes they would need underprocedural rules to block a disap-proval resolution in the Senate andkeep it from reaching Obama'sdesk. To reach 41 votes, 12 of the15 undecided Senate Democratswould have to support a motionblocking it. Senior Democraticaides said they do not yet havethat many votes even in their pri-vate "likely yes" columns.

"The last 10 percent is alwaysthe hardest," a Senate Democraticleadership aide said.

One pro-deal group trackingthe vote said it was confident ofonly about six or seven of the 15remaining undecided Democratseventually backing the deal.

Obama has lobbied heavily for

the deal and an aide said Durbinhad called undecided Democratsevery day during Congress' four-week summer recess. Progressivegroups have lobbied intensely forthe agreement, promising to blockdonations to any "war hawk" whoopposes it. Opponents have spentmillions on advertisements. Re-publican leaders, powerful pro-Is-rael groups and Israeli Prime Min-ister Benjamin Netanyahu himselfdenounce the deal, which Netan-yahu calls a threat to his country'ssurvival.The White House has de-clined to comment on its outlookbeyond saying it is working to gath-er enough votes to keep Congressfrom "spoiling" the pact. Obama'sveto would be only the fifth of hispresidency. Congress has failed tooverride any of the other four.Overrides are rare, blocking only110 out of the 2,566 vetoes in thehistory of the United States. Dealsupporters need 34 of the 100 sen-ators or 146 members of the 435-seat House to sustain a veto. Sofar, only 78 House members, allDemocrats, support the deal, ac-cording to a count by the Biparti-san Policy Center. No Republicanhas yet backed the agreement.

Stiff lifeless bodies submerged inwater -- it s a sight Canadian doc-tor Simon Bryant won t soon for-

get after he found dozens of deadmigrants in the hold of a boat offLibya.

Yesterday was a difficultday, Bryant said in a Skype in-terview with AFP on Thursday.

The 56-year-old doctor wason a mission Wednesday withDoctors Without Borders on thePhoenix, a vessel dedicated to res-cuing migrants, when he was askedto help the Swedish coast guardduring their rescue of a woodenboat with over 450 people onboard.

I went over there, with oneof our nurses...We quickly saw thatthere were three or four peoplewho were improving on the deck,so I went back on to the woodenboat and below deck, and I discov-ered many dead bodies.

Fifty-two dead bodies to beprecise. People that left lives ofpoverty and countries wrenchedby conflict in hopes of reachingEurope and a better life.

Bryant said that when he be-gan examining the bodies, many ofthem were already stiff. Equippedwith a headlight, and an air hosefor air supply below deck, Bryantcontinued to look for possible sur-vivors.

I started checking people forsigns of life, and I stopped count-ing after 24... The doctor saidthere were fumes from petrol inthe hold. I just quickly checkedfor signs of life and moved on.There was water in the boat, somepeople were half in the water, facedown... When I came back upon top, there was a little more spaceand there were four bodies lying,but one of them was actually justbarely breathing, Bryant said.

The man was quickly taken toa hospital on the Italian island ofLampedusa via helicopter.

Bryant s work was not overyet, however. He then examinedthe other migrants on the boat, aswell hundreds more rescued in thesame area Wednesday.

Reflecting on the macabre scenein the boat, he said: It s not some-thing that I want to do again.

I didn t sleep last night, af-terwards. Actually, many of ourstaff just rested but didn t sleep.

According to the Italian coast

guard, which coordinates rescueoperations between Libya andItaly, around 3,000 migrants wererescued Wednesday, with another1,400 rescued Thursday.

When they come on board,we have the opportunity to speakwith them. On the first day, mostof them are exhausted, they sleepa lot.

But soon, many of the mi-grants begin opening up abouttheir journeys.

After that you get to heartheir stories, and it can be a verysad time, a very anxious time,Bryant said.

Bryant calls the situationavoidable if there is enough of a

global response. But more deathsare inevitable, the medic said.

Unfortunately, there will bedeaths, there will be manydeaths...

These aren t just numbers,these are people who have storiesthat we will never get a chance tohear.


AFGHANISTANTIMES

Venezuela is seeking an emergen-cy OPEC meeting to figure outhow the cartel can stem the col-lapse in oil prices, The Wall StreetJournal is reporting.

According to people familiarwith the matter, the Journal re-ports that Venezuela has contact-ed other members of OPEC the12-state oil cartel led by Saudi Ara-bia to hold an emergency meet-ing "in coordination with Russia."ussia is not a member of OPEC the Organization of Petroleum Ex-porting Countries but likeOPEC's members, Moscow isheavily dependent on oil revenuesto meet its governmental budgetneeds. Venezuela, for its part, hasnot been handling the collapse inoil prices well: It is teetering onthe edge of hyperinflation, with atleast one economist calculating thenation's inflation rate at more than770%. Venezuela's last official in-flation print showed prices rose68% year-over-year in December2014. An emergency meeting ofOPEC members, with or withoutRussia, is unlikely unless called bySaudi Arabia. The next OPEC meet-ing is scheduled for December 4th.

Earlier this month, we notedthat analysts at Credit Suisse haveargued Saudi Arabia is working toget oil prices low enough that mar-ginal US shale producers halt in-vestment and production. CreditSuisse said that it is, "very hard toknow what price Saudi Arabia istargeting, but its behaviour is sug-

gesting to us that this point hasnot yet been reached." Writing inThe Telegraph earlier this month,Ambrose Evans-Pritchard citedwork from analysts at Bank ofAmerica Merrill Lynch who saidthat OPEC is "effectively dis-solved."

The complication, of course,is that it's unclear what the statusof OPEC is given that it only meetstwice a year.

