Volume No. 4093 Sunday February 03, 2019 Dalw 14, 1397 www.outlookafghanistan.net Price: 20/-Afs

Quote of the Day

When you have a dream, you’ve got to grab it

and never let go.Carol Burnett

OMAR DAUDZAI

www.thedailyafghanistan.comEmail: thedailyafghanistan@yahoo.com

Phone: 0093 (799) 005019/777-005019Add: In front of Habibia High School,

District 3, Kabul, Afghansitan

Dream

Omar Daudzai, the head of the High Peace Council of Afghanistan, told CNN that a rapid US troop withdrawal would increase violence in his country.

KABUL - As hopes for peace in the country grow among Af-ghans, tribal elders, activists, re-ligious scholars and residents of Nangarhar and Badakhshan in separate gatherings in the prov-inces said the parties involved in the peace talks should show more “flexibility” and meanwhile they should accelerate the efforts for bringing peace to the country. However, they said that the de-tails of the talks should be shared with the people and that the Af-ghan government should not be sidelined from the process. The tribal elders and religious scholars from eastern Nangarhar said Afghans are tired of war and that they are of the opinion that peace is the only way that can bring them together and can en-sure the development of the war-ravaged Afghanistan.The activists and tribal elders from Badakhshan and Nangarhar provinces said a golden opportu-nity has been created for peace and it should not be left unused. “Both sides (the Afghan govern-ment and the Taliban) should not insist on their positions. Both sides are needed to lose some-thing to reach an agreement,” said Esmatullah Shinwari, a reli-gious scholar from Nangarhar.The United States and Taliban officials last week agreed in prin-cipal on a draft framework for peace as the US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad put it. The US and ...(More on P4)...(3)

MAZAR-I-SHARIF - A fertilizer and power factory in northern Balkh province has resumed pro-duction after its gas supply pipe-line was reconnected, officials said on Saturday.The Urea and Power Factory had stopped production 15 days ago after Taliban militants blew up its gas supply pipeline in the Chamtal district of the province.A few days back, officials claimed the militants demanded the factory pay them four million afghanis and warned it of harsh consequences if the demand was not accepted.A statement from the 209thShaheen Military Corps said the gas supply pipeline was reconnected to the factory on Friday night when the security forces flushed the Taliban out of the area.After purging the area of insur-gents, a technical team was dis-patched to the site and the gas supply pipeline fixed, the state-ment added. Ten militants were killed during the operation....(More on P4)...(5)

Afghans Insist on ‘Flexibility’ in Peace Talks

Urea Factory Resumes Production as Gas Pipeline Fixed

Rapid US Withdrawal Would Bring ‘Bloodshed’

KABUL - In reaction to Moscow’s bid to host a meeting on Afghan peace, the Afghan Min-istry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said the talks will help the peace process and that the Rus-sian government should respect an Afghan-

Moscow Talks will Not Help Afghan Peace: MoFA

Tehran Supports Afghan-Led Peace Process: Iran Envoy

led and Afghan-owned peace process.Reports indicate that the meet-ing will be held in Moscow on Tuesday, Feb. 5.Reuters quoted a senior Russian official as say-ing that due to Taliban’s refusal to meet Afghan government rep-resentatives and the sensitivity of

the situation, it was the best option not to have Afghan government of-ficials at the table.“Holding such meetings will not help us in reaching peace. We did

not and do not see such meet-ings necessary and will not attend this meeting,” MoFA spokesman Sebghat Ahmadi said.Ahmadi added that Afghani-stan hopes that Russia respects an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process. “We hope that Russia like other countries will express its com-mitment on recognizing Af-ghanistan’s role as leader and owner of the peace process,” Ahmadi said. Indirectly commenting on the upcoming talks, Russia’s For-eign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a press conference that Moscow is closely working with Pakistan on ...(More on P4)...(4)

