ashraf ghani has nominated ministers and chief of the national bank. another announcement for afghanistan by ashraf began ashraf ghani. >> that's right. afghans have been waiting for three months for this cabinet. it includes three women none of them have been ministers before. that's something that ashraf ghani and the co-leader of his unit government, the ceo abdullah abdullah have been promising. ashraf ghani saying he wants to see things change in government of course, corruption part of the government before. the defense minister an peace council would be head of foreign affairs. this all still has to be confirmed by parliament. parliamentarians said they would look at them very carefully and make sure they can could the job, but for the afghan people many things have been paralyzed since the presidential election process started last april. many people have been reluctant to do anything, and lack of ministers during this new administration meant that many of the government offices have not been operating as normal. afghans will be watching and wai

and ashraf ghani finally announces his cabinet three months after being sworn in. >>> hello, two of the u.s. military's top social media accounts have been hacked by what appears to be supporters of the islamic state of iraq and the levant. the twitter and youtube pages of the u.s. central command were targeted. centcom directs all activity at the middle east and africa. the centcom says, on behalf of allah, the most merciful. posted names of ufs generals u.s. generals and e-mail addresses associated with them. centcom general has been hacked also. >>> let's go to the latest from al jazeera's rosalyn jordan, in washington d.c. give us more about what happened here. >> well this apparently started just about 90 minutes ago. and it went on for approximately 40 minutes or so, and that's when both the youtube and the twitter accounts for centcom were disabled. military officials are saying that they are aware that there was some kind of compromise of both social media accounts and that they're taking steps to try prevent this from happening again. it's important to remind our viewers, felic

ashraf ghani has said to be inveiled. lets go to jennifer glasse, in exulkabul now. another below to the formation of the government jennifer. it took three months to get these 23 scab net nominations and announcements nominations for central bank. they've recessed now after the potential ministers were introduced into parliament. they said anybody with dual citizenship, afghan citizenship and another zenship they planned to reject. they didn't plan to get 11 ministers with dual citizenship. at least one minister was wanted by interpoll. that was the minister of agriculture. he's dropped out. at least one, there is an age concern, may not be 35 years old and old enough to be minister. the members of parliament said they will look into each one of these but they need to get this one done as quickly as possible. that's balance they're trying to strike, make sure the ones they put in place will be the right ones will be accountable. they have the power to prove or disprove any of the president's nominees. without a government any of those plans will be difficult to impl

president ashraf ghani say that 25 people have been nominated including three women. the list of nominees will now go before parliament for approval. >>> u.s. allegations that it sent money to afghanistan to pay for police salaries. ghost workers have been receiving salaries, and 20% of the workforce may not be getting their full paychecks. >>> cuba has released 53 prisoners as part of its historic deal with the united states. it was the request that led two countries to restore diplomatic ties after decades of division. human rights organizations say they were in prison for advocating political and social reform in cuba. we have updates from the u.s. city of miami, a place with a large cuban community. >> reporter: this is a significant development in the normization of cuba and the u.s. of the prisoners released, we don't know their names. we don't know who they are but we know they've been named by human rights groups. so people calling for things like social and political change. now reaction here in miami holds more than 1 million cubaens. for those who support t

so what challenges does ashraf ghani face? the most difficult is to maintain his fragile partnership with his former presidential rival, dr. abdullah abdullah. mr. ghani has pledged that his first reforms will improve the rule of law and tackle corruption. that is a key element in his plan to boost afghanistan's weak economy. now, another uphill task is to improve security in the country as nato combat troops withdraw. and a final challenge surrounds the role of women including that of his very own wife who has had an unusually high profile so far. the bbc's david loyn reports from kabul. >> reporter: now that the u.s.-led forces have formally handed over combat responsibility to afghanistan, i join the head of the afghan army on his first trip out of the capital since the handover. our destination, close to the volatile border with pakistan. general carimi is tipped to be the defense minister. >> to pick up the right people to select individuals that are good for their job professionally and from other point of view, you know

