Reg: No 352 Volume No. 3213 Monday February 01, 2016 Dalwa 12, 1394 www.outlookafghanistan.net Price: 15/-Afs

Quote of the Day

Email: thedailyafghanistan@yahoo.comPhone: 0093 (799) 005019/777-005019

www.thedailyafghanistan.com

We should not give up and we should

not allow the problem to defeat us.

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Foreign Militants Fighting Alongside Taliban in BaghlanKABUL - The Deputy Chief of Army Staff, General Murad Ali Murad, said that foreign mili-tants, particularly Pakistani re-bels, are fighting alongside the Taliban against Afghan security forces in northern Baghlan prov-ince.“The operations will be con-ducted in different phases. Some 37 militants have been killed and 21 others wounded in the operations. Foreign militants, particularly Pakistani rebels, are among those killed and injured. This shows that foreign rebels

Ghani Issues Decree to Ensure Safety of

Journalists

NDS Rejects Reports of Massoud

Andrabi, Rizwan Akhtar Meeting

Rahimi to Taliban: Come to Negotiating Table

KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani has issued a de-cree to ensure the safety of journalists and give them access to accurate information.The deputy spokesman for Ghani, Sayed Zafar Hashemi, said that the decree focuses on the safety of journalists as well as ensuring probes into the killing of journalists.The decree comes after eight journalists and staff members of media organizations have been killed in less than two weeks.“This [the decree] indicates the commitment of Presidential Palace and National Unity Govern-ment, especially the president, towards free press. We try to strengthen them [media] and we try to act offensively, rather than acting defensively,” Hashemi said.Media support organizations welcomed the decree and urged the government to implement it.Fahim Dashty, CEO of Afghanistan’s journalist un-ion, said all contents of the decree are implementa-ble. “If government makes necessary efforts and if it is committed to implement it [the decree] and if we also follow its implementation, then we don’t see anything in the decree not to be implementa-ble,” he added.Rahimullah Samandar, head of Afghan Independ-ent Journalists Association, said that the decree, if implemented, will be helpful in resolving the chal-lenges faced by journalists.“The first two articles and also the sixth article, which is about investigations into the killing of journalists, are very helpful,” he added.Journalists, however, blame the government for turning a blind eye towards the problem faced by them. “In provinces, our journalists are faced with problems. When a ...(More on P4)...(3)

KABUL - The National Directorate of Security (NDS) on Sunday rejected reports of Pakistani media about a meeting of Massoud Andrabi, act-ing chief of NDS, and Let. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar, Director General of Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).A high ranking NDS official told Khaama Press that such reports are rumors and the chief is not scheduled for a visit to Islamabad these days.Earlier, Pakistani media reported that NDS chief and Director General of ISI would meet in Is-lamabad on February 4.The reports further stated that the bilateral in-telligence dialogue is being facilitated by the United States and that China would attend the meeting as an observer.Pakistan’s Dawn news reported that intelligence officials from the United States and China will be visiting Islamabad for the meeting aimed at easing relations between the two countries af-fected after attack on Bacha Khan University that left at least 21 people killed and around 50 others wounded. (KP)

LASHKARGAH - The Helmand governor on Sunday called on Taliban to shun violence and re-turn to normal life by joining the government-led reconciliation process.At a press conference, Governor Mirza Khan Ra-himi claimed all security-related issues had been resolved as a result of efforts by the central gov-ernment to scuttle Taliban’s plans.The local forces were ready to implement security plans, he said, adding resources, including weap-ons, equipment and intelligence facilities had been made available to law-enforcement agencies.With the government paying greater attention to the peace process than the war, the governor called on the fighters to shun violence and come to the negotiating table.Peace was possible, he believed, if the armed op-position acknowledged that mostly civilians were being affected by the conflict.Regarding the appointing of Abdul Jabbar Qah-raman as operational commander for Helmand province, Rahimi hailed the president for taking what he called a wise decision. (Pajhwok)

are fighting alongside the Taliban militants against Afghan forces,” he said.Gen Murad, who is on a visit to Baghlan province to monitor fight-ing between Afghan forces and the Taliban, said some 37 militants have been killed and 21 others wounded in the six-day battle.Terming bad weather as the main hurdle for Afghan forces to make progress, Murad said that security forces are continuing their opera-tions in Baghlan.“As you know, air and land opera-tions ...(More on P4)...(1)

Murtaza Ahmadi (2nd R) sits with his sister and brothers as they watch football games at their home in Jaghori district of eastern Ghazni province. The Afghan boy has become famous around the globe after his father failed to find him a sport shirt similar to football star Lionel Messi’s jersey, but had helped him wear a similar color plastic shopping bag

in a remote village in the province some 125 kilometer south of Afghan capital. (Xinhua/Rahmat Alizadah)

