Tolo News: President Ashraf Ghani’s deputy spokesman Sayed Zafar Hashemi said that the Smart City housing contract has been canceled as part of the Presidential Palace’s new decisions on the controversial deal. He added that Ghani fired his legal advisor Abdul Ali Mohammadi and ordered that the court’s decision should be implemented on Khalilullah Frozi, one
The New York Times: More than ever, Afghan government officials have become directly involved in the opium trade, expanding their competition with the Taliban beyond politics and into a struggle for control of the drug traffic and revenue. At the local level, the fight itself can often look like a turf war between drug gangs, even
Salon: Salon sat down with the journalist Antony Loewenstein to discuss one of the more explosive controversies he uncovers in his book: how the U.S. war in Afghanistan was privatized. Loewenstein spent time in war-torn Afghanistan, as well as neighboring Pakistan, researching for “Disaster Capitalism.” His compelling recounting of his experiences paints a picture of a crisis-stricken world
Tolo News: The Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (MEC) on Sunday blamed leaders of the National Unity Government (NUG) for failing to deliver on their promises to fight corruption in the country. After assuming office, President Ghani reopened the Kabul Bank bankruptcy case as part of his anti-corruption steps. But Ghani’s undertakings failed to recuperate
Tolo News: The team tasked to investigate the controversial Smart City housing contract said Tuesday that it sent its report to President Ashraf Ghani one month ago but the Presidential Palace has not made public its details so far. The findings of the team reveal that the president’s former legal adviser Abdul Ali Mohammadi, Kabul Bank’s
Tolo News: Lawmakers from Badakhshan province said that the commander of an illegal armed group removed security troops responsible for the safety of a lapis lazuli mine out of Kiran-wa-Manjan district of the province in early 2014 and captured the mine. The lawmakers said that the commander and his armed men are illegally extracting the lapis lazuli
Tolo News: The moneychangers union in Kabul and the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) expressed their deep concern over trafficking of foreign currency through airports in Afghanistan. According to law, no one may take more than $20,000 USD out of Afghanistan without having permission. Click here to read more (external link).
Michael Hughes: The United States has spent some $2.3 billion on projects specifically designed to stabilize Afghanistan that have shown scant evidence of doing so or have actually undermined stability, the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in a report on Friday. What makes this report even more pathetic is that it comes as
VOA News / January 29, 2016 ISLAMABAD – A U.S. government auditor says despite more than a decade of reconstruction and development efforts, Afghanistan’s economy remains in fragile and worsening condition. “Intractable insurgents, cutbacks in foreign military personnel, persistent emigration of people and capital, and a slowing global economy are shifting Afghanistan’s economic prospects from troubling
Newsweek: Billions of dollars spent by the U.S. government in Afghanistan over the past decade has failed to make the country safer or substantially improve its economic prospects, according to a new report from a U.S. government watchdog. Click here to read more (external link).