Reg: No 352 Volume No. 3530 Monday March 06, 2017 Hoot 16, 1395 www.outlookafghanistan.net Price: 15/-Afs

Quote of the DayThe man who doesn’t

read has no advantage over the man who can’t read

Hamid Karzai

Army

Email: thedailyafghanistan@yahoo.comPhone: 0093 (799) 005019/777-005019

www.thedailyafghanistan.com

Visas in Hands, Afghans Detained

in Los Angeles

Afghan Refugees in Pakistan

Living in Legal Vacuum: Khattak

KABUL - The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) will launch a five-year plan for develop-ment of saffron cultivation and harvest in the next year, the ministry’s spokesman Lotfullah Rashid said.He said they will distribute 500,000 tons of saffron fol-licles to farmers in 30 prov-

KABUL - Despite receiving approval to move to the United States, a five-mem-ber Afghan family was de-tained for more than two days after landing at the Los Angeles Internation-al Airport, an American newspaper reported on Sunday.On Saturday evening, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining or-der to prevent the mother and her children from be-ing transferred out of the state. The order was issued as the Afghans were about to be flown to Texas, most likely bound for a family detention center there.The New York Times quot-ed a lawyer as saying the scene at the airport was “chaotic, panicked; it was a mess”. Lali Madduri, a lawyer with Gibson Dunn, which is representing the family, told the daily: “The whole time the children are crying, the woman is crying. They can’t under-stand what’s going on.”A petition filed in Fed-eral District Court says the father had arrived on Thursday with his wife and three children, ages 7, 6 and 8 months, on Special Immigrant Visas. The visas were created by Congress for the Afghans who have helped the US military as drivers, interpreters or in other jobs. (Pajhwok)

KABUL - A senior leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), Afrasiab Khattak, has excoriated the govern-ment of Punjab for adopt-ing policy of discrimination against Pashtuns and type-casting them in violation of all principles.In an interview published on Sunday, Khattak said Afghan refugees remained vulnerable to the misguid-ed policies of the Pakistani government. He lamented There was no clear domes-tic law on treatment of refu-gees as Pakistan was not a signatory to international conventions on the issue.“It is really painful for Pashtuns, who are the real victims of terrorism and have suffered the most at the hands of terrorists, that they should be demonised as an entity for diverting attention from misguided state policies and terror nurseries in Punjab,” the former senator remarked.Initially, he said, Afghan refugees bore the brunt of racial discrimination in Punjab. He added the refu-gees lived in a legal vacu-um, as Pakistan was neither a signatory to international conventions on the subject nor had it any national law for dealing with the protec-tion of refugees.He also referred to the internally displaced per-sons (IDPs) from Swat and FATA after the ascendancy of terrorists in their areas, followed by military op-erations. The devastating developments resulted in a massive dislocation in the Pashtun belt on both sides of the ...(More on P4)...(5)

KABUL - National security advisor Mohammad Hanif Atmar has left for a three days official visit to India on the invitation of the Indian government, a statement from the National Security Council (NSC) said on Sun-day.During the visit Atmar would address the 19th Asian Security Conference on com-bating terrorism, evolving an Asian response arranged by the Institute of Defence and Analyses (IDSA) of Indian,

KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday stressed the need for proper manage-ment of water and asked neighbouring countries not to worry about the construction of dams and other networks in Afghanistan.Addressing the fourth na-tional water conference under the theme ‘Water and Stable Development,” at the Presi-dential Palace, Ghani said, “Afghanistan’s water devel-opment is in the interest of the region.”Asking neighbours support the process, the president said his administration’s guiding principles were aimed at the protection of people’s inter-ests, lifting them out of pover-ty and respecting international norms.

Mail to Launch Five-Year Plan for Saffron Development

Atmar off to India to Attend Security Conference

Taliban Use Civilian Areas as Cover in Baghlan

Ghani Underlines Need for Better Water Management

$70m Early Learning Skills Program Launched

US Concerned at Widespread Torture of Afghan Detainees

Pakistan Has No Authority to Dictate Terms on Durand Line

He said water being an im-portant resource for regional cooperation could be better utilised within a legal frame-work based on mutual inter-

WASHINGTON - The United States has identified wide-spread torture and abuse of detainees by government forces as ‘most significant’ human rights problems in Af-ghanistan. The State Department in its annual human rights report said the most significant hu-man rights problems in Af-ghanistan included torture and abuse of detainees by government forces.Other volitions included widespread disregard for the rule of law and little account-

