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Reg: No 352 Volume No. 3484 Sunday January 08, 2017 Jaddi 19, 1395 www.outlookafghanistan.net Price: 15/-Afs Quote of the Day Email: [email protected] Phone: 0093 (798) 341861/ 799-157371 www.thedailyafghanistan.com Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide. Napoleon Bonaparte Mohaqiq KABUL - Afghanistan In- dependent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) on Saturday said taking girls to forensic laboratories for virginity tests is against the law and violates their human rights and as such called on government to stop the prac- tice. “Mandatory virginity test- ing is against human rights (laws) and Islam and it dam- ages girls and women’s repu- tations,” AIHRC Commis- sioner for Women’s Rights Suraya Sobhrang said. Forensic officials meanwhile said 95 percent of girls agree to be tested in order to re- move any doubt that they are not virgins. “Mostly the people who are referred to forensic (labora- tories) are victims and the people have accused them of not being virgins. Also brides come here for testing,” said KABUL – Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, the CEO’s second deputy, said on Saturday that Daesh had increased its activ- ities in the country. He had been speaking about the eight coalminers killed in Baghlan in what is believed to have been a Daesh attack. Mohaqiq linked the killing to small Takfiri groups and said out of 100 terrorist groups in the world, 20 of them are ac- tive in Afghanistan. “They are part of Takfiri groups that are active in Syr- ia, Iraq and some other coun- tries. They have been active in Afghanistan for about one year,” he said. The group first started activi- ties in Nangarhar province and then recruited fighters Significant Gains Made in Afghanistan, Claims Carter Watchdog Calls on Govt. Stop Forced Virginity Tests Afghanistan Welcomes Return of US Marines to Helmand Shannon Reiterates Continues Support to Afghanistan Daesh Activities Increase Across the Country Trina Yadgari, a forensic spe- cialist. Virginity tests have increased in the country in recent times. However a number of people have called on government to put an end to the practice especially as it is illegal. This week, a spokesman from the presidential palace told the New York Times that government is committed to ...(More on P4)...(2) 129 Drug Smugglers Arrested in Last 3 Months Joint Chamber Stresses Urgent Review of ATTA MoUD Sign Contract worth $11.4mln with Turkish Firm KABUL - At least 129 people in connec- tion of 135 drug smuggling cases have been arrested in the country in the past three months, Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) said on Saturday. According to a statement from the CJTF, received by Pajhwok Afghan News, the men were detained over trafficking of 857 kilograms of heroin, 28,290 kilograms of morphine, 24,604 kg opium, 70,001 kg hashish, 32,706 kg of solid chemicals, 10,440 kg liquid chemicals and 3,066 kg al- coholic beverages. The source said that the drug trafficking cases were registered in 18 of 34 provinces of the country with 28 cases in Nangarhar, 18 in Herat and 13 in the capital Kabul, the provinces with highest number of cases. There have been no drug smuggling cas- es in Logar, Khost, Daikundi, Nuristan, Panjsher, Paktika, Kapisa, Ghor, Bamyan, Badghis, Zabul, Uruzgan, Faryab, Sar-I- Pul, Jawzjan and Kunar in the four quarter of the current 1395 solar year, the state- ment said. (Pajhwok) PESHAWAR - The Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Saturday called for a review of the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA). Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, senior vice-president of the chamber, said both Kabul and Islamabad were least bothered about taking practical steps to boost bilateral trade or improve the agreement. If serious attention was not paid, the situation would go from bad to worse in near future, he warned in a statement on Friday. Sarhadi, also vice-chairman of the All Paki- stan Customs Agents Association, said India and Iran would exploit the situation, and as a result, the business community of Pakistan and Afghanistan would suffer. He added the ATTA had already been sabo- taged as 70 per cent of the business has been shifted to Chabahar and Bandar Abbas ports of Iran during the past six years. As a result, the Pak-Afghan bilateral trade has fallen from $2.5 billion to $1.5 billion. Sarhadi stressed concrete steps to realise the dream of taking the trade volume between Pakistan and Afghanistan to $5 billion. (Pajhwok) KABUL - The Minister of Urban Development and Housing (MoUD) Syed Sadat Mansoor Naderi signed the contract with the head of a Turkish construction firm in ARG Presidential Palace. The signing ceremony was also attended by a number of other ministers and lawmakers of the lower house of the parliament, Wolesi Jirga. According to a statement by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, the cost for the establishment of the factory will be around $11.4 million and will be paid from the govern- ment resources.The statement further added that the factory will become operational in the next 12 months. The factory will pave the way for the production of around 300,000 cubic meters of prefabricated construc- tion materials for the schools, hospitals, universities, affordable housing units, and other public properties, the ministry said. It also added