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Two students were tragically and needlessly killed in Laghman Province, and seven others and a teacher injured, when a mortar round struck their school. We cannot let children and schools continue to become victims of this escalating conflict, said NRC Country Director in Afghanistan, Kate O'Rourke. Education is increasingly becoming a casualty of the conflict.

Around 10am Saturday 25 Feb, a mortar round struck a state-run classroom in the Shaheed Mawlawi Habib Rahman High School in the Besram area of Alingar District, in the Eastern province of Laghman.

Everyone was in class when we heard the sound of a mortar being fired nearby, said Abdul Latif Kochai, the School Principal. Our students and nearby villagers frantically transported those injured to the hospital. The medical staff tried their best to treat them. Two of our male students diedone in Grade 7, the other in Grade 11.

The day before, armed clashes between armed opposition groups and Afghan security forces had intensified near Besram, located near the border between Alingar and Mehterlam districts.

Neither side has accepted responsibility. However, around two hundred villagers protested later that day outside the Laghman Provincial Governors Compound in Mehterlam.

This is tragedy for the families of these children and their communities. The aspirations of these students and teachers to contribute to a better future in their country have been destroyed in this senseless incident, said ORourke. "The rise in attacks on education in Afghanistan undermines the progress made in the last decade. Afghan parents must increasingly choose between their childrens education and their safety."

International Humanitarian Law proscribes attacks on educational institutions by military forces.

The Afghan Government is commended for being one of the first signatories to the Oslo Safe Schools Declaration. It must investigate all attacks on schools and hold those found responsible accountable, said Will Carter, Head of Programme, NRC Afghanistan.

The Government should not dismiss any information before it has conducted a thorough investigation. There is no evidence to suggest that the school was occupied by the Taliban, or had in some way become a legitimate military target. Instead, students were studying.

Facts

The Government of Afghanistan endorsed the Oslo Safe Schools Declaration in a meeting hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 29 May 2015, along with 36 other States. To date, 59 States are signatories to the Declaration.

The number of people displaced due to conflict has increased in Afghanistan over the past five years. More than 600,000 persons were internally displaced due to conflict in 2016 alone. On top of this, more than 600,000 Afghans returned from Pakistan between July and December 2016, with the majority settling in eastern Afghanistan.

In 2016, NRC supported the education of approximately 80,000 Afghan boys and girls affected by conflict and emergency in Afghanistan, including 10,000 in the Eastern region. This work is primarily funded by the EU (ECHO), Norway and Sweden (Sida).

In total, over 2016, NRC directly assisted 300,000 displaced persons through its wider programming in Afghanistan, which includes legal assistance, shelter, and education in emergencies. NRC maintains ten offices across the country, including in Nangarhar, which also responds to humanitarian needs in Laghman Province.

A second Safe Schools Declaration meeting is scheduled for 28-29th March 2017 in Argentina, aiming for increased commitment to the Oslo Safe Schools Declaration.

More here:
Military fire against school in Eastern Afghanistan: Education is increasingly becoming a casualty of the conflict - ReliefWeb

Aljazeera.com

10 Police Officers Killed in Ambush by Militants in Afghanistan New York Times KABUL, Afghanistan At least 10 police officers and the wife of a police commander were killed in an ambush by Islamic State militants in the northern province of Zawzjan, a provincial official said on Saturday. Mohammad Reza Ghafori, a spokesman for ... Mosque ambush kills 10 police in northern AfghanistanAljazeera.com Afghanistan: IS militants kill 11 in mosque ambushHindustan Times Reports: Dozens Die in Violence Across AfghanistanVoice of America SBS -WBOC TV 16 -Quad-Cities Online all 26 news articles »

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10 Police Officers Killed in Ambush by Militants in Afghanistan - New York Times

AFGHANISTAN TOUR OF ZIMBABWE, 2017

Cricbuzz StaffLast updated on Sun, 26 Feb, 2017, 05:31 PM

Mohammad Nabi scored 48 off 40 in the deciding ODI in Harare. Getty

Afghanistan inched one step closer to a series win after Mohammad Nabi hit a crucial 48 towards the end of the innings to help his side post 253 on the board against Zimbabwe in the fifth and final One-Day International. With Afghanistan posting the highest score of the series, Zimbabwe will have their task cut out in the chase on Sunday (February 26).

Afghanistan opted to bat first in the decider and made four changes to their XI in their bid to seal the series. The hosts though were unchanged, following a crushing seven-wicket win in the fourth ODI at the same venue.

With teams initially struggling against the new ball throughout the series, the Afghanistan openers probably wanted to make a mark early. Mohammad Shahzad drove the first ball of the match through the covers for a boundary and fetched another two balls later, courtesy of an inside edge. Noor Ali Zadran began in similar fashion by driving one past mid-off as the visitors made 13 in the first over. There were no boundaries hit in the next three overs before Ali Zadran found the gap between mid wicket and mid on. Richard Ngarava finally struck in the sixth over by bringing one back into Shahzad that shattered the stumps.

The wicket did no harm to Afghanistan's run rate though as four boundaries were hit in the next three overs with three of them coming from Ali Zadran's bat. The flurry of boundaries took the run rate past six as the visitors made full use of the powerplay. They couldn't end it on a high note though as Ngarava made another breakthrough. Gulbadin Naib missed the ball and was trapped leg-before while attempting a flick. Ali Zadran then made full use of a free-hit in the following over by depositing the ball over deep midwicket for a maximum. The impressive 28-year-old collected two more boundaries but his dismissal in the 15th over for 46 proved to be a huge setback.