General Murad Ali Murad

Pakistan, Afghan Armies Agree on Better Border

Coordination

Calls for Electoral Reforms Increase Amid Deadlock

Abdullah in India on 5-Day Visit

Dand-E-Ghori Officials ‘Regret’ Deal

with Taliban

Afghanistan to Import Iranian Medicines

NEW DELHI - Afghan Chief Executive Officer and Head of the Council of Ministers Abdullah Abdul-lah left for India on a five-day visit during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on key regional and bilateral issues including secu-rity cooperation.The Afghan leader’s visit comes nearly a month after Modi’s trip to Kabul during which he inau-gurated the new Afghan parliament building, con-structed with India’s aid.Primarily in India to attend a conference on coun-ter- terrorism in Jaipur, organised by India Founda-tion in association with Sardar Patel University of Police Security and Criminal Justice, Abdullah will call on Modi and hold a meeting with External Af-fairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tomorrow. He will leave for Jaipur on Tuesday.His visit also comes as India gave three of the four multi-role Mi-35 helicopters to Afghanistan last month. They have been assembled and are now ful-ly operational to combat terrorism in the war-torn country. During the visit, the two sides are expected to talk about security cooperation with Afghanistan seeking enhanced defence assistance including le-thal weapons. (Agencies)

KABUL - Minister of Public Health Firouzeddin Fir-ouz said on Saturday that his country have reached agreements with Iran and India for importing high-quality pharmaceutical products.He said that Afghanistan is also seeking to reach such an agreement with Pakistan to prevent the im-ports of low-quality medicine. Firouz believed that the problem of inappropri-ate situation of Afghan hospitals cannot be solved within the next few years.Voicing concern about the imports of low-quality medicine, the minister said that most of the medi-cines needed by Afghanistan are provided by Paki-stan and India. Iranian medicines are also illegally entering Af-ghanistan, he said. (IRNA)

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Afghan military commanders agreed Saturday on better co-ordination and enhancing se-curity measures at both sides of the border, officials said.Pakistan and Afghanistan have neatly 2,600 kilometers border, mostly porous, and the militants take advantage of the inaccessible and diffi-cult terrain to move across the border.Pakistan has long been seeking Afghanistan’s help for better border coordination to check the illegal crossings. Both

KABUL - Election monitoring groups on Sunday reiterated their criticism of the Afghan government for failing to move forward with the reform pack-age on Afghanistan’s electoral law.They blasted leaders of the na-tional unity government for wasting time in the process de-spite a strong democratic com-mitment demonstrated by the two leaders in the post-2014 presidential poll.With the stalemate of work by the selection committee, the ef-forts vowed by the government over recent weeks appear to have gone to waste.With the refusal of the presi-dent’s legislative decree by the Afghan national assembly on electoral reforms, it seems that

sides had earlier agreed on the es-tablishment of bilateral border co-ordination centers at Torkham and Chaman border points; however, the centers have not yet been set

the efforts which had been stepped up by the government have amounted to nothing and the job of the selection commit-tee has stalled.“The deadlock of electoral reforms have raised serious concerns among the people, international community and monitoring institutions, the

PUL-E-KHUMRI - Officials who signed the controversial Dand-e-Ghori deal, on Sunday expressed their regrets over the accord with the Taliban.They say the deal over Dand-e-Ghori area of Baghlan province could have paved the way for a surge in activities of the Taliban and expanded their influence in the volatile region.Outraged by the deal, members of the Baghlan provincial coun-cil on Sunday said that the deal led the entire area to be out of the control of the government, calling on the prosecution of the elements who made the deal with the hardline group.

stalemate shows that the en-tire efforts multiplied by zero so far,” Yousaf Rashid, head of Free and Transparent Forum of Afghanistan said.Meanwhile, the selection com-mittee has also criticized gov-ernment for not taking steps to break the deadlock and go with the ...(More on P4)...( 4)

Violence increased dramati-cally in the area following the deal.“We thought that they (Tali-ban) will avoid violence, but they exploited the opportuni-ty,” said Safdar Mohseni, one if those who signed the deal.It is believed that the deal paved the way for Taliban insurgents to gain footholds in other areas, a move that has posed serious threats to northern and north-eastern provinces.“It was a poisoned deal,” said a member of Baghlan provincial council Mohammad Hanif.“The accord increased the mo-rale of the ...(More on P4)...(5)

up. As the military-to-military con-tacts have grown in recent days, an eight-member delegation of Afghan National Army headed by Corps Commander ...(More on P4)...(2)