Memorial Day Ceremony at Camp Eggers

I wasn't able to attend because I had Family Home Evening at the same time.

Happy Memorial Day!!

Well today is Memorial Day but it is pretty much like every other day here -- 12 hour workday!! The only difference is the meal tonight will be special, i.e. one more entre. We will have bar-b-qued chicken, fried cat fish and Prime Rib, with corn on the cob and all the fixins.

Family History Seminar

I taught my Family Hisotry Seminar last night. It went well. It made for a long day. Got to work at 5am and got home at 10pm. Walking home (because my driver doesn't work that late) at 9:30pm was interesting. There was a lot of security so it wasn't too bad. I am glad it is over though.

Personal Goings On

It has been said there aren't enough personal items in my blogs so here goes:

Monday: Got up at 4:20am, showered, got dressed, went to work at 5am, ate breakfast at 5:30am, worked 5 and 1/2 hours, ate lunch at 11am, worked 5 and 1/2 hours, ate dinner at 4:30pm, went home at 5pm. Watched tv/read books till 7:30pm, went to bed.

Tuesday: Got up at 4:20am, showered, got dressed, went to work at 5am, ate breakfast at 5:30am, worked 5 and 1/2 hours, ate lunch at 11am, worked 5 and 1/2 hours, ate dinner at 4:30pm, went home at 5pm. Watched tv/read books till 7:30pm, went to bed.

Wednesday: Got up at 4:20am, showered, got dressed, went to work at 5am, ate breakfast at 5:30am, worked 5 and 1/2 hours, ate lunch at 11am, worked 5 and 1/2 hours, ate dinner at 4:30pm, went home at 5pm. Watched tv/read books till 7:30pm, went to bed.

Thursday: Monday: Got up at 4:20am, showered, got dressed, went to work at 5am, ate breakfast at 5:30am, worked 5 and 1/2 hours, ate lunch at 11am, worked 5 and 1/2 hours, ate dinner at 4:30pm, went home at 5pm. Watched tv/read books till 7:30pm, went to bed.

Friday: Got up at 6:15am, showered, got dressed, went to Camp Eggers at 6;45am, ate breakfast at 7:00am, went to Branch Presidency Meeting at 8:30am, went to church at 9:30am, ate lunch at 11:30am, went home at 12;15pm, ate dinner at 4;30pm at my apartment. Watched tv/read books till 7:30pm, went to bed.

Saturday: Got up at 4:20am, showered, got dressed, went to work at 5am, ate breakfast at 5:30am, worked 5 and 1/2 hours, ate lunch at 11am, worked 5 and 1/2 hours, ate dinner at 4:30pm, went home at 5pm. Watched tv/read books till 7:30pm, went to bed.

Sunday: Got up at 4:20am, showered, got dressed, went to work at 5am, ate breakfast at 5:30am, worked 5 and 1/2 hours, ate lunch at 11am, worked 5 and 1/2 hours, ate dinner at 4:30pm, went home at 5pm. Watched tv/read books till 7:30pm, went to bed.

And that my friends is pretty much the sum of my existence. Aren't you glad you asked.

Musings from Afghanistan

Well I've been here for 2 years now. I have been asked to teach a Family History Seminar tomorrow night. I was volunteered for it. Kind of torked me off -- now I have to put on a 2 hour presentation. It's from 8-10pm. Way past my bed time. It will be in the Clam Shell -- a large tent.

I was called as the Kabul Military Branch President on 9 Dec 2009. It's been an interesting run. The main thing is you have to be flexible. We only meet for 2 hours (yipee!). Three hours is way too long. We have an hour sacrament meeting a 5/10 minute break and then around 50 minutes for Sunday School, Priesthood, and Relief Society. We rotate the lessons: Sunday School - 2nd/4th Friday. Priesthood - 1st Friday. Relief Society - 3rd Friday. Oh yeah, we meet on Fridays. So when do you fast and which day do you keep holy (Friday/Sunday)? Sometimes the whole program goes up in smoke -- people are locked down, can't travel, called on missions. Any number of reasons people don't show up to speak or give their lessons so flexibility is the trait most needed here. We have 76 people in the Branch and only 5 are women. Needless to say they feel out-numbered. Our RS president is a Army Captain that works at HQ ISAF. My first counselor works at the US Embassy and my second counsleor is a Marine Seargeant that goes out on missions a lot.

