Latest news and happenings of Afghanistan and region…
The promote program officials in Afghanistan have provided a visual guide package for combating violence against women at work in various government and private offices of the country.
According to the officials, this visual package will help new workers or those who are harassed by men in the workplace to fight these challenges.
This visual package, in addition to the bad behavior of employees against each other, also portrays good behaviours at Workplace.
Promote is a joint US-Afghan program that aims to empower Afghan women and is a USAID funded project.
The High Peace Council of Afghanistan has said that the Taliban alone have no eligibility to discuss the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan, but all Afghans must collectively decide on foreign forces’ withdrawal from their country.
“At peace talks with the Taliban, Washington must consider Afghanistan’s continued stability and security,” said Attaullah Salim, a HPC deputy in talks with TOLOnews.
Mr. Salim added that withdrawal of foreign forces is one of the issues that can be discussed with the national consensus after end of the war.
Meanwhile, the High Peace Council has called Zalmay Khalilzad’s appointment as the United State’s Special Representative for Peace and Reconciliation in Afghanistan a promising feat.
Security officials have reported that 61 terrorists have been killed or wounded across 12 provinces of Afghanistan.
As a result of the invasive, airborne and cleanup operations of the security forces over the past 24 hours in the provinces of Ghazni, Khost, Helmand, Baghlan, Nangarhar, Faryab, Sar-e-Pul, Kandahar, Herat, Samangan, Nimruz, and Balkh, 49 insurgents were killed and 12 others wounded.
The statement added that during these operations, 4 insurgents were arrested, several hideouts and a significant amount of ammunition and explosives belonging to the terrorists were also destroyed.
The new Security Chief of southeastern Ghazni province has been appointed and it is the Commander of the 505th Zone of the Afghan National Police, Brigadier General Ghulam Farooq Tarakhel.
This has been confirmed as per a statement by the Ministry of Interior who issued a statement on Monday. The statement also clarified that changes and appointments have been enforced as a result of the recommendations of the ministry and approval of the Presidential Palace.
Farah Security officials have reported that due to the clash of Afghan security forces with insurgents, there has been a destruction of part of a bridge and subsequent blockade of the Kandahar-Herat highway in the province said.
The spokesman for Farah Police chief, Mohibullah Mohib, told Khabarnama that there were clashes between insurgents and Afghan security forces before a bridge was blown up in Chakab village of Balabulok district, in which 6 insurgents were killed and 8 others were wounded.
The rest of the insurgents escaped from the area, and as a result, they destroyed a part of a bridge by explosives, Mohib said.
The Herat-Kandahar highway is temporarily blocked and the bridge is under reconstruction, the security official added.
A parliamentary candidate from northeastern Badakhshan province survived a gun attack on Sunday night. The same attack claimed lives of 3 policemen.
Police spokesman Sanaullah Rohani informed that the attack happened in the Juram district of the province late on Sunday night.
He also said that Zalmay Mujaddedi, the candidate, came under attack from unidentified gunmen his way to the campaign office in Changha village.
With no immediate claim of responsibility, and nobody having been identified, the police have launched a thorough investigation.
On Sunday, the General Command of Police Special Units (GCPSU) successfully carried out a Counter-Terrorism operation to clear some of the areas from terrorists and insurgents, as confirmed by the Ministry of Interior.
The operation was launched in Khoshamand district, eastern Paktika province, and as per MoI, 30 armed Taliban were killed.
GCPSU seized four rocket launchers, seven AK-47 rifles and some amount of ammunition as well.
The MoI statement also read that “11 different types of IEDs detected and two vehicles used by the militants were also destroyed in the operation.”
The National Procurement Office has announced the Afghanistan Electronic and Open Procurement System.
The National Procurement Authority today announced at a conference on “Supporting the Private Sector in Public Procurement” the introduction of Afghanistan Electronic and Open Procurement System for Afghanistan to representatives of international organizations, representatives of construction companies, members of civil society and the media.
