Parliament

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Meshrano Jirga -- or upper house of parliament -- on Tuesday urged the government to review appointments of the past one year to prevent a Kunduz-type debacle.
Mohammad Dawood Ghafari, a lawmaker from Ghor, criticised the appointment of Governor Sima Joyenda, arguing: “A woman can’t manage one million people. There is conflict in Ghor; nobody listens to a man, much less a woman.”

KABUL (Pajhwok): A senior intelligence official on Sunday acknowledged the existence of the “5th pillar within the government” while the deputy defence minister stressed on the need for full equipping Afghan forces to foil enemy’s designs.
Briefing the Mesharano Jirga or upper house of parliament, Interior Minister Noorul Haq Ulumi said “a negative campaign” in the appointment of some security officials had led to the fall of Kunduz City, the capital of northern Kunduz province.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Some lawmakers on Saturday said the Dand Ghori accord with Taliban in northern Baghlan province amounted to giving the insurgent group concession, but others defended the agreement.
The Wolesi Jirga (WJ) session ended on an inconclusive note after some lawmakers entered a verbal clash.
The Presidential Palace appointed a five-member delegation led by Border and Tribal affairs Minister Mohammad Gulab Mangal last month to evaluate the security situation in Dand Ghori area near the provincial capital of Baghlan province.

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): A powerful lawmaker in eastern Nangarhar province on Saturday rejected rumours that some parliamentarians had taken security affairs into their own hands.
The speculation heightened after some lawmakers from Nangarhar province, expressing their concern over the increasing Islamic State threat in the Shinwari zone, announced to join the frontline with the masses.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Wolesi Jirga speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi on Thursday called for the ongoing military operation in the capital of northern Kunduz province to be continued and stressed better administrative management there.
Kunduz City fell to the Taliban late on Monday after they mounted a three-pronged attack on the city on the night between Sunday and Monday.
But on Thursday, the Afghan security forces wrested back the entire city from the Taliban during a counter offensive that began last night and is still ongoing.

KABUL (Pajhwok): The National Directorate of Security (NDS) -- the Afghan spy service -- on Wednesday said the suspension of a planned operation led to the fall of Kunduz City to the Taliban.
Three days back, the insurgents attacked the provincial capital from several directions and took control of the entire city after a 14-hour battle with security forces.
On Wednesday, the Wolesi Jirga summoned NDS chief Rahmatullah and other top security bosses to explain factors behind the collapse of the strategic city to lawmakers.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Some Meshrano Jirga or Senate members on Tuesday strongly condemned the fall of northern Kunduz City, calling for severe punishment to government and provincial security officials concerned.
Hundreds of Taliban militants attacked the strategic city on the night between Sunday and Monday from three directions, overrunning a number of government buildings, including the police headquarters and the central prison.
The rebels set free hundreds of inmates from the jail and captured the main civil hospital on Monday amid clashes with security forces.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Some Wolesi Jirga (WJ) members on Monday accused the government of failing to reverse the tide of insecurity, expressing the desire to summon US, UK and UN envoys to the lower house over the deteriorating security situation.
Abdul Rhman Shaheedani, a lawmaker from central Bamyan province, said the government had miserably failed in maintaining security across the country.
He said nobody felt secure in northern Kunduz province and the supreme commander of the armed forces was responsible for the current state of affairs.

JALALABAD(Pajhwok):At least five people,including Wolesi Jirga Member Eng.Abdul Ghafar, were wounded in an explosion in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, on Saturday, an official said.
Police Spokesman Col. Hazrat Hussain Mashraqiwal told Pajhwok Afghan News the incident took place at around 10:30am behind the Eidgah Masjid in the limits of 4th municipality district.
The mine which was planted in a stream went off when Lawmaker Eng. Ghafar convoy was passing through the area.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Meshrano Jirga chairman Fazl Hadi Muslimyar on Tuesday said if veteran former jihadi leader Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf was assassinated, the blame would be put on Maulvi Qalamuddin and those working in the government but sympathetic to insurgents.
Speaking at Meshrano Jirga’s general session, Muslimyar said the silence over the “5th pillar” -- those within the government but want to weaken it -- was anguishing. “There are people who get everything from the government, but support those who kill Afghan people.”