Happy Anniversary -- 2 Years

Tomorrow -- 25 May 2011, I will have been here 2 years in the AOR (Area of Responsibility). Seems like just yesterday I got here. I am really enjoying my time here and am looking forward to another 2 years.

I feel like I am contributing to the mission here by saving over $7 Million dollars since I've been here as a cost analyst. Wish I got a commission.

My boss wrote a nice letter to BG McCaleb telling him what a great job I was doing and what a great contribution I was to the mission.

Plotters of the Suicide Attack on National Army hospital in Kabul Arrested

Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) on Monday said it has arrested the plotters of the suicide attack on National Army hospital in Kabul in which 6 were killed and 36 others were hurt on Saturday.

A spokesman for NDS, Lutfullah Mashal, said the group that planned the attack on the 400-bed military hospital in Wazir Akbar Khan in Kabul consisted of 5 members including a national army soldier.

Two other would-be suiciders have been detained in Kabul, he added.

He said Saif al-Adel who is said to be a possible replacement of Osama Bin Laden has planned the attacks to be carried out using military uniforms.

NDS names the main plotter of the attack in the hospital as Akmal who had joined the Afghan National Army eight months ago.

"Akmal had joined the Afghan defence ministry's 53rd Battalion and was in contact with another man called Wares who covertly recruited him for the Taliban," Mr Mashal said.

Meanwhile, he also said NDS has detained a would-be suicide bomber in northern Baghlan province who is named as Taj Mohammad, but no further details are available.

Mr Mashal said the ones who are encouraged to carry out suicide attacks by insurgent networks are mainly children and youths.

Taliban Leader Mullah Mohmmad Omar has been found and killed in Pakistan

Taliban Leader Mullah Mohmmad Omar has been found and killed in Pakistan, a source in the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) told TOLOnews on the condition of anonymity.

Mullah Omar was shot dead as he was being moved from Quetta to North Waziristan by former ISI chief Gen. Hamid Gul, the source said.

According to the source, Mullah Omar has been killed two days ago.

Foreign sources have not yet confirmed the death.

But NDS spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told TOLOnews he confirms that Mullah Omar was moved from Quetta to Waziristan two days ago, but cannot yet confirm the death.

"We confirm that Gen. Hamid Gul moved him from Quetta to North Waziristan two days ago, but we cannot confirm his death right now," said Mr Mashal.

Meanwhile, Gen. Hamid Gul, speaking to TOLOnews, denied having had any contact with Mullah Omar, and described the news as laughable.

"I'm alive, I'm here in Pindi. It's diabolical nonsense. I don't know why they are spreading such rumours. I would simply laugh over it," he said.

Mr Hamid Gul dismisses claims of Omar's presence in Pakistan and believes that the Taliban leader is in Afghanistan.

"According to American reports 75% of Afghanistan is in control of Taliban," he said. "They have their own parallel administrative system, they have parallel judicial system. Why should Mullah Omar be hiding in Pakistan? I just don't understand it," he further said.

He believes it it all because America "has to move out of Afghanistan or at least draw down" and Obama wants to declare that it's the end of war and tell his people that Osama and Omar are out of the way.

Pakistan's Deputy Foreign Minister, who was visiting Afghanistan at a time the news about the death of Mullah Omar burst out through Afghan media, said I am not in a condition to confirm reports claiming the death of the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in Pakistan.

An unnamed senior Pakistani security official has said on Monday he could not confirm that Mullah Omar had been killed.

"I am making queries, I can't confirm it," Dawn website quotes the official as saying.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, has said that the Taliban leader was "sound and safe" and in Afghanistan.

Radio Azadi in Kabul also aired the news quoting anonymous Afghan officials, but there has been no official confirmation.

Four suicide bombers stormed the traffic police building

Four suicide bombers stormed the traffic police building in eastern Khost province early on Sunday two of whom detonated their explosive vests while two others were gunned down by Afghan forces, local officials said.

The incident happened at 04:30 am sparking clashes between militants and Afghan forces, Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai, police chief of Khost told TOLOnews.

Firefight continued for about 10 hours and the Afghan forces are now in control of the area.

Three Afghan policemen and two Afghan national army soldiers were killed, and three policemen and an Afghan national army soldier were wounded, Abdul Jabbar Naeimi, Governor of Khost, told TOLOnews reporter.

At least one civilian was killed in the incident, he added.

