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Germany’s Parliament Extends Military Mandate for Afghanistan Mission
Germany’s parliament has granted a one-year extension of its military mandate for Afghanistan, allowing the country’s first major post-war troop deployment to continue until March 31, 2020.
The approval allows Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr, to keep up to 1,300 soldiers in the country as part of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission (RSM), providing support and training to Afghan security forces.
“Today, a vast majority in German Parliament voted for an extension of our military’s contribution to RSM in AFG. Up to 1,300 German soldiers will continue to train, assist, advise AFG security forces,” said Markus Potzel, Germany’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan in a tweet on Friday.
The mission has been extended with virtually the same mandate as in past years, though recent suggestions from Washington that the United States may draw down its presence have provoked some uncertainty among NATO allies.
Currently, Germany has 1,200 troops stationed in Afghanistan.
As quoted by dpa International, Fritz Felgentreu, a lawmaker from Germany’s Social Democrats, urged the deployment to continue, but warned that if the U.S. were to leave prematurely, the Bundeswehr would be expected to depart as well.
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Iran says work underway to block eastern border with Afghanistan
Iranian officials say work is intensely underway on the implementation of plan to block the country’s eastern border with Afghanistan.
According to Iranian media, the commander of the Ground Forces of Iran spoke on Thursday at a ceremony in the city of Mashhad about the sealing of the country’s borders with Afghanistan.
Kioumars Heydari added: “According to the measures contemplated by the Islamic Republic, we are in the process of sealing the borders.”
He did not specify the exact timing for the completion of the border sealing plan between Iran and Afghanistan, but added: “Our estimate is that the sealing of the eastern border of the country will be completed as soon as possible.”
Afghanistan and Iran share more than 900 kilometers of common border.
Experts, meanwhile, believe that this will cause a change in dealings with Afghan immigrants.
The Islamic Emirate, however, says fencing on the borders of Iran and Afghanistan will proceed in coordination with the Afghan government.
According to experts, Iran is seeking to solve its security concerns and will spend a lot of money in the process of blocking the border but this border wall will be finished for the benefit of both countries, and drug trafficking and movement of terrorist groups will be at least under control.
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Pakistan rejects IEA’s allegations of Daesh using its territory against Afghanistan
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan on Thursday rejected the statements of the Islamic Emirate regarding the use of Pakistan’s soil against Afghanistan by Daesh, calling the remarks as “unwarranted and irresponsible.”
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, spokesperson of Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a press conference that instead of such statements, the Afghan authorities should take effective action against all terror groups, based in Afghanistan.
Earlier, the Pakistan Army claimed that last month’s suicide attack that killed five Chinese nationals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been planned in Afghanistan and had been carried out by an Afghan.
In reaction, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan, Inayatullah Khwarazmi, said that in an area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is under the security of the Pakistan Army, the killing of Chinese nationals is either the weakness of the security institutions or their cooperation with the attackers.
He also said: “We have cases where the Daesh entered Afghanistan from Pakistan, and Pakistani soil was used against our soil, and the attacks are planned in that country.”
Pakistan has repeatedly claimed that Afghan soil is being used in attacks against Pakistan, but this was the first time the Islamic Emirate accused Pakistan of not preventing Daesh from entering Afghanistan.
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Afghans will have a good future under the shadow of Islamic system: Haqqani
Acting Minister of Interior Sirajuddin Haqqani has said in a meeting with the European Union envoy in Kabul that Afghans will have a good future in peace and under the shadow of the Islamic system.
According to a statement released by the Ministry of Interior on Friday, Haqqani, in his meeting with Raffaella Iodice, the European Union’s Chargé d’affaires to Afghanistan, said that Afghans will work hard, endure hardships and will be on the path of progress.
The EU envoy expressed her hope for continued peace and a better future for Afghans, according to the statement.
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