Abdul Haq Hamkar, Chief Executive Officer of Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), has met with Tajikistan’s Minister of Energy and Water Resources Daler Juma during a visit to Tajikistan.

According to DABS, the two sides discussed increasing electricity imports from Tajikistan and expanding power transmission infrastructure between the two countries.

They also discussed a proposed 500-kilovolt transmission line from Tajikistan through Afghanistan to Iran, which they said could contribute to expanding regional power transmission networks and strengthening energy cooperation.

The meeting also covered planned energy projects in Badakhshan province and Afghanistan’s border districts. Both sides emphasized expanding cooperation to help provide a stable electricity supply to these areas.

Hamkar said energy is not only a technical requirement but also essential for the operation of hospitals, industrial development, education, and the country’s economic and social growth.

He called for further expansion of energy cooperation between Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan Richard Bennett has called for accountability following Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Helmand provinces that killed multiple civilians.

“Accountability is paramount after another air strike that has killed civilians, most of them children,” Bennett said in a post on X.

He questioned whether the incident resulted from “incompetence, negligence or worse,” adding that there was no justification for what he described as “irreparable harm” to civilians.

Bennett said the reported incident appeared to violate international human rights and humanitarian law.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it had confirmed that at least 10 civilians were killed and nine others injured in the airstrikes carried out on Thursday.

Four members of a family were killed and seven others wounded in an airstrike in Safar area of Garmser district in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, according to local reports.

The family, originally from Ghazni province, reportedly operated a small restaurant in the area.

The bodies of those killed and the wounded were transported by helicopter to Ghazni province for burial and medical treatment, according to the reports.