page3 - Afghanistan Times

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MONDAY DECEMBER 29, 2014
AFGHANISTAN TIMES
2 killed, 5
injured in
Wardak rocket
attack
AT News Report
KABUL: At least two persons
were killed and five others wounded when rockets hit a volleyball
ground in Maidan Wardak province, said official sources.
Spokesman to the provincial
governor, Attaullah Khogyani,
said the incident took place in
Amarkhil area of Narkh district on
late Saturday, when the rockets
fired from unknown location hit a
volleyball ground.
He said that as a result two
spectators were killed and five others wounded. The injured were
rushed to the nearby hospital.
Condition of one of the injured
persons was reported critical .
Scores of people were gathered to
watch the friendly match between
two teams.
The provincial government
condemned the attack and termed
it an act of anti-state elements.
Security forces all set to
maintain security: MoD
AT Monitoring Desk
KABUL: As the NATO-led combat mission formally ends in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Sunday that security forces
were capable to maintain law-and-order in the country and ensure citizens safety. According to MoD officials, proper and concert security
plans were o hand to be adopted in 2015 for defending militants and
foiling their evil designs. Radio Azadi quoted the head of MoD operation, Gen. Afzal Aman, as saying that Afghan forces proved that they
were capable enough to shoulder security responsibility independently
in past years. According to Radio Azadi, he hoped that considering this
capability and capacity the Afghan forces would be able to subdue
militants in the upcoming year. The national army is committed to
adopt proper plans in defending the country independently. This hope
will come true with the support of the people of Afghanistan. They will
change the dream of militants and terrorists to hopelessness in the 2015,
he said. The US and NATO combat mission formally ended in the
country and the new NATO mission would kicked off titled the Resolute Support that include training and advising Afghan security forces.
The MoD has assured that the Afghan forces would shoulder the responsibility very well. The remarks come as a number of senators said
that the international community should remain committed to its commitments for supporting security force in Afghanistan. People of Afghanistan want the international community to continue its support in
coming years based on the security deal signed with Kabul. Afghan
security forces will shoulder security responsibility better if the international community continues its cooperation in training, equipping
and financially supporting security troops, Senator Ali Akbar Jamshidi
told senators on Sunday session. The Afghan security forces will take
security responsibility independently within three days. A number of
analysts say that it would be difficult to gain success in defending
militants if Afghan security forces were not equipped and no attention
was paid to the improving air forces.
Female suicide
bomber arrested
in Helmand
AT News Report
KABUL: Police in southern Helmand province on Sunday said it
had arrested a would-be female
suicide bomber.
Spokesman for Helmand police, Farid Ahmad Obaid, confirmed
the arrest of the 20-year old girl,
who wanted to launch a suicide
attack on a police checkpoint in
Nawzad district of the province.
Before carrying out attack, police identified the girl and arrested
her, he said.
Obaid added that police were
currently interrogating the girl.
According to another report,
Kandahar police thwarted terror
bids by recovering two explosivesladen rickshaws and a motorcycle.
A media statement from media center of Kandahar governor
office said five insurgents were
apprehended in connection with
the explosives.
The militants wanted to use
the explosives in launching terror
attacks in different parts of Kandahar province.
Japan donates medical equipment to
Indira Gandhi Children s Hospital
By Akhtar M. Nikzad
KABUL: The Japanese government on Sunday donated a wide
range of medical equipment including digital X-ray to the Indira Gandhi Children s Hospital aimed at
to boost health services further.
Meanwhile, a burn unit in the
hospital was also inaugurated. The
new unit has been reconstructed
by the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) in Afghanistan.
Installation of the medical
equipment cost around $120,000,
provided by Japan. The SDC paid
$28,000 for reconstruction of the
burn unit.
Acting Minister of Public
Health, Ahmad Jan Naim, on the
occasion said the burn unit of the
hospital was rehabilitated to accommodate more patients and use
the unit for trainings to build capacity of the doctors.
Chief of the hospital, Dr.
Noorul Haq Yusufzai, said that lack
of modern equipment was a major
issue as 40 percent of the patients
tests were referred to other places. But installation of the digital
X-ray, laboratories and other medical equipments enabled the doctors to provide all required services to patients.
22 insurgents
killed in
operations
AT News Report
KABUL: At least 22 armed Taliban were killed and seven others wounded in different crackdowns within past 48 hours.
In a press release issued here,
Ministry of Interior (MoI) said
that Afghan National Police
(ANP) in collaboration with Afghan National Army (ANA) and
National Directorate of Security
(NDS) conducted clearance operations against insurgents in different areas of Kundunz, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Ghazni, Khost
and Kapisa provinces. In these
operations 22 rebels killed and
seven others injured.
