Violations

KABUL (PAN): Campaigning before the release of a final list of presidential and provincial council candidates is a violation of the election law, the electoral watchdog said on Friday.
Following the display of the final list in a fortnight, Presidential runners will be allowed to canvass in the 60 days from February 2 and provincial council candidates for 30 days from March 4.

KABUL (PAN): The Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) on Friday said it had so far received 10 complaints against candidates for next year’s elections.
IECC member and spokesman Nadir Muhseni said the complaints were received from various parts of the country, but stopped short of giving further details.

KABUL (PAN): Some residents of northern Jawzjan province complain the Taliban intercept passenger vehicles, rip apart people’s national identity and voter cards and threaten them with death.
On the other hand, the insurgents confirm the main highway closure, but deny tearing people’s ID or election cards.

KABUL (PAN): Some senators on Tuesday asked President Hamid Karzai to take the parliament and the nation into confidence on the “ghost money” the CIA allegedly handed out to his office over the past decade.
On Monday, the New York Times reported CIA delivered tens of millions of dollars to the president’s office -- a costly influence-peddling attempt that led to massive corruption in Afghanistan.

KABUL (PAN): A Wolesi Jirga member on Monday revealed 80 lawmakers had received bribes from ministers summoned over under-spending development funds in 2011.
The revelation comes as deputy speaker Mirwais Yasini told the house that the issue of alleged bribery had been discussed at a meeting held behind closed doors.

KABUL (PAN): Differences among Wolesi Jirga members widened on Saturday when explanations offered by ministers summoned for failing to spend most of development budgets in 2011 were accepted by a majority members.
Some lawmakers accused their colleagues of accepting bribes from the ministers and keeping their party affiliations supreme over official obligations.

KABUL (PAN): A parliamentary delegation on Sunday said detainees continued to be tortured and mistreated in southern Kandahar province, widening the gap between locals and the government.

KABUL (APN): The Lower House of Parliament has set a deadline of two days for the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) as well as the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to decide on complaints of provincial council candidates.

MAZAR-I-SHARIF (PAN): The

Balkh governor, known for his tirade against Hamid Karzai, quietly left for neighbouring Uzbekistan on Thursday, when the president and his running mates were sworn in for a new term.

KABUL (PAN): President Hamid Karzai's key rival and ex-foreign minister Dr. Abdullah Abdullah has disputed the Independent Election Commission (IEC) decision regarding Karzai's confirmation as president of Afghanistan for another term of five years.