NEW YORK, (ANI): Urging the international community and countries in the region to come together, rising above partisan interests for assistance in Afghanistan, India at the UN Security Council meeting has called for inclusive dispensation in Afghanistan which represents all sections of Afghan society.

“India is willing to coordinate with other stakeholders to work towards enabling the expeditious provision of much-needed assistance to the people of Afghanistan,” India’s Ambassador to the UN TS Tirumurti said on Wednesday (local time) during the UNSC meeting on Afghanistan.

Stressing that Afghanistan has already seen much bloodshed and violence in recent years, he said that over half of Afghanistan’s population is facing a crisis on emergency levels of acute food insecurity, and urgent humanitarian assistance is required to meet the basic food needs of the people.

The Ambassador also emphasised that over the last two decades, India has contributed significantly to the development of Afghanistan. “Even as we speak, India continues to grant educational scholarships to thousands of Afghan men and women to continue their education in India,” Tirumurti said.

“One of our immediate priorities is to evacuate stranded people as well as ensure their free movement,” he added.

Further, the Ambassador also emphasised that the “Delhi Declaration on Afghanistan adopted at the Third Regional Security Dialogue of the National Security Advisors on Afghanistan reflects the regional consensus on Afghanistan and has been welcomed by the international community and key stakeholders including from Afghanistan”.

“When the council decides on the future of the United Nations Assitance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) mandate in March 2022, its focus needs to be centred on the welfare, well-being and expectations of the Afghan people,” he added. 

The United Nations Security Council convened the meeting on the Afghanistan situation on Wednesday (local time). Representatives from various countries took part in the meeting. (ANI)

KABUL, (ANI): Former Afghan lawmaker Haji Mohammad Mohaqeq on Sunday said that eight children have died of hunger in western Kabul, mainly populated by the Hazara minority.

“Poverty and hunger have killed eight children in western Kabul,” Mohaqeq wrote on Facebook, as quoted by Russian news agency Sputnik.

Mohaqeq added that the Taliban is not able to ensure adequate living standards for the people of Afghanistan after coming to power. He further called on the international community to help Hazaras and Shia people in Afghanistan.

After the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, the minorities in Afghanistan are being subjected to targeted killings, violence, and discrimination based on their religious and ethnic identity.

Verifying human rights abuses committed by the Taliban, rights group Amnesty International earlier this month documented how the Taliban massacred ethnic Hazara community members.

Hazara people, who practice Shia Islam, make up 9 per cent of Afghanistan’s population. According to reports from the rights groups, they have been severely persecuted by the Taliban in the past.

Several international groups have been sounding the alarm over the deterioration of living conditions in the country since the Taliban seized power in mid-August. Earlier this month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had urged the world to take action during a “make or break” moment for the country.

“If we do not act and help Afghans weather this storm, and do it soon, not only they but all the world will pay a heavy price”, Guterres told journalists in New York, ahead of Tuesday, when G20 leading industrialized nations will meet to discuss the country embroiled in crisis. (ANI)

NEW DELHI, (ANI): Around 60,000 visa applications of Afghan nationals under the new ‘e-Emergency X-Misc Visa’ is under consideration.

Confirming the development, a senior Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official said that after the Taliban took over Kabul, the ‘e-Emergency X-Misc Visa’ was introduced to facilitate and fast-track urgent applications for entry to India.

The order regarding it was issued on August 17. And all stamp visas were cancelled with immediate effect. India received around 20,000 visa requests during the first two days of the introduction of the ‘e-Emergency X-Misc Visa’.

These stamp visas issued before August 15 by the Indian embassy were cancelled after over 11,000 visas were reportedly stolen, prompting the Centre to introduce e-Visas due to security concerns.

In normal circumstances, a window of 30 days has been made for security clearance in case of e-visas and if no objection is raised by any concerned agencies, the visa is issued.

“Most of the applications have been received from Afghan nationals who moved to Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and other adjoining countries after Taliban had taken over the government,” said the official.

The official said that many Afghan nationals are seeking asylum in India as it helps them to move to other countries in the future. India has headquarters or branches of several missions for refugees that will help Afghan nationals to get settle in a better way.

All applications are under consideration as their report from concerned intelligence agencies is awaited before issuing visas. The final decision will be made after the security clearance, the official added.

Afghan nationals, who were evacuated to India under the new e-Emergency X-Miscellaneous visa, will be granted a six-month visa and later they will be provided with a ‘stay visa’ to all Afghanistan nationals who are staying in India due to disturbed conditions in the troubled country. (ANI)

ANKARA, (ANI): In order to restrain the potential influx of Afghan refugees, Turkey has decided to build a 10 feet high concrete slab.

