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KABUL - Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Tha-ni on Tuesday had a phone conversation with President Ghani and discussed the peace process, the Presidential Pal-ace said in a statement.Sheikh Tamim said that he and his country are ready to help facilitate the Afghan peace process, and during his visit with the Taliban he reminded them that today’s Afghani-stan is not a country two dec-ades ago, but a series of new realities has emerged in Af-ghanistan and the country has changed, said the Palace.

“The new realities of Afghani-stan are that the country now has an elected legitimate govern-ment and the Taliban must ac-cept that it represents its people on behalf of the Afghan govern-ment and it raises serious and legitimate demands,” the Palace quoted Sheikh Tamim.And of course, the Taliban also has demands that will be dis-cussed during the negotiations, he said.Ghani thanked Sheikh Tamin and said he was open to further discussions about peace.On Saturday, Khalilzad and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar,

the co-founder of Taliban, signed the peace agreement at the Sher-aton Hotel in Doha, the capital of Qatar, following 18 months of negotiations.At the ceremony, foreign min-isters and representatives of al-most 30 countries and interna-tional organizations attended.The agreement was signed fol-lowing a successful weeklong period of a reduction in violence which was announced on Febru-ary 22.However, on Monday the Tali-ban apparently issued an order calling on their troops to resume attacks ...( More on P4)...(1)

Qatar’s Emir and Ghani Discuss Peace Process

Iran Accelerates Repatriation of

Afghans: Officials

Donald Trump: Had A “Very Good Talk” with Taliban’s

Mullah Baradar

US Businessmen Enthusiastic to Invest

in Afghanistan

US Hit Taliban with ‘First Airstrike in

11 Days’ after Failed Treaty

HERAT - Herat’s refugees and repatriation direc-torate said on Tuesday that the number of Afghan refugees repatriated by Iran has doubled over the last two weeks and hundreds of thousands of refu-gees are crossing the border at Islam Qala every day.According to the local officials, the people are leav-ing Iran because of the spread of the coronavirus.“When the coronavirus outbreak increased in Iran, more people started coming to Afghanistan. At least 2,000 people come to Afghanistan every day,” said Ahmad Jawed Nadam, head of the refugees and repatriation directorate in Herat province. Meanwhile, Nimroz and Farah borders have also witnessed thousands of Afghans returning from Iran.“We have 1,700 or 1,800 persons, repatriates, in-cluding children and families,” said Mohammad Salim Qazi Khal, head of the refugees and repatria-tion directorate in Nimroz province. “We have 423 persons who repatriated,” said Ra-himuddin Regiwal, head of refugees and repatria-tion directorate in Farah.Officials of public health directorate and provincial council members of Herat warned that the open border will ...( More on P4)...(2)

WASHINGTON - The US president, Donald Trump made a phone call with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy, Tuesday.Trump’s phone call with Baradar comes after the signing of the peace deal between the US and the Taliban.A Taliban spokesman said the call lasted more than half an hour, and both expressed desires to bring peace to Afghanistan.In the meantime, Trump said that Baradar and he had agreed on ‘no violence’.Trump said: “We had a good conversation. We’ve agreed there’s no violence. We don’t want violence. We’ll see what happens. They’re deal-ing with Afghanistan, but we’ll see what hap-pens,” adding “We had, actually, a very good talk with the leader of the Taliban.”Trump also added that Mike Pompeo will soon talk to President Ghani on intra-Afghan talks.Trump said, “My Secretary of State shall soon talk with Ashraf Ghani in order to remove all hurdles facing the intra-Afghan negotiations.” (ATN)

KABUL - Since US-Taliban’s Doha agreement, Ameri-can businessmen have become more interested to in-vest in Afghanistan.Officials of the Afghan-American Chamber of Com-merce say that there are more opportunities to trade and do investment in Afghanistan.Moreover, they added that Afghan-American busi-nessmen have scheduled to hold a joint meeting in June to discuss business in Afghanistan.The head of the Afghan-American Chamber of Com-merce Jeffrey Grieco says that the US businessmen’s enthusiasm has surged to invest in Afghanistan since the signing of the US-Taliban agreement for bringing peace to Afghanistan.The Chairman of the Board of Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce, Sulaiman Lutfi, said, “The opportunities that are there in Afghanistan should be used by companies for investment and joint ventures.”American businessmen also believe that there are many opportunities to do investment in Afghanistan.Matt Nislay, an American businessman, said that he personally was very excited about the opportunities for investments in Afghanistan and that these ventures could be further explored.According to the ...( More on P4)...(3)

KABUL - The US military announced that they con-ducted an airstrike against Taliban fighters on Wednes-day in Helmand province in the wake of a failed peace deal.Colonel Sonny Leggett tweeted on Wednesday morn-ing that the fighters were attacking a position held by the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF).Leggett added that Taliban forces had conducted 43 attacks on Afghan troops on Tuesday in Helmand.The spokesman called on the Taliban to stop the attacks and uphold their commitments based on the agree-ment signed on Feb. 29 between their leaders and U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Doha, Qatar, which lays out a conditions-based path to the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan.The Taliban have not claimed responsibility for any of these attacks so far or commented on the U.S. airstrike Wednesday.However, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the AP Wednesday that a week of reduction in violence that started midnight on Feb. 21 had ended.Based on the U.S.-Taliban deal, peace negotiations be-tween the warring Afghan ...( More on P4)...(4)

ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday announced the delivery of ad-vanced diagnostic kits to Afghanistan to help the Afghan Ministry of Public Health detect and prevent the spread of coronavi-rus.The Afghan government has said that the first shipment will arrive in the country on March 4, and healthcare experts from the UAE will also come to help set up the op-eration.According to the Ministry of Public Health, the kits will help Afghanistan deal with a possible increase in the number of corona-virus cases.The price of the kits is estimated at $3.5 mil-lion.Many suspected cases have been reported

MOSCOW - Russia will lift sanctions on the Taliban if the United Nations Security Council decides the same, Russia’s special envoy on Af-ghanistan said on Tuesday.Under the US-Taliban deal, the United States is expected to start diplomatic engagement with UNSC members and Afghanistan to remove Taliban names from sanctions list by May 29.The US is expected to lift remove its sanctions by August 29.Speaking at a press conference, Russia’s special envoy on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said that the US has asked the Security Council to ensure that sanctions are lifted.He said that if the UNSC adopts the resolution removing sanctions against the Taliban, Russia would abide by the decision.“This means we will have to conduct a domes-tic procedure as well ... It will be permitted in-Russia,” Kabulov said.

in Herat province, which borders Iran. Based on the statistics of Herat’s public health directorate, out of 60 total suspected cases of the coronavirus, one case has tested positive, 35 cases have tested negative, and the results of the remaining cases are still pending.The one case that is confirmed in Herat is a 35-year-old Afghan man who had traveled from Qom city in Iran.Other suspected cases have been reported in Helmand, Logar and Balkh province.President Ghani last week ordered the Fi-nance Ministry to provide $15M to the Min-istry of Public Health to fund coronavirus prevention efforts.The government also allocated $10M to the health ministry as a reserve. (TOLO NEWS)

