Ferozuddin Feroz, Minister of Public Health, said that self-immolation cases have recently increased in the country and this is a major challenge for the health sector.

Speaking at the opening of the first specialized burn surgery center in Kabul, Mr. Feroz said that, to address the challenges and due to increase in burn incidents, Ministry of Public Health created this center with limited financial resources.

While stressing the reduction in mortality caused from burn incidents, Minister of Health added “over the past year, nearly 30,000 burn incidents have been recorded in health facilities countrywide, and mortality caused by burning has fortunately dropped from 30% to 15% compared to past years”.

The Burn Surgery Center has been established in Kabul with capacity of 50 beds and with total cost of AFN63 million.

US Ambassador to Kabul, John Bass was in Kandahar to meet with local leaders including Provincial Governor Hayatullah Hyat on Monday.

“We discussed security in the province and the importance of Kandahar in the peace process”, Bass tweeted,

He also wrote that US will continue to stand with the people of Kandahar and all of Afghanistan in their ongoing efforts to bring peace, prosperity, and stability to the country.

WhatsApp has urged its 1.5 billion users to upgrade the app after the Facebook-owned platform discovered a vulnerability that allowed a spyware to be installed on users’ phones via the app’s phone call function.

The spyware was allegedly developed by the Israeli cyber intelligence company NSO Group.

The vulnerability leveraged a bug in WhatsApp’s audio call feature, facilitating the installation of spyware on the device being called whether the call was answered or not.

WhatsApp said it has fixed the vulnerability that was discovered last month.

“WhatsApp encourages people to upgrade to the latest version of our app, as well as keep their mobile operating system up to date, to protect against potential targeted exploits designed to compromise information stored on mobile devices, the company said in a statement.

The Israel-based NSO Group works for the government, looking to infect targets of investigations and gain access to various aspects of their devices.

“The attack has all the hallmarks of a private company reportedly that works with governments to deliver spyware that takes over the functions of mobile phone operating systems,” the WhatsApp statement read, without mentioning the NSO Group.

The National Directorate of Security has announced that NDS special forces targeted Taliban hideouts in Helmand province.

National Directorate of Security (NDS) said in a statement on Tuesday that, as a result of NDS special forces operation on hideout of Mullah Naim, known as “Balsi”, in the Garmsir district of Helmand province, 600 kg of explosives, 1500 Kg of drugs, 6 anti-vehicle mines, and 10 vehicles were confiscated by NDS personnel.

The statement added that four hideouts were demolished in the operation

Security officials have reported the killing of a private company incharge by armed burglars in Kabul.

Speaking to Reporterly on Tuesday, Ferdows Faramarz Kabul Police spokesman said that this individual was assaulted by armed burglars in PD4 of Kabul this morning and his money was stolen.

Mr. Faramarz added that, this individual lost his life due to severe injuries. Police is trying to identify and arrest the robbers, he said.

According to a report by the New York Times, at a meeting of US President Trump’s top national security aides last Thursday, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan presented an updated military plan that envisions sending as many as 120,000 troops to the Middle East should Iran attack American forces or accelerate work on nuclear weapons.

According to US administration officials. , the revisions were ordered by hard-liners led by John R. Bolton, who is Trump’s national security adviser. Although they do not call for a land invasion of Iran, their policies are hawkish.

The development reflects the influence Bolton whose push for confrontation with Tehran was ignored more than a decade ago by President George W. Bush.

It is highly uncertain whether Trump seeks to disentangle the United States from Afghanistan and Syria, ultimately would send so many American forces back to the Middle East.

But tensions between US and Iran are rising, following US withdrawal from the JCPoA and reinstating sanctions in Iran.

Officials have said that dozens of Taliban insurgents who attacked security check posts in Farah had their attack pushed back.

At least sixteen Taliban insurgents were killed in an operation carried out by Afghan forces in Farah province.

According to the officials, the operation was conducted in Posht Road district in Farah.

At least 21 other Taliban insurgents were wounded in the operation.

One soldier was killed and two other soldiers were wounded in the operation.

Taliban has rejected the claims of the attack.

In another news, the Afghan Special Forces raid in Daymirdad district of Wardak province resulted in 9 Taliban insurgents being killed with two other getting detained. A large number of weapons and explosives were also destroyed, provincial officials said Tuesday.

Germany’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Markus Potzel announced readiness of his country to support the results of Consultative Peace Loya Jirga.

Communication office of Umer Daudzai said that Mr. Potzel expressed these remarks on Monday in Germany in a meeting with Mr. Daudzai who is president Ghani’s Special Envoy

While emphasizing on continuation of Germany’s support to Afghanistan, Mr. Daudzai has considered the Peace Loya Jirga a significant and important step for building national consensus.

Germany’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Markus Potzel spoke about the broad support of international community and Afghan people for the result of Consultative Peace Jirga, saying that Germany would not hesitate to contribute to any kind of support in peace for Afghanistan.

At least four Pakistani policemen were killed when a blast occurred n a market in Quetta’s Satellite town of Pakistan on Monday night, Quetta police said.

Quetta Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Police Abdul Razzaq Cheema said that a police van was damaged, and two policemen and seven civilians were wounded in the blast, Dawn news reported.

According to the DIC, the blast was due to improvised explosives device (IED) planted in motorcycle parked on the road.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claims responsibility for the attack.

Salah Rabbani, Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs met with the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia of the US Department of State, Ms. Alice Wells and emphasized on domestic consensus for peace process.

Ambassador Wells emphasized United States’ long term commitment to Afghanistan in various areas and deemed of high significance, the domestic comprehensive dialogue of the people of Afghanistan for successful results of the peace talks.

Ms. Wells informed the Foreign Minister of the continued waiver with respect to the Chabahar Port vis-a-vis US sanctions on Iran.

Mr. Rabbani also appreciated the continuation of US support to Afghanistan, and mentioned that the domestic and regional consensus was highly important for reaching peace. The two sides discussed the upcoming Presidential Elections, regional cooperation and counterterrorism.

On Monday, Jalalabad city of eastern Nangarhar province witnessed four continuous explosions, as confirmed by provincial governor’s spokesman Attaullah Khogyani.

It was reported by media sources that Nangarhar governor and the police chief visited the wounded victims later.

Khogyani confirmed that for people died as a result of the bombing and 20 others were wounded.

President Ghani’s Special Envoy Umer Daudzai announced on Twitter that he met with German Special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Markus Potzel in Berlin.

The two discussed intra-Afghan talks and the consultative Loya Jirga outcome.

Mr Potzel vowed to support Afghan peace in the meeting.