Foreign forces were also seen in the area with Afghan forces, while a helicopter was hovering over the area.

The traffic police building was on fire and smoke could be seen rising.

Officials said one explosive-laden car near the building was made safe by Afghan forces.

The attackers are were in the second floor shooting down at Afghan security forces, Khost police chief said.

The Taliban group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

It comes a day after a suicide bombing hit Kabul military hospital in Wazir Akbar Khan in which 6 people were killed and 36 others were hurt.

Khost province is bordered by Pakistan and insurgents have been active in most villages of the province.

Previously insurgents have attacked on Afghan police check posts and foreign troops' bases in the province.

Taliban fighters have recently attacked government buildings and Afghan police check posts in some parts of the country.

The attack comes as Afghan security forces are to undertake security responsibility in July this year amid concerns that they may not yet be able to shoulder the burden on their own.object width="640" height="390">">

Afghanistan Car Pooling

Taliban Kill 35 Construction Workers in Paktia

Taliban Kill 35 Construction Workers in Paktia

Thursday, 19 May 2011 17:28
Written by TOLOnews.com


Taliban fighters have attacked a road construction company office in eastern Paktia province on Wednesday, killed 35 and wounded 20 others, local officials said on Thursday.

The attack happened at 12:00 am local time last night in Waze Zadran district of Paktia province when Taliban fighters attacked a construction company named Galaxy Sky, local officials said.

According to reports Taliban militants have taken away over 70 workers, security guards and engineers.

Officials have said an operation will be launched to find the kidnapped workers.

Paktia province is bordered by Pakistan and insurgents are active in most of its villages.

Insurgents have stepped up their attacks in the recent months.

Afghan and foreign forces have launched operations in different parts of the country to pave the ground for security transition.

The first phase of security transition is to begin in July this year amid concerns that Afghan forces may not yet be able to shoulder security responsibilities on their own.

Afghanistan: 'Suicide bomb' hits Kabul hospital

Six dead in suicide blast at Kabul military hospital
Saturday, May 21, 2011 7:01 AM

KABUL — Six medical students were killed and 23 others wounded in a Taliban suicide attack at Afghanistan's main military hospital in Kabul on Saturday, the defence ministry said.


The blast took place in a tent used as a dining room by students at the city centre hospital, one of the biggest and best-equipped in Afghanistan.


The hospital is not used by NATO forces, though it is thought that foreign medics are frequently stationed there to train their Afghan counterparts.


"There was a suicide attack at a tent used as a dining facility by medical students inside the hospital," said defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi.


"The blast killed six people and wounded 23 others and all of them are medical students."


Responsibility for the blast was claimed by the Taliban, whose spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said two attackers had entered the heavily-secured hospital.


A doctor inside the hospital, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity by telephone, said people in the building he was in within the compound had been shut into one room as searches went on for other attackers but had now been evacuated.


Mohammad Zaher, head of Kabul police's criminal investigation department, said that searches were still going on at the hospital for another possible attacker.


However, Azimi denied reports that there was a second suicide attacker on the loose in the hospital.


Eyewitness Mohammad Hakim, who has a cart selling fruit nearby, described what had happened.


"It was a big explosion, I fell to the ground," he said. "The police arrived late at the scene, half an hour after the explosion took place."


The roads to the hospital were blocked and Afghan security forces including the spy agency's quick reaction forces cordoned off the facility, while police and soldiers were also on the scene.


Relatives of patients inside the hospital gathered nearby after trying but failing to find out if their family members are safe, an AFP reporter at the scene said.


Afghanistan's military are frequently targeted by the Taliban and other militants. There has been a recent spike in suicide bombings — a key Taliban tactic — and other attacks in Afghanistan.


Two rockets were fired overnight into Kabul city landing in an empty plot, causing no damage or casualties, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP.


Afghan forces are set to take increasing responsibility for security as foreign combat troops withdraw in a process starting from July but not due to be completed until 2014.


The worst fighting in Afghanistan usually comes in spring and summer and the fighting season is starting to get under way.


The Taliban announced the start of its spring fighting season at the end of last month.


On Thursday, 36 people were killed when militants attacked a road construction company's compound in eastern Afghanistan in the biggest attack since they announced the start of the fighting season.


There are around 130,000 international troops in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban and other insurgents.


The conflict started with the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 following the September 11 attacks and has now run for nearly ten years.

