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U.S President Donald Trump made the remarks when addressing families of American soldiers who lost thier lives in Afghanistan.

The U.S President Donald Trump paid tribute to America's fallen troops at Arlington National Cemetery on America's Memorial Day on Monday and said the U.S forces are fighting the enemies of civilization in Afghanistan".

During the ceremony, Trump told the stories of two soldiers who died in Afghanistan. One of them, Andrew Byers, died protecting an Afghan soldier and U.S troops after running through a "hail of bullets" to rescue them.

"Robert died fighting the enemies of all civilizations in Afghanistan. To John, Karen, Heather, Tate, Andrea and the entire Kelly family, today 300 million American hearts are joined together with yours. We grieve with you, we honour you, and we pledge to you, we will always remember Robert and what he did for all of us. Thank you John, he said.

Following the ceremony, Trump talked with various family members.

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US Troops Fighting Enemies of Civilization In Afghanistan: Trump - TOLOnews

Kabul - The worst it gets for most central bankers is recession, deflation or a credit crunch. Maybe a bank bust if times are really tough. Not so inAfghanistan.

There, Da Afghanistan Bank has had to grapple with a sharp economic slowdown worsened by the draw down of US forces, Taliban attacks on a lender and a $900 million loan scandal and ensuing bank collapse that deepened distrust toward financial institutions in a nation where just 11 percent its 32 million people have a bank account. Now, the worst may be over.

The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the central banks of India and Turkey are helping develop Da Afghanistan Bank,Governor Khalil Sediq said in an interview in his wood-paneled office in Kabul. Bank profits rose 5 percent last year and stability has returned to the nations financial system, Sediq said.

The 64-year-old governor in his second stint in the role has managed to restore stability even as economic growth stalled. Reduced aid from the international community and weak investor confidence in the face of increasing security challenges and political instability have weighed on the economy, according to a World Bank assessment on May 25. Better times lie ahead though, with growth projected to accelerate to 2.6 percent in 2017 and to around 3.6 percent by 2020.

Read also:Inflation drop may mean cheaper interest

Sediq joined the central bank 37 years ago, rising to governor for the first time from 1990 to 1991. He took up the role againat the invitation of President Ashraf Ghani in July 2015 amid an economic slowdown that followed the draw down of foreign forces. Months earlier, the Taliban, which is fighting the government and US forces across much of the country, stormed New Kabul Bank in Jalalabad city, killing Afghan soldiers who had gone to receive their salaries.

Other than three Pakistani banks, no foreign lenders operate in the war-torn country, Sediq said. His office walls adorned with a picture of a camel caravan anda photo of President Ghani sits within Da Afghanistan Banks heavily guarded building, next to the Finance Ministry.

Bank Collapse

Five years before his tenure began; Kabul Bank lost more than $900 million of saving assets in bad insider loans. An inquiry found the central bank had failed to provide appropriate oversight. The government of then president Hamid Karzai took over the bank and placed it in receivership. So far $450 million of the loans have been recovered, Sediq said.

The collapse of Kabul Bank in 2010 further deteriorated the trust of people in banks, said Ahmad Massoud, an economics professor at Kabul University.

Even before that scandal, most people kept their cash inside pillows or locked up at home.

Those who do have bank accounts are mostly from the relatively more developed provinces such as Kabul, Balkh, Herat, Nangarhar and Kandahar.

More than 100 audits were carried out on Afghanistans 15 remaining banks last year, tightening oversight of the sector since Kabul Banks collapse in 2010, Sediq said.

Indian Assistance

The Reserve Bank of India is helping strengthen the regulatory capacity of the Afghan bank, backed up by Turkeys central bank, the IMF and World Bank.

We have to learn a lot from the Reserve Bank of India, said Sediq. People from the auditing department, supervisory department, monetary policy and payment department are using the training in India and Turkey, as well as the IMF and World Bank.

A spokesman for the RBI declined to comment. Turkeys central bank confirmed it has a memorandum of understanding with the Afghan central bank but did not give any further details.

The IMF confirmed it provides technical assistance in bank management, and is helping strengthen Da Afghanistan Banks independence, operations, and supervisory practices.In 2016, the IMF introduced measures to bolster financial stability by fully resolving the 2010 Kabul Bank crisis by restoring the central banks balance sheet and New Kabul Banks solvency, a Kabul-based IMF spokeswoman said.

World Bank assistance is focused on building the supervision departments regulatory capacity, investing in the systems infrastructure to create an efficient and sound payment system and modernizing the core banking system, a Washington-based spokeswoman wrote.

