Narinder Singh, the Sikh parliamentary candidate this election cycle, met with US Ambassador John Bass as well as Special Advisor for Religious Minorities Knox Thames to discuss matters like “mutual concern, Hindu and Sikh participation in Afghan society” and political life as per a statement by the US Embassy in Kabul.

The statement also assured that the United States maintains its commitment towards religious freedom snd participation of ethnic and religious monitoring in the development of Afghanistan.

Knox Thames also released a statement on social media saying he “appreciated meeting with the leaders of Afghanistan’s Sikh and Hindu communities. Despite becoming smaller in size, they continue to contribute to their homeland in positive ways.”

It had been reported by sources that a Taliban attack in Farah has claimed the lives of four people, three of whom are policemen and one is civilian. One of the policemen was the police chief of PD1 of Farah.

A Farah spokesperson has also confirmed that the Taliban had shot at outposts of Gholam Sediq Khan village in center of Farah city. But he also assured that the situation is now under control.

On Monday, President Ashraf Ghani as well as National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib met with the US Central Command Chief General Joseph Votel.

While the NSA and Gen Votel discussed about matters pertaining to peace, security reforms and aid to Afghan forces, the President spoke to Gen Votel about the same issues but in addition to US’s strategy for South Asia and its effect. This information was confirmed by the NSA office as well as Presidential Palace respectively.

On Monday, President Ghani met with the foreign minister of Denmark, Andres Samuelson at the Presidential Palace in Kabul.

The two discussed multiple matters like ANDSF reforms, peace process, curriculum development, and some other education sector related issues. They also discussed about the recently held parliamentary elections in Afghanistan.

Denmark has roughly more than 600 of its soldiers in Afghanistan, concentrated mostly in the Helmand province. In addition, Danish assistance to Afghanistan values at $80 million every year.

According to the Speaker of the Afghan lower house of parliament, people came to the polls because of the agreement and assurance of the IEC to use the biometric system.

Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi called on the IEC in a general meeting on Monday to fulfill their promises to the people regarding the transparency of the elections.

This comes when the use of biometrics in the election days were faced with serious challenges and faults.

The Afghan parliamentary elections were carried out on 20 and 21 October across Afghanistan except Ghazni and Kandahar. Then, in Kandahar, the elections were held on 27 October with massive turnout.

The preliminary results of the Afghan parliamentary elections are scheduled for November 10.

Taliban flogged two women for having telephonic conversation with men who were not ‘Mahram’.
Jawzjan Local officials in northern Afghanistan confirm that the Taliban flogged two women in a village.

Governor of Jawzjan, Lotfullah Azizi, says that the village of Qarayi is under Taliban control in Darzab district and the incident occurred in that area.

He says the Taliban flogged two women charged with phone conversation with stranger men (Namahram) in front of villagers.
According to him, these women were married and currently they are in the same village.

Mr. Azizi said the incident happened on October 7, but the news has now reached the local authorities. The video of this incident has also been published on social media.

Field trials are not unprecedented by Taliban fighters and irresponsible gunmen in Afghanistan. They repeatedly flogged and shot women and men at various charges, including illegal relationships with strangers men (Namahram).

As rescue work after plane crash near Jakarta is on, rescuers take up the difficult task of clearing debris from the scene and checking for human bodies.

The Dailymail was told by the rescuers that all 189 passenger and crew were ‘likely’ to have been dead since the crash and that human remains had been found in the debris.

‘My prediction is that nobody survived because the victims that we found, their bodies were no longer intact and it’s been hours so it is likely 189 people have died,’ agency operational director Bambang Suryo Aji told reporters.

Pilot Suneja, who is originally from New Delhi, India had worked for Lion Air since March 2011 and had logged 11,000 flying hours making the pilot a heavily experienced one. The accident is the first to be reported involving the widely sold Boeing 737 MAX, which is considered a reliable plane.

United States’ Ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass came out with a statement condemning the attack that took place this morning near IEC office in Kabul’s PD9 area and that targeted employees of IEC. The statement also added that the US sends condolences to the victims and their families, also saying “an attack on Afghanistan election process is an attack on democracy.”

But the statement also commended the voters, candidates, volunteers, staff and security forces who contributed to the elections in their own ways.

Twelve civilians and 3 ALP forces were killed and a local commander was wounded as a result of the Taliban’s clash with the locals in Uruzgan province.
Ghazni local sources have confirmed that Taliban have attacked areas of Uruzgan Khas district of Uruzgan province, where mainly Hazaras reside, on Sunday.

