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Taliban says it controls 85% territory of Afghanistan
A Taliban delegation in Moscow said on Friday that the group controlled over 85% of territory in Afghanistan and reassured Russia it would not allow the country to be used as a platform to attack others.
Taliban negotiator Shahabuddin Dilawar says they have “85% of Afghan soil under their control.”
Dilawar also said that the Taliban have controlled all 28 districts of Badakhshan province and only the provincial capital is not in their control.
Foreign forces, including the United States, are withdrawing after almost 20 years of fighting, a move that has emboldened Taliban insurgents to try to gain fresh territory in Afghanistan.
That has prompted hundreds of Afghan security personnel and refugees to flee across the border into neighbouring Tajikistan and raised fears in Moscow and other capitals that Islamist extremists could infiltrate Central Asia, a region Russia views as its backyard.
At a news conference in Moscow on Friday, three Taliban members sought to signal that they did not pose a threat to the wider region however.
The members said the Taliban would do all it could to prevent Islamic State operating on Afghan territory and that it would also seek to wipe out drug production.
“We will take all measures so that Islamic State will not operate on Afghan territory… and our territory will never be used against our neighbours,” a Taliban negotiator Shahabuddin Delawar said through a translator.
The same members said a day earlier that the group would not attack the Tajik-Afghan border, the fate of which is in focus in Russia and Central Asia.
All Afghan border towns taken over by the Taliban will remain active, says Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban negotiator, at a press conference in Moscow. He vowed to address traders’ problems.
Moscow has noted a sharp increase in tensions on the same border, two thirds of which the Taliban currently controls, the Interfax news agency cited Russia’s foreign ministry as saying on Friday.
Russia’s foreign ministry called on all sides of the Afghanistan conflict to show restraint and said that Russia and the Moscow-led CSTO military bloc would act decisively to prevent aggression on the border if necessary, RIA reported.
The Taliban delegation told the same news conference that the group would respect the rights of ethnic minorities and all Afghan citizens should have the right to a decent education in the framework of Islamic law and Afghan traditions.
“We want all representatives of Afghan society … to take part in creating an Afghan state,” said Delawar.
Dilawar says they are in talks with other Afghans to discuss a new system “that should be Islamic, Afghan-inclusive and united.”
Meanwhile, the Taliban negotiator Shaheen says that attacking provincial capitals was not part of an agreement with the US, adding that: “but we still did not attack, also we did not launch our spring offensive and it shows our commitment to the agreement.”
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Islamic Emirate’s army now self-sufficient, says chief of army staff
Mohammad Fasihuddin Fitrat, Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, says that over the past four years, the army forces of the Islamic Emirate have shown no hesitation in defending and protecting Afghanistan, and that today the country’s army is standing on its own feet.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Defense, Fitrat made these remarks at a meeting with media representatives, political analysts, and a number of government officials aimed at coordination and strengthening cooperation. He added: “Nations that cannot stand on their own feet and rely on others, even if they grow, will not be capable of achieving real progress.”
Fitrat also expressed appreciation for the role of the media in ensuring security and in supporting the country’s defense forces, stating: “We and you, as citizens of this land, must put our hands together and build the country together, take pride in our forces, and strive with all our strength for the country’s development. We have created an army that defends honor, territorial integrity, and the borders of the country, and serves as the guardian of our freedom.”
He emphasized that the Islamic Emirate is working to establish an army equipped with modern weapons so that it can defend the country’s territory under all circumstances.
He stated that the country’s army has proven to the people that anyone who looks at this land with ill intent will face a firm and courageous response, and that it has also been made clear to neighboring countries that any aggression against Afghanistan will be met with a response several times stronger.
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Afghan health minister attends second WHO summit in India
Noor Jalal Jalali, the Minister of Public Health of the Islamic Emirate, participated in the second World Health Organization meeting on traditional medicine during his official visit to India.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Ministry of Public Health said that the meeting was held in India with the participation of representatives from around 100 countries, health ministers from 23 countries, professional experts from various nations, and officials from different departments of the World Health Organization.
During the meeting, discussions were held on the standardization of traditional medicine, training of individuals active in this field, recognition of traditional medicine as an established reality, and the sharing of countries’ experiences in this area.
The ministry stated that the purpose of participating in the conference was to standardize traditional medicine in Afghanistan, adding that for several decades this sector has been practiced in a non-standard manner and without a defined curriculum or clear principles.
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Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan boost trade and digital finance ties
Minister Sydykov, in turn, pledged the continuation of Kyrgyzstan’s humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and highlighted his country’s interest in working together on e-governance initiatives.
Afghanistan’s Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs, Abdul Salam Hanafi, has met with a high-level Kyrgyz delegation led by Minister of Economy and Commerce Bakhyt Sydykov to discuss expanding bilateral trade and strengthening cooperation in digital financial services.
During the meeting, Hanafi reaffirmed Afghanistan’s readiness to deepen ties with Kyrgyzstan, stressing the importance of developing electronic administration systems and modern banking channels to facilitate trade and financial transactions between the two countries.
Minister Sydykov, in turn, pledged the continuation of Kyrgyzstan’s humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and highlighted his country’s interest in working together on e-governance initiatives. He also pointed to potential cooperation in areas such as the printing of securities and the development of electronic payment systems.
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