The United States and the Taliban signed a peace deal on Saturday. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, however, rejected a clause of the deal which requires prisoner swap ahead of intra-Afghan talks scheduled for March 10.Kabulov said that intra-Afghan talks may not start on the scheduled date over the issue of prisoners.He also said that Russia will will never accept any monopoly of power in Afghanistan.“We have told the Taliban straight more than once that we accept no monopoly and [are op-posed to] the Taliban’s return to power,” he stated. “We are not the only ones to say it. Af-ghanistan’s neighbors —Pakistan and Iran —and also the United States and China share this position.” “Our position is that Afghanistan is to continue as a republic. But it is up to the Af-ghan people to decide on that andto reach some consensus,” he stressed. (1TV NEWS)

UAE Provides Diagnostic Kits to Afghanistan to Fight Coronavirus

Russia Open to Lifting Taliban Sanctions

KABUL - The National Statis-tics and Information Authority (NSIA) on Tuesday said infor-mation of all paper ID cards would be transferred to the organization’s database in a month to facilitate the holders in many spheres.Ahmad Javid Rassouli, NSIA head, made the announcement during an accountability confer-ence in capital Kabul.He said the information of 25 million ID cards had been computerized over the last few months and the information of remaining ID cards would be entered the digital system in next one month.“This will give citizens of the country many facilities and they would no longer need to check their ID cards ward by ward for verification,” he said.He said employment of workers for electronic ID cards distribu-tion will also start in next two weeks in 31 provinces of the

Initial steps, as the preliminary of establishing peace in Afghanistan, for the start of negotia-tions were taken. Too short and shaky steps

and viewed with public mistrust, however, will open the long and rocky route of peace. Reaching peace is admired by all societies, but only sustainable peace will lead a community to prosperity and stabilization. Although Afghans have a prolonged and rocky route ahead to reach peace, there have to be sacrifices, struggles, and conditions for sustainable peace. Sustainable peace will emerge if the involved par-ties do not sustain harm, humiliation and surren-der. With this in mind, the first precondition for peace will be belief in peace. The warring sides have to believe that conflict will only lead to damage and destruction and wasted all their op-portunities. One of the negative aspects of war is that it is painted with the brush of sanctity by the fighters’ leaders. When war is sanctified and those killed in combat are called “martyred” and mem-bers of their hostile group as “dirty”, and war is deemed sacred, it will be highly difficult to end such a war. In the aforementioned war, the fighters mostly come from rural areas with low-level education and strongly believe in their leaders’ statements, which further complicate the situation. The fight-ers will also consider their fight as sacred and it would be a religious practice for them. Their mis-erable life would be viewed as a part and parcel of reaching spiritual reward and their leaders may trigger their sentiment through wrong preaches. They simply seek to extend the number of their subdued followers with formidable beliefs and faith. The Taliban group alleges to be the true follow-ers of Islam seeking to campaign for its triumph. It views the Afghan government as “stooge” and

government staff as foreign servants. Meanwhile, they term their war against Afghan and foreign troops as “jihad”, themselves as “mujahidin”, their leaders as “Emir-ul-Mumineen”, and their regime, if ever established, as “Islamic Emirate”. The Taliban leadership has dictated such indoc-trination within nearly two decades and half and maintained their fighters in the battlefields via such a strategy. Showing it has not succumbed to compromise and interpreting its peace deal with the United States as victory and opponent’s de-feat, the Taliban leadership intends to justify it for its followers.As an involved party to peace in Afghanistan, the Taliban need more to persuade their follow-ers that their opponents are also entitled to life and citizenship for being human, Muslim, and Afghan. The transformation of the Taliban’s ideology is likely to be the first step to reaching peace. It is possible to put all issues on the table for discus-sion but not the ideology which sanctifies war. With the initial emergence of the Taliban group, thousands of members of several jihadi parties joined the group, which led it to move the ma-chine of war, made quick progress, and declared its Islamic Emirate in Kabul, backed by veteran fighters and Pakistan’s military support.As tens of large and small terrorist groups – in-cluding the ISIS which is the most dangerous seeking to consolidate its presence in Afghanistan with the allegation of defending Islam – are active in the country, it is feared that members of the Taliban group join them to continue the conflict. With the signing of peace deal, which will lead to the withdrawal of foreign troops, the Taliban leaders have been provided with the opportunity to de-sanctify the war for their followers since the war is no more aimed at ending “occupation” or

pulling out foreign forces, as the Taliban claimed earlier. In such a case, the war is fought between Afghans on a common territory for eliminating one another. Mitigating the fighters’ sentiment with stating that no more foreign troops will ex-ist to be fought is necessary for reaching peace – which will be an essential step for obtaining peace.

On the contrary, if the Taliban signal no inten-tion for peace in their practices, acts, and words, as their leaders and elites waved their white flag in Qatar to indicate victory, Afghans are likely to near civil unrest rather than peace. Therefore, Afghans, who fill cities with delight to celebrate the victory of a cricket team, did not only not ex-pressed their pleasure but also showed concern.

country’s total 34 provinces.So far, 671,000 people in Kabul, Nangarhar and ...( More on P4)...(7)

KANDAHAR CITY - An agricul-ture complex is being construct-ed on 500 acres of land in south-ern Kandahar province and will have facilities of international level, an official said on Wednes-day.Reshad Bakhtari, head of the trade and industry department, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry planned to construct agriculture complexes in Kanda-har, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif, Nan-garhar provinces with financial support from the World Bank and for this purpose he traveled to Kandahar.

KABUL - The World Bank Group on Wednesday announced an in-itial package of up to $12 billion in immediate support to assist countries coping with the health and economic impacts of the cor-onavirus outbreak.This financing is designed to help member countries take ef-fective action to respond to and, where possible, lessen the tragic impacts posed by the COVID-19 (coronavirus).Via this new fast-track package, the World Bank Group would help developing countries beef up health systems, including bet-ter access to health services to

KABUL– A number of religious scholars, former government of-ficials as well as officials in the High Peace Council said after decades [of war] in Afghanistan, there is an opportunity for build-ing peace; the opportunity should be seized. A number of scholars (Ulema) across the country, former and current officials in the High Peace Council, in a gathering on Wednesday [March 4, 2020], called for the parties involved in the Afghan peace process to come together. Speaking in the gathering of The

He said the establishment of ag-riculture complexes would facili-tate production, packaging and protection of dry and fresh fruits.He said Kandahar would be con-verted into an economic zone soon, which would help resolve many economic problems.Haji Agha Nani, head of the Kan-dahar Fresh Fruits Union, said fresh and dry fruits were export-ed from Kandahar for years but there was no international level processing plant.He said neither the private sector nor the government paid atten-tion to this problem.He said ...( More on P4)...(9)

safeguard people from the epi-demic.In a statement, the World Bank said the assistance would help strengthen disease surveillance, bolster public health interven-tions and work with the private sector to reduce the impact on economies.“The financial package, with fi-nancing drawn from across IDA, IBRD and IFC, will be globally coordinated to support country-based responses.” The statement added.The package will make available initial crisis resources of up to $12 billion ...( More on P4)...(8)

Need for Moderation in the Af-ghan Society, Abdul Hakim Mu-jahid, deputy chairperson of the Afghan High Peace Council, said the Afghan government, politi-cians and the Taliban must agree with the goal of implementing Is-lamic law to secure peace in the country. The former minister of finance, Omar Zakhilwal, on the other hand, said the country’s great-est misery and challenge today is “political instability” and lack of a “centralized” system. In the meantime, Ikram Khpal-wak, ...( More on P4)...(10)