An Afghan security official on Tuesday told TOLOnews that Pakistan's spy organisation has asked Mullah Mohammad Omar to leave Pakistan for a period.

An Afghan security official on Tuesday told TOLOnews that Pakistan's spy organisation has asked Mullah Mohammad Omar to leave Pakistan for a period.

The Afghan security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told TOLOnews that ISI has conveyed its message to the Taliban leader in Quetta through former Pakistani spy chief Gen. Hamid Gul.

Mullah Omar has been asked to leave Quetta for some time and move to Afghanistan or Iran.

"The Taliban leader, in the message, has been promised that ISI will facilitate his move to Helmand in Afghanistan or somehere in Iran," the official said.

The source said Pakistan's spy organisation wants to move Mullah Omar out and then report his location to the US forces.

Then if the Taliban leader is killed on Afghan soil, Pakistan will use it as a propaganda tool to show that terrorist leaders are also hiding in Afghanistan, the source said.

Meanwhile, Commander of Isaf Joint Command Lt Gen. David Rodriguez said on Monday that there were still around 100 al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan.

"We still think that there are just less than a 100 al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan, but again what they do is a cadre type organisation that helps out to bring both resources as well as technical skills to the rest of the Taliban fighting here," Gen. Rodriguez said at a press conference in Kabul.

US ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, had previously said senior insurgent leaders were outside Afghanistan.

"The senior leadership of the organisations ... al-Qaeda, Taliban, Haqqani, they do not live in your country," he said. "They have sanctuary outside of Afghanistan and now that we assume that their significant leaders that are found that are in Pakistan," Mr Eikenberry had said in Kabul on May 5.

He had said the United States was determined to kill or detain anyone that threatened the US national security anywhere in the world.

Afghan political expert, Noor-ul-Haq Olumi, believes that al-Qaeda structure has not been damaged and it is still functiong even after its leader has been killed.

"ISI is the organisation that trains, funds and harbours such terrorist organisation, and I think the region will suffer until no action is taken against the real terrorist training centre in the region," Mr Olumi said.

Nato has said Osama Bin Laden's death will not affect the Afghan mission and that they would stay in Afghanistan until necessary.

It comes as the United States has reportedly decided to speed up direct talks with the Taliban.

A US representative has attended at least three meetings in Qatar and Germany and the most recent has taken place around nine months ago, the Washington Post reports.

State Department spokesman Michael A. Hammer has said on Monday that the US has been having a "broad range of contacts across Afghanistan and the region, at many levels.

The talks with the Taliban have proceeded on several tracks, including through non-governmental intermediaries and Arab and European governments, US officials have said.

The Taliban have always rebuffed Afghan government calls for peace talks and pre-conditioned withdrawal of all foreign forces from the country before any talks can be held.

There have even been reports in the past that the Taliban group was willing to engage in direct talks with the US rather than with the Afghan government.

Four US soldiers were killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan on Monday

Four US soldiers were killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan on Monday, reports say.

The incidence was caused by the eplosion of a homemade bomb known as Improvised Explosive Devices or IEDs.

IEDs are widely used by insurgets to target Afghan and foreign forces in different parts of the country.

The bulk of Western casualties in Afghanistan are caused by IED attacks.

The surge in violence that has accompanied the start of the spring "fighting season" has taken a heavy toll on civilians in recent days as well, particularly children.

Officials in Kunar province, in eastern Afghanistan, have said Monday that at least three civilians were killed and eight injured in an apparently misdirected mortar attack by insurgents against a remote American base.

The Nato has condemned the attack whose victims reportedly included women and at least one child.

Violence is increasing as Afghanistan is approaching the first phase of security transition scheduled to begin in July this year.

US Defence Chief Robert Gate recently told CBS that it was premature to start a speedy withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

Shower Anyone?

Move Over You Are On My Side of the Trunk!

US Defence Chief Robert Gates has said it would be premature to speed up the pace of troops withdrawal from Afghanistan.

US Defence Chief Robert Gates has said it would be premature to speed up the pace of troops withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In an interview with CBS news 60 Minutes, Robert Gates said it's too early to accelerate withdrawal of troops.

""I think it's premature," he said."I think we just don't know. It's only been a week. And people are already drawing historical conclusions. I think that's a little quick," Mr Gates told CBS.