that the prefabricated construction materials will help reduce the construction cost by almost $274 per meter with the materials to be manufactured in two to four months. According to the ministry, the current construction cost per meter is currently around $350 where nonstand- ard materials are used for the construction against the standard norms, specifically in schools which are built over a period of nine to twelve months. The prefabricated construction factory will mainly fo- cus on governmental infrastructures, including schools and hospitals in the beginning and once it becomes op- erational. (KP) WASHINGTON - The United States has made significant gains in Afghanistan in the last eight years, the US de- fense secretary Ashton Carter claimed, hoping the next ad- ministration will lead the way in advancing the relationship. “My hope is that the next administration will lead the way in advancing this rela- tionship, because the Afghan people will need the partner- ship of the United States for many years to come,” Ashton Carter wrote in an exit memo. At the direction of President Barack Obama, his cabinet colleagues have written exit memos on the accomplish- ments of their respective de- partments over the last eight years. When Obama took office in 2009, the situation in Afghanistan had deterio- rated, with the Taliban beginning to control additional swaths of territory KABUL - Afghanistan on Sat- urday welcomed the Penta- gon’s decision to deploy some 300 US Marines to the volatile province of Helmand, where American forces engaged in heated combat until their mis- sion ended in 2014. The Marines will head to the poppy-growing southern province this spring to assist a NATO-led mission to train Afghan forces, in the latest sign that foreign forces are in- creasingly being drawn back into the worsening conflict. For years Helmand was the centerpiece of the US and Brit- ish military intervention in Afghanistan only for it to slip KABUL - US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Thomas Shannon, traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan, where he met with President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Ab- dullah Abdullah, and other senior government officials. Ambassador Shannon un- derscored the strong part- nership between the United States and Afghanistan and reiterated our continued commitment to Afghani- stan’s peace, prosperity, and while engaging in devastating attacks across the country, Carter wrote. “Twice in 2009, he directed increased reinforcements to Afghanistan to dis- rupt, dismantle, ...(More on P4)...(3) deeper into a quagmire of in- stability, with large swathes of the province under the control of the insurgents. “The US deployment is im- portant. This will increase our capacity in fighting ter- rorism,” defense ministry spokesman Mohammad Rad- manish told AFP. The Marines will train and advise Afghan soldiers and police officers fighting Tali- ban insurgents in Helmand, according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM). “We really need air support in Helmand. I hope they (US) support our air force, since we ...(More on P4)...(4) security. Ambassador Shannon will travel to Vienna, Austria, on January 9-10 to lead the U.S. delegation to a Joint Com- mission meeting under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) regarding Iran’s nuclear program. He will be accompanied by Lead Coordinator for Iran Nuclear Implementation Ambassa- dor Steve Mull and experts from relevant U.S. govern- ment agencies. (PR) from Logar and Nuristan provinces. But recently the group carried out activities in Faryab, Jawz- jan, Sar-e-Pul, Uruzgan and Baghlan provinces. “According to our informa- tion, Daesh fighters are try- ing to establish safe havens in Nangarhar and expand their activities to other provinc- es,” said Mohammad Nasir Kamawal, head of Nangarhar provincial council. Ministry of Defense (MoD), however, said Daesh is only active in Nangarhar, Kunar, Nuristan and Zabul prov- inces. “A number of armed indi- viduals use the name of some groups (Daesh) to carry out some ...(More on P4)...(1) Speaker Invalidates Summons for Defence Minister KABUL - The Wolesi Jirga speaker on Saturday announced invalidating a sum- mons for the defence minister, saying the move was against the relevant rules. Deputy Speaker Niamatullah Ghafari, who chaired Thursday’s session of the lower house, had sent the summons for Gen. Obaidullah Habibi to the Adminis- trative Board. The minister was asked to appear be- fore lawmakers on Wednesday. At least 20 MPs have to sign the summons form, giving valid reason for the appearance of a cabinet member. But Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi told the Wolesi Jirga session today the sum- mons process for the defence minister had been completed in violation of the rules of business. “The signatures were collected from law- makers outside the house, at their hous- es, in contravention of rules. At least three suspect signatures can be seen on the list,” the speaker explained. Ibrahimi called the summons legislators’ legal right, saying the rules were pretty clear. If the relevant law was trampled, the house credibility was damaged in the eyes of the people and the government, he argued. If house members still insisted on sum- moning the defence minister, the should meet the legal requirements before sub- mitting the form to the administrative board, he added. (Pajhwok)