What we do know is that thisyear Saudi Arabia has been pro-ducing oil at a record rate to de-fend its market share and bring inas much revenue as possible. Ofcourse, the Saudi's aren't alone inthis strategy, with Iraq also hittingrecord production numbers in June.As a group, OPEC has also beenover its production target of 30million barrels per day at times thisyear. Most OPEC members, how-ever, can't balance their budgetswith oil prices at current levels.And so the cartel faces a Catch-22: It needs to produce oil to bringin whatever money it can but isalso damaging itself by continuingto flood an already oversuppliedmarket. Against last year, the priceof Brent crude oil, the internation-al benchmark, is down about 60%from around $117 a barrel to clos-er to $47 on Thursday. Prices onThursday alone, however, rose asmuch as 10%; earlier this weekBrent crude was below $43 a bar-rel, the lowest since the financialcrisis.

Euro zonesentiment edgesto new four-yearhigh in August

BRUSSELS: Confidence in theeuro zone's economy edged upto a new four-year high in Au-gust as rising domestic demandmarginally outweighed a worsen-ing view of export prospects andthe mood brightened particularlyin France and Spain. The Euro-pean Commission's monthly eco-nomic sentiment indicator, pub-lished on Friday, rose to 104.2 inAugust, from 104.0 in July,against expectations in a Reuterspoll of a slight dip to 103.8.

"The tentative increase ineuro-area sentiment resulted fromworsened confidence in industrybeing offset by improvements inthe other business sectors (con-struction, services and, particu-larly, retail trade) and marginallyhigher consumer confidence," theCommission said in a statement.

ING's Bert Colijn said the in-crease showed the euro zone econ-omy was resilient, with little im-pact yet from China's slowdown.The economy's expansion wasabove the long-term average butthere was no sign growth wouldaccelerate.

"The outlook indeed remainsuncertain for euro zone industryas the recent appreciation of theeuro and continued concern about

Chinese economic growth will like-ly have an impact on the sector'soutput in the months ahead," hesaid in an email.

Among the larger euro areaeconomies, overall economic sen-timent increased in France (+0.9)and Spain (+1.7), but declined inGermany (-0.2), Italy (-0.6) andin the Netherlands (-0.3).

Sentiment in Greece, whichsecured a third bailout this month,plunged to its lowest level in morethan six years.

The Commission's businessclimate indicator dipped to 0.21this month from 0.41 in July.

Arguably of most importancefor the European Central Bank(ECB), which launched a money-printing programme this year, theCommission said consumers' infla-tion expectations slipped to a four-month low of 3.1.

Industry selling price expec-tations also declined to a four-month low.

The ECB is widely expectedto announce downwardly revisedinflation forecasts after a govern-ing council meeting next week, andsome economists are expecting fur-ther steps to push inflation to-wards the ECB's target of just be-low 2 percent.

Oil steadies after strong gains as equities rallyLONDON : Oil prices steadied onFriday after bouncing back fromsix-and-a-half-year lows on recov-ering equities markets, strong U.S.economic growth and news of lowcrude supplies from Nigeria.

Oil saw its biggest one-daybounce since 2009 on Thursday,with North Sea Brent and U.S. lightcrude rising more than 10 percent.U.S. crude is on track for its firstweekly gain in nine weeks, endingits longest losing streak since 1986.

Global oil markets have fallenby a third since May and are stillwell under half their value a yearago thanks to a huge oversupplyof fuel and sluggish demand. Wor-ries over China's economy havecompounded the falls in recentweeks. But analysts said oil mar-kets fell too far, too fast and a re-bound was on the cards. A stockmarket rise, strong U.S. growthdata and a pipeline outage in Nige-ria provided an excuse for a recov-ery on Thursday, they added.

"A short-covering rally, led bycrude oil, pushed commoditieshigher across the board," analystsat ANZ said in a note to clients.

"Better-than-expected U.S.GDP numbers were the mainspark, although the force majeureon ... exports from Nigeria extend-

ed the gains." Brent was down 40cents at $47.16 per barrel by 0810GMT. It settled $4.42 higher at$47.56 on Thursday. U.S. crudewas down 30 cents at $42.26 abarrel, after ending up $3.96. Asianshares extended a global rally onFriday with Chinese stocks jump-ing for the second day following arocky start to the week. [MKTS/GLOB] The U.S. economy grewfaster than initially thought in thesecond quarter on solid domesticdemand. Gross domestic productexpanded at a 3.7 percent annualpace instead of the 2.3 percent ratereported last month, the CommerceDepartment said. Shell's Nigerianunit declared force majeure on Bon-ny Light crude oil exports onThursday after shutting two keypipelines in the country due to aleak and theft. Venezuela has beencontacting other members of theOrganization of the Petroleum Ex-porting Countries, pushing for anemergency meeting with Russia tocome up with a plan to boost oilprices, the Wall Street Journal re-ported. Officials at core OPECmembers in the Middle East Gulfsay there is little chance of the car-tel meeting without the supportof Saudi Arabia, which has said itsees no need for a gathering.

ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan Peo-ples Party (PPP) bigwigs likeformer petroleum minister DrAsim Hussain face charges of cor-ruption, the National Accountabil-ity Bureau (NAB) has startedprobing the import of liquefiednatural gas (LNG) from Qatar byPakistan State Oil (PSO), officialssay. Though Pakistan and Qatarhave not signed any LNG supplydeal, PSO has bought the fuel fromQatargas on spot-purchase basis.

In the first phase, NAB start-ed investigation into the EngroLNG terminal deal and in the nextphase focus has shifted to the pur-chase of six LNG cargoes by PSOand its sale to consumers.

According to officials, NABinvestigators visited head officesof PSO and Sui Southern GasCompany (SSGC) and questionedsome officials. They also seizedthe record pertaining to LNG pur-chase and its handing at the LNGterminal.

Being a public-sector procur-ing agency, PSO must strictlycomply with the Public Procure-ment Regulatory Authority(PPRA) rules for LNG import.

