Afghanistan’s full schedule for 2019 World Cup
1TV: Afghanistan will open their 2019 World Cup campaign against defending champions Australia at Bristol on June 1. Afghanistan’s matches at the 2019 World Cup:
June 1 v Australia at Bristol
June 4 v Sri Lanka at Cardiff
June 8 v New Zealand at Taunton
June 15 v South Africa at Cardiff
June 18 v England at Manchester
June 22 v India at Southampton
June 24 v Bangladesh v Southampton
June 29 v Pakistan at Leeds
July 4 v West Indies at Leeds
NATO Chief Says Alliance Could Help With Afghan Election Security
Jens Stoltenberg
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
April 26, 2018
NATO has said it could provide additional security during Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections, amid increasing attacks in the country ahead of the October polls.
“Our main contribution to make sure that the elections can be held in a safe and secure way is to continue to provide support to the Afghan security forces with training, with advice and also with funding,” alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels on April 26, on the eve of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
But Stoltenberg said NATO’s involvement would be limited.
“Having said that, I also envisage a limited role for NATO forces to help to make sure that elections can be held in a safe way,” he said.
Stoltenberg was speaking after 60 people were killed in a suicide attack on a Kabul voter registration center on April 22, and just one day after the Taliban announced their annual spring offensive.
NATO’s mission handed over responsiblity for security in Afghanistan to local forces at the end of 2014.
The alliance still maintains a 13,000-strong training and support mission in the country, and it is also in the process of expanding its Resolute Support mission by 3,000 troops.
“The Taliban have to understand they can never win at the battlefield,” Stoltenberg said.
“We will continue to train, to advise and to support Afghan national security forces and that will provide the framework, the conditions for the Taliban at some stage to sit down and negotiate for a peaceful solution.”
With reporting by AFP
Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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Eastern Afghan Deputy Governor Killed By Taliban
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
April 26, 2018
Taliban insurgents have ambushed and killed the deputy governor of Afghanistan’s eastern Logar Province, police say.
The attack, which killed Qamar-u-din Shakeb and at least one of his bodyguards, occurred on April 26 in the Mohammad Agha district of the province, police said.
“He was on his way to Kabul when he was attacked,” police official Asmatullah Alizai told RFE/RL.
Alizai said Shakeb’s bodyguard was also seriously injured in the attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Taliban insurgents control large swaths of eastern Logar Province, and frequently attack Afghan security forces.
With reporting by AP
Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
1 in 3 Afghan Children Still Not Vaccinated
Tolo News: An estimated 160,000 to 200,000 children under one year of age in Afghanistan − one in three – received zero vaccinations last year. These gaps in routine immunization coverage not only put the lives of under-vaccinated children at risk but also everyone around them. Click here to read more (external link).
Afghan military trainees in the US keep going AWOL
Army Times: The Defense Department has reported that as of February, nine of the more than 150 Afghan trainees in the United States who went absent without leave, or AWOL, across the nation remain unaccounted for. Afghan trainees in the United States go AWOL at a rate of 6 percent. Conversely, trainees from other countries go AWOL at a rate of only 0.07 percent, according to the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction. Click here to read more (external link).
World Bank Disputes US Audit of Afghan Reconstruction Program
Ayaz Gul
VOA News
April 25, 2018
ISLAMABAD — The World Bank has disputed U.S. government findings that billions of dollars of donor funds flowing into Afghanistan are at risk due to lack of oversight and transparency.
The project in question is called Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, or ARTF, and is being administered by the World Bank. It is one of the largest sources of funding to Afghan government operations outside the security sector.
The U.S. has paid about $3 billion dollars of the total $10 billion in direct assistance to Kabul since 2002, making it the largest contributor.
On Wednesday, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, released its audit of the project, saying that once the U.S. or any donor provides its contributions to the fund, neither the World Bank nor USAID can account for where and how the funds are being spent.
SIGAR noted in its audit report that the World Bank is unable to accurately measure ARTF sector-level performance.
“Without an accurate, reliable evaluation, the World Bank will be unable to determine the impact the roughly $10 billion in donor funding has had in improving Afghan development,” said the U.S. government watchdog.
SIGAR is tasked with auditing U.S.-funded reconstruction programs and providing recommendations for preventing waste and corruption. In its quarterly reports submitted to the U.S. Congress, the agency has been critical of the mismanagement of reconstruction funds, and it disclosed massive corruption in certain areas, including Afghanistan’s security sector.
While the World Bank swiftly questioned the report, it welcomed the watchdog’s recommendations an opportunity to strengthen the focus on the fund’s results and accountability.
“Most of the findings, however, are somewhat anecdotal, and do not fully take into account measures taken to improve the reporting on how funds are used,” the Bank noted in a statement sent to the media on Wednesday.
The program focuses on improving and expanding access to health care and education, developing rural infrastructure, and improving farmers’ crops and incomes.
“We are proud of the tangible results Afghanistan has achieved with the support of ARTF for Afghans in the past 15 years and continues to deliver,” the World Bank asserted.
The United States has spent about $1 trillion overall to secure and stabilize Afghanistan. Most of the funds have been devoted to creating and training Afghan National Defense and Security Forces so they could tackle the Taliban-led insurgency.
Security has deteriorated in recent years, though, with the insurgents controlling or contesting more than 44 percent of the country.
SIGAR has routinely identified and blamed corrupt practices by Afghan security institutions and forces for battlefield setbacks.
ICC Meet: Afghanistan To Play England, Australia In Tests; No India In Next FTP
ISNS: The Afghanistan cricket team will not engage in Test matches against India in the new Future Tours Programme (FTP) for 2019-2023 but will take on top teams like England and Australia in the next four years, its Cricket Board CEO Shafiq Stanikzai said. Afghanistan and Ireland were approved as Full Members by the International Cricket Council (ICC) last year. Click here to read more (external link).
Other Cricket News
1TV Afghanistan Dari News April 25, 2018
Turkey Faces ‘New Refugee Wave’ After Nearly 30,000 Afghans Arrive
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
April 25, 2018
Turkey says nearly 30,000 Afghans have entered the country since the start of the year, in what Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu called “a new refugee wave.”
Soylu said on April 25 that 29,899 Afghans had crossed into Turkey since January compared to 45,259 people in the whole of 2017, state news agency Anadolu reported.
“In recent months, we are facing a new refugee wave, especially from Afghanistan,” Soylu said, adding that 1,328 people smugglers had been detained so far this year.
Turkey is a key transit route for migrants from Afghanistan and other countries in Asia and the Middle East seeking to reach Europe in search of better lives and work.
Rights groups have criticized Ankara for deporting migrants back to conflict-torn countries such as Afghanistan, saying it was putting their lives at risk.
Turkish authorities have sent back 7,100 Afghan migrants since early April, Amnesty International said on April 24, as it denounced the “ruthless deportation drive.”
“Thousands more are in detention, being treated more like criminals than people fleeing conflict and persecution,” the London-based rights group said in a statement.
There are 145,000 Afghans in Turkey, according to Amnesty,
The country is also home to more than 3 million Syrian refugees, as well as more than 300,000 Iraqis, who have fled conflicts in their respective countries.
Turkey has started work on a border wall along its frontier with Iran, which is being crossed by migrants coming from the east. It also built a wall along much of the border with Syria.
With reporting by AFP and dpa