After the al-Qaeda Leader Osama Bin Laden was shot dead by US special forces in Abbottabad near Islamabad, it is widely believed in the United States that there is no reason to keep troops in Afghanistan where one of the main aims of the war on terror after 9/11 was to defeat al-Qaeda and deny it sanctuaries.

It is said that there are currently 200 al-Qaeda operatives left in Afghanistan.

Mr Gates has said the death of al-Qaeda could be a game changer in the Afghan war.

Robert Gates, 67, is to retire by the end of June and is likely to be replaced by CIA director Leon Panetta.

He has worked for the US government for 30 years in different positions.

Mr Gates has been the US Defence Secretary for the last four and half year.

I Felt the Earth Move Again!!!!

Moderate 5.9 quake strikes Afghanistan
15 May, 2011, 0427 hrs IST, AFP

KABUL: A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan's mountainous Hindu Kush region near the Pakistani border early today, US seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The quake hit at 1.37 am (local time) some 75 km south-southeast of Feyzabad and 256 km from the capital Kabul, the United States Geological Survey said in a report.

Its epicentre was 207 km deep, and was 140 km from Khorugh in Tajikistan and 236 kilometres from Mingora in Pakistan, USGS said.

Northern Afghanistan and Pakistan are frequently hit by earthquakes, especially around the Hindu Kush range near the collision of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in Pakistan in October 2005 killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million.

Scorpious Constellation

Bin Laden Fish Food

BYU, Utah Utes football: Time, network announced for rivalry game

BYU, Utah Utes football: Time, network announced for rivalry game
Deseret News

Published: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 3:35 p.m. MDT
PROVO — ESPN today announced the broadcast plans for the 2011 football game between BYU and Utah. The game, scheduled for Sept. 17, will be broadcast live on ESPN2 with kickoff scheduled for 7:15 p.m.

So far, ESPN has announced television plans for four BYU football games on the 2011 schedule. Others will be announced at a later date. Listed below are the games to date that have been scheduled for broadcast.

Sept. 17 vs. Utah, ESPN2 7:15 p.m. MT

Sept. 23 vs. UCF, ESPN 6 p.m. MT

Sept. 30 vs. Utah State, ESPN 6 p.m. MT

Oct. 28 vs. TCU, ESPN 7 p.m. CT

Mormon healing: Call the elders — or the sisters?

Mormon healing: Call the elders — or the sisters?
Published on May 10, 2011

For much of the first 100 years of LDS history, Mormon women could lay their hands on the sick, anoint them with oil, and offer a blessing for their recovery. They felt a special obligation to bless their own children and other mothers during pregnancy “confinement” and childbirth. That all ended in the mid-20th century, when the practice became the exclusive realm of the men-only Mormon priesthood.

Female healing first was authorized by church founder Joseph Smith, then carried on under Brigham Young and other early LDS presidents, according to an article in the winter issue of the Journal of Mormon History by Jonathan Stapley and Kristine Wright.

At an April 1844 Nauvoo General Conference, the authors note that Young declared, “I want a wife that can take care of my chi[ldre]n when I am away — who can pray — lay on hands anoint with oil & baffle the enemy.”

Young was such an advocate of female healing, Stapley and Wright argue, that in 1869 he chastized women who were seeking blessings from men, saying: “Why do you not live so as to rebuke disease? It is your privilege to do so without sending for the elders. ... ”

The ritual continued to be practiced while it was passed on through oral tradition, without manuals or written instructions. But when the Utah-based church began to formalize its institutional teachings and practices regarding priesthood powers in the early 20th century, the practice slowly evolved away from the women.

In a 1940 pamphlet, apostle John A. Widtsoe taught that “the spiritual gifts which always accompany the church of Christ and are signs of its verity, are properly exercised under the power of the priesthood.”

After that, women could pray for the health of their children and family, but only men could perform healing ordinances.

Stapley and Wright do note, however, an intriguing exception from 1979.

Then-President Spencer W. Kimball was recovering from brain surgery and asked for a blessing. Bruce R. McConkie, an apostle, and Marion D. Hanks, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, arrived to give it to him. Hanks anointed the ailing prophet's head, while McConkie invited Kimball's son, Edward, to join in. The apostle also invited the prophet's wife, Camilla, to place her hands on her husband's head.

“That was unusual,” Edward Kimball later wrote. “It seemed right to me, but I would not have felt free to suggest it on my own because of an ingrained sense that the ordinance is a priesthood ordinance.”

