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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President Ghani meets Iranian counterpart in China

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani met with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the SCO summit in China, discussed expansion of bilateral ties.

Presidential Palace in a statement said that the meeting of the two leaders took place in Chinese port city of Qingdao on Saturday.

In the meeting, the two leaders emphasized expansion of bilateral political and economic relations as well as joint efforts against international terrorism and drug trafficking.

“The presidents of both countries assessed the economic and trade relations as positive and stressed on the continuation of economic cooperation,” the statement said. 

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В Афганистане 10 заключенных сбежали из тюрьмы

Из тюрьмы в провинции Майдан Вардак (Афганистан) сбежали 10 заключенных, 8 из них отбывали свой срок за контрабанду наркотиков, а двое – террористы радикального движения «Талибан», запрещенного в РФ. Об этом информирует «Интерфакс» со ссылкой на сообщение телеканала 1TV.

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Chief of defense conference held in Kabul

The Chief of Defense (CHOD) conference held on Monday in Kabul, aiming to discuss and bargain on counter-terrorism and narcotics in the region.

The army chiefs of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan attended the summit and talked over several regional issues, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said.

“Our demand from other partners in the conference was to take a joint position against Pakistan that supports terrorism and jointly press Islamabad to stop supporting and sponsoring terrorism,” said Dawalat Waziri, spokesman of MoD.

The Afghan government is said to believe that extremism and supporting terrorism become a part of Islamabad’s foreign policy that cannot be changed.

“It would be impossible to have an honest partner in fight against terrorism as long as Pakistan uses this policy,” Tamana Farmarz, head of the foreign ministry’s strategic studies said.

Afghan politicians have always expected Pakistan to change its strategy in fight against terrorism.

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Afghan, Pakistani delegations agree to hold next meeting in Islamabad

A delegation of senior Pakistani officials on Saturday visited Kabul and discussed on range of bilateral issues with Afghan counterparts.

The Pakistani delegation comprising senior civilian and military officials led by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua visited Kabul as part of Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity.

The delegation has offered a joint investigation into the recent terrorist attacks in Kabul.

A spokesman for the ministry of foreign affairs of Afghanistan, Shekib Mustaghni said that the Pakistani delegation has launched probing the documents given by the Afghan delegation on their trip to Islamabad.

“They [Pakistani delegation] pledged to jointly probe the recent attacks with Afghanistan,” Mustaghni said.

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China ‘Creating’ Consensus In Region To Fight Terrorism

Yao Jing, the Chinese Ambassador to Kabul, on Wednesday paid a visit to Eshkashem district in north-eastern Badakhshan province and said insurgent activity in the north of Afghanistan is a threat to the region.

Yao said that Beijing is currently working with Kabul and other countries in the fight against insurgency “to prevent their influence in China.”

“We are concerned that the insurgents or the terrorist movements in this region is a threat not only to China but I believe to Afghanistan itself, to Tajikistan and to all neighbors,” he said.

He visited the district to review the security situation and also to increase assistance to Afghanistan in its fight against insurgents.

“In fact we are working with your government, with the regional countries. First we are working for anti-terrorism, second we are increasing our capacitybuilding and certainly we have more regional consensus and coordination as far as anti-terrorism is concerned,” he said.

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Afghanistan-Tajikistan Wrap Up Economic Cooperation Meeting

The minister of economy Abdul Sattar Murad has said that Tajikistan is willing to expand investments in Afghanistan’s power projects and railway links.

“Afghanistan and Tajikistan are two important and allied countries in the region, therefore we are trying to expand joint investments between Afghanistan and Tajikistan in various fields such as railways and road projects and water dams,” said Murad.

Meanwhile, Tajikistan’s minister of economy has stressed the need for the expansion of commercial routes between the nations.

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Russia Ready to Help Afghanistan in Peace, Security

In a meeting with his Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani on Tuesday, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said his country is willing to cooperate with Afghanistan on a wide range of issues including economic cooperation and to boost Afghanistan’s fragile security climate.

“Russia and Afghanistan are old-time and close partners, and are interested in cooperation in security, humanitarian and economic areas,” Lavrov said.

“We support efforts of Afghanistan’s leadership in stabilizing the situation in the country and in the war on terror,” Russia’s TASS news agency quoted Lavrov on Tuesday as saying.

He said that Moscow is satisfied by the “level of political dialogue” with Afghanistan and cooperation in the United Nations, Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister also expressed condolences to the victims of avalanches in Afghanistan over the weakened.

Rabbani thanked Lavrov for offering condolences, noting that Afghanistan’s authorities are making every effort to reduce the aftermath of the disaster.

“This trip is important, we call for developing our relations. We have many topics for discussion, in particular, the fight against terrorism,” Rabbani said.

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Iran’s Chabahar Port Of Vital Importance For Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Mahmoud Balighi said Iran’s Chabahar port was of critical importance for his country.

Speaking to IRNA on Sunday, he said: “The port which is situated in southeastern Iran is of very vital significance for Afghanistan and regional trade.”

He also said the planned five-party railway link is also important for Afghanistan as it passes through Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and China and then travels to Turkey thus connecting all these countries to Europe.

He said the railway which will run for 1,100 km inside Afghanistan will further facilitate access of Afghan businessmen to Chabahar port.

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(Russian) Ахмад Мустахни: правительство должно сесть за стол переговоров с Талибан

KABUL: Spokesman for the ministry of foreign affairs, Ahmad Shekib Mustaghni said the other day that the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) meeting held in Islamabad required a need for a political dialogue could end violence and restore lasting peace in the country.

He said the meeting would do its best to invite the Taliban to directly join the process, and the peace talks was resolved to continue meeting till the end of February this year, a statement quoted him as addressing a news conference here in Kabul.

According to him, the next meeting was expected to be held in Kabul on February 23, 2016, with efforts to help the whole Talban group join peace process, a statement from his office said quoting him in the conference.

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