Three other insurgent were
also arrested and handed over to
concerned authorities for further
inquiry.
The ANP also discovered
huge cache of weapons and explosives in the operations.
He said the burn unit has limited space for the patients while
around 700 patients with burn injuries were referred to the hospital
last year.
Yusufzai said the figures show
that number of burn cases is on
the rise in the country.
The Japanese ambassador in
Kabul, Hiroshi Takashi, in his mes-
As per estimates worth $5.4
billion uplift schemes have been
launched by Japan since to 2001.
Indira Gandhi Children s Hospital has capacity of 250 beds. It
was constructed by the Indian
government in 1966.
The hospital provided different health services to children and
trainings for doctors.
AT News Report
HERAT: After growing complaints about sharp increase in kidnapping
cases and serial killing incidents in western Herat province, President
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in his recent trip to the province sacked
nearly 30 civil and military officials in the province and referred a number of them to judiciaries.
President Ghani traveled to Herat earlier on Saturday to assess
security challenges and other related issues to governance in the province. He met with local officials, elders, provincial council and civil
society members. Officials fired by the president included the Attorney
General, heads of custom, education, electricity, fuel, and 15 district
police chiefs following complaints by locals about their inefficiency.
Ghani told reporters the other night that locals had serious reservations about the officials who have made on the go. He said the officials
would be punished if they found guilty by the court otherwise they
would be released. The president was accompanied by a number of
acting ministers and members of the National Security Council. His trip
comes three days after he dismissed governor Sayid Fazlullah Wahidi.
The president also said that new officials would be appointed after
certain interviews and exams. All officials inducing mayor will be evaluated in every three months, he pledged. He said the government is
planning to transform Herat into international trade and transit center.
Civil society activists in Herat staged protests against rising insecurity in the province during past week and urged the government to
address the issue as soon as possible.
NATO should fulfill
continued aid pledge: MPs
KABUL: Welcoming the end to
NATO s 13-year combat mission
in Afghanistan, senators on Sunday urged the western military alliance to fulfill its promises of continued assistance to Afghan forces.
The NATO formally ended its
longest combat mission in Afghanistan on Sunday when top officials
of the US-led coalition pledged to
remain long-term partners in Afghanistan s war against the Taliban and international terrorism.
Several hundred Afghan and
foreign officials gathered to witness the formal shift to a new, much
smaller NATO assistance and
training mission, inside NATO
headquarters in Kabul.
Our commitment to Afghanistan endures. .?.?. We are not walking away, promised Gen. John F.
Campbell, the US commander of
the outgoing International Security Assistance Forces mission, who
will remain in command of the new
NATO support role that technically begins at midnight Wednesday.
Meshrano Jirga chairman Fazl
Hadi Muslimyar told the upper
house: It is a proud moment for
us that our security and economic
sectors now themselves serve their
own people.
Senator Nisar Ahmad Haris
said he was happy to see foreign
flags lowering in Afghanistan and
that of Afghanistan s flags hoisting nationwide.
He said NATO in line with its
promise should leave behind its
military gear in Afghanistan instead of other countries so that
they could use the equipment for
the country s defence.
Afghanistan is no Iraq. If a
war begins here and Afghan forces
are not properly equipped, it will
be hard to control the war.
Senator Ali Akbar Jamshidi
from central Daikundi province
said NATO should support Afghan forces in terms of equipment
and funding under agreements between Afghanistan and the alliance.
The people of Afghanistan are
thankful to NATO-led forces that
they come here and fought terrorism and rendered sacrifices. It is a
separate subject whether or not the
people of Afghanistan and NATO
reach their goals.
Jamshidi said if NATO countries provided Afghan forces with
essential military gear and other
assistance, they would be able to
effectively fight against the armed
opposition.
But MP Khaliqdad Balaghi
said NATO should acknowledge
its defeat in the Afghanistan war
because they were leaving Afghanistan halfway.
He said the NATO combat
mission ended at a time when Afghan forces lacked equipment to
defend the country alone.
However, he said Afghan forces should assure the people they
could strongly defend the country
in the absence of foreign forces.
(Pajhwok)
Some Nangarhar Civil Hospital wards blamed for inefficiency
JALALABAD: Tens of people
observed protest against what
they complained about the inefficiency of a number of wards in the
Nangarhar Civil Hospital in this
eastern province.
Prior to their protest, tens of
people came forward to launch a
cleanliness drive in the hospital.
They complained that some health
officials were unwilling to discharge their duties at the hospital
and provide the patients with best
medical care.
