AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: The Russian President’s envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov has said that the Islamic State (IS) also known as Daesh, is expanding its military activity in Afghanistan with an estimated number of 10,000 fighters. “The IS activity has grown significantly in Afghanistan since summer 2014. The group numerical …

AT-KABUL: Amid growing concerns about critical status of Afghan asylum seekers and their forcible deportation from European countries, the Lower House of the parliament announced Saturday that it would interpellate foreign minister Salahuddin Rabbani. Lawmakers in their plenary session summoned Sayed Hussain Alemi Balkhi, minister of refugees and repatriation and …

AT-KABUL: The court of Criminal Justice Task Force on Saturday said that 41 drug runners had been arrested through different operations launched by the counter-narcotics police last month. The Task Force said in a statement that the traffickers were arrested in Kabul, Farah, Paktia, Nangarhar, Takhar, Samangan, Khost, Badakhshan, Baghlan, …

AT-KABUL: The culture ministry has started an awareness campaign to prevent the youth from escaping abroad, an official in the ministry said Saturday. “The awareness campaign would be run nationwide through schools, universities, mosques and civil societies to open youth’s minds about threats facing through illegal travelling to abroad,” said …

India most, Pakistan least favorable countries KABUL: A BBG-Gallup survey has found that two-thirds of Afghans say things in their life are worse now than 12 months ago and almost half say they expect things to be even worse a year from now. The survey sought the opinions of Afghan …

In its recent dispatch, the Human Rights Watch expressed concerns over the use of schools as shelters by the security forces and militants. Researcher of the watchdog, Ahmad Shuja, claimed that last year Afghan security forces used schools as shelters 15 times and the Taliban five times. The HRW’s report …

LUDHIANA: A 22 member delegation of senior policy makers from Afghanistan, led by Hamid Halmandi, advisor to the president of Afghanistan and accompanied by Mehboobullah Nag, Director Seed Certification, Government of Afghanistan visited Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) for deliberations on water shed management and seed certification. Also present on the …

AT-KABUL: At least 15 Taliban fighters, suspected of planning and carrying out suicide attacks, have been detained by Afghan security forces in southern Kandahar province, an official source said on Saturday. The 15 fighters included would-be suicide bombers, attack planners and bomb-makers who were working in three separate groups in …

Senior Pakhtun nationalist leaders have called for joint efforts to ensure peace and prosperity in the region during the new solar year. The call came at a well-attended function at the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar on Friday, marking the traditional Jashan-i-Nawroz– the new solar year. Awami National Party (ANP) leader …

AT Monitoring Desk-KANDAHAR CITY: Top security official of the southern Kandahar province blames neighboring Pakistan for supporting Taliban insurgents. The provincial police chief, Gen. Abdul Raziq said Friday that Pakistan was previously providing only money and explosives to the insurgents, “but now, they also give heavy weapons to the Afghan …