Paper ID Cards to be Digitalized in a Month: NSIA

Belief – The First Step to Reach Sustainable Peace

Taliban on Abduction Spree to Complete

1000 Mark

Kandahar to Have Agriculture Complex on 500 Acres

WB Unveils $12b Aid for Coronavirus-Hit Nations

Opportunity for Building Peace in Afghanistan

Should Be Seized

Main News PageMarch 05, 20202

GARDEZ - Government officials on Wednesday claimed Taliban militants have started arresting civilians to complete the number of 1,000 prisoners.The release of prisoners on both sides is part of a historic agree-ment the Taliban and the US signed on February 29 after around one and a half years of talks in Qatar on ending the con-flict.In line with the deal, the Afghan government will free 5,000 Tali-ban prisoners in exchange for 1,000 government detainees by March 10. The rest of prisoners will be released in three months.However, government officials on Wednesday said the Taliban did not hold 1,000 captives at their prisons and to compete this figure, they have started detain-ing innocent people.National Security Advisor Ham-dullah Mohib on Monday said the Taliban lost legitimacy to continue fighting in Afghanistan

after they signed the peace deal with the United States.Mohib, who appeared in a talk show on the state-run TV on Sunday evening, said the peace agreement between the US and the Taliban was a positive step forward towards establishing peace in Afghanistan, if the Tali-ban honored the agreement.He said the Taliban held a less number of Afghan forces as pris-oners but now they were out to arrest people to complete the fig-ure.Meanwhile, Paktia governor Shamim Khan Katawazai also disputed Taliban’s claim of hav-ing 1,000 prisoners in their cus-tody.He said, “During the violence reduction week, the government tried to enter some officials into our areas, but our intelligence operatives recognized and ar-rested them, but they are not in such number as the government claims.” (Pajhwok)

By: Moh. Reza Huwaida

In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Kind

March 05, 2020

Taliban Declare Jihad Against their

Muslim Fellows After Peace Deal

The Taliban group appears emboldened after signing the peace deal with the United States in Qatar as it has de-clared “jihad” against Afghan people. The group had

ended reduction in violence ushering in escalated militancy and filling the air with horror. The US-Taliban peace deal could not mitigate militancy in Af-ghanistan despite proclaiming in the very title of the document that it was an “Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan between the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recog-nized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban and the United States of America”. It indicates that the Taliban group, which has been ousted of from power in 2001, has nearly re-entered the corridors of power less than two decades later. The text of the deal also gives little indication of how to achieve reconciliation between the Kabul government and the Taliban group, which also kept an ambiguity on issues relating to wom-en’s rights and the future make-up of the Afghan state and its political system. Afghans are particularly concerned about this ambiguity since the Taliban violated human rights in the past and gave fanatical interpretation of Islamic law. They yet to ac-cept the legitimacy of the Afghan government as the representa-tive of the people of Afghanistan in the talks as the US-Taliban agreement refers to the Kabul government as “Afghan sides”. The US-Taliban deal contains no provision for a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire in the country, simply listing such a ceasefire as an agenda item for future discussion. One said that might better be seen as a “withdrawal agreement” rather than “peace agreement”. The Taliban seem to use violence as bargaining leverage to get more concessions at the negotiating table. The Taliban group, which has interpreted the deal with Washington as its “victo-ry”, intend to put military pressure on the Afghan government although military deal was proved abortive within the last 18 years. Douglas London, a former CIA officer who was its head of counterterrorism in South and Southwest Asia, is cited as say-ing, “The Taliban won’t agree to a ceasefire anytime soon over concern that fighters would not return from prolonged break, or some could switch allegiance to ISIS.” The talk of a complete exit makes some veteran officers ner-vous. At various points in the war, military planners looking forward to the moment of a peace deal have calculated how small they could shrink the force and still fight terrorist threats and shore up the Kabul government. A former top commander of NATO said that if the US wanted to also continue some training of the Afghan forces, 5,000 troops are needed. According to him, more important than troops, po-tentially, is the willingness of the international community to continue to finance the Afghan government after a peace deal. Despite the deal, the Taliban still seek to continue their destruc-tive and deadly activities as they have started abducting trav-elers on highways. That is, civilians have been used as a both human shelter and a means of pressure on the Afghan govern-ment, which is both nationally and internationally unlawful. To one’s unmitigated chagrin, the Taliban did not and will not honor the humanitarian law and would continue targeting civil-ians. With this in mind, Afghans are more concerned about the peace deal, which could neither put an end to their sacrifices nor mitigate their pain and suffering. If the Taliban seek to bargain over higher prices at the peace table with the Afghan negotiating team, especially through targeting civilians, Ulema Council and religious scholars have to declare jihad against the Taliban group, the only option re-mained for the people of Afghanistan to dismantle the group. In other words, since the Taliban declared “jihad” against Afghan people, the nation has to continue with the tit-for-tat mecha-nism. The Taliban should note that if jihad is declared against them by Afghan Shiite and Sunni religious scholars, they would no more survive. Thus, the Taliban have to avoid triggering a civil unrest and should stop escalating their militancy and de-claring jihad against their own compatriots. Declaring “jihad” against their own Muslim fellows is ridicu-lous and indicates the Taliban’s ignorance and anti-religious practices. The fact is that the Taliban have constantly capital-ized on religious terminology to continue their terrorist activi-ties. The Taliban group will be deemed as a terrorist network for Af-ghan people unless they lay their arms down and integrate into the Afghanistan’s political system. If the Taliban do not reduce their violence and trigger public rage, a public backlash will be shown against them to make the group a real loser.

Chairman / Editor-in-Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Vice Chairman / Exec. Editor: Moh. Sakhi Rezaie

Email: outlookafghanistan@gmail.comPhone: 0093 (799) 005019/777-005019

www.outlookafghanistan.net

After nearly two decades, 2,400 soldiers killed, anoth-er 20,000 wounded, and as much as $2 trillion spent, the United States is understandably eager to with-

draw from Afghanistan. President Donald Trump wants to be able to claim in advance of the November 2020 election that he fulfilled his campaign promise to end the country’s longest war, and his Democratic challengers share his de-sire to extricate the US from the conflict.Toward that end, following a one-week period of relative calm, the US and the Taliban – the “students” whose Sunni fundamentalist political and military movement has been fighting for power or ruling Afghanistan for a quarter-cen-tury – signed an accord. One imagines it took as much time to settle on what to call the pact as on any of its provisions: it is the “Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan be-tween the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not rec-ognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban and the United States of America.”As the accord’s name suggests, the government of Afghani-stan is not a party to it, although the agreement does call for a political dialogue between the government and the Tali-ban to start by March 10. The agenda for this intra-Afghan dialogue includes arranging for a permanent and compre-hensive cease-fire as well as “the completion and agree-ment over the future political roadmap” of the country. No details about a roadmap are set forth.The agreement mostly details two sets of commitments. The US has pledged to withdraw one-third of its approxi-mately 13,000 troops in 135 days, and the remaining 8,600 before the end of April 2021. America’s coalition partners would withdraw their troops by then as well. The US fur-ther agreed to withdraw all “private security contractors, trainers, [and] advisors” from the country and work toward removing sanctions on the Taliban and releasing Taliban prisoners.For its part, the Taliban committed to doing all it can to en-sure that terrorist organizations do not use Afghan territory to target the US or its allies. The Taliban also agreed not to cooperate with or support individuals associated with such groups, including Al Qaeda, which was based in Afghani-stan when the Taliban were in power and used the country to train those responsible for the September 11, 2001, at-tacks on the US that killed nearly 3,000 people. The Taliban did not agree, however, to any limits on their military ca-pabilities now or in the future. Nor did they agree to recog-nize the legitimacy of Afghanistan’s current government.The accord is ambitious (and then some), in the hope that political arrangements can be sorted out before the called-for withdrawal of American troops. With respect to elec-tions, power sharing, a constitution, and the role of religion and the rights of women within Afghan society, the agree-

The views and opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authers and do not reflect the views or opinions of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan.

