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Pakistan urges troops withdrawal be done ‘responsibly’
Pakistan government said on Sunday that a foreign troop withdrawal from Afghanistan should be done in a responsible way in order to avoid a “vacuum”.
Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Pakistan believes “that the withdrawal of troops should be orderly and responsible so as not to create a vacuum”.
This was in response to the Taliban’s statement Friday warning of “death and destruction” if US troops fail to leave by the May 1 deadline as set out in the US-Taliban agreement signed in Doha in February last year.
“Pakistan has always upheld that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan.
“We have supported an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive dialogue among the Afghan parties to resolve their differences,” Chaudhri said.
“Pakistan believes that the Doha process provides an historic opportunity to achieve such a lasting political solution.”
This comes after the Taliban on Friday reacted strongly against recent remarks by US President Joe Biden on extending troop presence and after Germany announced it was extending its military footprint in the country.
In its statement, the Taliban warned: “In such a case, the Islamic Emirate [Taliban] – as a representative of the believing, valiant and Mujahid Afghan nations – will be compelled to defend its religion and homeland and continue its ‘Jihad’ and armed struggle against foreign forces to liberate its country. All responsibility for the prolongation of war, death and destruction will be on the shoulders of those who committed this violation.”
While the US has not yet made a decision on whether to withdraw its forces by May 1, and nor has NATO indicated its position, Germany announced it has agreed to extend its Afghanistan mission into 2022.
German lawmakers approved the new mandate late Thursday which allows the German military to keep up to 1,300 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO mission until Jan 31, 2022.
The German government has warned that a premature withdrawal of NATO troops could jeopardize peace talks, and that NATO troops would need to prepare for Taliban violence if they stay beyond the end of April.
On Thursday, the U.S. President Joe Biden said that it would be “hard” to withdraw the last U.S. troops from Afghanistan by a May 1 deadline, but he added that he did not think they still would be there next year.
During the news conference Biden said it would be hard to meet the May 1 deadline to withdraw the last 3,500 U.S. troops “just in terms of tactical reasons.”
He apparently was referring to the enormous logistical challenges of pulling out the roughly 10,000 American and NATO troops and their equipment within the next six weeks.
Biden was asked if it was possible that there still would be U.S troops in Afghanistan next year. “I can’t picture that being the case,” he responded.
The Taliban have also indicated they could resume attacks on foreign troops if Biden does not meet the May 1 deadline.
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Ghori State Cement in Baghlan increases production
Officials at Ghori State Cement in Baghlan province say the amount of cement produced at this plant has increased compared to the past.
According to company officials, 150,000 tons of cement was produced in 1402 [solar year] and they are trying to increase the amount to 180,000 tons this year.
“Last year, we successfully produced 150,000 tons of cement and sold it to the market. Fortunately, in 1402, we had more than 200 million afghanis in revenue,” said Abdul Wakil Qayumi, financial and administrative deputy of the company.
The plant officials stated that efforts are underway to increase the production capacity, and with the increase of the production capacity, they will produce 1000 bags of cement per day.
“Currently, our four ovens are active, and we produce approximately 1,000 to 1,200 tons of cement in twenty-four hours,” said Mohammad Tahir, packaging manager for the company.
In this company, jobs are created for 750 individuals, and some workers have asked the traders to invest in the country and provide work for young people.
“Some more factories should be built in our country so that less foreign cement is imported into the country and we use our own products,” said one of the company workers.
Ghori Baghlan Cement Company was established about 40 years ago and is considered one of the largest cement production companies in Afghanistan.
The management of this company is carried out by the National Development Corporation (NDC).
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Regional countries should jointly expand stability and development: Deputy PM
Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, Political Deputy Prime Minister, has said in a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan in Kabul that regional countries should play their role in the implementation of large regional projects.
Kabir also invited Kazakh businessmen to invest in Afghanistan, his office said in a statement.
He added that the Islamic Emirate fully controls Afghanistan’s borders, has eliminated drugs and corruption, and restored national sovereignty.
According to the statement, Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin appreciated the progress made by the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan and said that his country is ready for long-term trade, transit and investment relations with Afghanistan.
Zhumangarin expressed his country’s readiness to grant scholarships to Afghan youth and added that Afghanistan is currently an example of a peaceful country in the region, and due to this, the world wants to establish relations with the Islamic Emirate in various fields.
He also called for the start of direct flights between Kabul and Almaty and said that his country is ready for bilateral cooperation with the Afghan government in the cultural field.
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Red Cross official seeks ‘staggered’ return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan
A senior Red Cross official has called for the return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan to occur “in a more staggered way” so Afghanistan can better absorb them.
“It will be important to work with the government of Pakistan in 2024 to ask that if there are going to be returnees,” that they arrive “in smaller numbers at a time just so it is more manageable on the Afghan side,” said Alexander Matheou, regional director, Asia Pacific Region for the International Federation of the Red Cross, Voice of America (VOA) reported on Saturday.
Speaking in the Qatari capital, Doha, Matheou told journalists on Friday the challenges facing Afghan returnees from Pakistan was one of several pressing issues he discussed with the officials of the Islamic Emirate in Kabul.
“You will be aware that over half a million have crossed the border over recent months, and it is likely that we will see large numbers of new arrivals in the coming months,” he said.
“I imagine this is probably the largest population flow in a short period of time in Asia since the population movement from Myanmar into Bangladesh in 2017,” he added. “So, it is a significant event.”
Since October, Pakistan has expelled more than 500,000 Afghan refugees who lacked proper documentation.
Matheou noted many of the returnees have lived in Pakistan for decades and are ill-equipped to begin a new life in a country that to them is unknown, without government or international support.
He described the returnees as being in generally poor health, especially the children, who account for nearly half of all returnees.
“The evidence of that was we visited clinics where they reported a real spike in cases of acute malnutrition coming from the arrivals from Pakistan.
“We visited routine immunization programs of the IFRC and the Afghan Red Crescent in the villages, and there it was clear looking at the children that as well as being anemic, you could see wasting and stunting among the children,” he said.
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