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Three senior US officials to visit Islamabad, talks on Afghanistan expected
A senior US official dealing with refugee issues will begin a four-day trip to Islamabad from Monday in the first of a series of visits by American officials amid deteriorating ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Pakistani media reported.
Julieta Valls Noyes, the US assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, arrives in Islamabad Monday and will leave on Thursday, Express Tribune reported.
On December 7, US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Thomas West will arrive in Islamabad. After his visit, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Elizabeth Horst, who is responsible for Pakistan, will arrive on December 9, according to the newspaper.
The flurry of visits by American officials come against the backdrop of Pakistan’s move to expel all illegal Afghans, which has created tension with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA). Tensions were already high over what Islamabad claims is the IEA providing havens for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
“Pakistan and the United States continue to hold consultations on a range of issues. To advance these consultations, exchange of visits also takes place,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement while giving context of the visits.
“These visits are part of ongoing dialogue with the US on a range of issues, including, but not limited to, the situation in Afghanistan,” she added.
A statement issued by the US State Department said that Assistant Secretary of State Noyes will travel to Islamabad for a December 4-7 visit during which he would meet “senior government officials, as well as non-governmental and international organization partners”.
“In Islamabad, Assistant Secretary Noyes will meet with senior government officials, as well as non-governmental and international organization partners, to discuss shared efforts to protect vulnerable individuals and accelerate safe, efficient relocation and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the U.S. immigration pipeline,” the statement said.
More than 400,000 Afghans have returned home since Pakistan announced plans to deport illegal refugees.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), has said that the issue of refugees should not be used as a tool of pressure and their rights should not be violated.
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Pakistan is using its territory against Afghanistan: MoD
The Ministry of National Defense of Afghanistan (MoD) has strongly rejected Pakistan’s claim that the recent attack on Chinese nationals in Pakistan was planned from the territory of Afghanistan.
Late last month five Chinese nationals and one Pakistani were killed in a suicide bombing near Besham, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Inayatullah Khwarazmi, said that Daesh came from Pakistan to the territory of Afghanistan and its goals were organized from there.
He said that Pakistan should respond to these actions.
Khwarazmi, said that in an area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is under the security of the Pakistan Army, the killing of Chinese nationals is either the weakness of the security institutions or their cooperation with the attackers.
Khwarazmi says that the Islamic Emirate has assured China that Afghans are not involved in such incidents.
The territorial tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan are on the rise again. In the latest issue, Islamabad has accused Kabul of harboring terrorist networks.
Pakistan’s intelligence service has claimed that the Besham attack was planned in Afghanistan.
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Pakistan’s army claims TTP is using Afghan soil
Pakistan’s military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry claimed on Tuesday that there is “irrefutable evidence” of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) using Afghanistan against the country.
“There is irrefutable evidence of Afghan soil being used by the TTP […] recent terrorist incidents can be traced back to Afghanistan,” Sharif said while addressing a press conference.
Reaffirming the commitment on counter-terrorism efforts, Chaudhry said that Pakistan will leave no stone unturned to eliminate the terrorist network.
He stressed that the security forces would go to any extent possible against terrorists. However, the spokesperson noted that the first priority of the Pakistan Army was to maintain law and order in the country.
“The army chief has said that there’s no place for terrorists in Pakistan,” the spokesperson said while reassuring that steps are being taken to bring the miscreants to justice.
On the issue of Afghan refugees living inside Pakistan, he said: “Millions of Afghans are still living in Pakistan, while the country is fighting against terrorism. Pakistan has helped Afghan refugees, which the world has recognised.”
Highlighting that millions of Afghan citizens continue to reside in Pakistan, he revealed that more than 563,000 Afghans have been repatriated.
He said the law and order situation was deteriorating because of the Afghan citizens.
“Militants are spoiling the law and order situation in Balochistan, but the army is [acting as] a wall against the miscreants,” he noted.
The Islamic Emirate has previously denied the presence of TTP in Afghanistan and said that Pakistan’s security problem has nothing to do with Afghanistan.
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IEA’s supreme leader happy with ‘obedient’ ministers
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada said on the last day of a three-day seminar on the coordination and regulation of specialist and religious universities in Kandahar that after the establishment of the Islamic Emirate, all the opponents were forgiven and they now live together like brothers.
Speaking at the seminar Monday, Akhundzada added that he is satisfied with the performance of his acting ministers as they always obey him.
“I am happy with my ministers and they are good people and always obey me. Obey, value and honor them because honor and obedience are not exclusive to the Amir [leader], but include all the commanders,” Akhundzada said.
He also said that the world wants to separate politics from religion, so that even in Islamic countries, scholars do not have a role in politics; but according to him in Afghanistan, scholars should have access to politics.
He asked scholars to follow the orders of the Islamic Emirate to encourage the nation to implement and obey the orders.
Ziaullah Hashimi, the spokesman of the Ministry of Higher Education, says that the three-day seminar brought together department heads, deputies and professors of the General Directorate of Specialist and Religious Universities of the Ministry of Higher Education.
The seminar started on Saturday and ended Monday.
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