Hamdullah Fitrat, Deputy Spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate, says that in the past day, nearly 570 families comprising 2,940 people have returned to Afghanistan through the Torkham, Spin Boldak, Islam Qala and Bahramcha crossings.

Fitrat said that services including transportation, cash assistance, health services and awareness programs have been provided to the returnees.

He added that during the same period, 618 families were also allocated residential land plots.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the former U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, has said it is “wrong and sad” that young women and girls are not being allowed to take Afghanistan’s Kankor university entrance examination.

Khalilzad made the remarks on Friday in a post on his X account.

Earlier, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai also expressed concern over the exclusion of women and girls from the Kankor examination and called for the reopening of schools and universities to them.

Afghanistan and India held the fourth round of their Joint Committee Meeting on Thursday, with discussions covering the full spectrum of bilateral relations.

According to Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, the meeting was co-chaired by M. Anand Prakash, Joint Secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran Division) at India’s Ministry of External Affairs, and Shuaib Baryalai, Director General (First Political) at Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The 4th round of India-Afghanistan Joint Committee Meeting, co-chaired by Shri M. Anand Prakash, JS (PAI), MEA, and H.E. Shuaib Baryalai, DG (First Political), Afghan MoFA, was held today. Discussions focused on the entire gamut of bilateral relations,” Jaiswal wrote in a post on X.

No further details on the agenda or outcomes of the meeting were immediately released.