The nations 15 banks, which offer both conventional and Islamic banking products, have $696 million in outstanding loans and $4.1 billion in assets, according to a report by the central bank.

I believe that in the coming years there should be some consolidation in the banking system, Sediq said. Its much better if small banks merge.

The bank has also started licensing money transfer providers called Hawalas. Last year, the bank canceled 80 such licenses because of money-laundering.

While the lending infrastructure is improving, the central banks ambition to start a stock market in Kabul has been put on hold.

It will be a disaster for now to have created a stock market in Afghanistan due to security issues and the economic slowdown, Sediq said, noting theres no laws or regulations in place to support it. We will have it, he said, but for now we are not ready.

Sediq is more confident about the buffer provided by international reserves, which stood at $6.8 billion at the end of 2016, an increase of $400 million from 2015.

We are at good shape on that, he said. And with a managed float currency regime, the central bank only needs to tap that if there are unexpected foreign-exchange moves that threaten to dent the economy.

Restoring stability to the financial system amid a fragile and deteriorating security situation has been a major development, Sediq said, sitting next to a safe housing the banks key documents. Its not an easy job.

Bloomberg

Excerpt from:
A Banker's Battle to Restore Stability in War-Torn Afghanistan | IOL - Independent Online

Secretary of Defense James Mattis said in an interview with "Face the Nation" Saturday that Iran is at the center of dysfunction in the Middle East and remains a threat around the world, echoing President Trump's tough talk on the country.

"Face the Nation" host John Dickerson asked the retired Marine Corp general, a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, if he still stands by comments he made in 2011, when he ranked Iran as his top priority while he was the head of U.S. Central Command under President Barack Obama.

"I had a more -- let's just say, a narrower portfolio in those days," Mattis said. "And in the U.S. Central Region, what we find is wherever there are challenges, wherever there is chaos, wherever there is violence, whether it be in Lebanon, in Syria, in Iraq, in Yemen, the attempts to unsettle Bahrain. We always find Iran and the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] at it."

"It's not the Iranian people," Mattis added. "We are convinced it's a regime that is conducting itself in order to stay in power in Tehran as a revolutionary regime, not as a proper nation-state. They are not looking out for the best interests of their own people."

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On the topic of Iran's overall international threat, Mattis resurrected the story of an assassination attempt in 2011 in Washington of Saudi Arabian diplomat Adel al-Jubier by an Iranian American with close links to the Quds Force, an Iranian paramilitary organization known for its ties to terrorism.

"You have got this revolutionary cause that causes them to then go around creating mischief everywhere, to include trying to murder an Arab ambassador fewer than two miles from the White House a couple years ago," Mattis said.

He continued: "And I've seen the intelligence. This was not a rogue agent. This was an operation approved at the highest levels. And so, you know, ambassadors are men and women of peace. And for someone to try to murder an ambassador in Washington D.C., you can understand why President Obama was committed to stopping the nuclear program."

Mattis' revisiting of old hostilities between the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Iran follows a historic $110-billion arms deal. President Trump and Saudi officials signed the deal this month during Mr. Trump's visit to the country's capital, Riyadh -- the first stop of Mr. Trump's first trip abroad as president.

In a largely scripted speech before prominent Muslim leaders, Mr. Trump used his position to mend sectarian differences and lambaste Iran, tying the country directly to terror groups as well as addressing its government's failures.

"The Iranian regime's longest-suffering victims are its own people," Mr. Trump said. "Until the Iranian regime is willing to be a partner for peace, all nations of conscience must work together to isolate Iran, deny it funding for terrorism."

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Mattis scolds Iran for destabilization, echoing Trump's tough talk - CBS News

The Jerusalem Post

Report: After Iranian elections, Tehran-Hamas ties warming up The Jerusalem Post Iran has allegedly decided to resume financial backing for Hamas, Palestinian sources said on Tuesday. The move came after representatives from the Islamic Republic and the Palestinian terror group conducted intensive discussions in Lebanon over the ... Iran to Relaunch Hamas Financial AidThe Jewish Press - JewishPress.com Iran agrees to renew funding to Hamas -- reportThe Times of Israel Iran to Resume Financial Support to Hamas, Report SaysHaaretz Arutz Sheva -JerusalemOnline -i24NEWS (press release) (registration) all 11 news articles »

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Report: After Iranian elections, Tehran-Hamas ties warming up - The Jerusalem Post

BEIRUT In the week before the May 19 presidential election in Iran, the eventual victor, Hassan Rouhani, criticised the judiciary and the powerful Revolutionary Guards with rhetoric rarely heard in public in the Islamic republic.

