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Afghan Taliban stress preconditions for peace talks

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(Last Updated On: October 25, 2022)

1KABUL: The Afghan Taliban Sunday reiterated their pre-conditions for the resumption of peace talks with Kabul, including their removal from international terror blacklists, at an informal meeting with lawmakers and activists in Doha.

Members of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar launched two days of discussion with an Afghan delegation Saturday as momentum grows for the start of a formal peace process.

The militant group emphasized its hardline stance on talks aimed at ending their 14-year insurgency, ruling out negotiations until their preconditions were met.

“Before any official talks, we want names of our mujaheddin to be removed from U.N. and U.S. blacklists and all bounties on their heads be cancelled,” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, listing the group’s demands at the Qatar conference.

“We also want our political office in Doha to be officially re-opened.”

The Taliban opened an office in Qatar in June 2013 as a first move towards a possible peace deal. But it shut a month later after enraging the then-Afghan president Hamid Karzai by styling itself as the unofficial embassy for a government-in-exile.

Afghan government officials are not attending the meeting in the Gulf emirate, which is organised by Pugwash Conferences, an international group that promotes conflict resolution.

But it marks a rare direct interaction between the Taliban and Afghan lawmakers and civil society members amid an international push to revive talks.

The meeting comes after delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States convened in Kabul last Monday for a second round of talks seeking a negotiated end to the insurgency.

The first round of the so-called “road map” talks was held in Islamabad earlier this month in a bid to lay the groundwork for direct dialogue between Kabul and the Islamist group.

Taliban representatives were notably absent in both rounds and analysts caution that any substantive talks are still a long way off.

Despite the push to restart talks, the Taliban have ramped up violence across Afghanistan.

Seven employees of popular Afghan TV channel TOLO were killed Wednesday when a Taliban car bomber rammed into their minibus in Kabul, just months after the militants declared the network a legitimate “military target”.

At least 25 other people were wounded in the bombing near the Russian embassy in downtown Kabul, in the first direct assault on an Afghan media organisation since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.

Written by: AFP

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Pakistan’s army claims TTP is using Afghan soil

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(Last Updated On: May 7, 2024)

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

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(Last Updated On: May 7, 2024)

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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Kazakhstan Trade House opens in Afghanistan’s Herat province

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(Last Updated On: May 7, 2024)

Kazakhstan Trade House in Afghanistan has officially opened in Herat province with the aim of increasing the volume of trade exchanges between the two countries.

Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce Noorudin Azizi called the opening of the Kazakhstan Trade House in Afghanistan a “positive and effective step” in strengthening and expanding trade relations between the two countries.

He stated that as a result of the trip of an Afghan delegation to Kazakhstan, Afghanistan’s exports to Kazakhstan have increased.

Meanwhile, Arman Yusintayev, head of the Kazakhstan Trade House in Afghanistan, highlighted that the aim of opening a trade house in Afghanistan is to increase the volume of trade exchanges between the two countries, adding Kazakhstan is interested in expanding trade relations with Afghanistan.

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