The head of the National Procurement Authority, Elham Omar Hotaki, said today at GMIC that using the Electronic and Open Procurement System, companies will be registered and classified in different categories based on their experiences.
Hotaki added that professions in the Afghanistan Electronic and Open Procurement system are divided into 11 categories, and companies can apply for one or more of these categories according to their experiences.
The head of the National Procurement Office said that the companies were given three months to join the Afghanistan Electronic and Open Procurement System.
“The system was created to provide the necessary facilities for the growth of the private sector, to ensure transparency in the procurement processes, to evaluate the companies and to increase their specialized capacities, to accelerate the process of evaluation of bids and to verify the classification of companies,” he emphasized.
President Ashraf Ghani, who arrived at Parwan province on early Monday inaugurated the first phase that is 22.48 km in length of the Jabal Saraj-Nejrab road.
President Ghani also inaugurated the industrial and agricultural park in Barikab this morning. Both the events have been confirmed by a statement from the Presidential Palace.
The Jabal Saraj-Nejrab road has been financially aided by Asian Development Bank.
Tadamichi Yamamoto, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA in a meeting with Afghan women from civil society organizations, academia and advocacy groups expressed said that the participation of women in the upcoming elections in Afghanistan is extremely vital for the elections to be credible.
“Elections are only truly representative and credible when women fully participate and are included in all parts of the electoral process,” said Yamamoto.
On Monday said at a press conference, IEC Chief Abdul Badi Sayad pointed out how the elections are an Islamic practice and called on the religious scholars to spread positive information about the elections and encourage people to vote.
UNAMA also pointed out that 16% of the candidates are women, which is just a marginal increase from last elections. The data was extracted from IEC’s statistics.
UNAMA’s statement also read “The mission is mindful of the great personal risk that numerous female candidates and women’s rights activists routinely face in promoting women’s full inclusion as candidates, voters, election staff and observers.”
The Ministry of Defense said in a statement that seven IS-K terrorists were killed during the Afghan security forces air strike in Pevhiragam district of Nangarhar province and the Darapech district of Kunar province.
The police chief of Kandahar has informed that so far 3 Pakistani forces have been killed and 8 wounded in a battle that began with Afghan forces along the Durand line on Sunday.
According to General Abdul Raziq, the provincial police chief, there have been no casualties from Afghan forces side and the battle ended on Sunday itself.
As per a statement by the Ministry of Interior, an order is out to identify and arrest the attackers of MMA fighter Ahmad Wali Hotak who was attacked on Sunday night.
Mr Wali is under treatment in a hospital and the case is under investigation by the agencies and police.
The Ministry of Interior has arrested 15 people during the current month at four airports.
The ministry said in a statement that Afghan Police have arrested 15 people accused of drug trafficking abroad in Hamid Karzai, Herat, Kandahar, and Maulana Jalaluddin Mohammad Balkhi airports.
The ministry further said that 2800 kilograms of heroin drugs were detected and seized only at the Herat International Airport by border police.
Iran and Japan have inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) providing for cooperation on training Afghan customs staff, according to Iran’s state run agency.
Senior officials, including Iran’s customs chief and the head of Japan’s Technical and International Cooperation Agency (JICA) were present at the MoU-signing ceremony.
The report also added “In the near future, the Islamic Republic of Iran is scheduled to present a training programme for Afghan customs staff to co-operate with Japan.”
On Monday morning President Ashraf Ghani arrived in Parwan Province.
The motive of his visit is to inaugurate the Barikab industrial-agricultural park and phase one of Jabal Saraj-Nijrab road construction, as well as review the progress of Jabal Saraj Arg.
Afghan MMA fighter Ahmad Wali Hotak was hospitalised after he was violently attacked by a knife on Sunday night. The attacker was not identified.
The attack took place in Kabul as Hotak was preparing for a fight next week that is to take place in Moscow.