Latest News
India dispatches 2,500 tons of wheat to Afghanistan via Pakistan
India on Tuesday dispatched 2,500 tons of wheat in aid to Afghanistan through Pakistan.
The consignment is part of the 50,000 tons of wheat India has pledged to deliver to Afghanistan within the next three months.
The wheat will be handed over in Jalalabad to the United Nations’ World Food Program, with which India has signed a pact to distribute the aid in Afghanistan.
It will cross through Attari-Wagah border, which has been closed to Indian goods since August 2019, when Islamabad suspended trade relations with New Delhi.
Pakistan has said it is opening the land route as an exception – only for the transit of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
“We covered a long distance to reach India. Now we will take the donated wheat back to Afghanistan through Wagah route,” a truck driver said.
India meanwhile announced it was sending the wheat in October in response to appeals made by the United Nations for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said at the time New Delhi was ready to provide more humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the director of the World Food Program in India, Bishow Parajuli, said: “All the help Afghanistan receives will be of extreme value and therefore this help coming from India is really timely and very important.”
He said over half of the Afghan population was grappling with hunger, stressing the need for continued humanitarian assistance to the country.
Latest News
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.
Latest News
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.
Latest News
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.
-
Latest News5 days ago
Pakistan’s frontiers minister stresses ‘dignified’ return of Afghan refugees
-
Latest News3 days ago
Rashid Khan named AWCC’s brand ambassador
-
Regional4 days ago
Iranian president lands in Pakistan for three-day visit to mend ties
-
Climate Change4 days ago
Massive river flooding expected in China, threatening millions
-
Latest News5 days ago
Chinese keen to invest in Panjshir-Kabul water conduit project
-
World5 days ago
Two Japan navy helicopters crash, one body found, 7 missing
-
Sport4 days ago
ACL: Aino Mina 3-0 Istiqlal Kabul; Attack Energy 3-0 Khadim
-
Sport4 days ago
Kolkata beat Bengaluru by one run in IPL as Kohli fumes at dismissal