Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty December 18, 2017 Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has announced the resignation of a powerful ethnic Tajik governor and political leader in a northern province, angering the politician’s party — which said he had been sacked. The president’s office said on December 18 that Ghani approved the resignation of Atta Mohammad Noor,
1TV: Afghanistan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah reacted to Hizb-i-Islami leader Gulbudin Hekmatyar’s recent remarks about the share of eastern provinces in the government. “Division affects a country as poison does. Talking about ethnic share and pushing one province against another does not help one to reach his legitimate goals,” Abdullah said in ministerial council meeting on
Anadolu Agency: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, chief of the Hezb-e-Islami party, on Sunday addressed a huge political rally in the war-ravaged country’s southeastern Khost province attended by thousands of his followers. Referring to the ‘Greater Paktia’ region that comprises Khost, Paktia and Paktia provinces — home to different Pashtoon tribes — Hekmatyar said it has long been deprived of
Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News December 5, 2017 QUETTA, PAKISTAN — Ali Haris dreamed of getting a college degree and a well-paid job. Instead, he had to quit his education after high school. Going to Balochistan University, the only public university in the area that he could afford, would require him to travel through areas unsafe for
Tolo News: Balkh governor Atta Mohammad Noor’s flight on Thursday night was barred to take off from Mawlana Jalaluddin Balkhi Airport in Mazar-e-Sharif City to Kandahar Airport, in the west of Afghanistan. Noor wanted to visit Kandahar and attend a gathering with a number of political figures in the province on Friday. Click here to read
1TV: Abdul Fattah Frogh has been suspended as commander of Afghan Public Order Police after he issued a letter that was criticized for alleged discrimination against a particular ethnic group. In the letter dated 18th November, the command citing presidency’s instruction asked a Kabul brigade to provide names of possible members excluding Tajiks for an anti-riot
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 20, 2017 Frud Bezhan The letter, sent earlier this month by an Afghan police commander, requested recruits for a new antiriot force in the capital, Kabul. Officer candidates should come from the country’s main ethnic groups — Hazara, Uzbek, and Pashtun. Left out was the country’s second-largest ethnicity — Tajiks.
The Diplomat: Afghanistan has recently been the scene of a debate on what the real name of one of its official languages is. Afghanistan has two official languages, Pashto and Dari. However, most Dari speakers natively call their language Farsi or Persian. According to Radio Free Europe, the dispute over the name of the language was
Reuters: The BBC is facing an angry reaction in Afghanistan after it changed the name of one of its local language Facebook pages to BBC Dari, the official name of the Afghan version of Persian or Farsi but one rejected by many local Persian speakers. Click here to read more (external link). Related Dari Or Farsi?
The Hindu: The Shias, who are predominantly of the Hazara ethnic group, have historically faced persecution in Afghanistan. “Ethnic divisions have been a feature of Afghan society and politics for a long time and have been exploited by political groups,” observes Patricia Gossman, a senior Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Sectarian persecution against the Hazaras