Ten suspected Taleban arrested in Farah
(Cheragh) Afghan forces have arrested 10 suspected Taleban fighters in the western province of Farah, the district chief of Purchaman said. He added that none of those detained was considered a senior figure. He noted that Taleban militants occasionally fire rockets at the city. Clashes between the Taleban and government troops have left 15 dead in the area recently, while a Taleban commander, Mullah Qasim, was killed in Purchaman a few days ago.
(Cheragh is an independent daily run by the Development and Democracy Association.)

Foreign ministry rejects Russian claim
(The Kabul Times) Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has voiced "deep regret" at recent remarks by Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who claimed that Central Asian republics were being targeted by people trained at terrorist camps inside Afghanistan. The Afghan ministry vigorously denied as a "baseless accusation" the assertion that such camps exist. The ministry statement said Afghanistan is itself a victim of terrorism and is at the forefront of the war on terror, and it is committed to combating this international problem.
(The Kabul Times is a state-run newspaper published every second day.)

US to build barracks for Afghan soldiers
(Outlook) The US army will build facilities and barracks to house newly trained Afghan soldiers, a US military spokesman said on June 27. "The Afghanistan Engineering District of the US Army Corps of Engineers has built, or is currently building, facilities at 11 installations to house 35,000 Afghan National Army soldiers in different provinces," Colonel James Yonts told journalists at a press conference. There are sites in Kabul, Kandahar, Khost, Gardez, Mazar-e-Sharif and Qalat, he said, noting that the 814 million US dollar project would result in 421 barracks plus other buildings being built.
(Outlook is an independent daily published in English.)

Flood destroy houses and lands in Kunduz
(Anis) Floods have washed away 50 houses and destroyed thousands of acres of land in Kunduz province. Qala-i-Zal, Ali Abad and Chardara districts are the areas most affected, with whole melon fields had been swept away by the floods, said Mohammad Ibrahim Turkman, agriculture director in the province. Scores of houses in Ali Abad and Qala-i-Zal districts have been destroyed and people are living out in the open or with relatives. Thousands of acres under crops have been destroyed in Chardara and parts of the Qala-i-Zal and Ali Abad districts. The people affected by the flooding have asked the government to dispatch emergency aid to the area. Officials in Kunduz say only a very small amount of aid has arrived so far.
(Anis is a state-run daily published mostly in Dari.)

Teenager lashed to death in Faryab
(Arman-e-Milli) A 17-year-old boy died in a detention centre in Faryab on June 24. More than 200 people attended a protest in Maimana to condemn the death of the boy, named as Mohammad Sadiq. He had been arrested in Maimana - the provincial capital of the northwestern province of Faryab - and was later lashed to death. The demonstrators lodged a complaint with the government and asked that those responsible be punished. The protesters said that the people now serving as policemen are actually yesterday's gunmen who served the warlords. They joined the police force and wear uniforms, but they are as unruly as they were under private commanders.
(Arman-e-Milli is an independent daily.)