The Presidential candidate, Rahmatullah Nabil says reaching for power through “fraud” will move Afghanistan towards “certain collapse.”

During a press conference in Kabul on Monday, Nabil said the fraudulent votes should be sorted out from the total number of votes.

“There are over one million fraudulent votes– who has done this and tried to hack the server?” Nabil said.

“Where are the missing biometric devices? All of the devices have GPS. As I was NDS chief, I know they can find the devices exactly where they are,” he asserted.

The former intelligence chief declared that Afghanistan’s presidential elections were marred by widespread fraud.

He stated that some circles in government claim to support the democratic system but they want to remain in power by making deals.

“Nabil says that $180 million was used from the country’s treasury in the election by a certain campaign team,” Nabil added.

After the Presidential contender Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, Nabil is the third candidate who has warned of fraudulent votes.

A group of four IS-K terrorists including a foreign national surrendered to the Afghan security forces in eastern Nangarhar province, officials said.

The Special Operations Corps in a statement said that the terrorists surrendered to Afghan forces in Achin district of Nangarhar.

According to the statement, the foreign member of the group originally hails from Pakistan who surrendered to Afghan security forces together with his wife and four children.

The IS-K group has not commented regarding the surrender of its members so far.

Afghan local officials say the supporters of “Stability and Partnership” electoral team shut down the office of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) in Takhar province.

The spokesman of Takhar governor, Jawad Hejri told Reporterly that the supporters of Stability and Partnership team closed the IEC office in reaction to the recounting process of the Presidential votes.

According to Hejri, the issue has been officially shared with the responsible authorities in the central government.

This comes as the Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah announced Sunday that he won’t recognize the general elections’ outcome if the freshly initiated recount of votes is not immediately halted.

“The recounting should be stopped. We are trying to save the process from fraudsters,” Abdullah said at a meeting with thousands of his supporters in the capital Kabul, adding that “a fraud-marred election will not be accepted. The result should be based on the clean votes of our people.”

The Metropolitan Police have returned ancient stolen artefacts back to their country in Afghanistan after 17 years.

According to the antique specialists, in 2002 Customers Officers at Heathrow Airport intercepted two wooden crates from Peshawar in Pakistan, suspected the items may contain drugs.

“When they opened the crates they found no drugs, but a Buddha sculpture and nine Buddha heads.

The items which date back to between the fourth and sixth century were believed to have been stolen from Afghanistan,” the antique specialists said.

Specialist officers from the Met’s Arts and Antiques Squad moved in and seized the items.

Detectives established that the objects had been sent on consignment to a business based in London, which was unaware as to the nature of the items. As there were no other suspects in the UK, the case was closed.

The items will now be returned to the National Museum of Afghanistan after being displayed for a short time at the British Museum.

An Afghan Police vehicle was damaged following a magnetic bomb explosion in the capital Kabul on Monday, officials confirmed.

Confirming the incident, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said that the blast took place in Kot-e Sangi area of Kabul city, PD5.

The spokesman of MoI, Nasrat Rahimi declared that at least four people were wounded following the blast, and the police vehicle was damaged.

No group has so far claimed responsibility behind the incident.

Local officials in Paktia province say at least three Pakistani Taliban insurgents along with the group’s shadow governor for Ahmad Khel district have been killed in Paktia province.

The Paktia governor’s press office in a statement released on Monday said that seven Taliban militants including three key commanders were killed in an airstrike in Rokeyan area of Haji Aryoub district on Sunday night.

According to the statement, Mawlavi Mirza Jan, the Taliban governor for Ahmad Khel district, Qari Habib and Allah Noor other key commanders of the group were killed in the airstrike.

In the meantime, the statement added that four Pakistani bomb makers blown up by their own Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on Sunday in Andar village of Samkani district of the province.

The US Special Inspector to Afghanistan (SIGAR) in its quarterly report has said that the US provided up to $7.9 billion to support and develop the Afghan Air Force, or AFF, between 2010 to 2019.

The report says $1.7 billion of the total amount was allocated for fiscal year 2019, which is $71.9 million less than what the US watchdog reported last quarter.

The report stated that the funds were allocated to the Afghan Air Force in 2019 was $295.4 million more than the money allocated to other elements of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, or ANDSF.

The SIGAR report shows that as in previous years, a large portion of the AAF’s fiscal year 2019 funds has been designated for AAF sustainment costs ($842.1 million, or 51%).

India ended their AFC U19 Championship 2020 Qualifiers with a 0-3 loss to Afghanistan at the Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium on Sunday.

The Afghans scored thrice in the first half, racing into an early lead. The Indians did try to pull it back, creating scoring opportunities in the second half, and even hit the crossbar twice but failed to find the net.

The match began with Afghanistan taking a quick lead in the second minute through captain Ahmad Ramaki, who scored from a melee in the six-yard box after a corner kick.

The Afghans got their second goal two minutes later through midfielder Ahmad Nawshad. He struck a left-footed shot from long distance, which took a deflection on its way in.

Afghanistan scored another goal in the 29th minute through Khatam Del – as he latched on to a loose ball in the Indian defense and ran towards goal, before scoring past the keeper.

With seven minutes to play, the Indian side was denied by the goalkeeper yet again and ended up being dealt a hard blow by its rival.

The Stars and Stripes reports that the US military would use the largest warplane equipped by laser weapons in the war in Afghanistan.

It quoted US military officials as saying on Sunday that the AC-130 Ghostrider gunship flies over Afghan airspace almost every night and is armed by laser weapons that had not been used yet in Afghan war.

The US officials have told the Stars and Stripes that the warplane was included in their Afghan operations after they received the order to accelerate pressures on Taliban fighters.

Speaking to Stars & Stripes, Combined Joint Special Operations Air Component–Afghanistan commander Col. Terence Taylor revealed that the Ghostrider has flown a total of 218 sorties amounting to 1,380 hours over roughly 130 days, which shakes out to an average of five sorties every three days since the aircraft first arrived downrange in late June.

There’s an obvious reason that the Ghostrider has been in such high demand: the gunship comes equipped with the standard 105mm cannon and an additional 30mm GAU-23/A cannon, along with wing pylons designed to haul both GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) in a report said that the number of women in Afghan security forces rankings has been increased to 30 percent.

According to the US watchdog, the female number in the Afghan security forces has jumped up from 4,495 of last year to 6,395 in the ongoing year, which compare to last year 1,900 women have joined the security ranking.

Meanwhile, SIGAR stated that it has sent the report of female security forces to the US congress.

This comes as earlier a number of women rights activists have criticized the government for not providing enough occupation for the female employees in the security ranking.

With an investment of over $50 million, 20 new factories have been established in Herat’s Industrial Park over the past 8 months.

As per Wasdam report, the factories are operating in the areas of food production and reconstruction materials.

According to figures from Herat’s Chamber of Commerce and Mines, 300 factories are currently active in the province’s Industrial Park in the areas of food production, construction supplies, marble and dairy.

Meanwhile, the business community of Herat has voiced concerns over government’s lack of support. Electricity shortages, insecurity and corruption are major hurdles facing the investment sector in the province.

The business community has urged the government to ensure security for investors and provide ample electricity for factories.

According to Herat’s Chamber of Commerce and Mines, the Industrial Park has the potential for 20 more factories if the government addresses the challenges above.