Procurement under the PPRAordinance requires that due pro-cess involving multiple potentialsuppliers must be followed. No

procurement is allowed from onlyone supplier without giving a fairchance to others through an openand transparent tendering processlike that undertaken by PSO forthe import of all other products.

In other words, any procure-ment process based on a single di-rect source is a clear violation ofPPRA law and such procurementincluding cargoes imported byPSO from Qatargas is legally nulland void and can invite punish-ment, an official said.

Under Rule 5 of the PPRA rulesread with the 2011 regulations andbased on meeting the condition thatthe procurement of LNG arisesfrom a treaty or accord betweengovernments for the specific pur-pose of gas import from a specificsource, a specific exemption maybe sought from the government.

There is a specific licensingrequirement under laws of the Oiland Gas Regulatory Authority(Ogra) for LNG marketing and dis-tribution. This requirement hasalso not been met as PSO has notobtained the licence.

PSO has authorityIn response to queries of The

Express Tribune, a PSO spokes-person pointed out that the gov-ernment had decided to importLNG, which was the most effec-

tive solution, to tackle the severeshortage of gas in the country andenable power companies to gener-ate electricity at a lower cost.

For this, the spokespersonsaid, the government, under closemonitoring of the Ministry of Pe-troleum and Natural Resources,tasked PSO in April 2014 with thepurchase of LNG.

Various meetings had been heldto finalise a tripartite agreementbetween PSO, SSGC and SuiNorthern Gas Pipelines Limited(SNGPL), under which roles,rights and obligations of each com-pany with respect to LNG import,regasification and distribution werebeing formalised, the spokesper-son said.

This arrangement limitsPSO s role to the import of LNGonly and the title being transferredto gas companies for regasificationand distribution.

As PSO s role does not includeLNG marketing, there is no re-quirement of any marketing/distri-bution licence.

The spokesperson stressedthat LNG had been importedthrough the tender process afterplacement of advertisements innewspapers in response to whichmultiple suppliers had submittedbids

NAB starts probing LNGimports from Qatar

Apple iPhone event announced for SeptemberApple has announced plans for anew product event on Sept. 9 inSan Francisco, where the giant techcompany is expected to show offnew iPhones and other gadgets.

The company has introduceda new iPhone model every yeararound this time. But in typicalfashion, Apple is only droppingvague clues about its plans.

Invitations sent to reportersand analysts on Thursday were

headlined, Hey Siri, give us ahint. Apple has previously saidit plans to expand the capabilitiesof Siri, its voice-activated person-al assistant, in an upcoming ver-sion of its operating software foriPhones and iPads.

Industry insiders have alsospeculated Apple may introduce alarger iPad for business users, a newset-top box for televisions andpossibly other products. The com-

pany, however, has not confirmedany plans.

While Apple usually holdssuch events on a regular schedule,they are still the subject of muchanticipation in the tech industry,given that Apple products tend tobe popular and influential.

Apple says the Sept. 9 eventwill be held at the Bill Graham CivicAuditorium in downtown SanFrancisco. The auditorium seats up

to 7,000 people, which is a muchlarger capacity than San Francisco s750-seat Yerba Buena Theater,where Apple often holds suchevents.

As for Siri, the digital servicehad clearly been programmed toplay it coy about the Sept. 9 event.When queried for a hint on a re-porter s iPhone, the digital assis-tant only said to expect a big an-nouncement.

Acco rdin g to pe o ple fam iliar w ith the m atte r, the Jo urn al re po rts thatVe n e zue la has co n tacte d o the r m e m be rs o f OPEC the 12 -s tate o ilcarte l le d by Saudi Arabia to ho ld an e m e rge n cy m e e tin g "in co o rdi-n atio n w ith Russ ia." uss ia is n o t a m e m be r o f OPEC the Organ iza-

tio n o f Pe tro le um Expo rtin g Co un trie s but like OPEC's m e m be rs , Mo sco w ishe avily de pe n de n t o n o il re ve n ue s to m e e t its go ve rn m e n tal budge t n e e ds .


AFGHANISTANTIMES

8 times SyraYousuf's Insta-style won us overWe are loving Syra Yousuf Shahroz s style. The new mama in town isrocking every look and her Instagram is making us drool over her senseof fashion. The way she carries herself will definitely make all the singleladies out there envious.

Another white! Syra looked ready for Independence Day in herZainab Chottani ensemble. It featured pearl buttons down to hermidriff with a hint of matte gold and silver on the sleeves. Toreally celebrate the festive occasion, she wore a green dupatta.

Sporting yet another Zara Shahjehan, the young mom lookedhip in a fun blue attire. Once again, she kept her make up andaccessories minimal. The front open cape clearly made herstand out among the crowd.Doesn t she remind us of Alice in Wonderland? Syra needed noaccessories in this Nomi Ansari dress as her smile did theneedful. The colour and print attributed to the actress personal-ity. She seemed to be loving it too, calling it her #Cinderellamoment Syra doesn t need to tell who her favourite designer is,wearing an elegant cream-coloured Zara Shahjehan shirt andcigarette pants, the VJ-turned-actress looked an absolute stun-ner. She chose soft curls and simple earrings to complimenther dress. Another white! Syra looked ready for IndependenceDay in her Zainab Chottani ensemble. It featured pearl buttonsdown to her midriff with a hint of matte gold and silver on thesleeves. To really celebrate the festive occasion, she wore agreen dupatta.

What do you get when you putSaif Ali Khan and Katrina togeth-er? A Nawab and a mannequinis what one critic wrote.

