President Ashraf Ghani has discussed with political and jihadi leaders the peace process, a recent ceasefire, elections preparations

and other important issues, his office said on Tuesday.

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KABUL - The meetings, held over the past few days at the Presidential Palace, were attended by 1st Vice President Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, former president Hamid Kar-zai, Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf and Sibghatullah Mujad-dedi.Mohammad Yunus Qanuni, Atta Mohammad Noor, Mo-hammad Mohaqiq and Eng. Mohammad Khan were also in attendance, a statement from the Presidential Palace said.Separately, Ghani also met HIA leader Gulbadin Hekmat-yar, Mohammad Karim Khalili, Almas Zahid, Mir Aman-

ullah Guzar, Iqbal Safi, Din Mohammad, Abdul Hakim Munib, Mohammad Kabir, Syed Hamid Gilani, Anwarul HaqAhadi, Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal, Attaullah Lodin and Syed Ikramuddin. The political figures shared with the president their views, suggestions and ideas about Af-ghanistan’s current situation, including the peace drive, the security environment, the Eidul Fitr truce and upcoming elections. President Ghani termed consultations the key to dealing effectively with the challenges facing the country. Views of the leaders would be considered on national is-sues, the statement concluded. (Pajhwok)

KABUL - Around 1,500 people have been arrested nationwide in connection with 107 tons of drugs during the past five months, an official said on Monday.Maj. Gen. Abdul Khalil Bakhtyari, secretary coun-ter-narcotics at the Ministry of Interior, told an award giving ceremony for martial arts players in Kabul, said counter-narcotics officials had big achievements during the past five months.He said the detainees possessed 107 tons of drugs and they were arrested during 1,300 operations.Around 525 raids took place in Kabul alone where 725 smugglers were detained with four tons of different types of drugs, he added.Khatkhyarisais at present nearly 30 percent of prisoners in the country’s jails were drug He called drug addicts a major problem and called on citizens to assist police in dealing with the phenomenon.Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. JananBarikzai, first deputy interior minister, told the ceremony that smug-glers were attempting to distribute some plants to farmers for producing drugs, but the people and the government ...(More on P4)...(3)

KABUL - As reports about di-rect talks between the US and the Taliban officials in the Qatari capital Doha continue to make headlines, the Afghan govern-ment says it is working on an-other ceasefire with the Taliban – this time over Eid-al-Adha.Officials have also said that only the Afghan government will have the authority to hold peace talks with the Taliban.In a statement on Monday night, the Presidential Palace (ARG) said efforts are underway to an-nounce another ceasefire during the Eid festival and that it is only the National Unity Government (NUG) which can claim owner-ship of any future talks.“The authority of the negotia-tions is supposed to be the own-ership of the National Unity gov-ernment, but there is a need for consultations on various aspects of the talks,” the statement quot-ing Afghan President Ashraf Ghani read.Ghani said that the unilateral ceasefire which was announced during Eid-ul-Fitr was visibly successful. On the reports about the retreat of Afghan forces from some re-gions in the country Ghani said: “Rumors that the security forces are retreating from some regions are baseless and a safe zone policy is not on government’s agenda.”US-Taliban talks ‘delegitimizes’ Afghan governmentMeanwhile, former US ambas-sador to Afghanistan Ryan C. Crocker said this week that peace talks between representa-tives of the Taliban and US of-ficials in Qatar ...(More on P4)...(2)

KABUL - The Ministry of Agri-culture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) opened an agricultural exhibition of different domesti-cally grown fruits and vegeta-bles in capital Kabul on Monday.The exhibition showcased around 55 types of fresh fruits including apricot, peach, plum, apple, pear, grapes, fig, melon and watermelon and 15 types of vegetables such as pepper, to-mato, mint, pumpkin, eggplant, cucumber and some others.Agriculture Minister Nasir Ah-mad Durrani during the exhibi-tion’s opening ceremony said that agricultural products on display were the outcome of the ministry’s research and promo-tion of horticulture project.He said MAIL planned to cover more than 60,000 acres of land for promotion of horticulture in the country in coming years.Durrani said around 25,000 gar-dens of different fruits were pro-moted under the National Hor-ticulture and Livestock Project (NHLP) over the last three years.“Some gardens in half an acre of area contain 400 trees, if one tree produces around seven kilo-grams of fruit, one garden can produce 2.7 tons of fruit which is a good income source for farm-ers,” he said.He added growing and promot-ing vegetables had created work for more than 200,000 women in the country. The country’s agri-cultural products increased by 24 percent in the second quarter of the ...(More on P4)...(4)