afghanistan has been without government since ashraf ghani agreed to share parliament. we are talking about a government sharing if the nominees get there, are we seeing the formation of a proper government or of a short in afghanistan? >> at least the voting is going on. afghans have been waiting for this for four months. that is how long it's taken to get cabinet nominees into parliament. seven of the cabinet nominees were not voted on. they were rejected for having no citizenship, questions about educational credentials, and questions about her age. none of the three cabinet nominees made it to the vote. we'll see a vote. only a partial vote. as well ahead of the intelligence services. the parliament will then go on recess. we won't see them for at least a month. if it goes through and there's a semblance of movement. how different is that. how is it being governed right now? a. welling right now many are at a stand still. if you drive around kabul, there's lines outside every ministry. they start to go about their lives. a lot are paralyzed. even when you get the si

that's something that ashraf ghani said that we would see new phrases. there is leadership experience including former head of the army as well as former head of the high peace council. these nominations still have to be confirmed by parliament. parliament members say they'll be vetting these cabinet members very closely. this nomination comes as a new report has been released on the fund that pays for afghanistan's policemen. this report coming from the special inspector general of the united states, who looks at afghanistan's funds. the report saying that there is a wide scope for corruption in the police fund. $300million a year given to afghanistan by the united states. after nine years that fund still does not have an electronic payroll system, and there are twice as many police i.d.s issueed than there are policemen, and there is potential for corruption in this fund. those policemen could be being paid and afghan police chiefs could benefit from this because some of the funds are paid out in cash. the united nations development program which admin

none of them have been ministers before and that's what ashraf ghani has promised, that we would see new faces. the head of the army as well as head of the high peace council. these candidates will be vetted by parliament very closely. a new report released on the off and on this pays for afghanistan, police, coming from the inspector general of the united states who looks at afghanistan funds. the report saying there is a wide scope for corruption in the police fund. $300 million a year given to afghanistan by the united states. it says after nine years that fund still doesn't have an electronic payroll system, that there are still about twice as many afghan police i.d.s issue as there are policemen. but there there is a lot of potential for corruption in this fund. that a ghost policeman could be paid and that afghan police chiefs could benefit from this because some of the funds are paid out in cash. now the united nations development program which administers this fund disputes the fact that 20% of afghan policemen are in jeopardy of not getting some or all of their paycheck but

and president of ashraf ghani will have another sticks months before reform can take place. afghans are frustrated that the political wrangling has lasted so long. jennifer glass al jazeera, kabul. >> an israeli rights group is accusing israel of violating international law by targeting palestinian homes during last year's conflicts in gaza. the report said that the policy caused a huge number of casualties most of them women children. more than 2,002 palestinians were killed and 72 fatalities on the israeli side. >>> sarit michaeli. >> it appears the majority of people killed were not involved in the hostileities. they were family members very often, and in some cases we know who the intended targets of these souls were, militants from haomas or other armed groups from gas. in other cases we don't know the stated intention the military. but when you look at these attacks and when you look at the policies of bombing civilian bombings over the summer, it appears that this policy in some cases has led to attacks that violates international law. and other cases there are suspic

but deadlines should not be dogmas. >> logan: ashraf ghani is the new president of afghanistan, a formerank official who has spent much of his life in the u.s. >> ghani: if both parties, or, in this case, multiple partners, have done their best to achieve the objectives, and progress is very real, then there should be willingness to reexamine a deadline. >> logan: did you tell president obama that? >> ghani: president obama knows me. we don't need to... to tell each other. >> logan: it took a firm hand from the u.s. to get president ghani and his chief political rival, dr. abdullah abdullah, to share power after a bitter dispute over fraud in the presidential election. it's general campbell's job to stay close to both men. he's now invited to attend their national security council meetings here in the palace, and says the new government is on the offensive. in our interview, president ghani had strong words for the nation's enemies. >> ghani: do not ever threaten an afghan with violence. we will rise as one, and we will face every threat the way we have taken on thousands of previous arm

. >>> judge me on my first 100 days the words of ashraf ghani.one is today, so we'll be looking at what he's managed to achieve. >>> also on the program, aaron is back and we've been hearing from the big boss at sony. >> absolutely lucy. he made his first public comments since last month's computer hacking attack on sony pictures. he says he's proud of his staff who stood up to these extortionist tactics, so stay tuned because he also had some very, very harsh words for those who were behind that hack attack. >>> welcome back to "gmt." we begin with the search for wreckage of airasia flight 8501. officials have reportedly pulled two more bodies from the sea on the tenth day of operations. that means that the bodies of 39 of the 162 people onboard have now been recovered. strong currents have forced the teams to expand the search area and officials believe they could have found the tail of the plane which holds the black box flight recorders in the shallow waters around 160 kilometers off the coast of borneo. the flight from indonesia to singapore