One of the most controversialfilms in recent times, Phantom isbased on the 26/11 Mumbai attackand revolves around an Indian s(played by Saif Ali Khan) quest tofind and kill Hariz Saeed a char-acter based on Jamaat-ud-Dawachief Hafiz Saeed who India con-siders to be the mastermind behindthe attack. Having created quite ahype, the film delivered a meekopening at the box office with crit-ics bashing the movie. After deliv-ering a blockbuster like like Bajran-gi Bhaijaan, everyone was wonder-ing the same thing: What was Ka-bir Khan thinking? Here are ex-cerpts of some of the reviews pub-lished in Indian publications:

Saif-Katrina s tale of 26/11Mumbai Attacks is a veritablephantom Zoned out? This is ex-actly the kind of buffoonery oneends up spending time on duringthe film. There are so many long-drawn pauses and sub-plots, andso many new faces introduced atthe drop of a hat. Kabir Khan streatment of the story is at bestpassable. Saif s performance isokay-ish. When in motion, he sconvincing; when speaking, notquite. Katrina s gun-toting avataris as smoking hot as her sea-divingone. As for her acting, not muchhas improved.

Phantom begins fine, and thenloses way so badly that by the end,you re just waiting for an extrahelping of Afghan jalebi. Amongthe songs, that s the one that stayson the mind long after the creditsroll. By the end of Phantom, oneis left with a disarray of emotionswithin. First Post: abir Khan sthriller with Saif Ali Khan, Kat-

rina Kaif is plain boring There isonly one explanation for Phantom:the cast and crew of the film reallywanted a paid holiday. As an idea,Phantom crackles with possibili-ty. For the plot, there is only oneword: woeful. Phantom could have

been a clever film. It borrows heavi-ly from very dramatic, real inci-dents that are begging to be fic-tionalised. Only here, the charac-ters are badly drawn, the dialoguesare clumsy, the transitions arejumpy and the politics are horri-bly simplified it s as though thescreenplay was written overnight.The film quickly starts feeling pre-

dictable and the strategies to killthe terrorists are not particularlygripping. Rediff: Saif and Katrinamake Phantom a joke

There is a lot that a film-go-ing audience can forgive in a pro-duction. But one of the hardest tooverlook is when the filmmakerspick the wrong people for the prin-cipal parts. Khan, who would

much rather charm in a suit, herewears one scowl throughout, whileKaif, who speaks every line of di-alogue in the same pre-teen tone,is here made to pick up a machinegun and fire. This is less a motionpicture and more a vanity vehiclefor two stars who want to try role-playing as GI Joes. The result isan exasperatingly childish film.

Tragically, pretty much every-thing in Phantom goes accordingto plan, making for an inert, un-challenging and boring watch.

Stay away from Phantom. Itgives audiences a raw deal. Wow!These reviews are pretty harsh.Well, let s just thank our censorboard for banning Phantom andsparing us the torture.

SiddharthMalhotra has anickname forFawad Khan

Siddharth Malhotra and FawadKhan who will soon be seentogether in upcoming film Kapoor& Sons have been bonding quitewell these days. It was earlier re-ported that Fawad has convincedthe Bollywood actor to visit Paki-stan. Both of them apparentlyplayed cricket on the sets of theirfilm as well. And now, accordig toa report published in Bolly-woodlife, Siddharth even has a nick-name for the Pakistani heartthrob.

Wondering what it is? Youcouldn t have guessed it in a mil-lion years! It s Masla (problem).The reason being Fawad uses theword masla a lot especially whenhe has to explain an issue duringhis everyday conversations. Muchto our surprise, Siddharth had notheard of this word before meetingFawad. The actor found it prettyinteresting and so decided to callFawad Masla. Read: Fawad Khancharms Alia and Sidharth on thesets of Kapoor and Sons Accord-ing to reports, the two actors ap-parently watched BajrangiBhaijaan together and Siddharthcould not contain his excitementwhen Nawazuddin Siddiqui whoplays a Pakistani journalist saidthe word masla. He whistled loud-ly leaving Fawad totally amused.

Eva Mendes sparksengagement rumours

Actress Eva Mendes has addedfuel to rumours of her getting en-gaged to actor boyfriend RyanGosling. The piece of jewelleryshe wore on her right hand was agiant emerald ring.

She was first spotted wearingthe bling on July 25 when promot-ing cosmetics giant Estee Lauder'snew Dimensions Skincare line at a

mall in Florida, reportsaceshowbiz.com. The 41-year-oldhas been flashing the speculatedengagement ring in photographs sheshared on photo-sharing websiteInstagram.

Neither Mendes nor Goslinghas addressed the engagement ru-mours. The actress' representa-tive also has not yet made any com-

ment on the matter. Mendes andGosling first met in the fall of 2011on the set of their drama film "ThePlace Beyond the Pines". Despitetheir headline-making romance, thecouple has been acting very pri-vate about their personal life. InSeptember 2014, they welcomedtheir first child together, daughterEsmeralda Amada


AFGHANISTANTIMES

John Stones will play against Spurssays Everton boss Roberto Martinez

Everton boss Roberto Martinezinsists John Stones is "ready" toplay against Tottenham in front ofthe Sky Sports cameras on Satur-day evening. Stones had a transferrequest rejected by Everton chair-

man Bill Kenwright on Thursdayas he looked to push through amove to Chelsea - who have al-ready seen three bids for the En-gland defender turned down. Mar-tinez - who has consistently said

Stones is not for sale - now con-siders the matter closed and be-lieves Stones will be mentally fo-cused at White Hart Lane. "JohnStones will be ready [to playagainst Spurs] because he is in the

perfect environment," said Mar-tinez. "It's been an emotional timefor everyone but John is one ofour most loved assets and he'll beready." "The chairman was reallystrong yesterday, he's put things

very, very clear. "It's vitally im-portant to show that we have gotour own ambitions and our ownprojects and we don't rely on bigoffers coming in. "Many, manyfootball clubs would have try toget the biggest deal they could doand take the money and allow thesale to happen. "It shows we'vegot an incredible chairman and allhe wants is the best for the foot-ball club, he's being doing that formany, many years and hasn't beengiven the credit he deserves. "Ev-ery single Evertonian can be ex-tremely proud to keep one of ourmost treasured younger playersand make sure we build a winningteam. "It seems like money canbuy anything these days and clear-ly what we stand for at Everton ismore important values - in foot-ball and in life - that they are moreimportant than money." Stones'transfer request led to him beingjeered by some Everton fans whenthey played at Barnsley in theCapital One Cup - and Martinezsays he understands the fans emo-tions. "Of course the fans at onepoint thought they were going tolose one of the most-loved assetsat our football club and the emo-tions are going to be high and fullof feelings that you're going toshow," he added. "John knowswhere he is; the fans, they are go-ing to play an incredible role inhelping John to settle in and to getback to being fully focused on win-ning football games for Everton."

