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CSTO security alliance meets on Afghanistan
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CST) said that its 37th meeting of the Working Group on Afghanistan was held on Thursday.
The event was attended by delegations from the organization’s member states, the CSTO Deputy Secretary General S. I. Ordabaev, Charge d’Affaires of Afghanistan in the Russian Federation, representatives of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia and others.
“There was a detailed exchange of views on the situation in Afghanistan. The participants noted the persistence of unfavorable trends in the security situation, including the growth of terrorist and drug threats emanating from the territory of this country. It was noted that Afghanistan was still in a difficult economic situation and the Afghan people were facing problems in the social and humanitarian sphere,” CSTO said in a statement.
The Islamic Emirate, however, rejects claim of growth of terrorist and drug threats emanating from Afghanistan.
“The concern expressed by the CSTO is not true. Afghanistan is now secure and stable. It is completely different from years ago. The people of Afghanistan and the world understand this. Misrepresenting the situation means they are not considering the facts. The rumors that are being spread are based on false information,” Zabihullah Mujahid, IEA’s spokesman said.
CSTO is an intergovernmental military alliance in Eurasia consisting of six post-Soviet states: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
Separately, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Iranian counterpart Mohammed Reza Gharaei Ashtiyani on Thursday exchanged views on regional security issues, including peace and stability in Afghanistan.
They also discussed the development of the International North South Transport Corridor to ease logistic problems to Afghanistan and other countries in Central Asia, India’s defense ministry said.
The INSTC is a 7,200-km-long multi-mode transport project for moving freight among India, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe.
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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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