The New Yorker: America’s war in Afghanistan, which is now in its fifteenth year, presents a mystery: how could so much money, power, and good will have achieved so little? Congress has appropriated almost eight hundred billion dollars for military operations in Afghanistan; a hundred and thirteen billion has gone to reconstruction, more than was spent
1TV: Afghan lawmakers have marked down the unity government’s performance, a new survey by Democracy International has found. Out of 215 members of the parliament interviewed, only seven percent were satisfied said the government was going in the right direction. The survey found that insecurity, poverty, poor governance and corruption have been major challenges the government is facing.
Tolo News: Ahmad Zia Massoud, President Ashraf Ghani’s Special Representative on Reform and Good Governance, in an interview with TOLO news said that there are certain circles that do not want Taliban to be suppressed in military operations. Massoud said that these circles in collusion with the Taliban do not let the security forces move from
Press TV: The CIA wasted numerous opportunities to kill Osama bin Laden before September 11, 2001, because the former al-Qaeda chief was essentially working for the US government, says Dr. Kevin Barrett, an American academic who has been studying the events of 9/11 since late 2003. Dr. Barrett, a founding member of the Scientific Panel for the
VOA News Ayaz Gul February 25, 2016 ISLAMABAD—An anti-corruption monitoring group says despite “small signs” of progress in the fight against corruption, Afghanistan’s official commitment to effectively address the problem is weakening, eroding public trust in the administration’s ability to govern. The independent Monitoring and Evaluation Committee, or MEC, in its half yearly report released
Tolo News: A number of high ranking officials are accusing cabinet members of hiring relatives instead of experienced directors in sixteen government ministries. The statement was made after a number of directors who were fired, protested the move on Monday, and said that they have sent a letter in this regard to the National Unity Government
1TV: The research by Afghanistan’s Freedom House institution covered 18 provinces in the country. It showed that the land grabbers included former and current government officials, ministers, governors, parliamentarians, police chiefs and strongmen. According to the report, 1,942,045 acres (7859175 hectares) of land were usurped by thousands of individuals in the country. Click here to read more (external
The Washington Post: When the next major earthquake hits Afghanistan, could it leave the leadership of the Afghan military buried under five stories’ worth of rubble? John F. Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, does not rule it out. In an audit set for release Thursday, Sopko said the new $155 million Afghan military headquarters, funded
Transparency International: Providing the first-ever comprehensive assessment of Afghanistan’s capacity to fight corruption, National Integrity System Assessment: Afghanistan 2015 identifies the weaknesses that have undermined the effectiveness of billions of dollars of international funding and contributed to ongoing war in the country. It makes key recommendations to improve Afghanistan’s chances of establishing a viable government with
1TV: Testifying before House Armed Services Committee late last week, U.S. Defense Department officials said they hope to have in place in coming months “an integrated pay and personnel system” for Afghan security forces that will help identify and account for thousands of individuals in the ranks, the Military Times reported Tuesday. Click here to read