KABUL - Reacting to the merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhton Khwa (KPK), For-mer president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai has said the government of Pakistan has no legal authority to dictate terms on the Durand line, a de fecto boarder between the two countries.“We wish freedom for the people of FATA from FCR and other repressive meas-ures,” Karzai said on his tweeter account.The former president wrote he wanted to remind to the Pakistani government that Af-ghanistan hasn’t and would not recognize the Durand Line.The Pakistan federal cabinet

inces of the country.Two big laboratories will be built for saffron quality test-ing and 10 saffron process-ing centers will be built next solar year based on the plan, he added.“We have planned a training program for 12,000 farmers and government officials for the ...(More on P4)...(2)

the statement said.Atmar is the keynote speaker and he would address on norms and global war on terror, challenges for Asia.During the trip the national security advisor would hold meeting with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval and other secu-rity experts.Counterterror-ism efforts and expansion of political and security ties between Afghanistan and Indian would be discussed. (Pajhwok)

est. It would also help boost cooperation in the neighbour-hood, he hoped.“We want our neighbours not to worry about the creation

ability for those who com-mitted human rights abuses, and targeted violence and en-demic societal discrimination against women and girls.The report also covered vio-lence, including indiscrimi-nate attacks on civilians by

on Thursday approved the recommendations put forth by a reforms committee to bring the Federally Adminis-tered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the mainstream.The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are lo-cated along Pakistan’s north-western Hamalaya zone

KABUL - The Taliban is us-ing residential areas as cover in their ongoing battle with the Afghan security forces, Army officials in northern Baghlan province have said.Several days of fighting be-tween the Afghan security forces and the Taliban have damaged many houses.The Army officials said the security forces have dealt a major blow to the resur-gent group over the past days since intense fighting started.Reports from the front indicate that fierce fight-ing is currently underway between the two sides in Baghlan-e-Markazi district.Security forces are still try-ing to break the siege on two check posts held by the Taliban.“The military operation is underway, we managed to breach the front line of the enemy and clear Joye Kohna village from insurgents. One enemy fighter was killed and six others wounded during the battle and anoth-er suspect was arrested. We

KABUL - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Sunday announced officially launching Afghan Children Read (ACR), a five-year pro-ject in early grade reading (EGR).A USAID press release is-sued here said the agency was investing $70 million in the ACR project for primary grades in close coordination with the Afghan Ministry of

of water dams and networks in Afghanistan, instead they should support such because the water could be better used in this way,” the president ar-

armed insurgent groups, armed insurgent groups’ kill-ings of persons affiliated with the government;The State Department said widespread disregard for the rule of law and official impu-nity ...(More on P4)...(4)

and south-western Sulaiman Mountains and runs as a nar-row tract along the river Indus with the parallel lines almost north to south. It consists of seven semi-autonomous agencies or ad-ministrative units – Khyber, Mohmand, Bajaur, Kurram, Orakzai, ...(More on P4)...(6)

also confiscated one mortar,” said Latif Khan, commander of the second army regiment at 209 Shaheen Army Corps.A wounded Taliban fighter was arrested during the bat-tles.According to the reports, the Afghan army’s choppers are supporting ground forces in their campaign against the Taliban.However, the Taliban does not seem to be evacuating the area and the Afghan se-curity forces are continuing to secure their grip on the volatile region and push the insurgents out.“You can see that our attacks from air and ground are go-ing on. A massive toll has been inflicted on the enemy and their commander was also eliminated. Our sol-diers’ morale is very high,” said Shuaor Gul, an Afghan National Army (ANA) in Baghlan.Army officials in Baghlan have said that the opera-tion will continue untill the insurgents have been elimi-nated. (Tolonews)

Education (MoE).The state-ment said despite the gains in Afghanistan education, ac-cess to quality education re-mained a challenge.To help reverse the situation, USAID was investing $70 million in the ACR project to help improve early grade reading skills for primary level students, boys and girls, in grades 1-3 in formal and community based education (CBE) schools.The ACR pro-

ject will enable the MoE to utilize best practices of EGR stand-ards towards improving primary level student’s literacy and learning skills at large. ...(More on P4)...(3)

gued.Afghanistan could be developed into an average economy and steered out of poverty if its major natural ...(More on P4)...(1)