Osmani
Tolo News: Ahmad Jawad Osmani, acting minister of public health, who visited the western province of Herat on Saturday said that the second wave of COVID-19 might grip the country as the weather is getting colder. Osmani said that cold weather, air pollution and seasonal diseases are among the key factors that could lead to a second wave of the virus. Click here to read more (external link).
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Tolo News: The nation’s football league—the Afghan Premier League (APL)—is scheduled to start on Thursday as the draw for the 2020 season of the league was held in Kabul on Friday. Shaheen Asmayee, De Maiwand Atalan, Toofan Harirod, Simorgh Alborz, Mawjhai Amu, De Spinghar Bazan, De Abasin Sape, and Oqaban Hindukosh are the eight APL teams representing all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 19, 2020
Afghan officials say the deputy head of the provincial council in the southeastern province of Paktia has been assassinated by unknown gunmen.
The provincial media office said Ayub Gharwal was on his way to a university in the provincial capital of Gardez when he was attacked and killed by the gunmen on September 19.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although similar attacks in the past have been blamed on the Taliban.
There has been fierce fighting in recent days between Afghan government troops and Taliban militants in the neighboring province of Nangarhar.
In a separate incident, Afghan officials said a member of the security forces was killed and eight others were wounded in a suicide bombing in the Dedadi district of the northern province of Balkh on September 19.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani expressed sympathy with Gharwal’s family and said Taliban militants should accept the demand of Afghans for a cease-fire.
The Taliban has repeatedly rejected calls for a permanent truce.
Violence has spiked despite the launch of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in the Gulf state of Qatar last week.
The warring sides are attempting to reach a political settlement to end the 19-year war.
Roland Kobia, the European Union’s special envoy to Afghanistan, said on September 18 that United Nations figures show violence in Afghanistan in the last five weeks has been the highest in the last five years.
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan and dpa
Ariana: President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in a decree has the inclusion of the mother’s name on the Afghan National Identity cards (Tazkiras). “Based on the Presidential decree, the mother’s name is officially included on the national identity cards (Tazkiras), along with other personal details,” said Sediq Sediqqi, Spokesman for the President on Thursday. Click here to read more (external link).
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CBS News: “He, in effect, is partnering with the Taliban against, in many ways, the Afghan government,” McMaster said of the president’s plan in Afghanistan. See the full interview with the former national security adviser, Sunday on 60 Minutes. Withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and partnering with the Taliban has made the United States less safe, says H.R. McMaster, President Trump’s former national security adviser. The retired lieutenant general speaks to Scott Pelley in his first interview about his new book on the 53rd Season Premiere of 60 Minutes, Sunday, September 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT on CBS. Click here to read more (external link).
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Janes: Afghanistan has received a further four Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC)-Embraer A-29 Super Tucano light attack turboprop aircraft, with a delivery ceremony held at Kabul International Airport on 17 September. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: Figures by the Ministry of Education reveal that at least 7,000 schools in the country remain without buildings in Afghanistan as demand for schools rapidly grows due to increase in population and return of Afghan refugees from other countries. At least 13,000 schools have been built in the country since 2001, according to the ministry. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: The Ministry of Public Health on Friday reported 25 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 240 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The ministry also reported one new COVID-19 death and 71 recoveries. The number of total cases is now 38,897, the total reported deaths is 1,437, and the total number of recoveries is 32,576. Click here to read more (external link).
Mohammad Hanif Atmar
RFE/RL’s Tajik Service
September 18, 2020
Afghanistan says it plans to sign a strategic partnership agreement with neighboring Tajikistan.
The Afghan Foreign Ministry made the announcement on September 17, but did not specify when and where the document would be signed.
The statement came hours after visiting acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Mohammad Haneef Atmar held talks with his Tajik counterpart Sirojiddin Muhriddin during the first day of his two-day official trip to Dushanbe.
Tajik authorities have not officially said anything about the plan to sign the agreement and have yet to comment on the Afghan Foreign Ministry’s statement.
Tajikistan currently has similar agreements with four countries — China, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan.
Atmar stressed during the talks with Muhriddin that his country needs a resumption of electricity supplies from Tajikistan, which Dushanbe cut by 90 percent in late July due to an abrupt decrease in water levels at reservoirs used by its major hydroelectric power station.
The sides also discussed the construction of new transportation routes connecting Afghanistan with Tajikistan and other Central Asian nations.