Ghani phones Rouhani, discusses regional tensions

KABUL: President Ashraf Ghani, in a phone conversation with President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, assured his Iranian counterpart that based on the Afghan-US security pact, the Afghan soil will never be used against any other country, the Presidential Palace said.

In this conversation, President Ghani extended his condolences and sympathy with the people and the president of Iran over Soleimani’s death. Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, leader of the foreign wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed in an airstrike by the US in Iraq on Friday, Jan. 3. The palace has not revealed more details about this conversation.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Palace in a statement said that in order to reduce air pollution in Kabul, President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday signed two orders – one requiring smoke purifiers for heating systems in residential, business and government buildings, and another banning the burning of rubber and plastic.

Despite the recent snowfall, Kabul is still among the top 10 cities with the most polluted air, according to Air Visual, an international air quality monitoring organization. The National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA) said that over 60 businesses, including 33 brickyards, were closed in the Arghani area in the west of Kabul on Sunday. “The businesses that were closed were harming the local residents,” NEPA chief Schah Zaman Maiwandi said.

“The business will be transferred to other places,” said Mahtab Alimi, the deputy head of city services of the Kabul Municipality. But owners of some companies criticized the way the anti-air pollution commission treats the businesses. “We have an Afs5,000 daily income. Who will pay our expenses now that our business has been closed?” asked Abdullah, owner of a construction materials company. This comes as other businesses and some townships in the city were closed by NEPA last week.