Takhar residents surrender arms
(Arman-e-Milli) Nearly 60 residents of the Rustaq district of Takhar province surrendered 70 weapons to the government on August 3. They included rockets, machine-guns, AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition, some of which the residents kept for security. Mohammad Faqir, 28, said that he had voluntarily handed over a Kalashnikov and a box of ammunition. The voluntary surrender comes after two former commanders in the area, Piram Qul and Bashir Chahabi, gave up their weapons in order to run as candidates in the parliamentary elections.
(Arman-e-Milli is an independent daily run by a group of journalists.)

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Zabul drugs seized
(Anis) Security officials in central Zabul province seized 745 kilograms of opium and six kilograms of heroin from two cars on August 3. Two suspected traffickers have also been detained.
(Anis is state-run daily published mostly in Dari.)

Police chiefs told to sack bodyguards
(Outlook) Gul Agha Sherzai, the governor of Nangarhar province, has ordered district police chiefs and security bosses in the eastern province to fire their personal bodyguards immediately. Addressing a gathering in Jalalabad on August 3, the governor warned the security officials against overstepping their authority or going beyond the call of duty. Complaining of low wages, Nazar Mohammad Nazari, police chief of Kot district, said: "I am paid what ordinary policemen are getting in terms of salaries".
(Outlook is an independent daily published in English.)

Election worker killed in Helmand
(Erada) An election worker has been shot dead in Helmand province. A senior Helmand official, Haji Ghulam Mohiyuddin, said Qayoum Khan, who worked for the Joint Electoral Management Body, JEMB, was shot by four gunmen on August 2 while returning home from his office. The attackers have been arrested.
(Erada is an independent daily run by the Afghan Media and Resource Center.)

Panjshir weapons transfer continues
(The Kabul Times) The United Nations has resumed the moving of heavy arms from central Panjshir province to the capital Kabul. Ahmad Jan Nawzadi, spokesman for the UN-backed Afghanistan New Beginning Program, ANBP, said the transfer was suspended in the winter due to inclement weather. "A total of 32 mortar shells and tanks will be shifted to the central capital," he said. Meanwhile, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan , UNAMA, said it had collected 8,000 pieces of weaponry, half of them from candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections, during the second phase of the disarmament campaign that was initiated on July 11.
(The Kabul Times is a state-run paper published in English every other day.)

Khalili meets with Kapisa elders
(Islah) Mohammad Karim Khalili, the second vice-president, met with elders in Kapisa province on August 3 to discuss problems in the area including the damage to agricultural lands and roads caused by flooding last spring. He assured the elders that he would investigate their concerns and make a report to the central government.
(Islah is a state run daily mostly in Dari.)

$31 million need to stage elections
(Hewad) The United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan, UNAMA, announced it will cost 31 million US dollars to hold parliamentary elections. A senior UN official said at a press conference in Kabul that UNAMA will need to hire 140,000 people to train voters and set up thousands of polling stations.
(Hewad is a state daily mostly in Pashto.)