The decision came in action after some of the refugees fleeing the Taliban’s brutality in Afghanistan tried to get into Turkey through neighbouring Iran, CBS News reported.

“I don’t have money, I don’t have food, I don’t have dresses, nothing,” said an Afghan refugee who made it into Turkey without permission.

Meanwhile, over 2 million Afghans have already taken refuge in neighbouring countries of Pakistan and Iran but these countries have now closed their borders, CBS reported.

After Pakistan’s closure of the Spin Boldak border, Afghans are dying at this border after Islamabad restricted entry at the key international intersection only to Pakistani or Kandahar identification cardholders.

The Spin Boldak commissioner had also told Pajhwok Afghan News that the closure of some roads and ports in the country by Pakistan had led to more congestion on the Spin Boldak-Chaman road than ever before.

Meanwhile, the Taliban are calling on Pakistan to open the border at the very least on urgent humanitarian grounds.

But Pakistan has contended it has by far taken the highest number of Afghan refugees over the two-decade war.

As per Islamabad figures, the country is currently home to some 1.4 million registered refugees and an estimated 2 million more who are undocumented.
Meanwhile, Afghan refugees are protesting in different parts of the world against the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.

A few days ago, Afghans living in Germany and India also held a protest demanding that women’s rights should be protected, along with freedom, human rights and civil rights, Pajhwok Afghan News reported.

Earlier on August 15, when the Taliban gained control over the capital city of Kabul, anti-Pakistan protests across the globe were organised against Islamabad’s role in helping the Taliban.

Protests were held in the US, Australia, Canada, the UK, and Austria against the Taliban, denouncing their aggressive advance and barbaric acts in Afghanistan. Protesters also called for sanctions against Pakistan for their proxy war in Afghanistan. (ANI)

New Delhi: The Taliban, in another diktat that runs counter to its promise of being a moderate face, has banned the broadcasting of the Indian Premier League (IPL) – the most lucrative and important cricket tournament in the world – in Afghanistan.

It has warned Afghan media outlets against broadcasting the IPL, citing the dancing involved and the presence of women spectators in stadiums.

The terrorist group has stressed that women’s rights would be respected within the framework of Islam, but has been short on details or limits to it.

Last week, Afghanistan’s new sports chief said that the Taliban will allow 400 sports – but declined to confirm if women can play a single one. “Please don’t ask more questions about women,” Bashir Ahmad Rustamzai told news agency AFP.

In another chilling statement, a Taliban spokesman said women can’t be ministers, they should give birth.

“A woman can’t be a minister, it is like you put something on her neck that she can’t carry. It is not necessary for women to be in the cabinet – they should give birth. Women protesters can’t represent all women in Afghanistan,” spokesperson Sayed Zekrullah Hashimi told TOLO news.

Earlier this month, Taliban’s new higher education minister said Afghan women will be allowed to attend university as long as they study separately from men.

The Taliban government is made up exclusively of men.

During the extremists’ brutal and oppressive regime from 1996 to 2001, women were completely banned from playing any sport while men’s sport was tightly controlled. Women were also largely banned from education and work.

Many Afghan women and women’s rights activists globally fear a repeat of such policies after the group toppled the US-backed government last month.

Istanbul, (PTI): The Taliban’s education ministry says all male students grades six to 12 and male teachers should resume classes starting Saturday.

The statement Friday published on Facebook did not include girls of that age, and the lack of guidance highlighted ongoing concerns that the Taliban might impose restrictions on girls and women.

The Taliban previously allowed girls in grades one to six to resume their classes.

In the past, the hardliner group that took over Afghanistan last month had forbidden girls and women from attending school and work.

In some of the provinces, women still are not allowed to continue their work, with exceptions for women who have worked in health departments, hospitals and education. (PTI)

Islamabad, (ANI): Trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan has resumed after more than three weeks of uncertainty in Kabul, according to media reports.

The business was halted in major cities in Afghanistan after the Ashraf Ghani government collapsed last month following the Taliban takeover.

“For the last 20 days, I didn’t place any order in Pakistan because of fear that the situation could be worse when the Taliban began capturing major cities,” Anadolu Agency quoted Afghan businessman Abdul Rahim Qazi Zai as saying.

“Now, I meet with my Pakistani counterparts and place orders for sugar and cooking oil,” he said while going to Kabul via the Torkham border after spending three days in Peshawar, the capital city of north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

According to Anadolu Agency, hundreds of trucks lined the Khyber Pass, the main road connecting Pakistan and Afghanistan via the Torkham border, on Wednesday.