Floyd Mayweather Jrrelaxed on retirementahead of facing AndreBerto on September 12

Floyd Mayweather Jr insists heis having 'no second thoughts'about retiring after his upcomingclash with Andre Berto.

The 38-year-old Americanwill move to 49-0 if he beats hiscompatriot Berto (30-3-KO23) inLas Vegas but despite wide-spread speculation he will fightagain in an attempt to betterRocky Marciano's record, May-weather Jr is looking forward tohanging up his gloves. He said:"Nobody knows what the futureholds, but right now, I'm cool andcomfortable and having no sec-ond thoughts at all about retire-ment. world title, but boxing iswear and tear on the body. It'stime to hang 'em up. "I had a goodcareer, I won every world title,but boxing is wear and tear on thebody. It's time to hang 'em up.I'm looking forward to workingwith some up-and-coming kids,going on walks, and taking vaca-tions.' "Boxing has always beenwork to me, a job. If I could sayanything to a youngster taking upboxing it would be to 'be smartand not take a lot of punches'."It's called the sweet science for areason. Hit and not be hit, make alot of money without taking a lotof punishment. That's what it'sabout. Floyd Mayweather hasonce again defended his decisionto fight Andre Berto

Floyd Mayweather has onceagain defended his decision tofight Andre Berto "All 48 of myfights have been hard. None havebeen easy. All played a major key.It's the 'Mayweather Era.' I feelthat every fighter is an artist andthey all take pictures their ownway. I'm just one of the very bestartists. "Berto can fight. He's atwo-time champion. He's hungry.He comes to wage a war. I expecta hell of a fight out of him." May-weather Promotions CEO Le-onard Ellerbe also reiterated theintention to call time and high-lighted the commitment shown by'Money' over nearly 19 years inthe sport. Ellerbe said: "Floydcould fight as long as he wants, ifthat were what he wanted to do.People don't understand whatgoes into his craft. He trainsaround the clock. He's given hislife to his career. He's ready toride off on to the next phase ofhis life. He's earned that right."We made a commitment and weare following his contract. Be-sides, how much is enough? Howmuch can one ask of somebody?How much more can he make?'"This will be Floyd's last fight.I'm very excited for him. He'sdone it his way. He's had an illus-trious career and I know he's verycomfortable with what he's beenable to accomplish.

ChristineOhuruogu lastin 400m finalat WorldChampionshipsin BeijingChristine Ohuruogu finished lastbehind impressive winner AllysonFelix in the final of the 400m at theWorld Championships in Beijing.Defending champion Ohuruogubriefly threatened to challenge ear-ly leader Felix at the end of theback straight, but she faded rapid-ly in the final 100m and was passedby the remainder of the field. Felixstarted like a scalded cat, passingOhuruogu inside the first 50m, butshe appeared to slow midwaythrough the race and Ohuruoguclosed to her shoulder.

But the American kicked againand continued to put distance intoher rivals all the way to the line,taking gold in 49.26s, the quickesttime in the world this season. Shau-nae Miller of the Bahamas tooksilver with bronze going to Jamai-ca's Shericka Jackson. "I kind ofsaw her easing up coming into thebend and I wasn't too sure if shehad misjudged the start, but thenshe had this kick and I just couldn'tmatch that," Ohuruogu said. "Ididn't really have a race plan. I wasin with a bunch of sprinters whoknow how to sprint very well andI knew I had to try and get outquite strong and use my strengthin what I thought would be a tus-sle." Elsewhere there were a seriesof impressive performances fromthe women's team across thesprint, middle-distance and fielddisciplines. Dina Asher-Smith rana second personal best of the weekin winning her 200m semi-final in22.12s, the fastest time across thethree races and just two-hun-dredths off the British record heldby Kathy Smallwood-Cook since1984. Asher-Smith will go into thefinal as a live medal hope, althoughJamaica's Elaine Thompson wonher semi in 22.13s and was easingdown from 50m out. Dutch multi-event star Dafne Schippers alsoimpressed in winning her race, butthere was no luck for MargaretAdeoye and Bianca Williams, whowere unable to qualify. ShelaynaOskan-Clarke of Great Britain(right) crosses the finish line in theWomen's 800 metres semi-finalShelayna Oskan-Clarke enjoyedthe performance of her life in thesemi-finals of the 800m, breakingher personal best by almost twoseconds in qualifying for the final.Oskan-Clarke had never previous-ly run quicker than two minutesover two laps, but she ran a braverace down the inside and battledpast three tiring rivals in the straightto win the semi in 1:58.86. Butshe was the only one of the threeBritish runners to make the finalwith Jenny Meadows (seventh)and Lynsey Sharp (eighth) appear-ing to pay for going out fast in theearly stages of their semi-finals.And Sophie Hitchon was a matterof centimetres away from claim-ing Britain's first ever medal in thehammer before having to settle fora fantastic fourth place. Hitchonset a British record in the fourthround with a throw of 73.65m andimproved that by 23cm in the fi-nal round but her effort, whichlanded bang on the bronze medalline, was 16cm short of French ath-lete Alexandra Tavernier. Poland'sAnita Wlodarczyk was dominantin winning gold - her leading throwof 80.85m not far short of her ownworld record and four of her ef-forts were longer than anyone elsecould manage in the entire compe-tition.

