Volume No. 4090 Wednesday January 30, 2019 Dalw 10, 1397 www.outlookafghanistan.net Price: 20/-Afs

Quote of the Day

Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire,

emotion, and knowledge.Plato

NATO CHIEF

www.thedailyafghanistan.comEmail: thedailyafghanistan@yahoo.com

Phone: 0093 (799) 005019/777-005019Add: In front of Habibia High School,

District 3, Kabul, Afghansitan

Knowledge

The alliance will not stay in Afghanistan longer than necessary, says NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington.

Former US special envoy James Dobbins says the deal is ‘a hopeful sign that negotiations’ can begin.

KABUL - The visa section of the Pakistani consulate in Afghani-stan’s Mazar-e-Sharif city reo-pened on Thursday.Two days ago, the section was closed down owing to security threats. An Afghan woman tried to use her bag to sneak a hand grenade into the building, a secu-rity check had revealed.The woman was arrested and in-vestigations concerning the inci-dent are currently underway.Pakistan had requested the coun-try to ensure the safety of the con-sulate and share results of the se-curity inquiry with the Pakistani authorities.Authorities in Afghanistan reo-pned the visa section after reeval-uating the security arrangements in order to prevent such incidents from occurring again. (Agencies)

KABUL - As part of the USAID Promote: Women in Government (WIG) project, 300 female interns completed the projects’ year-long internship program, according to a statement on Tuesday.Promote’s internship programs equip qualified Afghan women with the knowledge and experi-ence to join the Afghan civil ser-vice, the USAID statement said.In 2018, the Afghan government released the “Policy on Increas-ing Women’s Participation in the Civil Service.”This policy, developed in collab-oration with WIG, established a two percent target to increase the number of women working in government by the end of 2018.Through the internship program, USAID is helping the govern-ment to meet its goal by provid-ing targeted civil service and leadership trainings for female interns. USAID also facilitated on-the-job trainings in govern-ment offices for the interns.Between April 2015 and Novem-ber 2018, over 1,900 women have graduated from the year-long WIG internship program and 411 are now employed.Eqlima Aqida, an Executive Officer at ...(More on P4)...(5)

Visa Section of Pakistani Consulate in Mazar-E-Sharif Reopens

300 Women Complete USAID’s Civil Service Internship Programme

Won’t Stay in Afghanistan Longer than Necessary

WASHINGTON - Negotiators for the US and the Taliban insurgents have reached “agreements in principle” on key issues for a peace deal that would end 17 years of war in Afghanistan, the

US, Taliban Reached ‘Agreements in Principle’: Dobbins

2.3m School Age Children Engage in Hard Labor: Zaki

top US envoy said Monday.The statement by US envoy Zal-may Khalilzad followed six days of talks last week with the Taliban in Qatar, where he urged the Islamic insurgent group to enter into direct negotiations with the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Khalilzad said in an interview with The New York Times that an agreement in principle was reached with the Tali-ban on the framework of a peace deal

“which still has to be fleshed out” that will see the insurgents commit to guaranteeing that Af-ghan territory is not used as a “platform for international ter-rorist groups or individuals.”Former US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins says the deal is ‘a hopeful sign that negotiations’ can begin, but warns the pro-cess has ‘a number of chasms to cross.’“First is the Taliban willing to talk to the Afghan government and stop fighting while they do it,” said Dobbins.“Secondly, will the negotiations with the Afghan government succeed ...(More on P4)...(3)

KABUL - The Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled (MoLSAMD) says 2.3 million children are engaged in hard labor instead of going school.Minister Faizullah Zaki expressed these views at a press conference regarding the launch of national policy on child labor at the Government Media and Information Centre (GMIC) here.He said subjecting children to work was a crime in line with Afghanistan’s Constitu-tion, labor law, social support law and in-ternational conventions.He said according to the national strategy and commitments at the Geneva Confer-ence, the issue of child labor should end by 2025 and overall child work should end by 2030 nationwide.The national child labor policy was being worked out since 2016 with a $62.4 million

support from USAID and the British government, he said, adding the policy would be implemented until 2030.Zaki said the conflict, poverty, lack of awareness among families about

KABUL - A record number of disabled Afghans – more than 12,000 people – sought assistance for the first time in 2018 at physical rehabilitation centres run by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) across Afghanistan. Despite the record level of assistance provided, many more people remain in need.Last year was the ICRC’s 30th year of running rehabilitation programmes in the country. More than 22,000 artificial limbs and other orthopaedic devices – also a record number -- were provided in 2018, together with 2,000 wheelchairs, 18,000 crutches and countless physiotherapy sessions.“The record number of Afghans seeking rehabili-tation assistance is a reflection of the huge levels of need”, said Alberto Cairo, ICRC’s physical re-habilitation program manager in Afghanistan. “Even with all of the people we helped, we aren’t coming close to being able to assist everyone in need.”Since ICRC opened its first rehabilitation centre in Kabul in 1988, ...(More on P4)...(2)

KABUL - Chief Executive of Jamiat-e-Islami par-ty Atta Mohammad Noor has urged President Ashraf Ghani to avoid victimizing peace for his personal interests.In a statement released on Tuesday, Atta Moham-mad Noor said that the National Unity Govern-ment leaders particularly the president should avoid taking emotional actions which are not in favor of the country.“We shouldn’t allow some people to play with the fate of the people for the sake of their personal and political interests,” Noor said.He stressed the opportunity being provided for bringing peace in the country should not be vic-timized for the interest of president and his team.This comes a day after the U.S. Special Envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad told local media on Monday in Kabul, that his re-cent meeting with Taliban in Doha was much bet-ter than previous meetings. “We made progress on vital issues in our discus-sions and agreed to agreements in principle on a couple of very ...(More on P4)...(4)

Record Number of Disabled Afghans Seek Assistance from ICRC

Atta Noor Urges President Ghani Not to Victimize Peace

for Personal BenefitsWASHINGTON - The alliance will not stay in Afghanistan longer than neces-sary, says NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington.Stoltenberg, who met Acting US De-fense Secretary Patrick Shanahan at the Pentagon, said the alliance contin-ued to remain with the United States in Afghanistan. “We welcome talks with

Taliban,” he said. Khalilzad had briefed allies a few weeks ago in Brussels.“The reason why NATO is in Afghani-stan is to create conditions for … a peaceful solution to make sure that Af-ghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for international terrorists and to send a message to Taliban that they will not win on the battlefield …,” Stolten-

berg said.NATO, he added, was in Afghanistan to create conditions for a negotiated so-lution. “We are there to train and assist and advise the Afghan soldiers so they can take care of security and stability in Afghanistan themselves.”The alliance would not stay in Afghani-stan longer ...(More on P4)...(1)

their children’s rights and drawbacks of not sending them to school were among fac-tors which force children to discharge hard work.He said peace, legal action against individ-uals misusing children, assistance with less fortunate families and improving economic conditions were part of the national policy to help end child labor in the country.Mansour Khaled, a representative of the International Labour Organisation, said na-tional child labor policies starting in 2016 in 11 countries were being supported by the British government. He said the policy in Afghanistan start in April and continue till 2030.Marouf Qaderi, a member of the Afghani-stan Labour Union, welcomed the national policy on child labour, which he said affect-ed economy and caused poverty. (Pajhwok)