. >> now aring afghanistan's parliament is voting on whether to accept president ashraf ghani's cabinet nominees there has been controversies about many of the choices. afghanistan - the confirmation process in parliament is a complicated one. only 18 of the ministers. >> not many went to a vote. none of the three women were nominated by the president. they have been long to say they were contesting sit zin ship. and in one case candidates about the documents. of the cabinet nominees they never made it to the cabinet vote. afghans are waiting to get ministers in place. as soon as a minister is confirmed, they go in office tomorrow. that is already in place. afghans will welcome that. the economy has been at a standstill. they've been basically nonfunctioning. it's been four months since the president and his chief executive were in a unity government. it is the first government of its kind, and afghans are watching. it's some indication of how difficult things will be. president ghani asked for six more months to institute real reforms in the ministries. we won't have a full cabinet. pa

be another month before afghanistan has an unity government after parliament rejected half of ashraf ghani's nominees. only eight of his 25 candidates were approved. afghanistan has been without a government since ghani and abdullah abdullah agreed to share power after disputed elections in september. >>> thousands of protesters have been on the streets of the southern yemeni to rally against shia houthi rebels. they're demanding that the houthi leave city and government institutions, which they have taken over. >>> russia's government is preparing to make huge public spending cuts as part of an economic rescue package. the kremlin will use savings to pump out $35 billion into the economy, which has been battered by falling oil prices and western sanctions. the crash in russia's currency the up ruble has led to credit agencies to cut russia's credit ratings to just six. >>> days after being sworn into power alexis tsipras holds plans that include negotiation on bail out deals. that has fears for many but there was positive news for hundreds of government cleaners. >> on wednesday, they were

. >>> trying to hold a together, president ashraf ghani puts together his new unity cabinet. >>> now in ukraine embezzle

it's been 101 days since president ashraf ghani was inaugurated. they have not been act agree on a government alongside abdul ghani. and the lack of a cabinet is paralyzing afghanistan. if you go to the industry there's hundreds lined up getting documents signed. a lot of times the officials - lower level officials will not act on them. a lot of uncertainty making the economy. really the political instability very much a problem alongside a chorus with security problems. >> jennifer glasse live in kabul. still ahead - protests follow mexico's president to washington d.c. as he visits the united states. problems in the pipeline the piece on projects stirs a stand off between the u.s. president and republicans. peno nieto neate jooub ah, got it. these wifi hotspots we get with our xfinity internet service are all over the place. hey you can stop looking. i found one. see? what do you think a wifi hotspot smells like? i'm thinking roast beef. want to get lunch? get the fastest wifi hotspots and more coverage on the go than any other provider. xfinity,

. >> translator: i voted for ashraf ghani as president so he could uncover corruption but now he coversuption. i made a big mistake voting for us a traitor. >> reporter: gani is ruling with abdullah abdullah some site the unprecedented alliance for the delay. >> we did not solve all of our problems in the last 100 days but now it's time to act upon those problems. >> reporter: this afghan tv station has been following the government's progress with a nightly program called 100 days. >> i think the afghan people expect more. i think the afghan people understood that it was a change and they wish the change for better. but there have been certain shortcomings which have undermined the whole government initiative for the past 100 days. >> reporter: the government has made some progress signing a security deal with the u.s. and nato and reopening the investigation into the country's largest bank scandal. afghans are also following the progress on the internet. here afghans work on the 100 days website, where the afghan public can report and comment on whether the government is keeping its c

there was a ceremony at the palace this morning where the new president ashraf ghani addressed his troops congratulating them on their new role saying how proud he was on them and how the country was firmly behind them. but as you say, of course the challenges ahead are many. the attack you referred to on the wedding party last night in the province of helmand interestingly took place in a district which had been handed over to the afghans more than six months ago, and since then has seen fierce fighting between the afghan security forces and the taliban. and we understand that a stray rocket hit the wedding party just as they were about to enter the house in which the wedding was due to take place. unfortunately, most of the victims are women and children. but as you say, perhaps a sign really of how unsettling things could be from now on. >> and we're bound to be focusing on that and looking very carefully to see what impact the taliban might yet have now in afghanistan. how much emphasis would be placed now on relations between afghanistan and pakistan to try to bring some sort of sens