Andy Murray will take on con-troversial Australian youngsterNick Kyrgios in the first round ofthe US Open. The 2012 champion

has been seeded third for the finalgrand slam event of the year andhas been handed one of the tricki-est opening ties possible against

the big-serving 20-year-old.British No 1 Murray has al-

ready played Kyrgios twice inmajors this season, defeating him

6-3 7-6 6-3 in the quarter-finals ofthe Australian Open and 6-4 6-26-3 in round three at Roland Gar-ros. Currently 37th in the world

rankings, Kyrgios is a brilliantshot-maker and reached the lasteight at Wimbledon last year, beat-ing Rafa Nadal on the way.

However, he has also attract-ed criticism for his volatile on-court behaviour and was given a28-day suspended ban and a$10,000 fine for crude commentshe made about Stan Wawrinka'sgirlfriend during a Rogers Cupmatch earlier this month.

Murray will be seeking histhird Grand Slam title when theevent starts at Flushing Meadowsnext Monday and enters the tour-nament in good form, having wonthe Rogers Cup before reaching thesemi-finals in Cincinnati last week.Murray got the better of Kyrgioswhen they met in the AustralianOpen quarter-finals at the start ofthe year But Murray has recentlybeen defeated by Roger Federer inthe semi-finals at both Wimbledonand Cincinnati, and he will face theSwiss great in the semis once againin New York if the duo both reachthe last four.

All in all, Murray has beenhanded a potentially tough draw,with French Open championWawrinka a possible quarter-finalopponent. If Murray can get pastKyrgios, he will face either useful

Frenchman Adrian Mannarino ora qualifier in round two. Murray'sfellow Brit James Ward is also inthat section of the draw and he willbegin his campaign against the 30thseed, Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci,while British No 2 Aljaz Bedenehas been drawn against LatvianErnests Gulbis. Borna Coric couldbe a tough first-round opponentfor Rafael Nadal Borna Coric couldbe a tough first-round opponentfor Rafael Nada Federer has alsobeen handed one of toughest pos-sible first-round draws and he willbegin his quest for a sixth US Opencrown against the world No 33Leonardo Mayer of Argentina.

The semi-final in the other halfcould pit top seed Novak Djokov-ic against last year's beaten finalistKei Nishikori, who upset Djok-ovic at that stage of the tourna-ment last year. Dual former cham-pion Nadal is the eighth seed thisyear and could play Djokovic inthe quarter-finals, but first he willhave to win a tricky first-round tieagainst Croatian youngster BornaCoric, who defeated him in Basellast year. Djokovic has already wonthe Australian Open and Wimble-don this year, and the Serb willstart out in New York with a tieagainst Joao Souza of Brazil.

Conor McGregorhoped to fight inDublin onOctober 24

Conor McGregor wanted to fightUrijah Faber before his scheduledgrudge match against Jose Aldo.

The Irishman, the interim feath-erweight champion, will be matchedagainst Aldo, the long-serving titleholder, on December 12 at UFC 194in Las Vegas to unify their belts in afight that fell apart when it was firstbooked. Before they finally lockhorns, McGregor has been coachingthe UFC's elimination-based tour-nament The Ultimate Fighter op-posite Urijah Faber but, unlike mostinstalments of the event, the coach-es will not fightafterwards.McGregor wishes hecould get his hands on Faber, theveteran multi-championship chal-lenger, on the upcoming event in hishometown before Aldo. "Really, itwould be nice to have a fight at theend of it," McGregor told UFC.com.I could go in and make light work ofUrijah, I could maul him inside oneround and be fresh. And then wecould do the Jose fight towards the

end of the year. "We could easilyfit a fight in on the Dublin card inOctober. I could go in and makelight work of Urijah, I could maulhim inside one round and be fresh."And then we could do the Josefight towards the end of the year."Having defeated short-notice re-placement Chad Mendes for theinterim championship in Julywhen Aldo pulled out injured,McGregor has jumped straight intocoaching The Ultimate Fighter. Headmits the opportunity to train ateam of aspiring athletes didn'tmotivate him until he realised theirjourneys mirrored his own. "Butthe more I think about it and see-ing the fights to get into the house,and just being around it, this is thelife I have chosen. This is the life Ihave created. "To be here and havethis opportunity is a once in a life-time opportunity. Rather than beoff with it and feel like I need toget away from it, I am embracing itnow."

Hopes that Monza can keep holdof the Italian GP were handed aboost earlier in the summer.

A major sticking point - theItalian government s insistencethat tax is paid on investment fundsthe local Lombardy regional gov-ernment are willing to provide -has been unblocked, which hope-fully means the deluge of speed,noise and colour, which the placegives like no other, will continueto be unleashed beyond 2016.

If not...well, what an indict-ment of the current state of F1 thatwould be. That the French GP hasdisappeared, for good it seems, isbad enough; but the absence ofGermany from this year's calen-dar takes the feeling - that thesport too readily ignores its histo-ry in order to make a quick buck -to a whole new level. Can you imag-ine an F1 season without a French,German and Italian GP? We've gottwo-thirds of the way there in2015. It's a worrying thought.

Thankfully, the German GPreturns next year and even thoughMonza has been under threat, atleast it seems Italian GP never has.Imola and Mugello have both beensuggested as potential replace-ments, even though the formerhasn't hosted grands prix since2006 while the latter has neverhosted F1 cars outside of testing.

Imola also hosted the ItalianGP in 1980, when Monza wasbeing refurbished. But the latter hasotherwise had an unbroken run ashost of the Italian GP dating backto 1922. And talk about stalwart:

the race that year was held on Sep-tember 10; this year's takes placeon September 6. For some of us,the sight of cars forming on thegrid bathed in late summer sunshine- enjoy it while you can, folks - isas much an indicator that autumnis just around the corner as a sharpfrost in the morning. Then there'sthe racing. It can be argued that theItalian GP at Monza is a poor race,in that it lasts little more than anhour and that there aren't too manystrategy options to keep the brainbox ticking over. It's a fair pointbut does rather suggest a commonheld desire for uniformity: thatevery race should last at least anhour and a half and feature two ormaybe three pit stops. But thewhole point about Monza is thatit is different. It always was andappears increasingly so with ev-ery new addition to the calendar...which is all the more reason tokeep it there.