The deadly coronavirus; has stepped up out of the Chi-nese boundaries spreading across the globe with a sprint, and this time it’s Afghanistan’s turn to faceoff

this lethal disease. recently the health ministry of Afghani-stan confirmed seven suspected cases identified in Heart province, and three more in the adjacent provinces, accord-ing to a report published by the Guardian, the affected per-son is a resident of Herat province who had returned from Qom in Iran, where the upsurge of coronavirus has already killed 16 people and dozen others infected. Although, Af-ghanistan’s national security council announced on Monday that all air roundtrips to Iran had been suspended and bor-der been shut, where approximately 3000 people cross the border illegally every day.However, the people bear brunt of the virus, because the country is lagging when it comes to technology and mod-ernization and not at the stage to medically resist the dis-ease. Businessmen; on the other hand, see this outbreak as a lucrative opportunity through mass production of anti-coronavirus masks and prioritizing quantity over quality to penetrate the market and make as much profit as they can through using skimming strategy of marketing, which in-deed doubles threats for the people of getting infected by the virus or perhaps other infectious diseases.Business is successful when its products and services are demanded highly by the market (Ron,2006), likewise, the recent outbreak of coronavirus in Afghanistan has triggered a high demand for safety masks, this eruption is generally perceived as a detrimental threat for life in Afghanistan. people; due to lack of preemptive measures required be tak-en by the government are anxious about the emergence of other diseases predicted to be caused by inevitable corona-virus, while the other facet of the gem is quite different, that is the businessmen skim the current free-market highly de-manding for masks to avoid coronavirus infections. people are alarmed to take necessary control measures, so much so

How to Leave Afghanistan

Coronaviruses outbreak – An abrupt inflation in Afghanistan

ment is silent.It is also worth noting that the Afghan government in re-cent days has raised questions about its preparedness to re-lease 5,000 Taliban prisoners. More important, the relative calm already has been broken by renewed Taliban armed attacks. None of this bodes well for the future of the agree-ment.But whatever happens from this point on, it is essential that the US sign a separate pact with Afghanistan’s govern-ment. It is essential that that agreement specifies what cri-teria must be met and what conditions must exist before US troop withdrawals would proceed. And it is essential that the US promise to provide the Afghan government with long-term economic, diplomatic, intelligence, and military support – something unfortunately made more difficult by the commitment to the Taliban to withdraw all advisers from the country.Such a side agreement would constitute a hedge against the all-too-real possibility that the Taliban’s pledges are tactical, designed to bring about America’s military with-drawal rather than peace or an end to terrorism. A com-mitment to the Afghan government would also reassure its leaders and citizens that they were not being abandoned like the Kurds in Syria. America’s friends and allies every-where would welcome such a commitment.In an ideal world, the US would also require that the Tali-ban end their use of Pakistani territory as a military sanc-tuary. The problem with this and other sensible demands is that the US has done much to weaken its own leverage with the Taliban by its obvious desire to end its military presence in Afghanistan.It is possible that calm in Afghanistan can be restored nonetheless, that intra-Afghan talks bear fruit, and that a cease-fire materializes. This would of course be welcome. But it is more likely that the US-Taliban agreement to bring peace to Afghanistan does nothing of the sort. In that case, the US and its coalition partners would be wise to fall back on a strategy that protects their core interests, above all en-suring that Afghanistan does not once again become a ha-ven for terrorists planning and carrying out attacks against the West.Such a strategy would require keeping several thousand troops in the country to continue to build and train the Afghan security forces and to conduct select counterterror-ism missions. For some, this would be too expensive. But, given what is at stake, it would be a price worth paying. It would not end the “forever war” that has been Afghani-stan; but nor, almost certainly, will the just-signed agree-ment.

Editorial and Opinions3

By: Hamayun Khanthe industrialists leverage this opportunity.However, the marketers claim, they do their best to approach the needs of customers and fulfill the demand of the market, on the contrary citizens slam the shopkeepers about an in-crease in the rate of inflation, many argue that fast-moving consuming products (FMCGs) that were sold between the price of Afs10 to Afs30 are now priced over Afs100. Besides, prices of vegetables that are prescribed by the doctors to be taken to avert the chances of coronavirus infections are also hit by a high rate of inflation. Given the fast-track spread of coronavirus worldwide and earnest precautions from the Health Ministry, a local manu-facturing company in Herat province started selling masks at a price ranging from Afs25 to Afs50, however, the price of a single mask normal days is Afs5. Mohammad Javeed Shirzad, the CEO of the company said: “We have been re-quested by the directorate of Health of Herat to manufac-ture masks and the high demand for the product due to the upsurge of coronavirus, which is why we have started pro-ducing and selling masks”. Mr. Shirzad furthered that he had undertaken the investment with his capital, however, he wanted to expand the business beyond the boundaries, but the decision was called off due to a massive demand for the product within the country, therefore, they have signed contracts with medical stores and retailers to supply them masks, which is why the company produces 60,000 unites daily to fulfill demand of the market, way more than the normal days.The manufacturing firms; if will to sustain for a longer pe-riod, should not leverage the current market that is hit by in-flation and instead lower their prices or with the same price improve quality of the products that are highly demanded by the customers, since customers direly need to buy the an-ti-coronavirus products to intercept its occurrence. Further, a less manufacturing cost should be considered while keep-ing in mind the efficiency and quality of the products rather than quantity that requires spending more cost.

By: Richard N. Haass

Richard N. Haass is President of the Council on Foreign Relations. His next book, The World: A Brief Introduc-tion, will be published on May 12.

December 19, 2019March 05, 20204

engage the Damascus’ military.As the animosity mounts, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is heading to Moscow for one-to-one talks with Vladimir Putin. Hopes are being set high for cooling down the conflict, with Erdogan say-ing another ceasefire deal could be reached as a result of the negotia-tions. (RT)(20) Amnesty Says ... ‘Quash dissent at any cost’ -Twelve of the 23 deaths -- recorded in 13 cities in six provinces across the country --- took place on 16 No-vember, a further eight on 17 No-vember, and three on 18 November, according to Amnesty.“The fact that the vast majority of the children’s deaths took place over just two days is further evi-dence that Iranian security forces went on a killing spree to quash dis-sent at any cost,” said Luther.Amnesty International said it had written to Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli with the names of the 23 children recorded as killed but had received no response.It said relatives of some of the chil-dren killed described being subject-ed to harassment and intimidation, including surveillance and interro-gations by intelligence and security officials.It said this corresponded with a broad pattern of families of those killed in protests being intimidated by the state to prevent them talking openly about the deaths.“Families of children killed during the protests are facing a ruthless campaign of harassment to intimi-date them from speaking out,” said Luther, denouncing a “state cover-up”.Its report was based on evidence from videos and photographs, as well as death and burial certificates, accounts from eyewitnesses and victims’ relatives as well as infor-mation gathered from human rights activists and journalists.In one child’s case, there were con-flicting reports on the cause of death, with one source referring to fatal head injuries sustained by beatings by security forces and an-other referring to the firing of metal pellets at the victim’s face from a close distance, it said. (AFP)(21) Violence ...prevalence of being ‘overweight’ among girls aged 15 to 19 nearly doubled touching 155 million from 75 million in 1995 due to nega-tive trends in nutrition for girls. It also found that suicide is currently the second leading cause of death among adolescent girls aged 15-19, surpassed only by maternal condi-tions.While girls became more likely to be in secondary school than boys in just the last decade, violence and harm-ful practices against women and girls was the harsh reality. Around one in five adolescent girls aged be-tween 15 and 19 in South Asia who have been married or lived with a partner, have experienced domestic violence, according to the report.“Since 1995 in Beijing, when a spe-cific focus on ‘girl-child’ issues first emerged, we have increasingly heard girls assert their rights and call us to account,” UN Women Ex-ecutive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said.“But the world has not kept up with their expectations of responsible stewardship of the planet, a life without violence, and their hopes for economic independence. “True equality will only come when all girls are safe from violence, free to exercise their rights, and are able to enjoy equal opportunities in life,” the Unicef executive director said. (Pakistan Today)(22) Uzbekistan ...increase the number of visa-free countries with Uzbekistan. This is reflected in the draft state program for 2020. (Trend)(23) Turkmenistan ...of mutually beneficial cooperation.The Turkmen foreign minister, pre-viously noting the important role of cooperation with African countries, expressed his commitment to de-veloping relations with the African Union, an international organiza-tion uniting 55 states of the conti-nent. (Trend)

