Karzai's new cabinet

President Hamid Karzai presented his nominees for cabinet posts to parliament for approval.

The Afghan President has kept some key figures in their positions as Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim submitted a list of 23 names to the parliament.

Nominees include the current ministers of defence, interior, finance, health, education, justice, agriculture, telecommunication, energy, counter narcotics and women affairs.

Since his re-election, Mr Karzai has come under intense pressure from the United States and other backers to clean up his government and improve its performance.

Mr Karzai was last month declared the winner of the presidential election after a poll process marred by fraud.

Karzai's ministerial nominees must win the approval of parliamentarians in a process that could take days to complete, with each nominee making a speech to justify their appointment.

So far the list shows that only one women have been included in his new cabinet. Ministry of Women affairs.

List of nominees for cabinet posts
1-Minister of Defence: Mohamamd Rahim Wardak
2-Minister of Interior: Mohamamd Hanif Atmar
3-Minister of Finance: Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal
4-Minister of Public Health: Mohammad Amin Fatimi
5-Minister of Information and Culture: Makhdum Rahin
6-Minister of Energy and Water: Mohammad Ismaiel Khan
7-Minister of Mines: Waheedullah Sharani
8-Minister of Education: Farooq Wadak
9-Minister of Justice: Mohammad Sarwar Danish
10-Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology: Amirzai Sangin
11-Minister of Commerce and Industries: Ghulam Mohammad Aylaqi
12-Minister of Agriculture: Mohammad Asef Rahimi
13-Minister of Women Affairs: Husn Banu Ghazanfar
14-Minister of Returnees and Refugees: Enayatullah Nazari
15-Minister of Islamic Affairs: Enayatullah Baligh
16-Minister of Border and Tribal Affairs: Sayed Hamid Gelani
17-Minister of Counter Narcotics: Gen Khudaidad
18-Minister of Higher Education: Obaidullah Obaid
19-Minister of Public Works: Engineer Mirza Hussain Abdullahi
20-Minister of Economy: Anwar ul Haq Ahadi
21-Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development: Engineer Wais Ahmad Barmak
22-Minister of Labour and Social Affairs: Mohammad Esmail Monshi
23-Minister of Transport: Dr Mohammadullah Batash

By Sadia Hasanzasa

Related links
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8422058.stm

Karzai fights with corruption

The Afghan President launched a campaign to show his government is serious about cracking down on corruption,

Opening a three-day anti-corruption conference in Kabul, Karzai said he was well aware of the scale of the problem.

"I know corruption exists in the government and elsewhere. Let's be realistic," he said. I don’t know how my ministers can go for vocation to Dubai and buy latest car model while even from the president salary you cannot buy even bicycle.

He pointed and criticized once again international organization.
Afghan and Western analysts say corruption is fuelling popular support for the Taliban insurgency.
Karzai indicated there were limits to how far he would go in tackling corruption.

The all-out crackdown urged by Western leaders could lead to abuses, he warned.
"As we fight corruption, we must be extremely careful that the fight does not become corrupt itself," Karzai said.
"Every one of our police, every one of our soldiers ... can go to someone's house, knock on the door and drag a man out of the house and terrorize him. In my opinion, this is the main form of corruption."
Karzai highlighted last week's conviction of Abdul Ahad Sayebi, Kabul’s mayor, who was sentenced to jail on corruption charges – the highest ranking official to be prosecuted recently.
Mr Sayebi is currently on liberty pending an appeal.

"One very serious caution I want to say. The mayor of Kabul has been sentenced to four years' jail. I know the mayor. He is a clean person," Karzai said.

Western pressure on Karzai is intense. Last month Brown said he was "not prepared to put the lives of British men and women in harm's way for a government that does not stand up against corruption."
In his West Point Afghan strategy speech, Obama vowed there would be no more "blank cheques" to the Afghan government.

Related links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8402235.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/afghanistan/2009/12/091215_ram_karzai_corruption.shtml

Suicide attack in capital of Afghanistan

A suicide car bomber struck central Kabul on Tuesday, killing 8 and wounding 40 others.

The mid-morning blast damaged a hotel in Kabul's Wazir Akbar Khan district, where a number of embassies and foreign offices are located. Most of the victims are civilians.

The hotel, Heetal, is owned by the son of Burhanuddin Rabbani, who served as president of Afghanistan from 1992 until 1996.

In addition to the hotel, several homes were damaged and windows shattered in other buildings in the neighborhood.

Related links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8413163.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8413579.stm

WHAT IS HUMAN RIGHTS? DO YOU HAVE ANSWER?

Article 1. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

http://www.rawa.org/ai-women.htm

US still worry about corruption in Afghanistan

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has vowed in after his re-election to prevent corruption his new cabinet.

But the United States and the United Nations fear that still corruption will continue, and the US announced they would organize anti- corruption workshops for Afghan officials.

