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Politics extremely important, but economy also needs to function: EU’s Afghanistan envoy
Politics is extremely important, but the economy also needs to function, the EU’s special representative to Afghanistan, Tomas Niklasson, has said.
Speaking in an interview with Ariana News on Thursday, Niklasson said that people struggle hard to survive and there is great uncertainty about the economic future.
He said that the interim government in Afghanistan needs to get the economy going.
“It needs to attract foreign investment and for that there is need for legal certainty. There is also need for the central bank to be fully independent which would allow gradually the banking system to re-establish itself and get functioning,” Niklasson said.
The diplomat said that the conflict has ended in Afghanistan and Afghans welcome that. “But the future of the interim government and the future of Afghanistan will depend on a dialogue, will depend on inclusive form of governance and will depend on respect for human rights.”
Niklasson also said that many Afghans say that the new interim government is “less corrupt than the previous one.”
EU has been engaging with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) and has a physical presence in the country, but it has repeatedly said that their engagement doesn’t mean it recognizes IEA as a legitimate government.
“The Europeans worry that if Afghanistan collapses, there will be refugee flows toward them. They are very concerned about that. I think they are also pressuring the United States to engage with the Islamic Emirate,” said Abdul Wahid Faqiri, an expert on international relations.
EU officials have said that recognition of the new government in Afghanistan will depend on its fulfilling of the international community’s conditions. IEA has said that it has already met the conditions for recognition.
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UNESCO: 2.4 million Afghan girls denied education since 2021
UNESCO estimates that the ban could force around 600,000 Afghan women out of the workforce by 2066 and cause $9.6 billion in lost income. It could also increase the risk of early marriage.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said on Tuesday around 2.4 million Afghan girls have been denied secondary education since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) returned to power in 2021.
In a statement on Tuesday, UNESCO said Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are officially barred from secondary and higher education.
The organization warned that the restrictions could increase poverty, reduce employment opportunities and cause long-term damage to Afghanistan’s future.
UNESCO estimates that the ban could force around 600,000 Afghan women out of the workforce by 2066 and cause $9.6 billion in lost income. It could also increase the risk of early marriage.
Girls’ secondary schools were closed in March 2022, followed by a ban on women attending universities in December of the same year. The IEA initially described the restrictions as temporary, but they remain in place.
UNESCO also warned that the restrictions could worsen Afghanistan’s shortage of female teachers. It estimates the country could face a shortage of more than 11,000 qualified female teachers by 2030.
The organization said more than 90% of 10-year-old children in Afghanistan cannot read a simple text, while the national literacy rate is around 37%.
Nearly half of the country’s schools also lack adequate access to water, sanitation or heating, UNESCO said.
According to the report, around three million people returned to Afghanistan in 2025, putting further pressure on the education system. Since 2021, earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters have also forced around 1,000 schools to close.
Russia’s Power Machines Company is interested in investing in the rehabilitation and modernization of Afghanistan’s power plants, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) said on Tuesday.
DABS Chief Executive Officer Abdul Haq Hamkar discussed the potential investment with technical officials from Power Machines, with talks focusing on rehabilitating existing power plants, modernizing equipment and expanding power-generation capacity.
According to DABS, Hamkar said the company would cooperate in facilitating preliminary technical assessments of Afghanistan’s power plants and in exploring investment opportunities in the sector.
Denis Rudakov, head of Power Machines’ commercial department, said the Russian company plans to conduct preliminary technical assessments of existing power plants in Afghanistan.
Based on the findings, Power Machines will prepare proposals for rehabilitating facilities, modernizing equipment and increasing electricity-generation capacity, DABS said.
Afghanistan currently has several operational power plants, while efforts are underway to increase their generation capacity and upgrade their equipment, according to DABS.
Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), on Tuesday denied that IEA authorities detained Mahmood Shah Habibi, an Afghan-American businessman the US claims disappeared in Kabul four years ago.
“We have no information about Mahmood Shah Habibi. He is not with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. If he were, this issue would have been resolved long ago,” Mujahid said.
His remarks came a day after the FBI marked the fourth anniversary of Habibi’s disappearance and renewed its appeal for information about his whereabouts.
According to the FBI, Habibi disappeared near his home in Kabul on August 10, 2022. At the time, he was working as a consultant for Asia Consultancy Group, a Kabul-based telecommunications company. He had previously served as Afghanistan’s director of civil aviation.
The FBI has alleged that Habibi was detained by the IEA’s General Directorate of Intelligence.
The FBI has continued its investigation and in 2025 released a missing-persons poster for Habibi. The U.S. State Department has also offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his location, recovery and return.
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