The chief of Malistan district, neighboring the Uruzgan Khas district, told BBC that the clash started on Saturday with the Taliban assault on the two areas of Hossaini and Kondalan in the district and clash may still be ongoing.

Twelve civilians and three people have been killed in the clash so far. Five of these civilians were killed by the Taliban last night, he added.

Mr. Hedayat said that notorious local commander, Abdul Hakim Shojaei, was also wounded in the attack, but his condition is satisfactory.

According to Malistan Chief of district, about 150 families have been displaced from these two districts of Uruzgan and have taken refuge in the Malistan district of Ghazni province.

He said that there are now no police or defense troops in the area. Locals have been alerted in Shirdagh area of Malistan district as well as on the border with Uruzgan Khas against the Taliban.

Malistan chief of district has said that the issue has been reported to the center of Ghazni province, but there has been still no call for backup forces.

The deputy spokesperson of IEC, Zabih Sadat has told Radio Azadi that two IEC employees have been killed and 7 others have been wounded as a result of the suicide bomb attack that took place near IEC office in PD9 area of Kabul earlier this morning.

According to IEC, the attack targeted an IEC vehicle.

Security officials have reported that 44 insurgents have been killed or wounded across 8 provinces of Afghanistan.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Defense as a result of the invasive, airborne and cleanup operations of the security forces over the past 24 hours in the provinces of Ghazni, Helmand, Baghlan, Kandahar, Zabul, Farah, Badakhshan and Paktika, 29 insurgents were killed and 15 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 insurgents were also destroyed.

In a new update, it has been found that the plane that was crashed off Jakarta minutes after takeoff was cleared to return and prompts were sent to for return to the airport just 2-3 minutes after takeoff.

It has been reported that the shadow district governor of Taliban in Pacheragam district of Nangarhar, known as Mullah Mahmood has been killed along with 12 other militants in an operation by Afghan forces as confirmed by NDS.

The Taliban have also confirmed the death of their shadow governor.

IS-K has claimed the responsibility for the suicide attack that happened earlier today near the Independent Election Commission’s headquarters.

As per sources, the attack was targeted at an IEC vehicle and has so far claimed the life of a policeman and injured 5 others from what the Kabul police has informed.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Sebghat Ahmadi on Sunday evening confirmed that debates are still on within the quarters about Afghanistan’s participation in the planned meeting on Afghan peace in Moscow.

Previously, Moscow Peace talks were to take place in september when Taliban had confirmed to participate. However after an affirmation by Afghanistan that the process has to be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned, it was decided by Moscow to postpone the meeting that is reportedly to be held in November.

An Indonesian Lion Air passenger plane has reportedly gone missing shortly after taking off from Jakarta, an aviation authority official from Indonesia informed while adding “Lion Air JT 610 has lost contact ” and a search and rescue operation is underway.

The plane was a Boeing 737 Max-8 passenger aircraft JT610 of Lion Air. It was flying from Jakarta to Pangkalpinang, according to the nation’s rescue agency.

Kabul police have confirmed that so far one policeman has been killed and 4 IEC staff members have been wounded by the suicide attack that took place near IEC office of PD9 area in Kabul.

The attack took place earlier today when a suicide attack that targeted an IEC vehicle took place near the IEC office in PD9 of Kabul.

However IEC has informed that a policeman and an IEC employee have been killed while 5 others wounded.

Ministry of Interior spokesperson Najib Danish has informed that Kabul police, around 8:00 am this morning, killed a suicide bomber before he could reach the target.

The suicide bomber intended to target a civil personnel vehicle in PD 9 Kabul, but was identified and halted before reaching the target.

As a result of an explosion, two ANP policemen and four civilians were wounded.
The injured were taken to the hospital by the police and their situation has been well reported.

It has been confirmed that 7 people have been wounded by the explosion that happened earlier today close to IEC headquarters.

It has also been confirmed that the attack was a suicide blast and according to Wasima Badghesi who is the deputy head of IEC the attack targeted an IEC vehicle.

Basir Mujahid, a spokesman for Kabul police chief has informed TOLONews and confirmed the explosion close to IEC office in PD9 of Kabul. He said that no reports are there on casualties yet.

More details to follow.

It has been reported that a blast took place few minutes ago near the entrance of the Independent Election Commission’s Headquarters in Kabul, in the PD9 area of the city.

As the office was about to open for work, the employees and staff are reported to have been waiting in front of IEC.