(1) Qatar’s Emir ...on Afghan government forces, and Tuesday dozens of attacks had been reported around the country. (TOLO NEWS)(2) Iran Accelerates ...harm Afghanistan.“Many people have been infected and killed by the virus in Iran. Af-ghans are also living in Iran and working. We are concerned about the open borders with Iran,” said Mohammad Asif Kabir, deputy head of Herat’s public health direc-torate. “If we don’t have the neces-sary equipment, without any doubt the virus will come to Afghanistan,” said Kamran Alizai, head of Herat’s provincial council.Jilani Farhad, spokesman for the Herat governor, said that they have taken measures to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.Iran has had the highest number of deaths from the coronavirus out-side of China, where the outbreak originated, and several countries in the region have reported infections among people who traveled to the Islamic Republic. (TOLO NEWS)(3) US Businessmen ...aforementioned officials, said that the annual trade between Afghani-stan and America was worth USD60 million, out of which USD55 mil-lion marked import and the other USD5 million was of export – a huge amount of it goes to carpet trading. (ATN)(4) US Hit Taliban ...sides are supposed to begin on March 10. However, the Afghan government has already rejected re-leasing Taliban prisoners ahead of launching the talks, a precondition which the militants say was part of the U.S. agreement.Leggett said that U.S. forces are responsible for defending their Af-ghan allies according to agreements between U.S. and Afghan govern-ments.President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that he spoke on the phone to a Taliban leader, making him the first U.S. president believed to have ever spoken directly with the militant group responsible for the deaths of thousands of U.S. troops in nearly 19 years of fighting in Af-ghanistan. (EURO NEWS)(5) Former US ...United States legitimated the Tali-ban and further weakened the Af-ghan government,” Rice wrote.She said that in committing to the Taliban to end the American mili-tary presence and drop sanctions, the US also sacrificed its remaining leverage to help the government in intra-Afghan negotiations achieve critical shared objectives, like pro-tecting democratic gains and pre-serving the rights of women.“Given that intra-Afghan talks will take many months, if not years, to yield any progress, the United States is likely to withdraw before any deal is done, abandoning Af-ghanistan to the Taliban wolves,” Rice wrote.She said that after 14 months, the United States will be left without any military or counterterrorism capacity in Afghanistan, effectively subcontracting America’s security to the Taliban. (1TV NEWS)(6) US Gen. Miller ...live up to their obligations and if they don’t, we have the necessary responses.”In response to a question if the Tali-ban attacks Afghan forces, will they have the support of their foreign counterparts, Miller said: “Yes, we will send air support when they (Af-ghan forces) need it… That support continues and we will continue to defend the Afghan security forces.”Meanwhile, Yasin Zia, the deputy minister of defense, said the Taliban will be responded to if they violate the agreement.“The Afghan Defense and Security Forces are ready defensively and if the Taliban violates their obli-gations they will be responded to hardly,” Zia said. (TOLO NEWS)(7) Paper ID ...Herat provinces received their elec-tronic ID cards, he added.Rassouli said around 174,000 people had received their paper ID cards this year and two special centers were opened for the cards distribu-tion for retired people.

with a projected 15 seats, said it was cooperating with Blue and White - an apparent confirmation that the disqualification initiative was un-der way.Defence Minister Naftali Bennett, one of Netanyahu’s religious-na-tionalist coalition partners, de-scribed the reported initiative as “a radical, anti-democratic move”.“The right absolutely opposes this move and we will fight it with all our might,” Bennett said on Twitter. (Reuters) (16) Greek Forces ...Turkey of goading on the migrants in an effort to “blackmail” Brussels into offering more money or sup-porting Ankara’s geopolitical aims in the Syrian conflict.Turkey, which already hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees and faces another influx from an upsurge in fighting in northwest Syria, says the EU is not providing anything like enough help to deal with the scale of the migrant crisis.President Tayyip Erdogan has also accused Greek forces of killing two migrants, a claim Athens strongly denies.“I call on European Union coun-tries, namely Greece, to act in line with the Human Rights Declaration and respect the migrants arriving on their land,” Erdogan told law-makers of his ruling AK Party on Wednesday. (Reuters) (17) Azerbaijan ...ASCO carries out anti-epidemic preventive measures over the threat of coronavirus spread. Disinfection work has been intensified on ships, as well as in the structural depart-ments of the company. As part of preventive measures, the staff of 13 ferries and 2 Ro-Ro ferries sailing to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan is provided with protective equip-ment. (Trend)(18) India & Pakistan ...ministry’s arms control and non-proliferation department, told me-dia on Wednesday.At any rate, pushing India and Paki-stan – two nuclear-armed neighbors and foes – towards joining the 1968 pact “would be disastrous for the treaty itself,” the diplomat warned, without delving into details.Arch-rivals for several decades, both Pakistan and India embarked on a race to build nuclear weapons in a bid to secure wartime superior-ity over one another. Almost a year ago, Islamabad and New Delhi re-portedly put their nuclear arsenals on high alert when a series of cross-border airstrikes pushed them to the brink of an all-out war – until mutual diplomatic effort and good will defused that crisis.Russia is willing to see the NPT cover the whole world, “but this is not always easy here,” Yermakov pointed out. At least, he said, “both India and Pakistan have a gener-ally positive attitude towards the NPT, while not being parties to this agreement.”The New START is due to expire in February 2021, but the US isn’t in-clined to keep the treaty going, it seems – although Moscow is openly signalling its readiness to prolong the pact without preliminary condi-tions. (RT)(19) Terrorists ... having failed to blow up the charg-es.”Syrian government forces have re-cently stepped up their fight for Saraqeb, which overlooks the vital M5 highway connecting Damascus to Aleppo, and the M4 which spans between Aleppo and the coastal city of Latakia.Their advance in the city is only part of a wider offensive intended to defeat anti-government militias and members of Hayat Tahrir ash-Sham (HTS) – an offshoot of Al-Qa-eda – from the rest of Idlib province. The gains they made led to increas-ing hostility between Damascus and Ankara, which backs the anti-gov-ernment militias holed up there.A series of skirmishes between Turk-ish and Syrian forces saw numerous casualties on both sides in recent weeks, with the former declaring all Syrian Army units as legitimate targets. Turkey’s military has been extensively using armed drones to hit the Syrian armored vehicles, for-tified positions and even individual targets. But so far, it stopped short of using their own ground troops to

