Kabul: Afghan cricketer Rashid Khan has called on global leaders to increase efforts to bring peace to the region.

“I am not a politician, but I want world leaders to bring peace to the region. I grew up in a war, I know what children are afraid of. I can no longer see it. Every day I see children being killed in Palestine and Afghanistan. We have to stand up for what is right,” he wrote on his official Twitter page today.

The tweet was retweeted 1,500 times and about 22,000 people like it.

Two years ago, Khan was named Goodwill Ambassador for Afghanistan by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). He has repeatedly called for education and other rights for poor Afghan children.

Rashid Khan also founded a charity that helps orphaned and needy children.

Kabul: At least six members of the uprising forces have been killed in clashes in the Deraim district of Badakhshan province after Taliban insurgents attacked their checkpoints in Nawabad area of the district on Saturday night.

Nik Mohammad Nazari, spokesperson for the governor of Badakhshan, said that the Taliban attack in Nawabad area had failed and the forces killed 10 Taliban insurgents, while four members of the uprising forces had been killed.

Badakhshan Governor Mohammad Zakaria Soda also wrote on his Facebook page that these people had been killed in the fight against “domestic and foreign terrorists”. He also expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.

Meanwhile, the Taliban carried out another attack in Warduj district on Saturday night, which, according to government officials, failed.

Kabul: During a public hearing of the Anti-Corruption Center, the Supreme Court on Sunday sentenced former senator Nazar Mohammad Faqiri to 1.5 years in prison for embezzling 204 tons of wheat and also fined him 1,214,570 afghanis.

The Supreme Court has emphasized that the right to appeal to Mohammad Faqiri is protected by law.

Nazar Mohammad Faqiri was appointed as a member of the Senate by former President Hamid Karzai after the end of the transitional government. He also served as an appointed member of parliament during Karzai’s second term.

Kabul: Food and non-food aid has been distributed to at least 40 Hindu and Sikh families who have recently returned to Afghanistan from India, said Ahmad Tamim Azimi, spokesperson for the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority.

Azimi added that the aid included flour, rice, oil, beans, sugar, dry tea, salt and other household items.

According to him, the aid was provided in the presence of Ahmad Khan Nafee, head of the Emergency Situations Operations Center of the Authority, and Narandar Sang Khalesa, a representative of Sikhs in the House of Representatives.

“The Afghan government treats all people equally, and the Indians and Sikhs of the country are no exception,” Nafee said during the distribution.

Last year, a number of Hindu and Sikh citizens left the country due to concerns about their security. In recent years, the ethnic and religious minority of Afghan Hindus and Sikhs have been repeatedly attacked and in some cases, have also been abducted.

Kabul: To deal with the shortage of teachers in schools, the Ministry of Education is now starting the process of hiring teachers on contract basis.

Shortage of teachers in the current academic year has led to a large number of students being deprived of education and earlier, the ministry used to eliminate this shortage through fee-paying teachers. However, for some time now, the process of hiring “paid” and “contractual” teachers has stopped.

This has led to a serious shortage of teachers across the country.

The announcement by the Ministry of Education comes in coordination with the Ministry of Finance and the Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission, and under the guidance of President Ghani.

To ensure transparency in the process, the Ministry of Education has said that applicants’ educational credentials must be verified by a competent authority.

Similarly, hired teachers must be submit their fingerprints and their salaries will be paid through the banking system. It is not yet clear how many contract teachers the Ministry of Education will hire.

Kabul: The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) on Sunday reported 547 new positive cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in the last 24 hours.

The ministry also reported 10 deaths and 146 recoveries from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

The total number of cases now stand at 66,275, while the number of reported deaths is 2,812 and the total number of recoveries is 56,035.

MoPH added that the new cases were reported in Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Balkh, Nangarhar, Baghlan, Takhar, Kunduz, Helmand, Wardak, Badakhshan, Daikundi, Logar, Kunar, Laghman, Zabul, Uruzgan, Khost and Farah provinces.

Kabul: On the 9th day of protests in Faryab against the appointment of Mohammad Davood Laghmani as the new governor, protesters held elections to elect a governor.

Enayatullah Babar Farahmand, the first deputy head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, announced on Sunday that the protesters have nominees ready.

According to Farahmand, based on the decision of the Faryab High People’s Council, representatives of districts, civil society, ulema, women, parties, youth, academics, education and members of the provincial council, elected a total of four candidates and nominated them for the governor position.

Slogans for the announcement of a federal government have also been chanted by protesters. The protests in Faryab began after President Ghani appointed Mohammad Davood Laghmani as governor of Faryab a month ago. Ghani also nominated Naqibullah Fayek, the former governor of Faryab, to the Senate. However, supporters of the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan led by Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum in Faryab province were against this decision as they believe that Laghmani does not understand the geography or people of the province.

Protesters had earlier prevented the landing of a plane carrying Laghmani on May 16, but two days later, he started working in the 1st Brigade of the 209th Shaheen Corps at Maimana Airport. Protesters have also set up a tent camp in front of the governor’s office. On Saturday, protesters even reached the gate of the first brigade.

Kabul: At least four members of a family have been killed by gunmen at 1am on Sunday in the Bandar Bukhari area in Khanabad district of the Kunduz province, said Hayatullah Amiri, Khanabad district governor.

Amiri added that a woman was among those killed and two other people, including a woman, were injured in the attack by gunmen.

However, the district governor added that one person has been arrested in connection with the attack. According to him, the rest of the gunmen fled the area, adding that the detained was a relative of those killed.

According to Hayatullah Amiri, they have been enemies for a long time and this is a criminal incident.

Meanwhile, head of religious scholars’ council, Mawlawi Saifullah Safi was also murdered in the Sayed-Khel district of Parwan province. Safi was murdered close to a high school called Saif-ur-Raman Shaheed High school in the district, a provincial official told the media.

Security officials so far did not comment on the incident. No group including the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Kabul: Updating the grim number, the press office of the second vice-president of Afghanistan announced that the number of casualties in the attack on the Sayyid al-Shuhada school increased to 100 and over 160 have been wounded.

On May 8, a car full of explosives exploded outside the school along with two roadside bombs. Following the attack, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani ordered the second VP to prepare a plan to prevent such attacks.

Mohammad Hedayat, head of Danesh’s press office, told RFE/RL that the plan had been prepared and submitted to the Security Council. “A plan has been prepared and finalized by the second vice-president and submitted to the presidential palace and the National Security Council. We hope that a serious decision will be made on the implementation of this plan,” he said.

Hedayat, however, did not elaborate on the plan, but added that the plan was prepared in consultation with the people, the chief of staff and security officials.

According to him, an examination of the security situation in western Kabul showed that there were “security vacancies”, but did not elaborate on the same. The attack on the Sayyid al-Shuhada school is one of the latest deadly attacks on educational and cultural centers, clubs and health centers in western Kabul. The attacks raised concerns about the security situation in Kabul’s densely populated and impoverished area.

Meanwhile, the funeral committee has distributed the collected donations to the families of the victims. Sharif Watandust, a member of the staff, said that seven million afghanis from Afghan refugees in various countries had reached the staff.

Watandust added, “The amount of aid we have received is seven million Afghanis. We are giving 30,000 Afghanis to each family of those killed and 15,000 Afghanis to each family of the wounded. The rest is needed for the seriously injured in hospitals.”

The Afghan government has already provided assistance to the victims’ families.