About 10 million Afghans have access to Internet this year

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) says the internet users have been increased in the country and that during this year as many as 9.7 percents of citizens have access to the internet.

Minister of CIT, Shahzad Gul Aryoubi on Saturday said that they seek to reduce the price of internet and that increase the number of its users in the country.

“Last year, seven million people had access to interest, and this year the number increased to 9.7 million,” he said.

Though, high price and low-quality services have been the main challenges for internet users in Afghanistan.

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Survey shows over 80 percent of Afghans have ‘No sympathy’ for Taliban

Afghans continue to lose sympathy for the armed opposition groups, 82 percent indicating that they have “no sympathy” for the Taliban, according to a new survey released by The Asia Foundation on Tuesday.

The foundation’s survey – which is based on face-to-face interviews with 15,012 people from all major and most minor ethnic groups in 34 provinces – shows that 79 percent of Afghans in northwest identify the Taliban as the biggest threat to local security while in east 57 percent see Daesh/ISIS as the biggest threat to local security.

The survey which was conducted in July 2018, indicates the optimism about country’s direction has remained unchanged (33%) despite the nation’s challenges to maintain security against the Taliban insurgency and the growing presence of ISIS/Daesh while 61 percent more said the country is moving towards the wrong direction.

According to the survey, insecurity is the most frequently cited reason for pessimism, followed by unemployment, bad economy and high prices.

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Maternal mortality decreases compared to last year in Afghanistan

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) says the maternal death rates has reduced compared to the previous year in Afghanistan.

According to the statistics of MoPH, nearly 1600 mothers has died during the childbirth in past year in the country.

In reality, however, Afghan women dying in pregnancy or childbirth may be more than twice as high as numbers provided by donors would suggest.

“Based on the current statistics, around 94 thousand children were born in the 1396 solar year,” Abdul Wahid Majroh, spokesman of MoPH said.

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More than 5 million paper ID cards distributed in recent seven months

The population registration department of Afghanistan says more than five million paper ID cards were distributed in the past seven months.

“At least 42 cases of violation to the Attorney General were reported during the distribution of paper ID cards,” Hamayoun Mohtat, the chairman of population registration department said.

Addressing a press conference, Mohtat noted that the violations were identified through the delegation that were sent to the provinces and a number of individuals were introduced to the judicial institutions after reviewing the cases.

In the meantime, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) chairman Abdul Badi Sayyad declared that the information center Bank will separate the fake and ghost ID cards from the real cards.

“The registration was carried out in 33 provinces without Ghazni, it was cleaned up and we have created a duplicate to separate the valid votes from the invalid ones,” Sayad asserted.

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More than 250 Afghan troops, 100 civilians killed during last week in Afghanistan

The last week massacre has resulted more than 250 Afghan troops and 100 civilians killed in all across Afghanistan, according to officials.

The Taliban group attacked Ghazni city during the last week, collapsed the military base of Allawoddin in Baghlan, Chinese base in Faryab and shot dead all of its surrounded soldiers.

Another deadly attack on an academic center in Kabul on Wednesday was also shocking for the Afghan people.

At least 65 people were killed and more than 70 wounded in the IS group attack on an education center in Kabul.

145 Afghan troops and 60 civilians were killed in Ghazni raids which at the same time more than 200 troops and civilians were wounded in the same incident.

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Afghanistan ranked second-worst country in world for protecting minority investors

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in a new report that Afghanistan ranked second-worst country in the world for protecting minority investors.

“Insecurity, corruption and lack of infrastructure are the main challenges. The government does not have a specific mechanism to protect the minority investors,” Khan Jan Alkozay, deputy of Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said.

The report said that Afghanistan’s ranking for starting a business declined significantly over past year – from 42nd last year to 107th in 2018.

“We have declined the licence cost from 30000 AFN to 100 AFN. We are witnessing a better position compared to the past two years,” Musafer Quqandi, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce asserted.

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Watchdog warns of possible delay in upcoming elections

An election watchdog on Tuesday warned of possible delay in the upcoming parliamentary and district council elections.

Habibullah Shinwari, a member of the Election Watch Organization of Afghanistan said that the election will not be held at the scheduled time (October this year).

According to the watchdog, lack of proper working mechanism in the election commission (IEC) has caused the eligible Afghan refugees in neighboring countries and citizens who are employed in abroad as well as prisoners to be deprived of voting in the election.

“Due to lack of a proper mechanism of the commission, these groups possible get deprived of voting,” Shinwari said.

The organization, meanwhile, said that due to the negligence of the security force and IEC, 700 voter registration centers have been closed in 38 districts.

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MoPH: Over 200,000 Afghans Die Due to Diseases, Terror and Traffic Incidents Annually

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) recent report indicates that more than 200,000 Afghans are losing their lives due to various diseases, terrorist attacks and traffic incidents in the country.

According to MoPH, chronic and infectious diseases claim lives of 130,000 Afghans, followed by terror and traffic incidents that cause death to 70,000 Afghans each year.

Heart illness, high blood pressure, tuberculosis, diabetes and pregnancy diseases have been recorded as the most threatening diseases in the country that people mostly lack better healthcare services and suffer from environmental and security issues.

Attaullah Sayedzai, the general head of health information at MoPH said that people die mostly in rural areas, where it face conflict and many healthcare issues compared to the cities where the hospitals have well educated personnel and access to healthcare services.

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IEC: First phase of voter registration extended by one month

The Independent Elections Commission (IEC) has extended the first phase of voter registration by one month, the commission announced Thursday.

The first phase involving provincial capitals began on April 14 and is scheduled to end on May 13.

“The voter registration has been extended to make way for the people to use their this legal right and register so they could be able to vote in upcoming elections,” said Abdul Badi Sayad, chairman of the IEC.

According IEC, so far more than 1.5 million voters registered for the parliamentary and district elections which is due to be held on October 20. In between more than 413,000 are female voters, 35,000 Kochi voters and 147 Sikh voters.

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UNAMA registers 23 incidents against voter registration process

A new report released by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Thursday details a “disturbing pattern” of attacks at election-related facilities following the commencement of voter registration for the October 2018 polls.

UNAMA verified 23 election-related security incidents since voter registration began on 14 April. These incidents have resulted in 271 civilians being killed and injured, with the vast majority of civilian casualties occurring on 22 April from a suicide attack among a crowd gathered outside a national identity card distribution center in Kabul, resulting in 198 civilian casualties, the organization said in a statement on Thursday.
“I am outraged by these attacks deliberately targeting civilians seeking to exercise their constitutional right to vote,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan. “These attacks at election facilities are nothing less than an assault on democracy.”

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