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Afghanistan shuts down 150 aid organizations
Afghanistan has ordered around 150 aid groups, including four foreign organizations, to shut down for failing to submit reports on their projects and finances, a government official said on Tuesday.
The ruling by a government-backed commission which monitors aid groups includes 145 domestic organizations and has immediate effect, said a spokesman for the Economy Ministry, which heads the commission. The commission was established as part of an anti-corruption drive by President Hamid Karzai, who has long been critical of foreign organizations in Afghanistan and says they have been involved in widespread graft.
"The commission has decided the organizations should be dissolved because they have not submitted reports to the Ministry of Economy for the past two years," ministry spokesman Sediq Amarkhil said.