ashraf ghani praised the soldiers. hours earlier a stray bullet hit a wedding reception, killing women and children in helmand province. jennifer glasse reports. >> reporter: civilians caught in the middle again. afghan government forces and the taliban were fighting. rockets fell on a house crowded. >> translation: the rocket struck a wedding in part. almost 2 dozen people have been moved to the hospital, more are on the way. >> reporter: all this hours after n.a.t.o.'s combat mission ended. evidence the war is not over. the fighting in helmand has been fierce all year. the taliban controlling much of the countryside. a similar story in the kunar province in the east. the afghan army can't move more than a few kilometres because of the taliban. it says al qaeda is rebuilding training camps on the mountain tops. all scenes of a difficult time ahead. >> we have a lot more to come on the al jazeera newshour. including after the floods in malaysia villages try to salvage the little left in their homes. >>> in new york and

a spokesman for president ashraf ghani, inaugurated in november. ministers will go before parliament for approval. >>> the u.s. is investigating allegations that money it sent to afghanistan to pay police salaries ended up in the pockets of ghost workers 20% of the police force may not be getting their full paychecks. the u.s. secretary of state has arrived in pakistan, to hold talks about terrorism. school in peshawar, a scene of one of the is worst attacked. walls have been raised and electric fencing to increase security. kamal hydir reports. >> the mood is defined they say they want to go back to school no matter what the risk. but the apprehension are also high because parents are seriously concerned about the security of their children and while the military run schools will now have top-notch security private institutions such as this college here in peshawar, there will be demands to put razor wire, meltal detectors not conducive for this country a country in the state of war. and the government it appears does not have any plans to effecti

. >>> fans of ash rah ashraf ghani. coalition soldiers mainly americans will stay behind to support afghan security forces for two years. in an interview ghani suggested that the u.s. rethink its deadline for pulling out troops. no comment yet from the white house. >>> peshmerga fighters are hoping to take back more land from i.s.i.l. fighters. mmedz mohammad adowmohammad adow has the story. >> a few meters away is the village of sultan abdalla it was the scene of heavy fighting from islamic state of iraq and the levant and kurdish peshmerga forces. peshmerga now control the village but it is still within the range of i.s.i.l. fire. we were advised against going into the village. it's a front line so with the mortars almost daily every day there is a mortars between us and them because we have very long front line. >> unexploded bombs litter the area around the peshmerga camp. they say i.s.i.l. has killed some of their men. a few kilometers behind the sultan abdalla front lines is the village riddled with bullet holes a

afghanistan has been without a government since ashraf ghani and abdul ghani decided to share power. >> reporter: there will be some ministers. we though there won't be a full cabinet because only 18 of the 25 nominees are being voted on. we are getting the first results in now. the head of intelligence has been approved. the foreign minister has also been approved. defence minister has not been approved. the former head of the army was the candidate for minister of defence. not approved. any sense of how difficult it will be today. i talked to someone from the president's office and they are not expecting candidates to get through. one of the sticking points is parliament tends to recess. there can't be anyone presented to the parliament. it will mean that there won't be a full cabinet for a month. the votes counted now, the announcement, the results being announced, the ministers who are confirmed by the parliament go into office. those not confirmed by the parliament - then the president's office the unity government has to put forward new candidates. >> thank you very much indeed

meanwhile president of afghanistan ashraf ghani is taking them seriously, saying he'd like president obama to re-examine the two year deadline imposed, wanting them to be out of a war. i'm joined by james fallos national correspondent for "the atlantic", and author of: good to have you with us. the american military as you say, is the best equipped fighting force in the history of the world, professional well trained, motivated and disciplined. what is the tragedy as you see it. >> the tragedy is winning battles, winning wars. i try to argue for the past dozen plus years, the military in the united states is at war in afghanistan, iraq and around the world. the country of the united states as a public has not been. fewer than 1% of the u.s. government, in iraq or afghanistan, in the whole time. they argue the disconnection has pernicious affects on the battles we choose, weapons we buy and troops we are going. it is dramatically different for what we saw, where mostable-bodied men of a certain age were in the armed force, and had connections to the military. that led to what you call

