Govt Rounds Up The Year, Admits It Has Been Challenging

خبر ها - افغانستان

شنبه 29 حوت 1394 ساعت 16:07 نوشته شده توسط TOLOnews

Translations pending.

President Ashraf Ghani's deputy spokesman Sayed Zafar Hashemi said on Saturday that this last year has been one of survival for Afghanistan and that the govement had been able to overcome a number of challenges.

Addressing a press conference on the eve of Nawroz, the first day of the new solar year in the Persian calendar, Hashemi, along with other ministry spokesmen gave a run-down of the achievements and challenges these past 12 months.

Hashemi said govement leaders had reviewed all contracts and taken decisions so as to bring transparency to Afghanistan.

He went on to say that the Afghan govement had tried to close the gap between Kabul and the provinces.

Hashemi said Ghani had tried to attract the support of European and Central Asian countries in his quest to get more help for Afghanistan.

The ministry of defense's spokesman, Dawlat Waziri also gave a run-down of his ministry's achievements and challenges.

He said 1394 had proved a challenging year for them but that the enemies failed to reach their goals against the Afghan govement and its people.

According to him, Afghan forces carried out more than 1,300 planned military operations during 1394 - plus numerous night operations.

He added however that the enemies also carried out many attacks in 1394 but they suffered more than 1,000 casualties in Afghanistan.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Sediq Sediqqi also stated 1394 had been a challenging year especially as security forces had to shoulder the full responsibility of maintaining stability in the country.

Sediqqi says the ministry of interior focused on reforms within its system and police forces focused on maintaining security.

He said Afghan police participated in military operations with the Afghan National Army and the NDS during the course of the year but added that 1394 had also been a challenging year for the enemy - their causalities increased and their plots were foiled.

According to him, one of the biggest achievements in 1394 by security forces has been the elimination of senior Taliban commanders.

He went on to say that Afghan forces seized 22,000 tons of drugs and arrested nearly 2,000 people in connection with dealing with drugs over the past 12 months.

"Militant casualties in Afghanistan increased by 30 percent over the past 12 months," Sediqqi said.

He said however there was a small increase in casualties among police in the past year.

Meanwhile, the ministry of finance spokesman Ajmal Hamid Abdul Rahimzai said the MoF worked on ways to spend inteational aid effectively.

Rahimzai said that in 1394 there was an eight billion Afs increase in national revenue collected against the previous year and that MoF had spent 56% of the development budget for the year, which is an 11 percent increase compared to the previous year.

Rahimzai stated that computers have now been installed in customs offices nationally in order to bring about transparency in this sector and that the ministry intends to spend its development budget for next year on long-term projects that create jobs.

Ministry of Education spokesman Mujib Mehrdad meanwhile said they have published 22 million text books for schools in the past year. He said the ministry has also launched plans to assist school principals throughout Afghanistan.