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Ministry of defense
PAO
Media Analysis section
Media Analysis Executive Summary for
20- May – 2015
Foreign companies to bid for Afghanistan’s air traffic control.
According to a statement released by the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA), six foreign companies are interested in bidding for Afghanistan’s air traffic control.
The bids were discussed at a consultative meeting in Kabul where representatives of the companies conferred on the conditions for the contract.
The ACAA officials did not reveal the names of the companies and said the bidding process would continue for the next 10 days.
The current contract for Afghanistan’s air traffic control is with the United States which is due to expire the end of June.
Presently, over 300 planes fly over Afghanistan’s airspace on a daily basis and Afghan government charges USD 400 to USD 500 in tax per plane.
According to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the US has spent over USD 500mn towards Afghanistan’s aviation but no training has been provided to Afghans in this area.
The majority of Afghanistan’s airspace is controlled by American professionals as Afghans lack the capacity to control their space.
Four militants killed in drone strike in North Waziristan.
By Khaama Press
Four militants have been killed and several others wounded after a drone targeted a militant hideout in North Waziristan tribal built which borders Afghanistan.
Local media reports that the UAV fired two missiles at a house in Shawal area of North Waziristan which caused heavy casulaties to insurgetns and destroyed the coumpound.
It comes only a day after Pakistan’s foreign ministry again asked that these strikes need to be stopped.
In a statement Pakistan’s foreign office stateted that this is “clear violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The statement further stated that these attacks create security concerns in the area at the time Pakistani military is conducting Operation Zarb-i-Azab in the area.
“These generate distrust among the local populace at a time when Operation Zarb-e-Azab is moving ahead decisively,” the statemed added.
But these air strikes have killed several key members of Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militantgroups in the area.
60 Insurgents Killed in ANSF Operations
Tolo news
At least 60 insurgents have been killed in a series of coordinated operations over the past 24 hours by the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement on Tuesday.
In addition, 38 insurgents were injured.
The operations were conducted in Laghman, Baghlan, Takhar, Kunduz, Faryab, Badakhshan, Sar-e-Pul, Jawzjan, Farah, Helmand and Nimroz provinces, the statement said.
"During the same 24 hour period, Afghan National Police discovered and defused six different types of IEDs placed by enemies of Afghanistan for destructive activities in Dai Kundi, Kandahar, Maidan Wardak, Ghazni, Khost and Paktika provinces," it said.
The MoI, however, did not comment on whether any security force members were injured during the operations.
Road construction worker dead in Jawzjan attack
SHIBERGHAN (Pajhwok): A worker of a road construction company was killed and seven others wounded in an armed attack by unidentified gunmen in Jawzjan province on Tuesday, an official said.
Provincial police chief Brig. Gen. Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani told Pajhwok Afghan News the workers visited the area to initiate work on the road when they came under gunmen attack on Shiberghan-Qoshtapa highway in the morning.
The seven persons wounded in the assault were shifted to hospital for treatment, he said, adding that an investigation was launched to nab the perpetrators.
Dr. Haroon Elbigi, director Jawzjan Civil Hospital director, confirmed receiving a dead body and seven injured in the hospital. He said the wounded were in stable condition.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said he was unaware of the incident.
The Ministry of Public Works planned to construct the 40-kilometres long Shiberghan-Qoshtapa highway.
Some three months back, four workers of the company were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen but were released later.
Eleven Afghan policemen jailed over Farkhunda mob killing.
Telegraph news
The officers were sentenced to one year in prison for failing to protect the 27-year-old from being beaten to death at a Kabul shrine after she was wrongly accused of burning a Koran .
An Afghan judge has sentenced 11 policemen to one year in prison for their role in the mob killing of a woman in Kabul who had been falsely accused of burning a Koran.
Judge Safiullah Mojadedi on Tuesday found the officers guilty of dereliction of duty for failing to prevent the killing of 27-year-old Farkhunda, who was beaten to death at a shrine in the Afghan capital on March 19 in a case that prompted outrage around the country.
Another eight policemen were released for lack of evidence. In total, 49 people have been charged over the death.
The attack shocked Afghanistan and reverberated around the world, highlighting the brutality women face in the country's conservative society.
Earlier this month, four defendants were sentenced to death, eight to 16 years in prison, and 18 were freed for lack of evidence.
Twitter backlash over PM Modi's 'insensitive remark' on migration.
BBC
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks in South Korea about migration is receiving Twitter backlash at home.
Speaking at an event on Monday, Mr Modi commented on Indians who decided to migrate to other countries.
"People used to think that what sin they committed in the last life that they were born in India. [They thought] what kind of country is this, what kind of government and what kind of people it has. Some just decided to leave for other countries," he said.
Mr Modi was highlighting the need to improve India's infrastructure and business environment to limit migration and also attract those Indians who want to come back.
The Indian PM has been vocal about highlighting India's problems in his speeches and statements.
In one of his earlier statements, Mr Modi said that India's head "hangs in shame" because of the increasing number of sexual assault cases against women.
But his latest remarks appears to have angered some Twitter users, resulting in a top trending hashtag #ModiInsultsIndia on Tuesday.
Afghan Taliban delegation in Iran for security talks: report.TEHRAN, May 19 (Xinhua) -- A political delegation of Afghanistan's Islamist Taliban group has met with Iranian security officials on diverse topics, local media reported on Tuesday.
The visiting team, led by Tayyeb Aqa, head of Taliban office in Qatar, arrived in Tehran on Monday, according to Tasnim news agency.
In the talks with Iranian security officials, a number of issues, particularly recent developments in the region and Islamic world, were discussed, Tasnim said.
The issue of Afghan refugees in Iran was also on the agenda, the report said without elaboration.
The Taliban is an Islamic fundamentalist political movement. It formed a government in Afghanistan, ruling as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, from September 1996 until December 2001.
After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Taliban government was overthrown by the American-led invasion of Afghanistan.
Minister: Iran Ready to Help Afghanistan Overcome Refugees' Repatriation Problems
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli voiced Tehran's readiness to help Kabul pave the ground for the repatriation of Afghan refugees to their country.
"With participation in this meeting, we are seeking to somehow harmonize the affairs of refugees in Iran and Pakistan," Rahmani Fazli told reporters after a meeting with Afghan Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Hossein Alami Balkhi in Tehran on Monday.
He said that both Iranian and Afghan governments are determined to regulate the affairs of Afghan refugees in the course of one year and have agreed to control joint border so that all the immigrations to Iran will be lawful.
Iran has been a generous host for more than 2 million Afghan refugees for two decades, with little help from the international community.
Tehran has called on the international community to strengthen support for Iran for hosting the Afghan refugees and provide repatriation support for the refugees.
Voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees from Iran has slowed in recent years in the face of poor security and economic conditions in Afghanistan, which Tehran blames on the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.
The office of the UNHCR was established by the UN General Assembly in 1950.
According to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, the agency is mandated to lead and coordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees.
UNHCR first opened an office in Iran in 1984 and expanded its presence with the massive influx of Iraqi refugees following the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and the start of Afghans' mass return movement to Afghanistan in 1992.
Today UNHCR has its Central office representation in Tehran, plus three sub offices in Mashhad, Kerman and Shiraz.
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