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Afghanistan Will Not Attend Upcoming Moscow Conference: MoFA
The Afghan government will not attend the upcoming multinational conference on Afghanistan which will be held early next month in Moscow, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said Wednesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry in a statement said that Moscow will host the second round of last year’s meeting on Afghanistan which will be attended by 12 countries including Afghanistan and the United States.
The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s statement said that the conference is set to facilitate the national reconciliation process in Afghanistan and securing peace in that country “as soon as possible”.
“The aim of the upcoming meeting is to help narrow the gaps in the approaches taken by the Afghan government and the Taliban to launching a direct intra-Afghan dialogue,” the statement said.
In the statement, it was mentioned that unlike its previous round, the meeting will be co-chaired by both Russia and Afghanistan.
However, Sebghat Ahmadi, Spokesman of the Afghanistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry told Ariana News that the Afghan government will not take part in the Moscow meeting, insisting that peace process should be Afghan-owned and Afghan-led.
“We have made the issue clear that peace process should be Afghan-owned. Any event which is taking place on Afghanistan in the region and world or the event which is expected to discuss Afghanistan should be in axis of Afghanistan,” he said.
Some Afghan political commentators, meanwhile, said that Russia seeks its own interest in such gatherings.
“Russia has concerns regarding the presence of ISIS in Afghanistan. Russia not only wants this negotiation [with the Taliban] but it also financially supporting the Taliban,” said political analyst Javid Pozhohish.
Russia has invited 12 countries including the U.S. to take part in Moscow conference which will be held on September 4. The leadership of the Taliban’s political office in Doha has also been invited to attend the gathering.
This comes as Afghanistan’s national security Mohammad Haneef Atmar adviser has met with Russian Ambassador Alexander Mantytskiy in Kabul, where he called on the Russian government to put pressure on the Taliban to enter into peace talks.
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Girls’ education is a ‘vital issue’ for Afghanistan: Karzai
Former president Hamid Karzai said in a meeting with Iran’s ambassador and special representative, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, that education of girls was a “vital issue” for Afghanistan.
Karzai said he appreciated Iran’s cooperation and its standing with the Afghan people, especially Iran’s contributions to education in Afghanistan.
During the meeting, Karzai said peace and stability in the region are in the interest of all regional countries.
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Uzbekistan’s humanitarian aid arrives in Balkh
A shipment of humanitarian aid from Uzbekistan was handed over on Thursday to the local officials of Balkh province in the trade port of Hairatan.
Local authorities said the aid, which includes flour, oil, wheat, sugar and meat, has been handed over by Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya governor to the governor of Balkh.
The governor of Surkhandarya stated the purpose of sending this aid was to support the people of Afghanistan and stressed the need for the development of good relations between the two countries.
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Afghanistan’s problems caused more damage to Pakistan than 3 wars with India: Durrani
Islamabad’s special envoy for Afghanistan Asif Durrani said on Wednesday that Pakistan has suffered more due to Afghanistan’s internal situation than Pakistan has suffered in three wars with India in terms of blood spilt and finances drained.
Durrani said at a one-day International Conference titled “Pakistan in the Emerging Geopolitical Landscape”, which was organized by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), that over 80,000 Pakistanis died in the two decades of the War on Terror and that his country was still counting its dead and injured.
“After the withdrawal of NATO forces, it was hoped that peace in Afghanistan would bring peace to the region. However, such expectations were short-lived,” he said.
He also stated that attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group on Pakistan’s border areas increased by 65 percent, while suicide attacks increased by 500 percent.
“The TTP’s enhanced attacks on Pakistan while using Afghan soil have been a serious concern for Pakistan. Another worrying aspect is the participation of Afghan nationals in these attacks,” he said.
Durrani also said Pakistan had suffered geopolitically since the Soviet Union invaded the neighboring country.
“The post-9/11 world order has negatively impacted Pakistan. Apart from losing 80,000 citizens’ lives, including 8,000 law enforcement agency personnel, the country’s economic opportunity cost is estimated at $150 billion,” Durrani said.
Talking about the future outlook for Pakistan in the regional context, Durrani said that while “our eastern neighbor is likely to continue with its anti-Pakistan pursuits, the western border poses an avoidable irritant in the short to medium term.”
However, he said Pakistan can overcome its difficulties with Afghanistan, including the TTP challenge.
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