gerous president in the history of this country.” (Aljazeera)(12) Malaysia’s ...conviction in the 1MDB scandal.When he took power for a second time two years ago, Mahathir ac-cused here Najib of playing a cen-tral role in the 1MDB scandal.“I would expect that the atmosphere would be more conducive towards a fair trial,” Najib told Reuters in an interview at his mansion in an afflu-ent neighborhood of Kuala Lumpur before heading to his latest court appearance.“I’m not alluding to anything, be-cause there’s no conclusion to the trial... But hopefully, you know, I will get a fair trial,” he said.New Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s office did not respond to a request for comment.Najib is facing five trials over the 1MDB scandal that stretched from Malaysia to the Middle East to Hol-lywood. (Reuters)(13) Merkel’s ...successor Annegret Kramp-Karren-bauer, and sparked a new leader-ship contest for the German chan-cellor’s party.The race to a new CDU leadership election on April 25 is a fresh strug-gle for control between supporters of the chancellor’s centrist course and those who believe the party must tack right.But so far none has offered a con-vincing answer to the CDU’s conun-drum in Thuringia, squeezed be-tween the extremes of left and right.Former state premier Bodo Ramelow of the far left is now up against far-right firebrand Bjoern Hoecke, with Merkel’s conservatives once again the reluctant kingmakers.- New force on the right -A fundamental article of faith for the CDU during its decades of dom-inance of German politics since 1949 was that no political force could be allowed to emerge to its right.It long provided a home for hardlin-ers on issues like immigration, inte-gration and refugees.Tilman Kuban, leader of the party’s national youth wing, even sug-gested Monday that MPs “leave the chamber” during the state premier vote to avoid the impression they had cooperated with AfD or the Left.If Ramelow -- whose previous broad left coalition is four votes short of a majority -- fails to secure a mandate as state premier, the result will like-ly be more months with no regional government in Thuringia until fresh elections.Meanwhile there is little chance of AfD contender Hoecke winning.One of the most radical voices with-in AfD, the former history teacher’s rhetoric includes calls for “tempered inhumanity” in removing non-eth-nic Germans from the country.Such declarations have placed him beyond the pale even for the more hardline eastern CDU branches. (AFP)(14) Italian ...tional bodies -- were already barred, on Tuesday, along with those from China last month.Vardhan said a husband and wife in the Italian group -- who arrived last month and number around 20 -- fell ill while visiting the western state of Rajasthan, a popular tourist destination.The remainder were moved to a quarantine centre in New Delhi, where 14 members plus their Indian driver were confirmed as being in-fected.“We are awaiting test results of the others,” a source told AFP said on condition of anonymity.- ‘Report visitors’ - On Wednesday Modi said he would stay away from celebrations during Holi, one of India’s biggest festivals when paint and water are thrown around in an explosion of colour. (AFP)(15) Netanyahu ...that, with like-minded parties, a Ne-tanyahu coalition could now expect to garner only 58.The four-term leader has been ham-strung by corruption cases in which he denies wrongdoing. Gantz has cited Netanyahu’s unprecedented indictment in refusing to join him in a coalition. The Joint List, a party represent-ing Israel’s 21% Arab minority and which surged in Monday’s election

Feraidon Barakzai, deputy border and tribal affairs minister, said that tribal elders wanted intra-Afghan talks to be inside the country.He said they collected views of trib-al elders from different parts of the country and shared them with Pres-ident Ashraf Ghani and State Minis-try for Peace Affairs.Mohammad Yaqob, another border and tribal affairs official, said that 380 of 800 Daesh or Islamic State (IS) families had joined the peace process and returned to their re-gions across the Durand Line.He said the rest of these families would also return to their regions in near future.A large number of Daesh militants and their families have surrendered to the government during opera-tions in a number of Nangarhar dis-tricts in recent months. (Pajhwok)(8) WB Unveils ...in financing -- $8 billion of which is new -- on a fast- track basis. This comprises up to $2.7 billion new financing from IBRD; $1.3 billion from IDA.It is complemented by reprioritisa-tion of $2 billion of the Bank’s ex-isting portfolio; and $6 billion from IFC, including $2 billion from exist-ing trade facilities. The Bank Group support will priori-tise the poorest countries and those at high risk with low capacity. As the spread of COVID-19 and its im-pact continues to evolve, the World Bank Group will adapt its approach and resources as needed. (Pajhwok)(9) Kandahar to ...it was vital to process and pack-age fruits and other items on inter-national standards to ensure their quality.Raisin Tader Mir Hamza said this year more grapes were produced and as a result raisin production in-creased.He, however, complained about low prices of raisin in market and said currently raisin was imported to Pakistan and India only. (Pajhwok)(10) Opportunity ...former presidential adviser in po-litical affairs, said in the gathering that there is now a great opportu-nity for building peace in the coun-try; however, the slightest mistake would have dramatic consequences and will likely trigger a new crisis in Afghanistan. According to him, a number of government insiders and outsiders have been trying to disrupt the peace process.Following the signing of the U.S.-Taliban agreement, the intra-Af-ghan peace negotiations were ex-pected to begin, but the Taliban said the talks would not proceed if 5,000 Taliban prisoners held by the gov-ernment were not released. The post Opportunity for Building Peace in Afghanistan Should be Seized ap-peared first on The Killid Group. (TKG)(11) Super Tuesday: ... Bloomberg and Massachusetts Sen-ator Elizabeth Warren, were teeter-ing on the edge of viability. Warren finished in a disappointing third place in her home state and Bloom-berg planned to reassess his candi-dacy on Wednesday after spending more than half-a-billion dollars to score a single victory - in American Samoa.The contours of a nomination fight pitting Biden against Sanders, each leading coalitions of disparate de-mographics and political beliefs, were crystallising by day’s end as the former vice president and the three-term senator spoke of and to each other through duelling victo-ry speeches 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) apart on Tuesday night, even if they avoided using each other’s name.“People are talking about a revolu-tion. We started a movement,” Biden charged in Los Angeles, knocking one of Sanders’ signature calls for a “political revolution”.Without citing his surging rival by name, Sanders swiped at Biden from Burlington, Vermont.“You cannot beat Trump with the same-old, same-old kind of poli-tics,” Sanders declared, ticking down a list of past policy differ-ences with Biden on Social Security, trade and military force.“This will become a contrast in ideas,” he added. “We’re going to win the Democratic nomination and we are going to defeat the most dan-

International5

Neighbor News

Merkel’s Party in Crucible as Thuringia Votes Again

Uzbekistan Extends Visa-Free Regime for Japanese Citizens

Turkmenistan, Morocco to Discuss Development of Co-Op

Violence Against Girls Not Only Common but Widely Accepted,

Says UN Report

Malaysia’s Najib Expects More Conducive Atmosphere

for 1MDB Trial

Netanyahu Election Lead Shrinks, Raising Prospect of

Another Israel Vote

Greek Forces Use Tear Gas to Stop

Migrants Crossing Turkey Border

Terrorists Tried to Use Chemical Weapons in Idlib Against Syrian Army, Got BURNED After Substance

