Ariana: Afghanistan’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Idrees Zaman [is] accused of ethnic cleansing in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after he dismissed several directors from their positions in a short period of time. A number of lawmakers on Monday called on the Afghan parliament to prevent “such illegal dismissals”. Click here to read more
By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan: Afghan children must have IDs to go to school. And each family must have a permanent residence in order to get their IDs. Many members of the Jogi minority, a formerly nomadic people, have neither, and are unable to vote, own land, or attend school.
By Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 16, 2019 Turnout in Afghanistan’s presidential election was already a record low, at around 26 percent. But it could sink more as election authorities sift through the votes cast in the September 28 poll. The election commission could discard more than 700,000 of the 2.7 million votes
By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan September 28, 2019 KABUL — Polls have closed in Afghanistan’s presidential election with voting marred by several attacks and reports of problems at polling stations. Fifteen candidates were on the ballot, but the race was widely seen as a two-horse race between President Ashraf Ghani, who is seeking another five-year
By Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 27, 2019 Fifteen men will contest Afghanistan’s presidential election on September 28 in a race among old power brokers — ex-government officials, prominent technocrats, and a notorious former warlord. The twice-delayed September 28 election is slated to be only the second-ever democratic transition of power in the
By Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 25, 2019 A bitter, fraud-marred presidential election in 2014 pushed Afghanistan to the brink of civil war before a power-sharing deal was reached between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, who became president and chief executive officer. Five years on, even as 13 other candidates vie for the
Tolo News: President Ashraf Ghani has appointed Walid Tamim, former head of Afghanistan Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, to two key posts in government despite the Attorney General’s Office says Tamim has three corruption cases under investigation at the judicial organization. Legal experts said such appointments are contradicting rules and regulations in the government. Tamim was a close
Ariana: President Ashraf Ghani has announced that he will issue a legislative decree on Wednesday on recognizing “Sadat” as an ethnic group in the country. It comes as Afghanistan currently has 14 ethnic groups defined by the Constitution including Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Aymāq, Turkmen, Baloch, Pashai, Nuristani, Gujjar, Arab, Brahui, Pamiri and Qezlbash. Click here to
Al Jazeera: Comprising 15 percent of the population, the mostly Shia Muslim ethnic minority has long suffered targeted killings – The Hazara have long suffered oppression and persecution in Afghanistan. They are now often targeted by groups swearing allegiance to ISIL. In the 1990s, thousands were killed by al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. The Taliban declared them as “non-Muslims” during their rule from 1996