1,500 Drug Smugglers Detained

in 5 Months: MoI

Safe Zones Not on Agenda, Eid Truce Efforts Underway: Govt

Above 60 Types of Fresh Fruits Go on Display

Ghani, Political Leaders Confer on Polls & Peace Process

Karzai Slams US Funding to Pakistan for Fencing Durand Line

Afghanistan Needs Reforms, Smooth Poll Process: WB

KABUL - Former president Hamid Karzai has expressed concern over America’s financial assistance to Pakistan for fencing the Durand Line.In a tweet, Karzai condemned the Trump ad-ministration’s action as a violation of Afghani-stan’s rights and sovereignty.“The US is funding Pakistan’s fencing of the Durand Line and also helping Pakistan’s pol-icy of separating Afghans on both side of the Durand Line,” he alleged.The ex-president added the Duran Line had been imposed on the Afghans during Britain’s colonial rule. The Afghans had not accepted the line as a formal border, and would never do so, he concluded. (Pajhwok)

KABUL - Afghanistan’s recent economic re-covery may be at risk, the World Bank warned in its latest development update on Tuesday.Afghanistan’s economy had slowly regained momentum as reforms had been implemented and confidence restored after a series of set-backs, the update said.The half-yearly update recalled the econom-ic shock of the withdrawal of international troops, the associated decline in aid, deterio-rating in security and the period of political instability after the 2014 elections.From a low of 1.5 percent in 2015, real GDP growth accelerated to 2.3 percent in 2016, and reached 2.7 percent in 2017. But rising election-related violence, declining business confi-dence, drought and slowing of economic activ-ity threaten the growth.For the current year, growth is projected at 2.4 percent, with substantial downside risks aris-

“The most important priority for the gov-ernment and its international partners is to maintain public confidence to support growth and job creation,” said ShubhamChaudhuri, World Bank country director for Afghanistan.“More than half of Afghans now live in pov-erty. We cannot afford to see the current mo-mentum lost,” he remarked.The fiscal deficit for 2017 was low at around 0.5 percent of GDP, and a similar deficit is expected in 2018. The deficit will be financed largely from cash reserves, which remain at comfortable levels.Revenues remain strong, with domestic rev-enues reaching a new high of 12.3 percent of GDP in 2017. Consumer price inflation re-mained moderate in 2017, at around 3.1 per-cent, and is expected to stay at moderate levels through 2018. According to ...(More on P4)...(5)

KABUL - The Chinese government on Tuesday delivered 3,012 tons of rice and 816 tons of flour to the State Ministry for Natural Disaster Manage-ment (SMNDM) for distribution to drought and floods-affected families in Afghanistan.NajibAqaFahim, State Minister for Natural Disas-ters Management, received the aid at a ceremony here. He said the donated rice and flour would be distributed among calamity-hit families within a month in 20 provinces of the country.He identified the affected provinces as Jawzjan, Badghis, Faryab, Ghor, Uruzgan, Zabul, Kan-dahar, Helmand, Samangan, Balkh, Baghlan, Herat, Farah, Kunduz, Nuristan, Takhar, Maidan-Wardak, Paktia, Sar-i-Pul and Nimroz.The minister said 21 provinces were hard hit by drought and around 1.4 million individuals need-ed food, potable water while 3.3 million livestock in need of pasture.He assured that 3.3 million needy people would get assistance during the ongoing year.Fahim highly appreciated the Chinese govern-ment continued ...(More on P4)...(1)

China Donates Rice, Flour for Calamity-Hit Afghans

ing from the prospects of political instability around parliamentary and district council elections and presidential and provincial council polls in October 2018 and April 2019 respectively.