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Humanitarian crisis in focus as Italy hosts G20 summit on Afghanistan
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi will host a special summit of the Group of 20 major economies on Tuesday to discuss Afghanistan, as worries grow about a looming humanitarian disaster following the Islamic Emirate’s (IEA) return to power.
Since the IEA took over Afghanistan on August 15, the country – already struggling with drought and severe poverty after decades of war – has seen its economy all but collapse, raising the spectre of an exodus of refugees.
The video conference, which is due to start at 3.30pm Kabul time will focus on aid needs, concerns over security and ways of guaranteeing safe passage abroad for thousands of Western-allied Afghans still in the country.
“Providing humanitarian support is urgent for the most vulnerable groups, especially women and children, with winter arriving,” said an official with knowledge of the G20 agenda.
The U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres is due to join the summit, underlining the central role given to the United Nations in tackling the crisis – in part because many countries don’t want to establish direct relations with the IEA.
Italy, which holds the rotating presidency of the G20, has worked hard to set up the meeting in the face of highly divergent views within the disparate group on how to deal with Afghanistan after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Kabul.
“The main problem is that Western countries want to put their finger on the way the Taliban (IEA) run the country, how they treat women for example, while China and Russia on the other hand have a non-interference foreign policy,” said a diplomatic source close to the matter.
China has publicly demanded that economic sanctions on Afghanistan be lifted and that billions of dollars in Afghan international assets be unfrozen and handed back to Kabul. It was not clear if this would even be discussed on Tuesday.
While U.S. President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Europe’s G20 leaders were expected to take part in the meeting, Chinese media reported that President Xi Jinping would not participate. It was also not clear if Russian President Vladimir Putin would dial in.
Afghanistan’s neighbours Pakistan and Iran have not been invited to the virtual call, but Qatar, which has played a key role as an interlocutor between the IEA and the West, will join the discussions, a diplomatic source said.
The virtual summit comes just days after senior U.S. and IEA officials met in Qatar for their first face-to-face meeting since the IEA retook power.
Tuesday’s meeting comes less than three weeks before the formal G20 leaders summit in Rome on October 30 and 31, which is due to focus on climate change, the global economic recovery, tackling malnutrition and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Afghanistan says Pakistani military post destroyed near Spin Boldak
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense says a Pakistani military post near Spin Boldak was targeted and destroyed after Pakistani forces opened fire toward Afghanistan.
Ministry spokesperson Enayatullah Khwarazmi said in a post on X that Afghan forces suffered no casualties or damage in the clash.
Khwarazmi also rejected claims made by the Pakistani side about the incident, describing them as “propaganda.”
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Mujahid: Pakistan attacking Afghanistan to evade Mecca Pact responsibilities
He warned that the Islamic Emirate would give an “appropriate response” to what he called the Pakistani military regime’s “bullying.”
Islamic Emirate spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has accused Pakistan of carrying out attacks on Afghanistan to divert attention from its domestic problems and to evade responsibilities under the “Mecca Pact.”
Speaking at a religious seminary in Kandahar, Mujahid said Pakistan was facing political and economic challenges at home and was using attacks on Afghanistan to shift public attention away from protests and its internal problems.
“Pakistan, by violating the territory of its neighboring Islamic country, wants to divert attention from its failures,” he said.
Mujahid also criticized Pakistan’s political situation, claiming that political space had been restricted and that freedoms guaranteed under the country’s laws were not being allowed.
He said Pakistan’s economic problems had also increased significantly and accused the country of seeking to distract the public from those problems by engaging in conflict with Afghanistan.
Mujahid further accused Pakistan’s military leadership of putting the Pakistani people at risk through what he described as its “false position.”
He warned that the Islamic Emirate would give an “appropriate response” to what he called the Pakistani military regime’s “bullying.”
His remarks followed Pakistani airstrikes on Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces on Thursday, which Afghan authorities said killed four civilians.
The strikes came three days after attacks on Kunar and Paktika provinces, in which Afghan authorities said three civilians were killed.
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Kabul rejects U.S. claim that meth seized in Pakistan was of Afghan origin
Balkhi said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has imposed an absolute ban on the production, trafficking and use of all types of narcotics in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi has rejected a U.S. claim that 463 kilograms of synthetic drugs seized in Pakistan were of Afghan origin, calling the attribution “unfounded and politically motivated.”
Balkhi said the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad should investigate the origin of the seized drugs in Pakistan rather than attributing them to Afghanistan.
“The attribution by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad of the synthetic drugs bound for Sri Lanka and intercepted in Pakistan through joint U.S.-Pakistani efforts as ‘Afghan-origin’ is an unfounded and politically motivated allegation,” Balkhi said.
He said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has imposed an absolute ban on the production, trafficking and use of all types of narcotics in Afghanistan.
Balkhi also claimed that following the ban in Afghanistan, the cultivation, production and trafficking of narcotics have increased “on the other side of the Durand Line.”
He further argued that Afghanistan does not have the capacity to produce synthetic drugs and said crossing points along the Durand Line have been completely closed to all movement for nearly a year.
His remarks came after the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said U.S. and Pakistani anti-narcotics authorities had seized 463 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine worth an estimated $21 million and bound for Sri Lanka.
The embassy said the operation led to multiple arrests and highlighted ongoing U.S. cooperation and training with Pakistani authorities to disrupt international drug-trafficking networks.
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