Stars and Stripes: A former U.S. military contractor pleaded guilty this week to bribery and visa fraud in his management of millions of dollars worth of U.S.-funded reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan. Orlando Clark, 57, of Smyrna, Ga., was accused of conspiring with an analyst at another American company in 2011 and 2012 to receive approximately
8am: “Tens of millions of dollars are flown into Kabul every week by the United States and the United Nations for distribution across the country as humanitarian catastrophe grips tighter with winter closing in. Sources inside and outside the country say much of the money never reaches those who need it,” according to a Foreign
Business Insider: During the final months of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, as the Taliban advanced on the capital, the elected government struggled to reassure its US patrons that it could maintain control. Yet at the same time, smugglers were illegally carrying hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold out of the country
8am: In an exclusive report, the Daily Etilaat Roz newspaper revealed the existence of widespread corruption in the general traffic directorate under Taliban rule. Based on the report published on Saturday, Hasibullah Mukhtar, the Taliban’s general traffic director, who is affiliated with the Haqqani network, has illegally recruited his relatives, embezzling the daily revenues of
ANI: Pakistani agents are robbing Afghanistan of its cultural heritage by smuggling ancient idols and other artifacts from the war-torn country, reported the Afghan Diaspora Network. The smuggling is done by a global racket of smugglers who are facilitated by local Afghan officials. Major support to the crime is provided by actors working from the
8am: Pashtun Nomads (Kuchis) in Jaghatu district, Ghazni province have accelerated the construction of residential houses in settlements under dispute. This settlement is located in the “Pushte Faqirshah” area, Sarab village, Jaghatu district. Local sources claimed that the sedentary population’s pasture lands have been usurped by nomads thanks to the Taliban’s support. Although locals have
8am: The Taliban Ministry of Information and Culture has said that it has signed contracts worth $42 million with foreign tourists that allow them to hunt rare birds. Bakhtar news agency, the official Taliban-owned news website, reported on Tuesday (December 13th) that the million-dollar contracts with foreign tourists, especially Arabs, facilitate the legal hunting of
8am: A week ago, an aid consignment provided by the World Food Program (WFP) arrived in Malistan’s Pashi neighborhood, sources in the Malistan district confirmed on Sunday (December 11th). However, due to the interference of the Taliban, it has not been distributed to families in need. Taliban members have been repeatedly accused of interfering and
8am: Taliban fighters are committing armed robbery in the outskirts of Herat province, sources confirmed to Hasht-e Subh on Friday (December 9th). A group of four Taliban fighters stopped a young man’s car at a checkpoint in the Kalata Hakim neighborhood of Islam Qala district early this week, sources detailed. Taliban fighters first searched him
8am: The Taliban have ordered that the 12th-grade exams of female students must be held in one day. All 12th-grade girls are going to appear in the exams today without having preparation as they have only been asked to contact their schools on Monday to register for the exam along with a photograph, ID card,