Afghan president cements ties with Iran

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani arrived in Tehran early Sunday on a two-day official state visit and was officially welcomed by his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani.

Ghani and his delegation will hold discussions and the foreign ministers of both countries will sign Afghan-Iran Cooperation Agreements in the presence of the two leaders.

Issues expected to be discussed include that of counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, the fight against human trafficking and economic cooperation.

At around mid-day Sunday Ghani and Rouhani were behind closed doors in meetings ahead of the expected signing of bilateral agreements. Ghani’s trip comes after concerns were raised recently about Daesh activities in Afghanistan.

AFGHANISTAN NOMINATES DEFENCE MINISTER:

In the meanwhile, the unity government has evolved consensus on a nominee to head the Ministry of Defence (MoD), a lawmaker has said.

Mohammad Nazir Ahmadzai said President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has revealed this during his meeting with a number of lawmakers recently, Pajhwok reported.

“Yesterday, we met with the president and he said that Gen. Abdullah Khan, a former official of the MoD, will be introduced to parliament,” he added. “We thanked the president for this initiative. Our demand was that he should introduce a suitable choice as soon as possible for a vote of confidence.”