Army officer among 4 wounded in Ghazni blast

GHAZNI CITY (PAN): Four Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers, including a recruitment commander, were wounded in a bomb blast in southern Ghazni province on Tuesday evening.

The explosion took place around 5pm on the outskirts of the 2^nd police district of Ghazni City, the provincial capital, eyewitness Masood told Pajhwok Afghan News.

He said the remote-controlled explosive device — attached to a bicycle — went off when the ANA recruitment officer was walking through the area. He said the commander, his guard and two civilians were injured.

Dr. Baz Mohammad, director of the provincial hospital, confirmed receiving four wounded men from the site. All of them were in stable condition, he said.

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ent xi he government’s budget and release of $825 million to Kabul, he told a joint media briefing with the defence minister.

When asked whether the US would honour its commitments, he replied: “We always doubt the implementation of such promises. For this reason, we have asked the US to pay us $825 within the next two months.”

Washington has also agreed to reconstruct the Salang pass, build the Jalalabad-Peshawar and Kandahar-Chaman railroads, set up power dams in Kunar and Takhar provinces and execute a power project in Jawzjan.

Defence Minister Bismillah Mohammadi claimed winning commitments from the US administration to equipping Afghan security forces. The two sides discussed the challenges facing the Afghan forces, particularly the development of the air force.

The Americans had voiced their willingness to equip the Afghan air force, said the minister, who revealed air force 300 personnel were presently being trained inside and outside of Afghanistan. A year later, the country will have competent pilots.

On Monday, the president told a news conference in Washington the United States had agreed to give four C-130 transport planes to Afghanistan this year. They would also contribute 20 choppers to the air force and drones for intelligence-gathering. 

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