Parliament

HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): Dozens of residents of western Herat province on Wednesday gathered in support of lawmakers who staged a walkout from the Wolesi Jirga in protest against ignoring qualified Herati security officials in promotions.
Abdul Ghani Khalili, head of the eighth municipal district council in Herat City, the provincial capital, said: “We want the government to stop discrimination and ignoring talented and qualified people of Herat.”

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Wolesi Jirga on Wednesday rejected by a majority vote two presidential decrees amending income tax and customs laws.
The president had issued the legislative decrees during the parliament’s summer break.
Azim Muhseni, deputy head of the lower house finance commission, said tax on income had been increased from two percent to four percent under the decree.
He said the amendments were against Article 79 of the Constitution under which the president could not issue legislative decrees over financial issues.

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Haji Zahir Qadeer, lawmaker from eastern Nangarhar province, has rejected reports that he wants to raise his private militias to battle the insurgency.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday night in Jalalabad, the provincial capital, Qadeer said he was against the creation of militias but was prepared to fight against the insurgents in Nangarhar.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Some Meshrano Jirga members on Tuesday expressed their deep concern over the increasingly deteriorating security situation in the country and feared the current system might be derailed if the tide of insecurity was not reversed.
Taking part in a debate on the country’s security situation, the senators noticed there had been no improvement in the law and order situation of the country.
Gul Ahmad Rassouli, a lawmaker from northern Faryab province, said the government was taking no concrete steps for the improvement of security.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Wolesi Jirga members from western Herat province on Monday said talented and professional Herati security officials had been ignored in recent promotions to key posts.
The lawmakers accused the government of discrimination in its recruitment drive and warned that Heratis serving in the military would leave their jobs.
After coming into power last year, the unity government has appointed new faces on key government posts and recently the president appointed new chiefs for zonal police headquarters.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Public Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz on Monday said the number of individuals addicted to drugs would continue to increase until security personnel shunned peddling the drugs and prevented their smuggling.
Feroz was summoned to the Wolesi Jirga or lower house of parliament along with Deputy Interior Minister for Counternarcotics Lt. Gen. Baz Mohammad Ahmadi to explain factors behind the increasing the number of drug addicts in Kabul.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Meshrano Jirga deputy chairman Mohammad Alam Ezedyar on Sunday said that the Taliban had proved they were the main reason behind continuous foreign troops’ presence in the country.
Speaking at a general session of the upper house, Ezedyar said the Kunduz conflict was launched to build up mentality for the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan.
He said the continuous presence of foreign troops was no panacea for the deteriorating security situation in the country.

KABUL (Pajhwok): A Wolesi Jirga member on Saturday said he was ready to disclose the names of lawmakers who allegedly received bribes from ministers in return for cancellation of parliamentary summons.
But the startling disclosures could not be made because of the Administrative Board’s inability to arrange the meeting, said Abdur Rahim Ayubi, a public representative from southern Kandahar province.

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Wolesi Jirga or lower house of parliament on Wednesday decided to summon top security officials over the arrival and stay of Taliban’s supreme leader Mullah Mansour in central Ghazni province.
Lawmaker from Ghanzi Mohammad Arif Rahmani said Mullah Mansour arrived in Nawa district last week and stayed there for five days, while local and central security officials were well aware of the visit.

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Wolesi Jirga on Wednesday accused Pakistan of clear intervention in Afghanistan’s internal affairs and decided to summon the foreign minister and the national security advisor over non-implementation of a bilateral security agreement with the United States.
Mohammad Osman Farahi, a lawmaker from western Farah province, addressing the general session, accused Pakistan’s intelligence agency of meddling in Afghanistan’s affairs. “There is plenty of evidence in the whole world about Pakistan’s support for terrorism.”