And anyway, since when didduration and complexity necessar-ily mean better? For some of us,the notion that F1 is chess-like andmust be chock-full of tactical nu-ance and game theory is beside thepoint. At best, it should be sec-ondary, and a long way behind atthat. Behind what? Behind gazingin 'I could never do that' admira-tion as man and machine do theirthing in the most spectacular man-ner possible. If by spectacular wemean fast, then there's nowherebetter to watch than at Monza. Itmeans racing at its purest and whilethe addition of chicanes (at Retti-

filo and Ascari) in 1972 might havebroken up the slipstreaming bat-tles seen in earlier years, Monzaremains F1's 'temple of speed'.Peter Gethin's victory the yearbefore remained the record, interms of average speed, for a full32 years before Michael Schuma-cher went faster - 153.842mph -in 2003. Meanwhile, Rubens Bar-richello's pole position average thefollowing year - 161.802mph - hasyet to be beaten.

It's probably fitting that bothrecords were set in Ferraris, whichhave won a total of 19 Italian GPs(another record) and raced at Mon-za since 1949. Mugello might beowned by Ferrari and Imola isnamed after Enzo Ferrari and hisson Dino but that doesn't maketheir link to Monza any lessstrong, not least in the eyes of fans.Imaginations worldwide are firedby the fervour of the Tifosi who,when they're not cheering on Fer-rari's drivers, jeering opponentsand invading the track, have in thepast seemingly been able to achievethe desired result by force of willalone. That was how it seemed in1988, anyway, when just days af-ter Enzo Ferrari's death, his teamscored a one-two when race leaderAyrton Senna tripped over a back-marker in the closing stages (add-ing to the delirium, no doubt, wasthe realisation that McLaren's 100per cent victory record that sea-son had just juddered to a halt).It'sthe sort of fabled story in whichMonza leads the way - and is itany wonder? The place might be a

bit tatty compared with newer fa-cilities but it drips with historicalsignificance and meaning. Yousense it on TV but, of course, pay-ing a visit gives the fullest flavour- and not necessarily when thereare cars on track. If you ever getthe chance to visit, and to get adifferent feeling for the place, gowhen it's quiet. Try and walk thetrack if possible, stand at a corner(not forgetting the old banking, ofcourse) when there's no-one elsearound and try and remember allthat's gone on there, good and bad.Maybe the fact it's a park filledwith trees means that the air hangsstill, but the atmosphere really issomething special. Let's hope,then, that Monza's unique atmo-sphere gets to blend with F1's formany years to come. Another sev-en would mark the 100th anniver-sary of the first Italian GP to beheld there. If not, then anothermilestone will have been reachedon the road marked money. But atleast imagination and dreams stillcost nothing. Maybe it's the newsabout the FIA's intention for a fast-er, more "aggressive" 2017 cars butthe mind does tend to wandersometimes - to a sort of parallelF1 in which the cars, the tracksand the racing are as perfect as theywill ever be. Suffice to say thatmy perfect F1 car would look noth-ing like the current designs, or the2017 ones for that matter. Natu-rally they'd look much better and Ithink the racing would be better.And where else would they be lap-ping but at Monza?

SATURDAY . AUGUST 29 . 2015-Sunbula 07, 1394 H.SVol:X Issue No:37 Price: Afs.15

KABUL: The Taliban fightershave left the restive Kohistanatdistrict in northern Sar-i-Pul prov-ince without any resistance afterthe arrival of the First Vice Presi-dent Abdul Rashid Dostum alongwith the national security forcesto the area. The First Vice Presi-dent is in northern provinces forover the past one month in a bidto clear the areas of militants andensure law-and-order there. Localofficials said the security forcesmanaged to retake Kohistanat dis-trict in a short span of time. Dos-tum arrived in Sar-i-Pul provincelate on Thursday afternoon afterconcluding a major military oper-ation in northern Faryab province.He called on militants to surren-der or face death upon his arrivalin the province. Dostum prom-ised to retake control of Balkhabdistrict in near future. He said hewill move towards northern Kun-duz province once Sar-i-Pul prov-ince was cleared of the militants provided that President Ghaniand the National Security Coun-cil agree to proceed. Dostumjoined the Afghan security forcesin the frontline in Faryab earlierthis month. He survived at leasttwo assassination plots by mili-tant groups while he was leadingcounter-terrorism operations inthere. His convoy was ambushedby the Taliban in Qaisar districtin Faryab last week.

Taliban leaves

Kohistanat

without

resistance

AT Monitoring Desk

This interview first appeared inInternational Policy Digest . In

this interview, Fahim Massoud,has picked the brain of Afghani-stan s former spy chief, AmrullahSaleh on a number of issues. Hispolitical insight can be read in thefollowing transcript of the inter-view.

Q: Afghanistan continues tobe very unsafe. In fact, underPresident Ghani s leadership,the country has become muchmore chaotic. Why do you thinkthere s so much insecurity andincoherence in the countryright now?

I am asked this question al-most on a daily basis. Two things.1) Pakistan has increased its sup-port for the Taliban. Given thetimetable for foreign troops with-drawal, and the caveats under

which they operate, Pakistanisbelieve that the finish line is near;therefore, they feel like theyshouldn t restrain from increasingtheir destabilization efforts in Af-ghanistan. They, the Pakistani in-telligence and army personnel, arenow staging their attacks with un-precedented boldness. So the dra-matic decline in the number of for-eign troops has resulted in the dra-matic decline in the number andnature of operations conducted byforeign troops. 2) The politicalturbulence that the country expe-rienced due to bad and prolongedpresidential elections and the sub-sequent emergence of NationalUnity Government, which was aunique experience in Afghanistan,are among some other reasons forwhy more incidents take place.But don t forget that the Taliban

insurgency has the backing of anervous nuclear state that basesits whole/ raison d etre/ on hege-mony, militancy and extremism inthe region and that is of coursePakistan.