Gul Saeed, a demonstrator,
told Pajhwok Afghan News that
tens of people visited hospital on
Saturday to launch cleanliness campaign in the hospital and donate
blood to the needy patients.
He alleged that head of the
blood bank at the hospital told
them that the blood donation drive
had been completed and he was
unable to collect their blood.
Ali Khan who brought his patient from Kapisa said the blood
bank refused to give his patient
blood for his second surgery. He
said that he did not know anyone
in Jalalabad and doctors were demanding blood before surgery.
Senate seeks control
over fuel prices
AT News Report
KABUL: Following sharp decrease in international fuel prices,
a number of senators on Sunday
criticized prices hike in the country and urged the government to
control the prices and drop it in
line with international market
trends.
Oil prices have drastically
tumbled in world markets but the
prices are still high in national markets which need serious attention
by the government, said Hidayatullah Rihaee, a senator from Bamiyan province.
He also said that no change has
been made in fares of transport
vehicles and airlines.
Another senator, Bismillah
Afghanmal, said that fuel products
are sold for high prices in the country while the prices have fallen in
the international market. Seeking
government s control over prices,
he said oil prices have fallen down
in the world, but despite its low
quality, it is sold for a high price in
the country.
However, senator Mohammaduddin Hamdard who chairs the
sage said the equipment had been
provided by the Japan s Grant
Assistance for Grassroots Projects
for vulnerable people.
He said that Tokyo has initiated several development projects
in Afghanistan in different fields,
especially in security, health, capacity building and agriculture sectors.
Biggest official clean-up: Ghani
sacks tens of officials in Herat
Though they are doctors by
profession but they have hard
hearts like stones, Khan remarked.
Muhammad Laiq Ghamsharik,
head of Afghanistan United Front
in eastern zone, said that tens of
volunteers of his group approached
the blood bank to donate their
blood but the officials on duty flatly refused to collect their blood.
He said there were a number of
patients on beds in hospital who
direly needed blood.
Dr. Humayun Zaheer, head of
local hospital in Nangarhar, said
that the blood bank department had
the capacity to keep 500 packets
of blood in reserve. He said the
officials at the blood bank department were bound to discharge their
duties from 8: 00 am till 2:30 pm
and then one official was tasked to
discharge his duty till late night
who could not collect blood from
tens of people.
He suggested those who were
willing to donate blood should contact the officials concerned in advance so that measures should be
taken to collect their blood on time.
(Pajhwok)
EMERGENCY
CALLS
Police
100 - 119
Hospitals
FMIC Hospital
Behind Kabul Medical
University:
0202500200-+93793275595
Rabia-i-Balkhi Hospital
Pule Bagh-e- Umomi
070263672
Khairkhana Hospital
0799-321007
2401352
Indira Gandhi Children
Hospital, Wazir Akbar
Khan, Kabul 2301372
Ibn-e- Seena
Pul-e-Artan, Kabul
2100359
Wazir Akbar Khan
Hospital
2301741, 2301743
Ali Abad
Shahrara, Kabul
2100439
Malalai Maternity
Hospital
2201377/ 2301743
Banks
Da Afghanistan Bank
2100302, 2100303
Kabul Bank
222666, 070285285
Azizi Bank
0799 700900
Pashtany Bank
2102908, 2103868
Air Services
Safi Airways
020 22 22 222
Ariana
020-2100270
Kam Air
0799974422
Hotels
Safi Landmark
020-2203131
SERENA
0799654000
New Rumi Restaurant
0776351347
Internet Services
senate economic committee said
fuel prices cannot be decreased in
the country as some mafia groups
are involved in hoarding crude oil
and this results in rising prices of
these products.
He requested the government
to support and enable state-owned
firms aimed at maintaining continued fuel supply to national markets and preventing prices hike.
The senate chairman, Fazl
Hadi Muslimyar, said complaints
have increased over the rising prices
of oil products because the prices
have stumbled in world markets,
but they stil remain high in Afghanistan. He directed the economic
committee to discuss the issue with
the Ministry of Commerce and
Industries and other related organizations and report back its activities to the senate. It comes as a
liter of petrol is sold for Afs56 and
a liter of diesel for Afs53 while it
was sold for Afs62 and Afs60 respectively about one month from
now. Per barrel crude was priced
on Sunday at $58 in Europe and
Asia and $54 per barrel in the US.
UA Telecom
0796701701 / 0796702702
Exchange Rate
Purchase:
One US$ =
58.01Afs
One Pound Sterling=
89.52Afs
One Euro =
71.43Afs
1000 Pak Rs =
570Afs
Sale:
One US$ =
58.21Afs
One Pound Sterling=
90.32Afs
One Euro=
72.03 Afs
1000 Pak Rs= 578Afs
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