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China, Russia to discuss on IS presence in Afghanistan at Eurasian security summit

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(Last Updated On: October 25, 2022)

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders will discuss the threat the Islamic State group poses in Afghanistan at a Eurasian security summit in Russia this week.

Xi travels to the Russian city of Ufa for a summit on Thursday and Friday of leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, according to (AFP).

(AFP) reported that it will be preceded by a meeting of leaders of the BRICS group of emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

“Due to the spillover effect of the Islamic State terrorist activities, Afghanistan now faces a grim security situation,” Chinese vice foreign minister Cheng Guoping told reporters.

SCO leaders “will certainly have in-depth discussions on the Afghan issue”, he added. “And they will talk further about how to respond to the security situation there.”

China is seeking business interests in Afghanistan and is sensitive to any spillover of Islamic-inspired extremism from the country, which has a short border with its mostly Muslim western region of Xinjiang.

Afghanistan’s militant Taliban are seeking to halt defections to IS after some insurgents adopted its flag to rebrand themselves as a more lethal force as NATO troops depart the country.

Last month the Taliban warned the leader of IS group against waging a parallel insurgency in Afghanistan, after reported clashes between militants loyal to the two groups.

Afghanistan has “observer” status in the SCO, along with India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan, according to the group’s website.

The summit will begin procedures for India and Pakistan to join the group as full members after their candidatures were approved last year, Cheng said.

The acceptance of the nuclear-armed rivals — which have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 and jockey for influence in Afghanistan — would mark the SCO’s first expansion since its inception in 2001.

Cheng shrugged off any concerns over their tense relations, saying membership “will not only help the organisation become better but will also play a productive role in promoting friendly relations between the two countries”.

He also said that China remained on guard against the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) it says foments unrest in Xinjiang among the region’s ethnic Uighurs, though many analysts outside China have questioned whether any large scale organisation of the kind exists.

“It has participated in some terrorist activities of the IS,” he said of ETIM. “China is concerned about that and we will also maintain security cooperation with relevant countries.”

Besides the group summits, Xi will hold bilateral talks with Putin in their eighth such meeting since Xi became president in 2013. Xi visited Russia in May to witness a vast military parade at Red Square to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

“The Chinese and Russian leaders have established a very good working relationship and personal friendship,” Cheng said, adding: “As permanent members of the (UN) Security Council a sound relationship between these two countries plays an important role in promoting world peace”.

He said they will discuss bilateral relations, including economic cooperation and “specific cooperation projects”, without elaborating.

Russia — which invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and occupied it for a decade — has strengthened ties and trade with China since coming under Western sanctions for its actions in Ukraine.

Russia became China’s top crude supplier in May for the first time in a decade, Bloomberg News reported last month, as Moscow seeks new markets for its oil.

 

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Turkish Airlines to resume flights to Afghanistan from Tuesday

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(Last Updated On: May 20, 2024)

Turkish Airlines will resume its flights to Afghanistan tomorrow (Tuesday), officials said on Monday.

The Ministry of Transport said that a Turkish Airlines plane will land in Kabul airport on Tuesday.

“Tomorrow, Turkish Airlines will resume its flights to Kabul International Airport. There will be four flights between Kabul and Istanbul per week. This is good news for Afghan travelers. For those Afghans who travel to European countries, they can move easily through Turkey,” said Imamuddin Ahmadi, the spokesman of the Ministry of Transport.

However, the Chamber of Commerce and Investment emphasized that visas should be provided to businessmen and citizens of the country, otherwise companies will benefit the most, not Afghan citizens and businessmen.

“Not a single passenger is allowed, the reason is that they do not issue visas. If the Turks don’t start issuing visas, or the Arabs don’t issue visas, the plane will come for the cargo and there will be little movement of people,” said Khanjan Alokozay, a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Investment.

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Kabir tells UN official IEA will attend Doha meeting if its ‘position is accepted’

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(Last Updated On: May 20, 2024)

In a meeting with Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, the Deputy Prime Minister said the Islamic Emirate will participate in the third Doha meeting if its “position” is accepted.

He said that Afghanistan is under the complete control of the Islamic Emirate and that the country “has an Emir” and the government is “obeyed”.

According to a statement issued by Mawlavi Abdul Kabir’s office, the deputy prime minister told DiCarlo: “The previous meeting in Doha was incomplete due to some shortcomings of its organizers, and the position of the Islamic Emirate should be accepted in the next meeting so that the delegation of the Islamic Emirate will participate in it.”

The Secretary General of the United Nations once expressed regret for the Islamic Emirate’s non-participation in the Doha meeting, but at the same time said that accepting the demands of the Islamic Emirate is equivalent to its recognition.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Emirate is asking the United Nations and other countries to recognize them as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

Kabir said that the Islamic Emirate has fulfilled all its obligations and “rules over the entire geography of Afghanistan… There is a central government in all of Afghanistan that has an emir and is obeyed.”

The United Nations is expected to hold the third Doha meeting with the participation of special representatives of countries for Afghanistan, but it has not set a date for it yet.

The Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs of the United Nations meanwhile visited Kabul this week and invited the Islamic Emirate’s officials to participate in the Doha meeting.

According to the deputy prime minister’s office, DiCarlo informed Kabir about the Doha meeting and said that “the Islamic Emirate’s conditions for participating in this meeting are not difficult.”

She expressed hope that a delegation of the Islamic Emirate will participate.

She said that representatives of a number of international organizations and countries have been invited to the Doha meeting, including the World Bank.

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UN’s DiCarlo meets with Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah over Doha meeting

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(Last Updated On: May 20, 2024)

Afghanistan’s former president Hamid Karzai, and the country’s former CEO Abdullah Abdullah met with Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs this weekend, regarding the third Doha meeting.

In a statement issued by Karzai’s office, it is stated that during the meeting they emphasized the need to help and support the people of Afghanistan and said that they considered education in Afghanistan essential.

They also emphasized the need for national understanding to achieve peace.

DiCarlo, who is on a trip to Kabul, has already met and discussed numerous issues with a number of officials of the Islamic Emirate.

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