A: Is there a way out of thiscurrent political crisis in Af-ghanistan?/

I am not sure the country is ina political crisis. There is a broadacceptance of the National UnityGovernment. The issue is not itslegitimacy, but its competence anddelivery. The Afghan governmenthas failed to deliver so far; but itsfailure does not mean it is miredin a political crisis. The currentAfghan government leadership isin a crisis of leadership and man-agement.

Q: You have always been avociferous opponent of peace

talks with the Taliban. Why doyou think peace is not possiblewith the Taliban?

I have never been opposed topeace talks. Never. I have been op-posed to the way these talks areconducted and the issues they re-volve around. They are not nec-essarily peace talks; they are talksto cater to the interests of the Tal-iban. This is appeasement and Ihave been against it. I have beenagainst giving the Taliban a newidentity in so far as to de-couplethem from terrorists. Telling our-selves that these destructive forc-es are no longer espousing Tali-bani ideas and beliefs does notmake them so.

A: Pakistan has always sup-ported the Taliban. It has alsoalways been involved in desta-bilizing Afghanistan. Why doyou think Pakistan wants anunstable Afghanistan? What isit about an unstable Afghani-

stan that benefits Pakistan?/Pakistan is a politically inse-

cure, psychologically nervous, andstrategically narrow-minded state.It wants parity with India. In thebelief of the Pakistani strategists,subordination of Afghanistan tothe wishes and demands of Paki-stan will give them a depth in theregion and will in some way putpressure on India. They also hateseeing Afghanistan have a demo-cratic system. Pakistan sees de-mocracy as an existential threat.A real, robust democracy willtransform Pakistan into a culturaland economic satellite state of In-dia. Something that the Pakistanileaders want to avoid at any cost.While on the surface Pakistanseems to have a democracy, it isan army-run country. Democracyin its truest sense does not existin Pakistan. On critical foreignpolicy issues issues that havethe potential to change the ..P2

TALOQAN: Police on Fridaydetained two alleged smugglerswith 800 liters of acid being usedin processing heroin in northernTakhar province, provincial po-lice chief said.Brig. Gen. Noor Mohammad Haki-mi told Pajhwok Afghan News

KABUL: Pakistan has yet to startregistering undocumented Afghannationals as outlined in the 20-point National Action Plan(NAP), devised to deal with ter-rorism in the aftermath of ArmyPublic School tragedy, media re-ports. The Dawn.com reportedthat over one million unregisteredAfghan nationals, who were sup-posed to be registered in the ful-fillment of the plan, still stay un-documented while two years ex-tension in the stay of registeredrefugees is also on the card. Theexercise to register the undocu-mented Afghans has delayedtwice. The ministry of states andfrontier regions (Safron) had first

Takhar police nab 2 smugglerswith 800 liters of acid

KABUL: At least 22 Afghan Lo-cal Police (ALP) members andthree civilians have been killed inan ambush of the Taliban militantsin northwestern Farayb province,said local officials.

Muhammad Tahir Rahmani, amember of Faryab provincialcouncil, said that a convoy of 40ALP members was on their wayto Shirin Tagab district the otherday when they came under attack.

Taliban militants killed 22policemen and three civilians inthe ambush, TOLOnews quotedRahmani as saying.

He added that the ALP mem-bers wanted to travel to ShirinTagab district to provide back upsupport to security forces fight-ing against the Taliban militants.

He blamed the concerned au-thorities of turning blind eye to-wards such incidents. The gov-ernment is not capable of support-ing Afghan troops who are fight-ing days and nights to ensure se-curity and safety of their countryand countrymen, he said.

Rozi Muhammad, an ALPmember who managed to escapethe ambush said that all the ALPmembers were from Khwaja Sabz-posh district of the province. Hesaid that most of the killed ALPmembers were either his relativesor family members.

22 ALPmemberskilled in Talibanambush inFaryab

AT Monitoring Desk

that the contraband was placed incement bags skillfully.The smuggled goods were beingtransported to Badakhshan fromUruzgan province, he said, add-ing that the truck was seized bypolice on Takhar-Kunduz High-way. (Pajhwok)

Pak govt yet to kick off registration of Afghan refugeesfixed July 25 to kick start the reg-istration process but later deferredthe drive to August 25. The min-

istry has released Rs170 millionto National Database and Regis-tration Authority (Nadra) to un-

dertake countrywide documenta-tion process of the Afghans forwhich it has planned to set up 22centres in the four provinces andAzad Jammu and Kashmir. Esti-mated cost of the plan has beenbilled at Rs500 million. SafronSecretary Pir Bakhsh Jamali toldDawn on Thursday that interiorministry had some observationsover the process that caused thedelay. Like registered refugees, thegovernment would not issue Proofof Registration cards to undocu-mented Afghans, he added. Offi-cials said that approximately onemillion Afghans were residing inthe country without legal docu-ments. Registration of undocu-

mented Afghan nationals was in-cluded in the Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif s 20 points NAP thatwas announced on December 25,2014. Formulation of a compre-hensive policy to deal with the is-sue of Afghan refugees, beginningwith registration of all refugees,said 19th point of NAP, but feder-al and provincial governments haveyet to work out feasible solutionto the issue except snap action bythe police and other law enforce-ment agencies. ajority of these un-registered Afghans have been livingin Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The gov-ernment planned to obtain accuratedata of Afghan nationals throughregistration. (Pajhwok)

Security forces conduct massive military operation in Musa Qala

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