(The Kabul Times) Afghan officials have said that several candidates for the September 18 elections will be disqualified because they are still commanding militia groups. More than 20 alleged commanders standing for election are being considered for expulsion, although far fewer are likely to be actually excluded. The move by the Election Complaints Commission has come as a surprise, because the commission had cleared 5,800 candidates and printed the ballot papers with their names on them several weeks ago. The latest decision was greeted with dismay in many quarters and even the United Nations acknowledged widespread disappointment and disillusionment with the evaluation process.
(The Kabul Times is a state-run paper published in English every other day.)
Farah voters want warlords and drug traffickers off the ballot
(Cheragh) The people of Farah province in western Afghanistan are demanding that drug traffickers and armed men who are parliamentary candidates be disqualified. Abdul Wali Hamidi, director of the Joint Electoral Management Body, JEMB, office in Farah province said the complaints commission was reviewing the people's demands. He also said that his office was faced problems with staff shortages, the transfer of ballot boxes, and the travel that the sheer size of the province entailed.
(Cheragh is an independent daily run by the Development and Democracy Association.)
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Eight Taleban fighters killed in Uruzgan
(Arman-e-Milli) Eight Taleban were killed and several others arrested in joint operations by the Afghan National Army and US-led Coalition forces in the Tarin Kowt district of the southern province of Uruzgan on August 31, Afghan officials said. A Taleban spokesman said that three insurgents and 19 government troops were killed during the operations, but officials dismissed these casualty figures. According to another report, security forces have arrested two Taleban fighters in the Shahr-e-Safa area of Zabul province. Ghulam Rasoul, police chief in Shahr-e-Safa, said his men arrested Mullah Ahlullah and Mullah Din Mohammad, who were heavily involved in anti-government attacks in Zabul's Chora district.
(Arman-e-Milli is an independent daily run by a group of journalists.)
Attacks on the rise ahead of vote - NATO commander
(Anis) NATO's top commander in Afghanistan, General James Jones, said the situation in Afghanistan is exactly the same as it was in the weeks before last October's presidential election. General Jones told reporters in Kabul that insurgent attacks have increased in various parts of the country. But he said the surge in violence was not due to a deepening of the Taleban insurgency, but rather to political infighting, crime and drug smuggling.
(Anis is state-run daily published mostly in Dari.)
Pakistanis arrest Afghans on fake ID charges
(Outlook) The political administration of Pakistan's Mohmand tribal agency has detained 16 Afghan refugees on charges of possessing fake identity cards. Faizullah, a senior official with Pakistan's National Database and Registration Authority, said on August 31 that large numbers of Afghan refugees were trying to get fake ID cards in a bid to stay on in Pakistan. He said 16 Afghans with forged ID cards had been arrested in Mohmand agency's Ghalanai area alone. Faizullah added that two other Afghan nationals were arrested earlier in the week while trying to obtain computer-generated Pakistani ID cards.
(Outlook is an independent daily published in English.)
Afghans migrants in Iran preyed on by kidnappers
(Erada) Afghans who enter Iran illegally risk being kidnapped and held hostage. According to Afghan refugees based in the Iranian city of Zabol, people coming into the Sistan and Baluchistan provinces are being sold to kidnappers by the people-smugglers who brought them in illegally. To be released, hostages have to pay a ransom to their captors. Their relatives do not seek help from Iranian police because they lack valid identity cards. The illegal immigration is attributed to the failure of Afghan authorities to issue passports in a timely manner.
(Erada is an independent daily run by the Afghan Media and Resource Centre.)
Earthquake rocks Kabul
(Hewad) An earthquake rocked Kabul yesterday at 5:20 pm. The tremor was quite strong, and forced many residents out of their homes. There are no reports of fatalities so far. Afghan and international officials based in Kabul have yet to announced what the quake's strength was, and where the epicentre was. Afghanistan does not yet have a meteorological office and the US government has announced it will set up five such centres across Afghanistan.
(Hewad is a state run daily mostly in Pashto.)
Thailand to help counter-narcotics effort
(Islah) The government of Thailand has announced that it will expand its assistance to the Afghan government in its counter-narcotics campaign. In a meeting with Counter-Narcotics Minister Habibullah Qaderi, the Thai ambassador said his government is ready to assist with providing alternative livelihoods for farmers.
(Islah is a state-run daily mostly in Dari.)
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| Afghan Press Monitor is published by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, an independent non-profit organisation supporting regional media and democratic change. Stories for the Afghan Press Monitor are selected and summarised by Wali Azizi in Afghanistan and edited by IWPR Afghanistan. The selections are intended to give readers a sense of what local Afghan newspapers are reporting. IWPR cannot vouch for the accuracy of the reports. The views represented by the stories are not necessarily those of IWPR. | ||||||
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