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Gov’t Launches Polio Drive in Former Daesh Areas
Afghanistan launched a polio vaccination campaign on Monday aimed at reaching children in areas previously controlled by Islamic State group militants, officials said.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic — a fact blamed on opposition to immunization by Islamist groups, who claim the vaccines are a conspiracy to sterilize Muslims or a cover for spying.
The latest five-day drive will look to reach about 9.5 million children nationwide, the health ministry’s Sardar Parwiz told AFP, with officials hoping to take advantage of reduced fighting in the east following successes from US-backed military operations.
“We have already started contacting locals in areas retaken from Daesh (IS). We will send our teams to those areas, but if they face any problems, we will ask locals to transport their children to our clinics in safer areas,” he said.
Fighters pledging allegiance to the IS group had been in control of several districts in eastern Nangarhar province on the border with Pakistan, before they were pushed out by Afghan and NATO forces.
Last month, Afghan troops backed by US airstrikes seized large parts of the mountainous district of Kot in Nangarhar, a key IS stronghold where the jihadists set up Sharia courts and training camps displaying their trademark black flag.
Najibullah Kamawal, the head of the health department in Nangarhar said some districts had been unreachable for over a year, leaving thousands of children without medical assistance.
“It is a challenge, it is risky, but we are determined to go to every village and vaccinate the kids,” he said.
Noorul Habib a teacher in Kot district told AFP by phone the elders and the local population were determined to support the campaign.
“We know polio is dangerous, we will do our best to support this campaign. All the elders have sent messages to militants not to disrupt the campaign. We have also told them not to destroy mosques, clinics and schools,” he said.
Afghanistan registered eight polio cases, mostly in the eastern part of the country in the first half of the year, according to ministry of health. Most of them believed to have been imported from Pakistan.
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Pakistan’s army claims TTP is using Afghan soil
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
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
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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