Though the LDS Church no longer authorizes women to administer healing rituals, Stapley and Wright conclude, “the heritage of female healing in the LDS Church is an essential facet of Mormon history and testament to the faith, power, and community of Mormon women.”

A Nato soldier was killed in bomb blast in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, Isaf said in a statement.

A Nato soldier was killed in bomb blast in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, Isaf said in a statement.

Isaf did not provide further details about the exact location of the incident and nationality of the soldier.

More than 167 foreign forces have been killed in the Afghan war so far this year.

Nearly 125 US troops, 16 from UK and 26 soldiers from other countries have been killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of the year.

Violence has recently increased in Afghanistan and Taliban had warned that they would start their spring offensives in the country and target government buildings and foreign forces.

Meanwhile, Isaf said on Tuesday that they will start heavy military operations in different regions of Afghanistan to clear militants.

Foreign forces are to hand over security responsibilities of seven areas to Afghan forces in July this year.

It comes as Oxfam has on Tuesday warned that Afghan security forces are not prepared to undertake security responsibilities.

The report by leading British charity, Oxfam, said only three years back in 2009 serious efforts were made to bolster the professionalism and accountability of Afghan security forces.

Oxfam has warned that more training is needed and human rights violations by Afghan forces could increase as they take on the frontline role.

But Afghan Defence Ministry called the report unrealistic and said potentials of Afghan security forces are increasingly growing despite all challenges.

The report entitled ‘No Time to Lose' said "there are serious concerns regarding the professionalism and accountability" of the Afghan security forces.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Sunday said projects at the total cost of $5bn are underway in Afghanistan.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Sunday said projects at the total cost of $5bn are underway in Afghanistan.

Deputy US Ambassador to Afghanistan Anthony Wayne said some of the projects are infrastructure projects that will cover different provinces in Afghanistan.

"In general we have probably about five billion dollars with the projects underway right now from AID," Mr Wayne said.

The projects will mainly focus to help road and dam construction and some other programmes will include capacity building, Mr Wayne said.

"Some of those projects are infrastructure projects, they are building roads, some of them are helping to create power lines, some of them are helping to improve irrigation", he said.

He said the USAID is also planning to invest in agriculture sectors of the country.

USAID is one of the biggest project launchers in the country and it has spent one billion dollars only in the field of energy.

Scenery From Afghanistan

Some of the beautiful sites here in Afghanistan!!

Transportation and Aviation Ministry has stopped four airlines to operate in Afghanistan mainly because of flying substandard aircraft.

Transportation and Aviation Ministry has stopped four airlines to operate in Afghanistan mainly because of flying substandard aircraft.

Transportation and Aviation Ministry Spokesman declined to disclose names of the airlines, but said the companies were providing cargo services.

The Ministry said after the crash of an aircraft belonging to Pamir Airways, a private Afghan Airline, we are seriously monitoring air services and a group is also formed to check papers of national and international airlines operating in the country.

"All airlines have been given a deadline of two months to visit the ministry and check their papers and if they are found substandard they will be fined," Transportation and Aviation Ministry Spokesman Nangyalai Qalatwal told TOLOnews.

Officials in the ministry said lack of flight regulations and a monitoring group was one of the biggest setbacks in the aviation and transportation part.

A number of staff in the ministry have been suspended after being found unprofessional, officials said.

Unfortunately, I am flying on one of those airlines next month!

News Release from Muslim Heaven

THIS JUST IN .............


OSAMA BIN LADIN has just met with the first of his 72 virgins that were promised

Defense Department Releases Picture from Bin Laden's Funeral

Defense Department Picture from Usama Bin Laden's Funeral.

New Listing -- Just On The Market!!! Must See

This home in Abbottabad, Pakistan is now available for immediate occupancy. Previous owner had to move due death in the family. Can be had real cheap -- former $1M home available for a steal. Has all the security upgrades you need -- for the person who doesn't want to be found or noticed by inquiring minds or nosey neighbors. Will accept all offers.

I am Back!!! View of New/Old Apartment

I am back where I started when I moved off base. This place is much nicer than any of the places I've live in the last year. I am happy as a clam in mud now!!!

Roses at 5 am

I noticed a lot of roses had bloomed outside my old house and took some pictures.

Family Pictures

See attached pictures of our family from 1951. It is when Grandfather Horace J. Nelson and Etta Nelson came to visit our home in Kansas City, MO.