LONDON – Iran envoy to the International Contact Group meeting on Afghanistan ex-pressed support for peace process led by Af-ghan government.During the meeting which was held in For-eign and Commonwealth Office, Rasoul Eslami referred to main role played by the Afghan government in peace attempts and underlined the importance of government and other political parties’ participation.He also stressed the effective role played by Afghanistan neighbors in this process. Referring to the fact that military approach has brought no peace and security for Af-ghanistan, he said presenting a time table for foreign forces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan is a reasonable step to pave the way for start of peace talks. Eslami also alluded to the role of Afghani-stan’s government in peace talks and em-

phasized the importance of holding upcoming presidential elections in due time. International Contact Group meeting was held with the attendance of the

KABUL - A number of Wolesi Jirga election candidates on Saturday closed down gates of the Independent Election Complaints Commission (IECC)’s office in Kabul over removal of their names from the final election result list.Around 100 candidates and their supporters from Kunar, Badakhshan and Sar-i-Pul provinces pro-tested in front of the complaints commission after names of some candidates were removed from the Independent Election Commission (IEC)’s fi-nal list of winning candidates.The protesting candidates warned of launching a series of demonstrations and closing the electoral commissions’ offices in Kabul and in provinces if their demands were not accepted.Asadullah Aryubi, a protesting candidate from northern Sar-i-Pul province, said: “I won 7, 944 votes and achieved second position in the initial list but without any evidence and document, they invalidated my 3, 248 votes in the final list.”He urged the government to appoint an impartial delegation in this regard because their votes had been edited.Ahmad Yaftali, another protesting candidate from northeastern ...(More on P4)...(2)

KABUL - Strong tremors were felt across North India, the first being reported from Delhi-NCR and Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district.Apowerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake jolted Af-ghanistan, Pakistan and parts of North India on Saturday evening. Strong tremors were felt across North India, the first being reported from Delhi-NCR and Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district.The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said the epicentre of the quake was Hindu Kush, which is a mountain range that stretches near the Afghan-Pakistan border, from central Afghani-stan to northern Pakistan.Another earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck off Sumatra island in Indonesia on Saturday after-noon, the US Geological Survey said.Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said there were no immediate reports of damage and that there was no potential for tsu-nami, the report said. (Agencies)

Protesting Candidates Close IECC Office in Kabul

Powerful Earthquake Hits Afghanistan-Pakistan Region,

Tremors Felt in Delhi-NCR

KABUL - Omar Daudzai, the head of the High Peace Council of Afghanistan, told CNN that a rapid US troop with-drawal would increase violence in his country.“If it happened in a matter that’s not or-derly ... if it happens that it leaves a vac-uum behind, then obviously bloodshed would increase,” Daudzai said in an interview with CNN’s Nic Robertson.US officials and Taliban negotiators re-

cently finished a round of talks in Doha, the capital of Qatar, to discuss ways of ending the United States’ 17-year role in Afghanistan. More talks are due to re-sume in Doha in late February.In comments given to The New York Times and confirmed to CNN by the US Embassy in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special representative for Afghanistan, said Monday that the two sides have agreed in principle to a

framework for moving forward.Khalilzad sent a series of tweets Thurs-day about the talks, saying, “We made significant progress on two vital issues: counter terrorism and troop withdraw-al. That doesn’t mean we’re done. We’re not even finished with these issues yet, and there is still work to be done on other vital issues like intra-Afghan dia-logue and a complete ceasefire.”...(More on P4)...(1)

representatives of over 50 countries, regional and international bodies in the UK.In the meeting which was co-chaired by Afghanistan Deputy Foreign Minister in Political Affairs Edris Zaman and Special Representative of the Germany Federal Gov-ernment for Afghanistan Markus Potzel, par-ticipants reviewed political and security con-ditions in Afghanistan, recent parliamentary elections, upcoming presidential elections, danger of ISIS and terrorism in Afghanistan and the region, illegal drugs and also estab-lishing economic cooperation with Afghani-stan. It is worth mentioning that after six days of negotiations between US and Taliban, some unverified news have been released as regard US forces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, es-tablishing truce and Taliban’s guarantee not to threaten ...(More on P4)...(6)