Reg: No 352 Volume No. 3471 Saturday December 24, 2016 Jaddi 04, 1395 www.outlookafghanistan.net Price: 15/-Afs

Quote of the Day

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The test of the morality of a society is what it does

for its children.Dietrich Bonhoeffer

MAZAR-I-SHARIF - The German defence minister on Thursday arrived in the capital of northern Balkh province on a surprise visit, an official said.Spokesman for the 209th Shaheen Military Corps in Balkh, Abdul Qahar Aram, told Pajhwok Afghan News Ursula von der Leyen visited German forces in Mazar-i-Sharif after arriving before noon.He said Layen met Ger-man forces ahead of new year. The commander for the 209th Shaheen Military

KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday said a gov-ernment without credibility in the nation’s eyes could not con-tinue and the Afghans were origin owners of the national unity government.Talking at a conference on per-formance of the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), and anti-corruption campaign at the Presidential Palace, Ghani said more than a million Afghan refugees who recently returned to their country were in urgent need of residences.He stressed shelter provision to the returnees and said address-ing problems of the returnees and internally displaced fami-lies would be a test for the gov-ernment and aid organizations. “Our main goal is to ensure jus-

UNITED NATIONS - The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Thursday highlighted health workforce as “a driver of growth” in achieving Sustain-able Development Goals (SDG), noting that 40 million new health worker jobs will be in de-mand by 2030.“Changing populations will generate a demand for 40 mil-lion new health worker jobs by 2030. However, most of these jobs will be created in wealthier countries,” said Ban in a message on the Report of the High-Level Commission on Health Employ-ment and Economic Growth.He said that there could be a global shortfall of 18 million health workers to achieve and sustain universal health cov-

KABUL - The NATO’s Reso-lute Support mission in Af-ghanistan has said the U.S forces will focus on conduct-ing ‘unilateral operations’ next year in order to defeat

HERAT - The USAID Uni-versity Support and Work-force Development Program (USWDP) held a job fair at Herat University on Thurs-day to connect senior stu-dents and recent graduates from Herat University with the private sector.Participating students had taken USAID-USWDP’s Soft Skills Training (SST) pro-gram, a short-term training designed to provide learners with pre-employability and communication skills. Job

UN Chief Highlights Importance of Health Sector Employment in SDG

German Defence Minister in Balkh on Surprise VisitBuilding a Just System

our Main Goal: Ghani

KABUL - A number of journalists called on government to deliver on its commitments regarding access to information for the me-dia.Institutions supporting freedom of press in Afghanistan have blasted government for not pro-viding information to media out-lets and journalists in a timely fashion. They have reiterated calls to gov-ernment to deliver on its commit-ments regarding access to infor-mation for the media. But government has claimed that it has taken appropriate meas-ures to implement the bill and help journalists access informa-tion when needed. However, media outlets have raised concerns over the per-ceived reluctance to release infor-mation to journalists in the past few weeks. NAI – an organization support-ing open media in Afghanistan - has asked government to ensure the proper implementation of the access to information law.“Regarding the attack on the house ...(More on P4)...(8)

PESHAWAR - The Afghan am-bassador has launched a push to win support from Pakistan’s Pakhtun politicians for overcom-ing the increasing trust deficit be-tween the neighbours.In a string of consultations, Dr. Omar Zakhilwal senior Pakhtuns leaders at his official residence in Islamabad and later visited Akora Khattak to meet Maulana Samiul Haq, the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S).The Express Tribune reported on Friday that Zakhilwal, who is also President Ashraf Ghani’s special envoy to Pakistan, asked his interlocutors to help defuse tensions between the two coun-tries.He urged Samiul Haq, common-ly dubbed as Taliban’s father, to support the intra-Afghan peace parleys. Haq was asked to exer-cise his influence over the Tali-ban, most of whom have gradu-ated ...(More on P4)...(3)

Corps also called on the min-ister at the NATO’s Resolute Support (RS) headquarters.Layen stressed continued cooperation with Afghani-stan, Aram said, adding the German defence minister assured Afghan officials they would not leave the Afghan forces alone in fight-ing against terrorism.Balkh governor’s spokesman, Mu-nir Farhad, confirmed to Pa-jhwok the surprise visit by the German defense minister but said she did not meet with Governor Atta Moham-mad Nur. (Pajhwok)

year of survival, people had been thinking the government would collapse.”MoUD Minister Sayed Sa-dat Naderi on the occasion said fighting corruption was among his ministry’s main goals.He said some people paid extra money to Macro Ryan Blocks Project contain-ing seven residential blocks and founded in 2009.Some customers paid 250,000 to 450,000 afghanis extra money which was paid back to their owners after an inves-tigation, he said. Some people from Macro Ryan Blocks, who participated in the meeting, presented an appreciation let-ter to Naderi in recognition of his good performance and ser-vices to people. (Pajhwok)