Leaked – Russian MоD

India & Pakistan Officially Becoming Nuclear Powers Would Spell ‘Disaster’ For

Non-Proliferation Treaty – Moscow

UK Police Charge Another Man Over Deaths of 39 Vietnamese in Truck

Amnesty Says Iran Killed Two Dozen Children in November Crackdown

Azerbaijan Suspending Transportation to Kazakhstan

TASHKENT - A 90-day visa-free regime has been established in Uz-bekistan on a parity ba-sis for citizens of Japan - owners of diplomatic and official passports issued by the Minis-try of Foreign Affairs of Japan, starting from March 1, 2020, Trend reports citing the press service of the Uzbek Foreign Ministry.The government reso-lution on liberalization of visa-free regime of entry into Uzbekistan for citizens of Japan - owners of diplomatic or official passports was adopted on February 29, the report says.Japanese citizens visit-ing Uzbekistan in con-nection with diplomatic or consular activities (with official passports

ASHGABAT - Dep-uty Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, Foreign Minister Rashid Mere-dov and the Chairman of the Turkmengas State Concern Myrat Archaev will pay an of-ficial visit to Morocco, Trend reports via the State News Agency of Turkmenistan.According to the de-cree of the President of Turkmenistan, the visit will take place on March 4-6, 2020 to hold Turkmen-Moroccan in-ter-MFA consultations and discuss issues of developing cooperation

ISLAMABAD - Despite gains in education, vio-lence against women and girls is not only common but widely ac-cepted, a new United Nations report revealed on Wednesday.Although more girls are going to school and staying in school than ever before, little head-way has been made to help shape a more equal, less violent en-vironment for them, warned the UN Inter-national Children’s Emergency Fund (Uni-cef), together with UN Women and the non-governmental organisa-tion, Plan International, in their report, ‘A New Era for Girls: Taking stock on 25 years of progress.’

TEHRAN - Human rights group Am-nesty International on Wednesday accused the Iranian security forces of killing 23 chil-dren, mostly with live ammunition, during a November crackdown on anti-government protests.Protests broke out across Iran from No-vember 15 after the announcement of a surprise petrol price rise. The authorities re-sponded with a crack-down that Amnesty has already said left 304 people dead, a figure vehemently disputed by Tehran.Amnesty said in its new report it had evidence

JERUSALEM - Israel appeared headed into another political stale-mate on Wednesday after nearly-complete results indicated Prime Minister Benjamin Ne-tanyahu had failed to secure a clear majority for a right-wing bloc in parliament, despite his claim of victory.With 99% of votes counted, Netanyahu’s conservative Likud par-ty was seen taking 35 of

KUALA LUMPUR - On trial for corrup-tion that includes the multi-billion dollar 1MDB fraud, former Malaysian prime min-ister Najib Razak said on Wednesday that the fall of the govern-ment that ousted him meant he now ex-pected an atmosphere more conducive to a fair hearing.Najib was voted out in 2018 amid anger over corruption in the Southeast Asian coun-

IDLIB - Jihadist militants have attempted to carry out a chemical weapons attack in a bid to foil a Syrian army attack, but lack of ex-perience dealing with hazardous substances turned against them, Russia’s Defense Minis-try said.Over a dozen terrorists tried to use their weapon of last resort in the strategic town of Saraqeb, which sits on an important highway juncture in Syria’s Idlib province, according to the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria.In an effort to “frustrate the advance of Syrian government forces” in the western quarters of Saraqeb, they tried to detonate “high-explo-sive ammunition along with tanks filled with toxic chemicals,” the statement revealed. Their attack, however, was to no avail.As the terrorists weren’t proficient enough in handling toxic substances, one of the tanks leaked, inflicting casualties among the attack-ers themselves who received “severe chemical poisoning,...(More on P4)...(19)

K A S T A N I E S / L E S B O S , Greece - Greek riot police and troops used water cannon and tear gas on Wednesday against hundreds of migrants as they made another attempt to cross the border from Tur-key into Greece.Plumes of black smoke drifted above the Kastanies border crossing, and a fire engine raced by to put out smolder-ing blazes. Greek soldiers also fired warning shots into the air.A Reuters witness saw tear-gas cannisters being thrown from the Turkish side of the border toward Greek police over a high razor wire. It was not clear who was hurling the cannisters.Video footage showed some migrants carrying an injured man away from the border. It was unclear how he had been hurt.A Greek army vehicle equipped with loudspeakers informed the migrants in Ara-bic and other languages that the border is shut.More than 10,000 migrants have been trying to breach the border since Turkey said last Thursday it would no longer abide by a 2016 deal with the European Union to halt illegal migration flows to Europe in return for billions of euros in aid.Greece and the EU accuse ...(More on P4)...(16)

NEW DELHI - Extending the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on the entire world is generally a good idea, but an official recogni-tion of India and Pakistan as nuclear powers is not – their accession to the pact would ruin it, Moscow warned.“The fact that Pakistan, India and Israel – ac-cording to some estimates – possess nuclear weapons does not indeed help strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT],” Vladimir Yermakov, head of the Russian for-eign ...(More on P4)...(18)

issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan), as well as the tasks of the Japanese government, can take advantage of the visa-free regime throughout their stay in Uzbeki-stan. The same proce-dure applies to mem-bers of their families residing with them.Japanese citizens en-tering Uzbekistan for other purposes are also granted a 90-day visa-free regime. Since Feb-ruary 2018, this period was 30 days.However, the visa-free regime does not apply to Japanese citizens en-tering the country for permanent residence, the report says.Earlier, it was reported that it is planned to ...(More on P4)...(22)

between the two coun-tries.During the visit, on behalf of the Turkmen president, the king of Morocco will be invit-ed to take part in the festivities timed to the 25th anniversary of the country’s neutrality.The King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, ear-lier in a letter to the President of Turk-menistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov ex-pressed confidence that Turkmen-Moroccan relations will go on strengthening and de-veloping on the basis ...(More on P4)...(23)

The report, released ahead of the 64th ses-sion of the UN Com-mission on the Status of Women, underlined, among other disturb-ing trends, that despite the number of out-of-school girls having dropped by 79 million in the last two decades, one in every 20 girls aged 15 to 19 — around 13 million — has faced sexual assault in her lifetime.In South Asia, while the report notes that the practice of child mar-riage has almost halved in the last 25 years, 30 percent of girls are still married before they reach their 18th birth-day.The report found the ...(More on P4)...(21)

that at least 23 children were killed, with 22 of them killed by the secu-rity forces “unlawfully firing live ammunition at unarmed protesters and bystanders.”The children killed in-cluded 22 boys, aged between 12 and 17, and a girl reportedly aged between eight and 12.“There must be inde-pendent and impar-tial investigations into these killings, and those suspected of ordering and carrying them out must be prosecuted in fair trials,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty’s re-search and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa.-...(More on P4)...(20)

NUR SULTAN - Entry into Kazakhstan’s Ak-tau and Kuryk ports in the Caspian Sea is to be suspended from March 5 for preventing the the spread of coronavirus.Kazakhstan has in-formed shipping com-panies, including the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company (ASCO), Trend reports citing ASCO.“The entry of passen-gers, drivers, carriage conductors, as well as wheeled vehicles into the country is suspend-ed for an indefinite period. This is while ferry transportation of

