Karen Decker, the Chargé d'Affaires at the US Mission to Afghanistan, says several high-ranking US diplomats have assured her of the support of Afghan women and their efforts to help Afghans.

Decker said she held talks with top US officials, the Deputy Secretary of State, and Rina Amiri, special envoy for Afghan women, over the situation of Afghan women and girls, to strengthen human rights and to help Afghans.

She said these senior American diplomats said they will continue efforts to support Afghan women.

“I look forward to pursuing fruitful work with Deputy Secretary of State John Mark to protect America's national security interests, support Afghan women and girls, promote the human rights of all Afghans, and assist the Afghan people against a serious humanitarian crisis to continue my efforts,” said Decker.

Meanwhile, a number of women's rights activists have said that America should take effective steps to ensure women's rights in Afghanistan and discuss the issue with the Islamic Emirate.

Some experts, however, have stated that the efforts of the international community to convince the Afghan rulers to accept the fundamental rights of women in Afghanistan have been unsuccessful so far because the world does not have a clear mechanism for a permanent solution

to this problem.

One of the controversial issues between the IEA and the international community is the matter of women's rights.

However, the IEA has said it cannot accept the Western definition of women's rights and have repeatedly said women’s rights are ensured in accordance with Sharia.

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the political deputy minister of foreign affairs, has called on Pakistan to avoid creating problems for Afghan traders especially during the trading season of summer fruits and vegetables.

Addressing a gathering of traders in Logar province, Stanikzai said that closing the trade and transit route into Pakistan is not in the interests of either country.

"Afghanistan is a transit route between Pakistan and Central Asia," he said. “We can do the same. We can close our borders. We can create problems for them, but we don't want to create problems for our Pakistani brothers across the border.”

“We therefore ask them to keep their borders open during the fruit and vegetable season in Afghanistan so that fruits and vegetables can reach their people and provinces and through them to India and other countries."

This is the first time that Kabul has hinted at closing Pakistan's transit route to Central Asia in response to Islamabad's trade hurdles.

Officials at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce say they are trying to remove export obstacles as achieving economic self-sufficiency is one of the priorities of the Islamic Emirate.

The closure of trade routes to Afghan traders during the fruit and vegetable season, raising customs tariffs by Pakistan and non-compliance with trade agreements between the two countries have caused Afghanistan's exports to Pakistan to fall by 10 percent in the first five months of this year.

Suleyman Ciliv, the head of Turkish construction company 77 has expressed hope that his company will secure the contract to run the Yatim Taq cement project in Jawzjan province.

Ciliv met with Afghanistan’s acting minister of mines and petroleum, Hedayatullah Badri, and said he hoped this would lead to the signing of an agreement between the two parties, the ministry said in a statement Thursday.

The ministry stated that Badri appreciated the activities of 77 Turkish company in the country and asked them to invest more in Afghanistan's talc, iron and copper mines.