Now, in the eyes of his supporters, it is time to deliver. Millions of Rouhani's followers expect him to keep pushing on human rights issues.

"The majority of Iranians have made it clear that they want improvement on human rights," said Hadi Ghaemi, the director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), a New York-based advocacy group. "Expectations are running high."

That message came through loud and clear shortly before Rouhani, who won re-election with more than 57 percent of the vote, took the stage at a gathering of supporters in Tehran last week.

"Ya Hussein, Mirhossein" went the thunderous chant, a reference to Mirhossein Mousavi, a presidential candidate in the 2009 election, who, along with fellow candidate Mehdi Karroubi disputed the results, spurring widespread protests.

Dozens of protestors were killed and hundreds arrested in the crackdown that followed, according to human rights groups.

Mousavi, his wife Zahra, and Karroubi, were placed under house arrest in 2011 after calling for protests in Iran in solidarity with pro-democracy uprisings across the Middle East.

The trio's continued detention is a divisive political issue in Iran and one that Rouhani has promised to resolve.

But if he keeps pushing, he will face a backlash from his hardline opponents which could undermine his second term, analysts say.

CLEAR MESSAGE

At the rally, it took several minutes for the announcer to quiet the crowd before another chant broke out: "Our message is clear, house arrest must be broken".

Along with those arrests, more than 20 journalists and activists were arrested in the lead-up to the elections according to CHRI, an issue which has also been raised by Rouhani supporters.

Many political prisoners are kept in solitary confinement and not allowed to see their families for long periods of time, according to human rights groups.

Iran has one of world's highest rates of capital punishment. At least 530 people were executed in 2016, according to a United Nations report.

Rouhani's supporters also expect him to fight for basic rights that affect their daily lives, like preventing security forces from harassing women for the way they dress or the judiciary from cancelling concerts.

During his first term, Rouhani made the signing of an agreement with Western powers, which lifted a large number of sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program, his top priority.

As a result, human rights issues were sidelined, analysts say. But now that the nuclear agreement is being implemented, his supporters are waiting for change.

Rouhani's decisive election win may have finally given him the opportunity to address human rights issues.

"As the head of the executive branch, Mr. Rouhani and his colleagues must use this opportunity to the maximum," parliamentarian Gholamreza Tajgardoon said last week, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA).

But signs are emerging that hardliners are ready for a fight.

Iran's judiciary chief hit back at Rouhani on Monday for bringing up the issue of the house arrest of opposition leaders during his campaign.

"Who are you to break the house arrests?" Larijani said without naming Rouhani, according to the judiciary news site Mizan.

Larijani said the Supreme National Security Council must take the initial decision to end the house arrests and then the judiciary would step in.

Any attempt to resolve this issue outside this legal procedure would be seen as an attempt to stoke up unrest similar to 2009, he said, according to Mizan.

"We're issuing a warning that they should wrap this issue up otherwise the judiciary, with authority, will wrap this issue up itself," Larijani said.

Meanwhile, the restrictions continue.

Karroubi, 79, served as speaker of parliament before running for president in 2005 and 2009. He now stays largely on the upper floor of his house in Tehran and gets exercise by walking indoors, according to his son Mohammad Taghi. His only sources of information are local newspapers and state TV.

Security agents stay on the premises around the clock and do not allow him to have access to the phone or Internet.

Taghi, speaking by telephone, said the hosue arrest had

backfired, raising the profile and importance of his father and the other detainees.

"If the goal is to cut off their political ties, what we've seen is that the passage of these six or seven years hasn't had any effect," he said. "In fact, the limitations and problems have increased their impact in society."

Little progress can be made on any human rights issue without the approval of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest power in the country.

"Since becoming Supreme Leader in 1989, Khamenei has sought to weaken every Iranian president in their second term," said Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment.

"Given how directly Rouhani challenged Khamenei during the campaign this tradition is likely to continue."

(Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

BERLIN German Chancellor Angela Merkel underlined her doubts about the reliability of the United States as an ally on Monday but said she was a "convinced trans-Atlanticist", fine-tuning her message after surprising Washington with her frankness a day earlier.

WASHINGTON The Trump administration is nearing completion of a policy review to determine how far it goes in rolling back former President Barack Obamas engagement with Cuba and could make an announcement next month, according to current and former U.S. officials and people familiar with the discussions.

BAGHDAD Two car bombs killed at least 20 people in Baghdad and wounded about 80 others early on Tuesday, security sources said, one targeting the late-night crowds typical of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan who shop and eat ahead of the next day's fast.

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Rouhani faces pressure to improve human rights in Iran - Reuters