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Afghanistan envoys aim for future meetings with IEA, says UN chief
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday said international envoys to Afghanistan hope for Islamic Emirate participation at their future meetings.
This comes after the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) decided against participating at the Doha meeting.
Guterres said he hopes a “deadlock” between IEA authorities and the international community can be overcome.
He told a news conference that delegates had discussed “creating the conditions, in a next meeting, to have the presence of the de facto authorities of Afghanistan.”
The UN had extended an invitation for IEA officials to participate, following their exclusion from the first meeting in May.
However, the Kabul government said they would not participate in the talks unless they could be the sole representative of Afghanistan at the meetings — to the exclusion of civil society groups, AFP reported.
The UN had said that women were among the Afghan civil society representatives to the gathering of national and regional special envoys to Afghanistan.
A second demand was that the IEA government delegation meet with the UN secretary-general and be given an opportunity to present its position.
Guterres said he received a set of conditions to participate that “were not acceptable.”
“These conditions, first of all, denied us the right to talk to other representatives of the Afghan society,” he said.
‘Deadlock’
Many governments, international organizations and aid agencies cut off or severely scaled back their funding for Afghanistan in response to the IEA’s policies — causing a serious knock to the already struggling economy.
“One of our main objectives is to overcome this deadlock,” Guterres said, explaining a roadmap needed to be created in which “the concerns of the international community are taken into account. But the concerns of the de facto authorities of Afghanistan are also,” he said.
Guterres said the meeting, which included the US, China, Pakistan and the European Union, had reached “total consensus” on proposals from a UN independent assessment on Afghanistan.
The assessment recommended the appointment of a UN special envoy. This proposal is backed by Western nations but rejected by the IEA authorities.
Guterres said he would begin a “serious process of consultations to see if there are conditions to create a UN envoy”.
He said the proposed envoy could “have a coordinating role” in the country “and work effectively with the de facto authorities of Afghanistan”.
The meeting had also aimed at a more coordinated response to the country.
Guterres said there had been discussion of a “contact group”, with a “limited number of states able to have a more coordinated approach in the engagement with the de facto authorities”.
He said this could include permanent members of the UN Security Council, neighboring countries and relevant donors but it would be “up to member states to decide how to create it”.
“I believe it would be a way to have coherence in the way the international community is engaging with the de facto authorities of Afghanistan,” he added.
A high-level government–private sector delegation from Uzbekistan, led by Shukhrat Abdullazakov, Governor of Namangan Province, arrived in Kabul to enhance trade between the two countries and promote investment in Afghanistan.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Industry, the delegation, which includes deputy governors and more than 30 of Uzbekistan’s top businesspeople and investors, will meet with officials of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and participate in conferences and trade meetings.
The delegation will also travel to Balkh, meet with local officials, and hold business meetings with members of the private sector.
Additionally, the delegation will inaugurate an exhibition of Uzbek products and goods in Mazar-i-Sharif.
This visit follows the trip of Erkinjon Turdimov, Governor of Uzbekistan’s Syrdarya Province, and his accompanying delegation, and is based on meetings between Nuruddin Azizi, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Islamic Emirate, and senior Uzbek officials.
Other governors from Uzbekistan are also expected to visit Afghanistan to further expand bilateral trade and economic relations.
The Herat Chamber of Commerce and Investment announced on Saturday that national traders, jointly through the chamber, have provided approximately 15 million AFN in aid to the people of Iran.
The chamber stated that this aid package was delivered to the Iranian Consulate in Herat. It added that the assistance was intended to express solidarity with families affected by the war.
Mohammad Younes Qazizadeh, head of the Herat Chamber of Commerce and Investment, said: “Today we have presented 15 million AFN to the dear people of Iran through the Herat provincial authorities and the Iranian Consulate, and this aid will continue.”
Meanwhile, officials at the Iranian Consulate in Herat emphasized that Afghanistan and Iran always stand together and fully understand each other’s difficulties.
The Herat Chamber of Commerce and Investment also highlighted that the people of Iran have consistently supported the people of Afghanistan during various crises, and their cooperation in different sectors has reached families affected in the country.
Officials of the Herat Chamber of Commerce and Investment stressed that the process of private-sector humanitarian aid to the affected people of Iran will continue.
Following attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran, many people in the country have been affected and harmed.
Local officials in Badghis have reported that heavy rainfall from midnight until Saturday morning claimed the lives of five people in the province.
According to officials, three people died in Qadis district, while two others, including a three-year-old child, lost their lives in Dara-e-Bum district.
The Badghis Department for Disaster Management stated that the floods not only caused fatalities but also inflicted significant financial losses on local residents and destroyed agricultural land.
However, complete information on the extent of damage and casualties is not yet available. Staff from various government departments have been dispatched to affected areas to conduct preliminary surveys.
Meanwhile, heavy rains and floods in western Afghanistan temporarily blocked the Herat–Kandahar Highway.
According to Mohammad Israil Sayar, head of the Disaster Management Department in Farah province, recent rainfall has caused the Farah River to swell significantly. He added that the situation has now returned to normal, and traffic along the highway has resumed.
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