The US embassy in Kabul expressed concern over the illegal smuggling of money from airports and borders saying annually three billion US dollars are illegally leaving the country through Kabul airport. Antoni Vineg American finance controller to Afghanistan is also concerned about corruption.

Antoni Vineg said “Daily ten million US dollars illegally transfers from Afghanistan to Dubai, an investigation shows in last 18 days more then $190m illegally transferred from Afghanistan to outside. Afghan government has to be aware where the money goes like many other countries”.

The Kabul International airport workers are agree and say that the finance ministry and private banks help the illegal transfer of money by powerful people. And nobody can stop them.

As part of the fight against corruption Kabul Mayor Abdul Ahad Sahabi was found guilty of giving a contract for a city project without competition. An Afghan court sentenced him to four years in jail and ordered him to repay more than sixteen thousand US dollars involved in the contract.
He was the first senior Afghan official to be prosecuted since President Hamid Karzai came under pressure from the United Nations to deal seriously with corruption after his re-election.

By Sadia Hasanzada

Barak Obama urged to send more troops to Afghanistan

US President Barak Obama has said on Tuesday in his speech to the nation the deployment of 30,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan.

He said that his decision will help to fight terrorism and maintain security worldwide. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said other NATO countries will provide at least 7,000 extra troops. Italian Defence Minister Ignazio La Rassa vowed to send 1,000 extra troops to Afghanistan.
But it doesn’t mean that Taliban will stop fighting they will continue with Jihad until all foreign troops leave Afghanistan said the Taliban commander who did not give his name in his exclusive interview with the BBC:

Follow this link : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8391912.stm

Mr. Hamid Karzai wants once again to talk with Taliban Leader Mullah Omar if they willing to join his cabinet. This decision comes after two days Mr. Obama Wednesdays’ speech that he begins sending the additional troops in early 2010 with a goal of starting to withdraw forces from the country in July 2011.

Withdrawing troops and To transfer security responsibility to the Afghans in early 2011 means once again giving fate of Afghanistan to the hand of Pakistan. Written in front page of 8morning afghan newspaper. Obama’s decision sharply criticized by mane newspapers in Afghanistan.

By Sadia Hasanzada,

Read more...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8389916.stm

Print Media in Afghanistan

Print media in Afghanistan has a long history. Along the history and despite dictator and puppet regimes in Afghanistan.

Printed media has played constructive role to inform and motive people to stand against invaders and to fight for freedom.

The first Afghan printed media is Shams Ul Nahar which came into existence using very primary tools during the reign of Amir Shir Ali Khan in 1290 and soon after that another printed media (Saraj Ul Akbar Afghania) started to work during the reign of Amir Habibullah Khan .
In 2001 after the fall of the Taliban, new political environment and when a democrat government has come into existence in Afghanistan the printed media has started to grow very quickly.

Currently there are 22 Daily newspaper and around 200 publications are being printed all around the country. Most of media are being studied by educated people in Afghanistan and it is a common fact that only educated people would read it. But we should also mention another fact that all of the educated people do not read the newspapers.

In most part of the world middle class of the society are studying the newspapers but unfortunately unbalanced growth and lack of an economic system in Afghanistan caused us not to have an active class of the society who may read it. On the other hand aimlessness in publications and lack of their knowledge about the readers are causing that a small number of educated people to trust them.

There is a global debate about it to examine that the electronic media especially TV has discredited printed media. Generally we can say that reading printed media in Afghanistan can not be happen through a habit to people but sometimes the readers would read it by chance.

The publications like, Nokhust , Mandagar , Kabul weekly , Arman-e- Milli , Rah-e- Nejat , Hasht Sobh , and the Killid and Mursal magazines have most of their readers in the country .
As most countries we can also categorize publications in Afghanistan into two classes:

1- Special printed media: like publication for women, sport, literature, technology, education, medical and other subjects which has its own readers .
2 – General publications: In such publications, columns and pages are being reserved for each type of subjects . The readers of the general publications can be every classes of the society.

By Sadia Hasanzada


Image taken from http://www.8am.af/images/stories/issue742/2.jpg

"The US has had no reliable information on the whereabouts of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in years, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has admitted."



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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8397684.stm

کرزی: با رهبر طالبان گفتگو می کنم

"Karzai ready to talk with Taliban leaders"

After US President Barak Obama’s decision to withdraw US troops by 2011 from Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai wants to meet and talk with the Taliban leaders.Does Taliban want to talk with Karzai?
This decision was taken by Mr. Karzai several times but never took place and no green light was shown by the Taliban.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/afghanistan/2009/12/091204_a-karzai-taleban-talks.shtml

"Barak Obama urged to send 30.000 more troops to Afghanistan "


Don’t think by sending more troops can end war in Afghanistan , think about other ways to solve it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8389916.stm

Frost speaking with Shukuria Barekzai Member of Parliament. Brave women