They were full of food products waiting to cross the border toward eastern Jalalabad in Afghanistan.

Most drivers were waiting for three or four days near the border because of a lack of parking on the Afghan side.

But the long queues provide a clear picture of economic activity resuming between the two countries, Anadolu Agency further reported.

The Torkham, which is the main border crossing, was closed for pedestrian movement by the Taliban last week.

However, the border was later reopened. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s envoy to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan on Tuesday met the Taliban interim government’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation between both countries.

The meeting, according to the Taliban spokesperson, took place at the ministry of foreign affairs of Afghanistan. Sohail Shahin said the two discussed “smooth movement of people at Torkham and Spin Boldak and problems of Afghan refugees in Pakistan,” The Express Tribune reported. (ANI)

Beijing, (PTI): China on Wednesday supported the Taliban’s demand that the US should unfreeze Afghanistan’s assets and said that America has no legitimate reasons to do so as the Chinese envoy to Kabul called on acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and congratulated the interim government.

According to reports from Washington, the US has frozen about USD 9.5 billion in assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank and stopped shipments of cash to Kabul, in a bid to keep the Taliban government from accessing the money.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters here that the US has no legitimate reasons to freeze Afghanistan’s assets.

Asked about the Taliban’s demand that the US should unfreeze Afghanistan’s assets stating that they belong to the people of Afghanistan and the interim government will take a legal action possible to get the funds released, Zhao said: “I think that the (Taliban’s) spokesperson is right”.

“The assets belong to Afghanistan and should be spent for the Afghan people.

“The US should not freeze them without justification. The US should face up to the legitimate demand of Afghanistan, abandon pressures and sanctions and stop creating obstacles to the economy, livelihood and peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan,” Zhao said.

After the Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan last month, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank halted their aid to the war-torn country which largely depends upon the flow of foreign funds.

According to reports from Kabul, Afghanistan’s economy is near collapse even as the United Nations has made hectic efforts to galvanise global efforts to rush food and essential supplies.

Meanwhile, in a major boost to the Taliban’s fledgling interim government which struggled to gain international recognition as it mainly comprises the Taliban leaders, contrary to its promise of forming an inclusive government, China’s Ambassador in Kabul Wang Yu met acting Afghan Foreign Minister Muttaqi on Tuesday.

”This afternoon, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi met with the Ambassador of the neighboring China Wang Yu in Kabul,” Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said in a tweet, adding that the Chinese ambassador “congratulated the new Afghan government”.

Wang also promised that ”China will continue its humanitarian, economic and political cooperation with Afghanistan,” Russia’s official news agency TASS quoted Naeem as saying.

”Muttaqi thanked China for its assistance,” Naeem said.

Reports from Kabul said Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kabul, Mansoor Ahmad Khan has also met Muttaqi.

China along with Pakistan and Russia have kept their embassies open in Kabul.

Wang, in his meeting with Muttaqi, appreciated the efforts of the Afghan side to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens, China’s state-run CGTN-TV reported.

He said China respects the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Afghanistan and supports the Afghan people to choose their own development path.

Earlier, China announced USD 31 million aid to Afghanistan, which included food, winter clothing and COVID-19 vaccines.

Asked for his reaction to the Chinese Ambassador’s meeting with Muttaqi, spokesman Zhao said: “I can tell you that China’s Embassy in Afghanistan is operating normally. We stand ready to maintain communication with the new government in Afghanistan”.

China, which earlier urged the Taliban to form an open, inclusive and moderate government, defended the Taliban’s interim government as a “necessary step” to restore order and “end anarchy”.

Since the Taliban came to power, China has been asking it to make a clean break from terrorist groups and especially not to permit the Uygur militant group from Xinjiang, the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM).

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told China’s state-run Global Times on September 10, since the Taliban came to power, the ETIM militants have left Afghanistan. He did not specify where they fled.

China says the ETIM is an al-Qaida backed militant group fighting for the independence of the volatile Xinjiang province.

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency on Wednesday reported that Taliban intelligence chief in Afghanistan’s northern Kunduz province Hajji Najibullah Haron has said that reports about the presence of militants affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS) group are baseless and fabricated.

”Lasting peace has returned to Kunduz province and people are living in peace there and any report about the presence of Daesh (Islamic State) militants in Kunduz is utterly baseless,” Haron told reporters on Wednesday.

Afghanistan will not allow anyone to sabotage peace and security in Kunduz or any other parts of the country, he added. (PTI)