Afghanistan went through a period where they failed to find the boundary rope even once in nine overs. Asghar Stanikzai broke the shackles with a boundary over extra cover but Sean Williams got rid of the skipper in the very next over, trapping him lbw. The wicket was followed by another barren spell without any boundaries as the run rate began to dip. A terrible mix up then cost Samiullah Shenwari his wicket and then three overs later, it was the turn of Rahmat Shah to get dismissed in similar fashion. He had done a decent job until then, reaching a half-century off 79 balls.

With six wickets down by the 40th over, Afghanistan needed senior statesman Nabi to put his hand up and deliver, which he did with aplomb. His first boundary came off Williams when he smashed the left-arm spinner for a six. Even though Najibullah Zadran fell at the other end, Nabi kept the scoreboard ticking. Ngarava then the bore the brunt of the allrounder's assaault as Nabi hit him for back-to-back boundaries. Nabi and Rashid Khan were dismissed in the penultimate over but Dawlat Zadran's little cameo hurt Zimbabwe right at the death. The bowler hammered Chatara for a couple of fours and a six in the final over to take his side past 250. The previous highest score in the series was 238, which was also posted by Afghanistan, a contest they went on to win.

Brief scores: Afghanistan 253/9 (Rahmat Shah 50, Mohammad Nabi 48; Chris Mpofu 3-46, Richard Ngarava 2-37) vs Zimbabwe

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Advantage Afghanistan after Nabi's cameo - Cricbuzz

Published time: 25 Feb, 2017 21:57Edited time: 26 Feb, 2017 04:47

In what has become a regular occurrence in recent months, a deportation flight bound for Kabul, Afghanistan, took off from Germany with less than half of the expected passengers on board.

While 50 people were scheduled to be repatriated, "in fact, only 18 got on the flight," Interior Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate was quoted as saying by The Local.

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"There are always a few who don't turn up because of different reasons health reasons, successful applications for urgent rights protection of which there are three cases here Others go into hiding or seek asylum in churches," he added.

"That's why the government has initiated several measures, including for example no longer announcing such flights in advance," Plate confirmed.

This is the third wave of deportations since December as part of an ongoing, Europe-wide effort to alleviate the refugee crisis. A flight from Germany to Afghanistan in December 2016, when the current phase of the repatriation initiative began, had 16 of 50 passengers disappear.

"We sent home 80,000 last year whose asylum applications were rejected that's a record And the number will rise again further, Peter Altmaier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff told Bild in an interview.

There were some 700,000 asylum applications in 2016 and nearly 300,000 were rejected. We'll be sending these people home quickly, because if we don't, it'll damage our credibility as a state based on the rule of law," he added.

There is still strong support for refugees to remain in the country, as evidenced by the 300 protesters at Munich airport on Wednesday.

READ MORE: If Afghanistan collapses, 4mn more refugees will flood into Europe Fallon

In addition, the German state of Schleswig-Holstein will not be deporting any refugees to Afghanistan until May 31, at the earliest. This bold move further highlights the complexity of the refugee crisis in Germany as national and state authorities clash on an ongoing basis.

"The security situation in Afghanistan may vary from region to region, but one cannot say that the situation anywhere in the country is particularly good," Brbel Kofler, the Bundestag's human rights commissioner told the German Passauer Neue Presse newspaper, as reported by DW.

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Half-empty deportation flight to Afghanistan highlights ongoing ... - RT

Greens co-leader Cem zdemir launched an election-year broadside in the Sunday edition of the populist broadsheet "Bild," calling Germany's government compliant with rights abuses in Turkey.

He also criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel's planned trip to Ankara in April, just ahead of a referendum in which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will seekto expand his powers - and the amount of time he spends in office.

zdemir said the trip could "only be evaluated as support for Erdogan's journey toward dictatorship."

He condemned a planned pre-referendum speech by Erdogan in Germany. "Erdogan abuses our democracy to campaign for his dictatorship," zdemir said. Seventy-seven percent of respondents in a recent survey also want Germany's government to find a way to ban Erdogan's speech.

zdemir also said the government had been too reticent in callsfor the release of Deniz Ycel, a journalist for the German newspaper "Welt" - also owned by "Bild" publisher Axel Springer - who has been arrested in Istanbul for his reporting.

Afghanistan: 'Not safe'

zdemir also struck out at Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel's pursuing of deportations of rejected asylum applicants to Afghanistan despite the fact that much of the country remains at war or experiences warlike conditions. Gabriel must "swiftly adapt the appraisal of the situation to the reality," zdemir told Bild.

Other Greens took to the press Sunday to criticize Gabriel anddeportations sought by Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere. Federal parliamentarianOmid Nouripour told the public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk that the classification of Afghanistan as a "safe" country for deportations was "politically motivated." Nouripour, who recently traveled to Afghanistan to evaluate the situation with his own eyes, said the ruling parties had fallen into a "panic" in the face of the rising anti-immigrant, nationalist party Alternative for Germany.

Last week, Gabriel said the situation could not be evaluated in Afghanistan as a whole - and that 56 percent of asylum applicants from the nation were approved anyway. "There are safe and very unsafe regions," Gabriel said on Wednesday. According to numbers reported by "Welt" at the end of January, Germany has ordered more than 12,500 Afghans deported, and some politicians, especially from Bavaria's ruling Christian Social Union, have called for removals to be accelerated.

Dietary dispute

In the interview, the Greens lawmaker also gave "Bild" a bit of personal information.

Now 51, zdemir told the newspaper that he quit eating meat when he was 17 years old - and that his parents were not happy with the decision.

"For my father, meat was something that one had to work hard for," zdemir said. "He did not accept that his own son no longer wanted to eat it."

mkg/tj (AFP, kna, epd, dpa)

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German Greens co-chief zdemir raps Merkel and Gabriel on Turkey, Afghanistan - Deutsche Welle