Afghanistan seeks explanation amid Trump’s claims

Ahas demanded the United States clarify remarks made by President Donald Trump, who said the country “would be wiped off the face of the Earth” if he wanted to win the war in Afghanistan.

“The Afghan nation has not and will never allow any foreign power to determine its fate,” Sediq Sediqqi, the spokesman for the President of Afghanistan, said in a statement. “

Given the multifaceted relationship between Afghanistan and the United States, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan calls for clarifi

cation on the U.S. President’s statements.”

Trump had suggested that he could put an end to the Afghanistan war in a week, but that it would cost millions of lives and wipe the country “off the face of the Earth.”

“If we wanted to fight a war in Afghanistan and win it, I could win that war in a week. I just don’t want to kill 10 million people,” Trump said, seated beside Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan at the White House yesterday. “I have plans on Afghanistan, that if I wanted to win that war, Afghanistan would be wiped off the face of the Earth. It would be gone. It would be over in — literally, 10 days, and I don’t want to do it— I don’t want to go that route.”

The U.S. has been pursuing a diplomatic strategy to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan, holding onagain, off-again talks with the Taliban in Qatar to reach a peace deal. Earlier this month, a group of prominent Afghans —including some Afghan government officials acting in a personal capacity — held two days of joint talks with the Taliban, unofficially agreeing on a roadmap on how they might reach a peace deal.

KFinance Minister Henry Rotich pleaded not guilty yesterday to corruption charges over the award of two dam tenders, in an unprecedented legal move against a sitting minister in a country notorious for graft.

Rotich was due to be freed on bail after his lawyers argued he was not a flight risk. He was accused alongside other senior officials of conspiring to defraud the public, among other charges, having spent the night in a police cell.

Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti granted him bail on a

cash surety of 15 million shillings ($145,000) and ordered Rotich to visit his office only under supervision, calling it a crime scene.

Dressed in a gray pinstripe suit and yellow tie, Rotich denied the charges before a packed Nairobi court. Not all the 28 accused were in court, but all 20 who were also pleaded not guilty.

The case stems from an investigation into the misuse of funds in two dam projects planned in western Kenya, overseen by Italian construction company CMC Di Ravenna.

Kenya also charged a director of the company in absentia with conspiracy to defraud the country. Kenya will seek Paolo Porcelli’s extradition from Italy, director of public prosecutions Noordin Haji said yesterday.

The company had not complied with a request to give statements to Kenyan authorities, he told Reuters.

CMC di Ravenna denied wrongdoing on Monday and said it had not been informed of any such request. Officials of the company were not available for comment yesterday.