LONDON - British police said on Wednesday they had charged another man as part of their investigation into the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found dead in the back of a truck near London last year. Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga, 27, was charged with an immigration offense and was due to appear later at Basildon Magistrates’ Court, east of Lon-don.Detectives also said they wanted to speak to any other Vietnamese nationals who had entered Britain illegally via a similar route through the port of Purfleet.“We believe that a number of other people traveled into the UK in a simi-lar way to the 39 deceased throughout the month of October and we hope that

these people would be able to help us,” Essex Police’s Assistant Chief Constable Tim Smith said.They are also seeking a number of other suspects. (Reuters)

BERLIN - Lawmakers in eastern German state Thuringia will try again to elect a new state premier Wednesday, re-running a vote that sank Chancel-lor Angela Merkel’s ruling CDU party into what has been described as the big-gest crisis in its history.It is the second attempt in a month to form a working government in the former East German state, after CDU MPs there unleashed an earthquake in national politics by voting with the far-right AfD in February.Amid the national out-

wagons will continue,” reads the message.In this regard, ASCO informs that the ticket sales have been sus-

pended. Additional in-formation will be pro-vided after lifting the restriction....(More on P4)...(17)

rage, the liberal candi-date elected during the first vote on February 5 stepped down, leaving

Vardhan said Wednesday that passengers on all in-ternational flights would

parliament’s 120 seats, down from 36 initially projected after Mon-day’s election. His cen-trist challenger, Benny Gantz, was seen hold-ing steady at 32 seats for his Blue and White party.Israeli premiers gener-ally need a coalition commanding 61 seats for their governments to survive. Wednes-day’s tally suggested ...(More on P4)...(15)

try, but the alliance that toppled him fell apart at the weekend amid turmoil following the resignation of 94-year-old Prime Minister Ma-hathir Mohamad.Najib, 66, denies the charges against him and says they were po-litically motivated.Mahathir has accused Najib’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) of engineer-ing a return to power so that its officials escape ...(More on P4)...(12)

Italian Tourists in India Quarantined with Coronavirus

ROME - A group of Ital-ian tourists were un-der quarantine in India Wednesday, with 16 test-ing positive for the new coronavirus, prompting authorities to tighten con-trols.Italy is a hotspot of the virus with 79 deaths and over 2,500 infected, while India’s case total stands officially at just 28 -- in-cluding the Italians and their Indian driver.Confirming the new cas-es, Health Minister Harsh

the state rudderless.But more significantly, the apparent coopera-tion of CDU politicians

now be screened.Visitors from Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan

with the far-right trig-gered the departure of Merkel’s designated ...(More on P4)...(13)

-- except diplomats and officials from interna...(More on P4)...(14)

March 05, 2020WASHINGTON - A resurgent Joe Biden has scored sweeping victo-ries across the United States with the backing of a diverse coali-tion and progressive rival Bernie Sanders seized Super Tuesday’s biggest prize with a win in Cali-fornia as the Democratic Party’s once-crowded presidential field became a two-man contest.The two Democrats, lifelong poli-ticians with starkly different vi-sions for the US’s future, were battling for delegates as 14 states and one US territory held a se-ries of high-stakes elections that marked the most significant day of voting in the party’s 2020 presi-dential nomination fight. The winner of the primary season will take on President Donald Trump in the November general election.The other two high-profile candi-dates still in the shrinking Demo-cratic field, New York billionaire Mike...(More on P4)...(11)

Super Tuesday: Biden Wins 9 States, Sanders Takes California

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KABUL - Soon after the Taliban announced resumption of mili-tary operations, Russia said it would never accept monopoly of power in Afghanistan.Two days back, the insurgent movement asked its fighters to return to the battlefield now that the reduction of violence period had ended. At the end of the week-long partial truce, the Taliban signed a peace deal with the US on Saturday.Speaking to reporters on Tues-day, President Putin’s Special

Envoy Zamir Kabulov said Russia had clearly told the Tali-ban it would never accept mo-nopoly of power in Afghani-stan.“We have told the Taliban more than once that we accept no monopoly and are opposed to the Taliban’s return to pow-er. Pakistan, Iran, the US and China share this position,” he added.Moscow would lift sanctions on the Taliban if the United Na-tions Security Council reached

a decision on the issue, Kabu-lov said.Under the deal, the US may start diplomatic engagement with UNSC and Afghanistan to remove Taliban leaders’ names from the sanctions list by May 29.Russia’s special envoy believed intra-Afghan dialogue was un-likely to get under way on the scheduled date, as President Ashraf Ghani has refused to free thousands of Taliban pris-oners. (Pajhwok)

Won’t Accept Monopoly ofPower in Kabul: Moscow

KABUL - Afghanistan’s For-eign Ministry said on Tues-day it strongly condemns Pa-kistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s “irrespon-sible” remarks on its “internal matters,”The ministry didn’t made it clear which statement by Qureshi it was referring to. In his latest statement, Qureshi called on the Afghan government to abide by a prisoner swap clause in the

US-Taliban deal.“The US-Taliban agreement says that there will be an exchange of prisoners,” said Qureshi. “Pres-ident Ghani should ask the US for an explanation of the agree-ment.”Afghan Foreign Ministry in a statement said that it had lodged protest with Pakistan over Qureshi’s recent remarks on its internal matters.Afghan government believes

Former US National Security Adviser Calls Taliban Deal ‘Deeply Flawed’

US Gen. Miller Speaks on Taliban’s Resumed Attacks

WASHINGTON - Former US national security ad-viser Susan Rice has called recently signed agree-ment between Washington and the Taliban as “deeply flawed.”In opinion published on New York Times on Wednesday, Rice said that the deal has the poten-tial to lead to peace but is very unlikely to achieve it.She said that the US gave a lot and got relatively little in return.Rice said that US officials insist that the US with-drawal is “conditions-based,” but no political or military requirements have been specified.“There are no indications of what ‘conditions’ might slow or halt an American drawdown of troops short of a major attack by Al Qaeda launched with clear Taliban support. Not sus-tained violence against Afghan forces, nor small-er-scale terrorist attacks, nor continued Islamic State operations seem likely to prompt the United States to reverse course,” Rice wrote.She said that intra-Afghan negotiations, if they be-gin, will strongly favor the Taliban.

KABUL - Gen. Scott Miller, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, in a visit to Afghan forces in Kabul on Tuesday said the US-Taliban agreement is a potentially historic agree-ment for the Afghan people and that “it is fragile if the Taliban are not going to lower violence” and “that causes a risk to the agreement.”He said there is a need for the Taliban to lower violence in Afghanistan “otherwise, it’s hard to have an agreement.”The Taliban in a letter on Monday asked their fighters to resume their attacks on the Afghan government forces, but not to attack internation-al troops as part of a deal they signed with the United States.“The period of reduction in violence across Af-ghanistan was an important period for the Af-ghan people,” Miller said. “It’s a start for peace pathway and what I would say is that all sides--but especially the military of all sides--have obli-gations to make sure that pathway is achievable. We have shown restraint with the Afghan secu-rity forces and we have shown restraint because

“By cutting a deal with the Taliban that excluded (and even failed to mention) the Afghan govern-ment, the ...( More on P4)...(5)

we know that’s the will of the Afghan people.”He added: “The Taliban have obligations and we need them to ...( More on P4)...(6)

that Pakistan should take prac-tical steps on strengthening bilateral relations by resorting to policies of good neighbor-hood and prevent irresponsible remarks on Afghan affairs, the statement said.It said that such remarks would not be effective in improving relations between the two coun-tries and rather would create an atmosphere of mistrust. (1TV NEWS)

Kabul Condemns Pakistan FM’s ‘Irresponsible’ Remarks on ‘Internal Matters’