the president of afghanistan ashraf ghani is taking u.s. forces seriously, he told cbs news that he'd like president obama to re-examine the 2-year deadline imposed for all u.s. troops to be out of a war lasting more than 13 years. i'm joined by my next guest, good to have you with us, jim. the american military, as you say, is the best equipped fighting force in the history of the world - professional, well trained. it? >> that is essentially that of winning battles and losing wars. i try to argue that for the last dozen years, the military has been at war. fewer than 1% of the u.s. republic has been in iraq or afghanistan in all the time put together. it has pernicious effects on the battles weapons we buy and support they are given. >> you argue the separatition, which is different to what we saw during world war ii, where most able-bodied men were in the armed forces, most had connections with the military. that has led to what you call america being a chicken hawk nation, referring to people being pro-war. as long as someone else is fi

so i think what ashraf ghani is saying, i have to share power with my political adversary and appointo are politically confident but also ethnically diverse, there are 11 ethnicities in afghanistan. and i have to pick people based on a little bit of spoils thing, the realism comes in. he's doing a two-fold thing. he's got to deal with the military situation and the security forces as well as the harder problem of standing up a representative government. >> it sounds a lot like iraq -- >> doesn't it? >> in days after the war ended there and the same problems existed in terms of tribal factions, how do you bridge that divide. with this kind of thing going on in afghanistan thehow should the united states be responding? >> the united states should look back at our experience in iraq and say, did we do the right thing? if we had a do-over, would we have stood down the iraqi military in the first place, but when we left, it we not in fact snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? history will tell us that. we'll see how it plays out with isis and everything. your point about the division pol

working slowly if at all and cannot get basic things done and would like to see ghani's government in place and working and ashrafone ghani is ruling with abdoullah-abdoullah and never been done and watching to see if it will work and so far it's working very slowly and president ghani in parliament today making ambitious speech saying he plans to make a lot of changes and needs more time and wants to make a lot of reforms and new ministers accountable to people and parliament and waiting for when the government will be installed and what kind of government it will be. >> reporter: voters in zambia choosing the next president following the death of michael last year and vote expected to be a close race between candidates and ruling front and opposition united party for national development and we report from polling station in the capitol. >> reporter: this election was not made to happen now but michael died last year in office and people have to come out and vote for a new president and have come out in big numbers waiting in long lines and very excited about casting their votes. when they get to the door they

ashraf ghani was elected in late december, but they threatened to fuel the taliban insurgency. the cabinet does still need to be approved by parliament. >>> china state media say police in the far western region of xinjiang have shot dead four attackers. they said that five other men were found and killed. xinjiang has been a state of attacks in recent months which beijing blames on weak. >>> an egyptian court has cleared 26 men arrested after a raid on a bathhouse in cairo last month and charged with inciting debauchery. the arrest last month were filmed by a local television station. the images of the men being pulled half-naked out of the bathhouse by police had drawn huge public attention. >>> indonesian officials have recovered the flight data recorder from the air asia plane that plunged into the java sea last month. this is a major step forward in trying to work out what caused the crash. the cockpit voice recorder has also been found. it, though remains lodged under heavy wreckage. divers are still struggling to free it. now here's more from jakarta. >> reporter: a majo

that is not the most promising way to start off a leadership role and ashraf ghani has not been able to prove what he will be up to do with the opium production thing that you mentioned. the afghan security forces, the u.s. role as receded there is a real question whether they can handle the support role, and secure their country on its own. this will be a huge year, just how much they stand up and can be resilient. how much -- opium production, as you mentioned, is not making things any easier. the u.s. has made efforts to try to curb this, but i think really -- the evidence suggests it has not worked. >> on mondays program, we will hear from the inspector general of afghanistan, who looks at money being spent. money continues to be spent. we will hear next from henry south carolina, independent line. go ahead. caller: good morning, guys. happy new year. the total conversation but the middle east, isis, russia, fighting -- can't we do something different yet who cares? you cannot keep doing the same thing over and over and over. what about all the muslims over in that part of the co