The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Afghanistan on Monday welcomed a $2.2 million contribution from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) which will provide critical aid to Afghan women and children.

According to a statement issued by the WFP, this contribution will provide over 550 metric tons of specialized nutritious food to 125,000 Afghan mothers and children for three months to prevent malnutrition.

“This year, in Afghanistan, 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are suffering from malnutrition while 3.5 million young children are expected to be malnourished, the sharpest surge in malnutrition ever recorded in the country,” said Mutinta Chimuka, WFP Country Director in Afghanistan.

“It is critical to support mothers and their young children to stay healthy and well-nourished, for their own futures and that of their families,”Mutinta said.

Last year, WFP supported over 2.3 million pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and young children with specialized nutritious food to prevent them from falling into malnutrition.

They received ready to use fortified supplementary food, enriched with protein and vitamins, helping them become healthy again. Of those assisted, over 1.5 million were children and nearly 800,000 were Afghan mothers.

WFP is often the last lifeline for women and girls in Afghanistan. Two-thirds of women-headed households cannot afford basic nutrition – a rate nearly 20 percent higher than that of men-headed families. In 2024, WFP reached nearly 12 million people in Afghanistan through all activities, more than half of them were women and girls.

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) has meanwhile been a steadfast partner in supporting WFP operations in Afghanistan. Between 2021 and 2024, SIDA’s contributions exceeded $30 million, ranking among WFP’s top ten donors in the country in 2025.

Azerbaijan’s State Security Service (SSS) hosted an international conference on  “Afghanistan: Regional Connectivity, Security, and Development”, which brought together intelligence officials from 20 countries. 

The event, held in Baku, was opened by the head of Azerbaijan’s SSS, Colonel-General Ali Naghiyev, who noted the importance of the event and said it was extremely important for the world to provide comprehensive support to Afghanistan. 

He expressed hope that the event would “make a significant contribution to the establishment of a centralised state in Afghanistan, adhering to the norms and principles of international law”.

Speaking about the longstanding Azerbaijan-Afghanistan relations, built on mutual trust, as well as the deep historical and cultural ties between the two countries, Naghiyev noted that Azerbaijan has always supported international initiatives aimed at ensuring internal political stability and security in Afghanistan and has never spared efforts in this direction.

Naghiyev also emphasised the need for comprehensive support from countries around the world for Afghanistan in its fight against transnational organised crime, including international terrorism, drug trafficking, and illegal migration.

Highlighting that one of the main goals of the event was to develop a unified stance on preventing destructive attempts by sabotage forces and terrorist groups interested in maintaining the tense situation in Afghanistan, the head of the SSS noted the importance of ensuring that Afghanistan takes its rightful place in the international system, with peace being established in the country. 

He expressed confidence that the countries of the region and other states would act in coordination and make joint efforts toward this goal.

Other intelligence officials also addressed participants and noted that such meetings would lead to serious steps being taken to ensure peace and security in Afghanistan. 

The civil war inflicted greater harm on the people of Afghanistan than the Soviet invasion, Fasihuddin Fitrat, Chief of the Army Staff of the Islamic Emirate, said on Monday

“The Soviet Red Army invasion did not make the Afghan people as miserable as the civil wars and power struggles made,” he said at a ceremony marking the 33rd anniversary of the mujahideen’s victory against the former Soviet-backed regime.

Fitrat warned that if someone is thinking of occupying Afghanistan using those who have fled the country, the Afghan people are ready to fight against them even if takes thousands of years.

“No matter how they impose war on the people of Afghanistan, the people have the courage and heroism,” he said. “Their honor will never allow them to be controlled by someone else. They will fight against them. They have fought for four and a half decades and are ready to fight for thousands more. If anyone thinks of occupying our country, they will fight against them.”

Acting Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs, Alhaji Mullah Noorullah Noori also stressed that Afghanistan will soon will compete with other countries in political, economic and security sectors.

“The day will come when Afghanistan will compete with the world’s major countries in every field, politically, economically, security,” he said.

Acting Minister of Information and Culture Khairullah Khairkhwa called on the officials of the Islamic Emirate to refrain from “power worship,” warning that it would lead to the collapse of the government.

“If, God forbid, we revive the past and there is power worship here again and we try to increase our influence, the regime will collapse and the people will become divided,” he said.

At the ceremony, the Chief of Staff of Army also stressed the dignified return of refugees from neighboring countries, adding that humiliating them is unacceptable for the Islamic Emirate.