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Ghani releases Eid message, urges against ‘monopoly’ of power
Former Afghan president Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, who is currently living in exile, said in an Eid ul-Fitr message on Saturday that the current situation in Afghanistan is dangerous and that Afghans need to learn from the past and accept each other.
In an audio message of 28 minutes, posted on his Facebook page, Ghani did not name the Islamic Emirate or the IEA government directly, but it appeared that his message was also aimed at the current authorities.
Ghani fled the country on August 15 last year which led to the immediate collapse of the former government. Within hours, the IEA stepped in to fill the power vacuum. Since then, Ghani has kept a low profile and is believed to be living in Dubai.
In his Eid message, he said: “We must learn from history that all must accept each other. And if there is an emphasis on monopoly of power, the situation will get worse.”
“Afghans cannot be convinced by force. All Afghans need to talk to each other on a national consensus and come to a road map that aims for a prosperous, free and neutral Afghanistan. How we can reach out and work for prosperity and life, not for destruction and death,” he said.
Ghani also mentioned the recent bombings in Afghanistan and warned that once this started it is difficult to stop such actions.
“Once the door of explosions and suicide is opened, it is difficult to close this scourge again. But with national consensus and mutual acceptance, there is only one way out.”
On education,Ghani suggested that technology be used more so as to educate students remotely.
“Today, we do not have to educate children in schools, just like in the past. It can be equated with all in home, village, mosques and other places. The key is for them to realize that they have the potential to change their lives and the lives of their communities and make a difference,” he said.
According to Ghani, Afghanistan could benefit from the “successful experiences” of other Islamic countries.
Regarding Afghanistan’s foreign policy, Ghani emphasized the importance of maintaining good relations with foreign countries especially neighboring countries, and said that the development of the Asian continent was at an all-time high and something that was necessary.
“We need to work with all our neighbors, with all Asian countries, and with the rest of the world, for the benefit of both us and them.”
He also touched on the current economic crisis in the country and suggested that to overcome the problem national consultations were needed.
He said he had a short-term and long-term vision for economic recovery, stating that his “approach has always been to consult with the people, because individual intellect is not superior and we must always come to a conclusion together.”
Ghani also mentioned Afghans abroad and said that Afghans in foreign countries do not enjoy the same rights as they do in their own country.
“In a foreign country there is all despair. But at home together, there is the honor of all.”
The Embassy of Japan in Afghanistan announced on Friday that the country has allocated $19.5 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
In a statement, the Japanese Embassy said it hopes the aid will help bring positive change to the lives of vulnerable Afghans.
According to the statement, the assistance will cover the basic humanitarian needs of vulnerable communities in Afghanistan.
The embassy added that the aid will be delivered through United Nations agencies, international organizations, and Japanese non-governmental organizations operating in Afghanistan.
Japan’s total assistance to Afghanistan since August 2021 has reached more than $549 million.
Security forces at the Islam Qala border in Herat province prevented hundreds of young Afghans from illegally entering Iran.
Officials from the 207 Al-Farooq Army Corps said that around 530 people attempted over the past two days to illegally enter Iranian territory through areas of Kohsan district in Herat, but border forces detained them and transferred them back to their original areas.
Meanwhile, officials in the local administration of Herat said that due to severe cold along the illegal migration route to Iran, three Afghan migrants have lost their lives in the Kohsan district of the province, and a shepherd has also died there for the same reason.
Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi, spokesperson for the Herat governor’s office, said that some statistics and images shared on social media regarding the incident are not reliable.
According to him, further investigations are underway to determine whether any individuals have died on the other side of the border.
President Donald Trump suspended the green card lottery program on Thursday that allowed the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to come to the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on the social platform X that, at Trump’s direction, she is ordering the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the program, the Associated Press reported.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” she said of the suspect, Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente.
Neves Valente, 48, is suspected in the shootings at Brown University that killed two students and wounded nine others, and the killing of an MIT professor. He was found dead Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
Neves Valente had studied at Brown on a student visa beginning in 2000, according to an affidavit from a Providence police detective. In 2017, he was issued a diversity immigrant visa and months later obtained legal permanent residence status, according to the affidavit. It was not immediately clear where he was between taking a leave of absence from the school in 2001 and getting the visa in 2017.
The diversity visa program makes up to 50,000 green cards available each year by lottery to people from countries that are little represented in the U.S., many of them in Africa. The lottery was created by Congress, and the move is almost certain to invite legal challenges.
Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 visa lottery, with more than 131,000 selected when including spouses with the winners. After winning, they must undergo vetting to win admission to the United States. Portuguese citizens won only 38 slots.
Lottery winners are invited to apply for a green card. They are interviewed at consulates and subject to the same requirements and vetting as other green-card applicants.
Trump has long opposed the diversity visa lottery. Noem’s announcement is the latest example of using tragedy to advance immigration policy goals. After an Afghan man was identified as the gunman in a fatal attack on National Guard members in November, Trump’s administration imposed sweeping rules against immigration from Afghanistan and other counties.
While pursuing mass deportation, Trump has sought to limit or eliminate avenues to legal immigration. He has not been deterred if they are enshrined in law, like the diversity visa lottery, or the Constitution, as with a right to citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil. The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear his challenge to birthright citizenship.
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