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IFJ reiterates calls to Afghan govt to safeguard the lives of journalists

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The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the killing of well-known Ghazni-based journalist Rahmatullah Nikzad, who was gunned down outside his home on Monday night. 
 
In a statement issued by the IFJ on Tuesday, the organization’s General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger, said: “Afghanistan has descended again in terms of journalist safety in 2020 with at least eight media workers killed to date, up from six in 2019. 
 
“The IFJ again implores that the Afghan government must increase its efforts to ensure the safety of journalists in this volatile space. 
 
“Too often journalists are the target, often between internal conflicts and the quest for power. Journalists’ lives must be respected and defended,” Bellanger stated.
 
The IFJ’s Afghanistan affiliate the Afghan Independent Journalists’ Association (AIJA) also condemned “the heinous assassination” and caled for swift action to locate and bring the perpetrators to justice.
 
The AIJA said: “AIJA strongly condemns the killing and call it a crime against humanity. AIJA shares empathy with his family and urges the Security forces to investigate the killing and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
 
Nikzad, a reporter, photographer and chief of the Ghazni Journalists’ Union, was killed by unknown gunmen outside his home on Monday night. 
 
According to the IFJ, Nikzad was shot three times in the chest with a pistol fitted with a silencer as he left his home to visit a local mosque. 
 
The gunmen have not yet been identified and no group has claimed responsibility. 
 
Nikzad, who was in his mid-40s, was a Ghazni resident and started working as a journalist in 2003. 
 
He was associated with several international news outlets and worked on a freelance basis with Al Jazeera and Associated Press. 
 
Al Jazeera issued a statement on Twitter and strongly condemned the attack and attempts to silence journalists in the country and stated it was “shocked at the news of the killing of our cameraman Rahmatullah Nikzad, a former colleague who worked with our team in Afghanistan.”
 
The Taliban meanwhile were quick to distance themselves from the incident on Monday night. Soon after news broke of Nikzad’s death, Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Taliban,  stated they were not involved in the shooting. 
 
Mujahid said Nikzad was a committed journalist and had “maintained good relations” with the group. “We consider this killing a loss for the country,” he said.
 
Nikzad is the third media worker to be killed in Afghanistan this month. On December 10, female reporter Malala Maiwand, and her driver Mohammad Tahir, were shot and killed when assailants opened fire on their car while she was on her way to work in Jalalabad, in Nangarhar province.
 
IS (Daesh) claimed responsibility for the attack. 
 
On November 12, Radio Free Europe correspondent Elias Daei was killed in a targeted magnetic mine explosion in Lashkar Gah.
 
However, the latest killing brings the total number of journalists killed in the past two months to five. 

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Russian and Afghan defense officials meet in Moscow, pledge closer cooperation

The meeting focused on the current situation and prospects for expanding cooperation in areas of mutual interest between the two sides.

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Russian media, citing the country’s Ministry of Defense, report that Vasily Osmakov, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister, held talks on Wednesday in Moscow with Mohammad Farid, the Deputy Defense Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan for Strategy and Policy.

According to the reports, the meeting focused on the current situation and prospects for expanding cooperation in areas of mutual interest between the two sides.

Russian sources said that at the conclusion of the talks, both parties agreed to take further joint steps aimed at establishing more regular and systematic cooperation.

So far, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has not issued an official statement regarding the meeting or its outcomes.

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Seven family members killed in house roof collapse in Nangarhar

The incident occurred Wednesday night, in the Ghowchako area of district 7, Jalalabad.

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Local officials in Nangarhar province report that seven members of a single family were killed and one person injured after the roof of their house collapsed in the city of Jalalabad.

Qureshi Badloon, Head of the Information and Culture Department in Nangarhar, stated that the incident occurred Wednesday night, in the Ghowchak area of district 7, Jalalabad.

According to Badloon, the victims included women and children, while the injured individual was transported to a medical facility for treatment.

No further details have yet been released regarding the cause of the roof collapse.

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U.S. watchdog office that monitored spending in Afghanistan to close on January 31

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A U.S. government oversight agency that for nearly two decades tracked waste, fraud and abuse in American spending on Afghanistan is scheduled to shut down on January 31, 2026.

The office, known as the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), was created by the U.S. Congress in 2008 to independently review how billions of dollars in military, development and humanitarian aid were used in Afghanistan. It conducted audits, inspections and investigations to detect misuse of funds and recommend changes to improve accountability.

Over its lifetime, SIGAR documented thousands of instances of waste, fraud and abuse in U.S.-led reconstruction programs and reported on projects that failed to meet goals or were never completed. In its final reports, the office estimated that tens of billions of dollars intended for Afghanistan reconstruction were lost or mismanaged, and it highlighted systemic problems in planning, oversight and execution of U.S. efforts.

The closure of SIGAR comes as part of U.S. defense policy changes that set a deadline for the agency’s work to end this month. 

 

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