First Lady Encourages Youth to Develop their Talents

U.S Forces to Focus on ‘Unilateral Operations’ Against Insurgents

USAID Connects Job-Seekers with Employers through a Job-Fair at Herat University

Zakhilwal Wants Pakhtun Leaders to Back Afghan Peace

Parleys

Media Outlets Call for Enactment

of Access to Information Law

KABUL - “We have good memories and the country’s citizens [Afghans] have more talent. You should believe in your talents and stand on your own feet,” Rula Ghani said.The First Lady Rula Ghani on Thursday en-couraged the country’s younger generation to develop their talents and use them to help build Afghanistan’s future – and to not under-estimate their abilities.Addressing an exhibition of computer science projects by students ...(More on P4)...(1)

tice and a just system. Living in crisis is not acceptable to us, we should not fuel crisis but work together end them,” the

al-Qaeda and other insurgent outfits in the country. In an interview with an American TV channel, C-SPAN on Thursday, Charles Cleveland, a spokesman for

fair representatives included the Herat Chamber of Com-merce, prospective private sector employers, Herat Uni-versity and USAID-USWDP officials.“It is the first time that the university is hosting a job fair with the aim to link uni-versity students with the em-ployment market,” said Dr. Abdullah Fayez, Chancellor of Herat University. “We encourage students to par-ticipate in such events and showcase their talent and

president added. Ghani said a government which was not credible for a nation would not continue. A government with a

erage, primarily in low- and lower-middle-income countries, if no action was taken.The high-level commission, established by Ban in March 2016, was tasked to make recommendations to stimulate and guide the creation of at least 40 million new jobs in the health and social sectors, and to reduce the projected shortfall of 18 million health workers by 2030. It launched the report ear-lier this week.“I am pleased to welcome the Commission’s Re-port on Health Employment and Economic Growth. The Ebola outbreak and the crisis in Syria have all too vividly illustrated the importance of protecting, supporting and investing in the health and social workforce,” said Ban. (Xinhua)

the Resolute Support mission, said the groups are operative in Afghanistan and Pakistan.“U.S. forces in Afghanistan have two missions – the first mission is a unilateral U.S. counterterrorism mis-sion specifically focused on al-Qaeda and Islamic State [Daesh]… We do have the authority to conduct unilat-eral operations with defeat-ing al-Qaeda as well as other groups,” the spokesman said. He said the reason which they will focus on the mission is to protect their Afghan al-lies ...(More on P4)...(4)

skills to potential employers, and secure employment.” Twenty private sector firms interviewed 60 students and graduates with different aca-demic qualifications. As a result, 20 students secured internships, 10 more secured permanent employment and 35 more were scheduled for the second round of inter-views at the premises of the firms.“I am pleased to have an op-portunity to have the first-ever ...(More on P4)...(5)

strong credibility in the nation could do any great works.“The first year of the national unity government was the

KABUL - President Ashraf Gha-ni has suggested execution of development projects in differ-ent districts of Kabul province to strengthen security in the na-tion’s capital.Ghani’s remarks came at a meeting that he chaired on the 10-year development strategy for the capital on Thursday evening, a statement from the Presidential Palace said.Urban Development Minister Syed Saadat Mansoor Naderi told participants different state institutions needed to forge co-ordination for effective imple-mentation of the development plan.He said the urban development sector had witnessed consider-able capacity improvement in recent years. But coordination was needed to avoid an overlap of roles.Abdullah ...(More on P4)...(2)

President Supports Development Plans for Kabul Districts

Dostum Office Rejects

AGO Summons as Illegal

KABUL - The Office of First Vice-President General Abdul Rashid Dostum on Thursday said the Attorney General Of-fice (AGO) has no authority to ask the VP to appear before it.Dostum office in a statement confirmed receiving a sum-mons from AGO’s internal and external security department but said the summons had been rejected as illegal.The statement said the AGO had no right to call the first VP. There was nothing mentioned in the Constitution about pun-ishment of vice presidents, but legal experts have consensus that the first VP, who has been elected to the office along with the president by the people, should be dealt with in accord-ance with the article 69 of the Constitution.Under the article, accusations of crime against humanity, na-tional treason or crime can be leveled against the President by one third of the members of the Wolesi Jirga.If two thirds of the Wolesi Jirga votes for charges to be brought forth, the Wolesi Jirga shall con-vene a ...(More on P4)...(7)

US Reiterates its Support for Afghan-Led Peace Process

WAHSINGTON - “The foreign occupation forces are undermining the country’s sovereignty and free-dom of its politics as well as the government,” he said.Speaking at his daily press briefing in Washington, U.S State Department spokesman John Kirby said nothing has changed their view that they support an Afghan-led reconciliation process.This came in answer to a question on Taliban’s re-cent call for direct talks with the U.S.Kirby said: “We believe that’s the right approach. We’ve always believed that that’s the right ap-proach.”“President (Ashraf) Ghani, more importantly, also believes in the criticality of that approach, and that’s where our support will go to,” he added.This comes after the Taliban recently issued new demands for ending its insurgency, including direct talks with the United States.They also demanded their office in Qatar be recog-nized and that the names of its members be removed from the UN blacklist.Earlier this month, Sohail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban’s Qatar office, said that the presence of US-led foreign soldiers in the country was the “root cause” of the ongoing turmoil in the war-hit nation.“The foreign occupation r ...(More on P4)...(6)